Beschreibung:
The 2012 congressional elections played an equally vital role in determining the future course of America as the presidential race that topped the electoral ticket. Readers of this book will gain insights about the formative aspects of the 2012 campaign season as well as in depth coverage of key races for Congress. Exclusive to this volume are three chapters that look at important processes which impacted the campaign cycle: voter suppression laws passed in nearly every state, the role of Super PACs and independent expenditures in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, and the results of redistricting and partisan gerrymandering throughout the country. Then the case studies follow the path of seven House and six Senate races from inception to election postmortem. The chapters are both narrative and provide analysis of an array of interesting and diverse contests from throughout the country. Each entry was written by one or more experts living in the state or region of the race. The authors provide succinct and highly readable chapters meant to illustrate the distinctive nature of the campaigns they are examining. Readers will see individual campaigns and elections "up close" and be able to compare and contrast one from another because of the common format employed throughout the book. Taken together, the chapters reveal that the roads to Congress, while similar in so many ways, each follow a unique route to Capitol Hill.
Preface by Sean D. Foreman and Robert DewhirstPart I: 2012 Congressional ElectionChapter 1: Democrats increase their seats in Congress and keep control of the White HouseSean D. ForemanChapter 2: Voting Suppression of the American Electorate, 2009-2012Robert Dewhirst and Daniel E. SmithChapter 3: Campaign Finance: The Impact of Citizen's United DecisionWilliam Curtis Ellis and Holly PetersonChapter 4: Redistricting: An OverviewJosh StockleyPart II: U.S. House of Representatives ElectionsChapter 5: California House 31 (Miller v. Dutton):Top Two Primary Turns a Democratic Seat into a Safe Republican OneMarcia L. Godwin and Richard GelmChapter 6: Florida House 26 (Rivera v. Garcia): Third Time is a Charm for Cuban DemocratSean D. ForemanChapter 7: Illinois District 10 (Dold v. Schneider): A Fight between Demographics and DollarsJeffrey Ashley and Christophe AmeganChapter 8: Illinois District 17 (Schilling v. Bustos): A Carefully Constructed Gerrymander Dooms an IncumbentWilliam K. Hall and Kyle D. McEvillyChapter 9: New York House 24 (Buerkle v. Maffei v. Rozum): Rematch goes to the DemocratJeffrey KrausChapter 10: Ohio House 6 (Johnson v. Wilson): Same Players, New FieldWill MillerChapter 11: Texas House 23 (Canseco v. Gallego): Congressional Bellwether, Partisan Prophet: Texas 23 and the Past, Present, and Future of Party FortunesWalter Clark Wilson and Christopher Tyler CamarilloPart III: U.S. Senate ElectionsChapter 12: Florida (Nelson v. Mack): All Show and No GoPeter Bergerson and Margaret BanyanChapter 13: Massachusetts (Brown vs. Warren): The Professor v. The Model: How grassroots organizing and fundraising returned a Democrat to Ted Kennedy's former seat.Joe CaiazzoChapter 14: Missouri (Akin v. McCaskill): "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over": Missouri's Tumultuous and Unpredictable Senate ContestKimberly L. Casey and Michelle WadeChapter 15: Ohio (Brown v. Mandel): The Key to a Majority: A Very Expensive and Dirty CampaignWilliam Binning and Sunil AhujaChapter 16: Virginia (Allen vs. Kaine): Clash of the TitansBob N. RobertsChapter 17: Wisconsin (Baldwin v. Thompson): The Most Negative Senate Race in State HistoryTom LansfordPart IV: ConclusionsChapter 18: The Legacy of the 2012 Congressional ElectionRobert DewhirstIndexAbout the Contributors