Experts in the News-October 2006

Experts in the News-October 2006 Political Scientist in the News

Edward Tufte (Yale University) and Gary Jacobson (University of California - San Diego) state that the Democrats have a better chance of utilizing the instability of the US economy and the Republican party scandles that will put them at an advantage as the election day approaches...[read article] - October 30

Andy Hernandez (University of Texas -San Antonio) and Larry Hufford (St. Mary's University) both agree that "there isn't an apparatus in place for Democrats to get out their vote…and a runoff is unlikely..." [read article] - October 29

Robert Rupp (West Virginia Wesleyan College) comments on the new technology based strategies that Republican Don Blankenship is using to spread his message. "Democrats have picked up the strategy of targeting Blankenship, but some are concerned that by targeting him, it will only increase his visibility and confuse voters since he is not on the ballot…." [read article] - October 29

Chris Mooney (University of Illinois - Springfield) critics the political style of Rod Blagojevich stating that "it's old-school politics with a vengeance" because of his inability to come "up with legitimate revenue sources to pay for" his recommended social services...[read article] - October 29

Keith Nicholls (University of South Alabama) expects "Democrats to maintain control of the Legislature mostly because of the difficulty in defeating incumbents." He said "...One reason it's difficult to beat veteran legislators is that many of the incumbents played a part in redrawing districts and drew them in a way to make it easier for them to be reelected..."[read article] - October 28

Andrew Taylor (North Carolina State) and Mike Munger (Duke University) discuss the possibility of North Carolina agreeing with the "trends of the national tide" indicating that Rep. Charles Taylor has the possibility to loose control of the House due to the "Democratic surge driven by the war in Iraq and dissatisfaction with President Bush... " [read article] - October 28

Marcus Pohlmann (Rhodes College - Memphis) and Bob Swansbrough (East Tennessee) state both the advantages and disadvantages of Republican Bob Corker placing a controversial ad attacking Democrat Harold Ford Jr. in Tennessee which is "among the three in the nation that are tossups…" [read article] -October 27

Steve Livingston (Middle Tennessee State University) comments on the ugliness of campaign ads, but states that he hasn't "run into anybody who has changed their mind on how they're going to vote because of watching them…" [read article] -October 27

Bob Loevy (Colorado College) explains that early voting in certain districts are critical. A positive example of early voting was when it"...gave Lamborn his margin of victory over Crank in the primary..." [read article] - October 25

Larry Sabato (University of Virginia) and James Thurber (American University) predict a wave of Democratics coming into office. The uncertainty that remains is "whether it will be medium-size wave or a high wave for the Democrats..." [read article] -- October 25

Neal Thigpen (Francis Marion University) compares the amount of money raised for various candidates during campaign season, suggesting that an incumbent does not have to be concerned about name recognition and smaller amounts of money will suffice...[read article] -- October 24

Charles Franklin (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Gary Jacobson (University of California-San Diego) and John Pitney (Claremont McKenna College --Claremont) discuss the negative image of the Republic party reiterating that the public is not paying attention to rhetoric. They are more concerned about economic news and war..." [read article] -- October 24

Richard Murray (University of Houston) believes that there is an anti-Perry vote in Texas, but with multiple candidates, the votes will be divided to giving Perry an upper hand. Bob Stein (Rice University) says "Perry will win to become the longest tenured governor of the state, even if he has the support of less than half of the people..." [read article] -- October 23

Stephane Dion (University De Montreal) is running for the Federal Liberal leadership, and has surfaced as one of the top four candidates with a legitimate shot at winning... [read article] -- October 21

Michael Dawson (University of Chicago) comments on a new trend of growing middle class Black Americans. There is a struggle for party identity between the Republican and Democratic campaigns with a tentative conclusion that "...better-educated blacks are the most sensitive on race..." [read article] -- October 20

Ed Friedman (University of Wisconsin) says "unless the US changes it's position on talking directly with North Korea, it will be up to China and South Korea to defuse the ticking nuclear bomb..." [read article] - October 19

Steven Schier (Carleton College) believes that Republicans are being careful not to "spotlight the increasingly unpopular war or the president whose approval ratings have slumped..." [read article]
- October 19

Michael Baranowski (Northern Kentucky University) and Kendra Stewart (Eastern Kentucky University) agree that a majority of the population in Kentucky do not approve of the Bush administration because he has "a reputation for doing as he pleases, regardless of the political implications or public reaction..."[read article] - October 16

Steven Schier (Carleton College) compares Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's shift in outlook which has "resulted in a 19 percent increase over the past year, a rare spike in a short time..."[read article] - October 16

James Thurber (American University) describes Senator Maria Cantwell as an "effective senator who is serious, and attributed her lack of star power largely to her status as a freshman senator in the minority party..."[read article] -October 14

Stuart W. Shulman (University of Pittsburgh) would like to establish a "top-tier interdisciplinary journal, one that brings social scientists together with information and computer scientists in emergent research area..." [read article] - October 13

Charles Dunn (Regent University), Larry Sabato (University of Virginia) and Bill Sabo (University of North Carolina-Asheville) discuss the possibilites of the Republicans losing control of the U.S. House of Representatives on November 7th...[read article]- October 12

Peter L. Francia (East Carolina University) recently completed a radio interview on NPR Ohio Public Media titled "Goodyear Strike May Have Political Impact," with Daniel Hockensmith… [read article] -October 9

Margaret McKean (Duke Univeristy) believes that Japan's response may be critical in how

North Korea

's first nuclear weapon test is resolved… [read article] - October 9

Robert Putnam (Harvard University) has presented a bleak picture of the corrosive effects of ethnic diversity, revealed in research, which shows that the more diverse a community is, the less likely its inhabitants are to trust anyone…[read article] - October 9

Beth Miller (University of Missouri-Kansas City) comments on the practices of two opposing candidates saying that "you have to find very small things that might implicate the other candidate in some kind of shady deal or corrupt practices… [read article] - October 8

Robert Spitzer (SUNY Cortland) comments and critics Hillary Clinton's approach on foreign policy stating that a flaw is her "tendency to become too much of a policy wonk in her speeches...[read article] – October 8

Dr. Thomas F. Schaller, II (University of Maryland) and Bruce I. Oppenheimer (Vanderbilt University) comments on Rep. Harold Ford and how Tennessee has become increasingly Republican in federal races due to the fact that native son Al Gore couldn't win it in 2000…[read article] - October 4

Brent Lerseth (Agustana) comments on the abortion ban debate which is coming to a television soon saying that the "vote yes" ad may be overselling options like the morning after pill because many clinics in the state don't offer the pill… [read article] -October 5

Eric Davis (Middlebury College) belives that the plagurism incident against House candidate Martha Rainville will play out as a big affair…[read article]- October 3

David Fleischer (Univeristy of Brasilia) states that under Luiz Inacio Lula, 11 million families now receive this "direct transfer of income, and that the program has produced extremely strong support for Lula among the lower classes… [apsa@apsanet.org