Student Projects for Campaigning for Congress
to be used in conjunction with

Paul S. Herrnson, Congressional Elections:
Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 5e, CQ Press, 2004

These projects work best when the course is conducted during the midst of the election season because students can track the elections as they take place. However, the major paper assignments can also be researched and written after the election season.

The first paper on congressional elections should analyze the setting for the case study and the dynamics of the nominating contest.

You should describe the major characteristics of the district, including:

its geographic features,
the racial, ethnic, and religious composition of its population,
the major occupations of its residents and their education and income levels,
the district's partisanship and its recent electoral history,
the major media outlets that cover the district.

You should describe the candidates who ran in the Democratic and Republican nominations and discuss the outcome of the race, including the candidates' backgrounds, occupations, political experience, and personal wealth (if they are financing their own campaigns). If possible, you should find out which potential candidates opted not to run and why. What impact did the incumbent (if there was one) have on discouraging strong challengers from running? Did a scandal or redistricting help shape the candidate pool in both parties' primaries?

You should discuss the factors that influenced the outcome of the primary contests, including the candidates' experience, name recognition, campaign expenditures, issues, voter turnout, and media coverage.

You should set the scene for the general election by discussing factors that could foreshadow the outcome. Which of the two major-party nominees won his or her primary by a greater percentage of the primary votes? Which won more actual votes? Was one primary more bitter than the other? Did one candidate have his or her reputation tarnished more than the other in the primary contest?

You should compare and contrast the primary contests in your district with those in other districts. See chapters 1 and 2 in Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 4e (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2002). You also might want to consult the case studies in Thomas A. Kazee, ed., Who Runs for Congress? Ambition, Context, and Candidate Emergence (CQ Press, 1994) for relevant comparisons.

You should turn to the following sources of information: Politics in America, the Almanac of American Politics, Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, National Journal, local newspapers, the Federal Election Commission, the Center for Responsive Politics, Political MoneyLine, and their Web sites. (See also the Web sites listed in part 5 of this Web page.) You can also obtain the candidates' brochures, issue papers, speeches, or other information by contacting their campaigns. Campaigns and incumbents' offices will sometimes send you election-related press clippings. You also may wish to contact the reporters who cover local politics. They are usually happy to help students.

The second paper on congressional elections should analyze the general election and interpret its outcome.

You should discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of each major-party candidate and any independent or minor-party contestants.

You should discuss the kind of campaign that each candidate is waging. Is it a well-funded and professionally run organization, or is an under-funded, largely volunteer effort?

Where did the campaign raise most of its money? The candidate's personal bank account, individuals, PACs, parties? Did any economic sectors or labor provide significant sums of money? Did political parties or interest groups (including PACs) provide the campaigns with any campaign assistance or services?

Did political parties or interest groups carry out any independent expenditures or issue advocacy ads?

Discuss each campaign's strategy, including which groups it targeted, its message, and communications techniques.

Discuss each candidate's strengths and weaknesses and the candidates' perceptions of their opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

Discuss the major local and national issues involved in the race.

Discuss the media coverage and endorsements that the candidates received.

What factors affected the election outcome?

You should compare and contrast the election in your district with others. Consult Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 4e, chapters 3 through 9, and the case studies in Ronald A. Faucheux and Paul S. Herrnson, eds., Campaign Battle Lines (Washington, D.C.: Campaigns & Elections, 2002); Robert Biersack, Paul S. Herrnson, and Clyde Wilcox, eds., After the Revolution: PACs and Lobbies in the Republican Congress, with (Boston: Allyn and Bacon); David B. Magleby, ed., The Other Campaign: Soft Money and Issue Advocacy in the 2000 Congressional Elections.

The information you will need to write this paper should come from an interview held with one or more representatives of each campaign (consult the questionnaire below) and the sources listed below. Some of the information you collected for the first paper should be used to write the second one.

Questionnaire to Guide Student Interviews

You have invited a candidate or campaign manager to discuss his or her campaign. Take full advantage of this opportunity. Go beyond the questions on the questionnaire. Ask follow-up questions. Have a conversation about the candidate, the organization of the campaign, the strategy and tactics used, campaign finance, issues, and congressional elections in general. Encourage the individual you are speaking with to reflect on the election.

You will need to do some background information to get the most out of your interview. You should have some detailed knowledge about the election, the candidates, their campaign receipts and expenditures, the nominating campaign, the political and demographic composition of the district, and the major issues in the race. Some information can be obtained from Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, National Journal, local newspapers, the Federal Election Commission, the Center for Responsive Politics, Political MoneyLine, and their Web sites. You can also contact each campaign prior to your interview in order to obtain the candidate's brochures, issue papers, speeches, or other information about the campaign. Collect as many documents as you can.

As you read the questions below, keep in mind that the specific questions asked in any particular interview (as well as their exact wording and the order in which they are asked) will vary and that some of the questions may not be appropriate for your race (e.g., open-seat races have no incumbents). The answers to the questions should prove useful when you write your essay. Get detailed descriptive information with examples wherever possible. Your paper should be rich in description and nuance.

Some of the questions have the most commonly given answers listed after them. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list. Use them as probes to help the individual you are interviewing to recall an answer if he or she becomes stuck or to help you gather additional relevant information once the individual has given an initial response.

Use your judgment when asking questions. Allow the interview to flow naturally. You may not have enough time to get answers to all of your questions, so ask the most important ones first, and skip questions that do not fit the particular election.

Take note of the date and place of the interview. Get the correct spelling of the respondent's name and record their title (e.g., candidate, campaign manager, or some other campaign staffer).

You may wish to follow up on some questions at a later date. Ask if you can follow up at a later date. Offer to send the interviewee a copy of your final paper. Be sure to write a thank you letter.

If the interviewees ask you to prove that you are doing this for your class (and that you are not doing opposition research for their opponent), have them call your instructors.

Be aware that you will be required to turn in your interview notes, including the responses to the specific questions and other information that flowed from the interview. You will also be required to turn in the press clippings you used in writing your papers.

Finally, relax and have fun! Once the interview gets rolling, you should enjoy this.

Preliminary Information

(Get this prior to the interview)

1. Candidate's name:

2. State and District:

3. Party:

4. The candidate's position in the general election:

a) Incumbent b) Challenger c) Open seat d) Incumbent vs. Incumbent

5. How did the candidate do in the general election?

a) Won b) Lost

Questions

1. What was your position on the campaign?

a) Candidate b) Campaign Manager c) Treasurer d) Press Aide e) Other:__________

2. How competitive was the primary?

a) Very competitive b) Moderately competitive c) Slightly competitive d) There was no primary opposition

3. How many times has the candidate run for Congress?

4. How much does the present district resemble the district that existed in 1990?

a) Exactly the same b) Similar c) Somewhat different d) Very different e) A completely new district

5. How did this affect the campaign?

6. How do your candidate's views compare with those of most voters in the district?

a) Very liberal b) Liberal c) Moderate d) Conservative e) Very conservative

7. What do you think were your candidate's basic strengths in the campaign?

Greatest strength:
Others:

8. What do you think were your candidate's basic weaknesses in the campaign?

Greatest weakness:
Others:

9. What do you think were your opponent's basic strengths in the campaign?

Greatest strength:
Others:

10. What do you think were your opponent's basic weaknesses in the campaign?

Greatest weakness:
Others:

11. What do you think were the most important issues in your campaign? (You may list local and/or national issues)

Most important:
Others:

12. How did you learn about voters' opinions on major issues?

Record their answer.

Then you may wish to use the following probes:

Other:

13. How would you describe the partisan composition of your district?

Probes:

____% Democratic ____% Independent

____% Republican ____% Others:

14. Which groups of voters did your campaign target?

Probes:

15. Did the campaign concentrate on any other demographic, occupational, or issue groups? Which ones?

16. What factors were important in influencing the candidate's decision to run for Congress?

Probes:

17. Describe your campaign organization?

Probe 1:

Were most of the top staffers paid professionals, consultants, party members, union members, unpaid volunteers, or what?

Probe 2:

What about the persons who performed the following tasks:

18. Approximately what percentage of your total budget was spent on each of the following? Their answers should total about 100%.(Note: before asking this question, check PoliticalMoney Line’s web site to see if the information has been published.)

19. Approximately what percentage of your media budget was spent on each of the following? Their answers should total about 100%.(Note: before asking this question, check PoliticalMoney Line’s web site to see if the information has been published.)

20a. How did the candidate convey his or her message to voters?

Probes for 20a and 20b:

20b. Which techniques were most important?

21. What did your campaign advertising primarily focus on?

Probes:

22. Do you believe the media covered the campaign fairly?

Probes:

23. Did the local media endorse any candidates in the general election?

Probes:
Your candidate was endorsed
The opponent was endorsed
Both candidates received endorsements from different media
No candidates were endorsed

24a. Did your campaign or your opponent's campaign use negative advertising?

24b. How important do you think negative campaigning was in determining the outcome of the election?

Probes:

25. Which outside groups helped the campaign?

Probes for questions 25 through 34:

26. Did any groups help the campaign gather information about voters (e.g., survey data, demographic data, targeting assessments)?

27. Did any groups assist the campaign with registering voters and getting them to the polls on election day?

28. Did any groups assist the campaign with fundraising, including introductions to potential campaign contributors and direct-mail fundraising?

29. Did any groups assist the campaign with issue research and development?

30. Did any groups assist the campaign with opposition research?

31. Did any groups assist the campaign by providing volunteer workers?

32. Did any groups in assist with campaign management and strategy?

33. Which group or groups were the most helpful to your campaign?

34. Did the candidate or any member of the campaign staff attend any training sessions sponsored by the above groups?

35. Did any groups sponsor any independent expenditures or issue advocacy ads? Which groups? How much did they spend? What was the total amount spent to help you? How much was spent to help your opponent?

36. What factors do you believe were most important in determining the outcome of the election?

Probes:

37. Ask if you forgot to ask about anything that was important.

38. Ask for some final reflective comments about the election.

Be sure to express your thanks and ask if you can contact them at a later date should you have any follow-up questions. Write a thank you note the same day you leave the office.

The third paper, the prediction paper, should provide an educated guess of the overall net change in House and Senate seats for the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Students should justify their prediction by discussing presidential popularity, the state of the economy, the mood of the electorate, and any other factors they deem relevant. Draw on Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington, chapter 1, Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, National Journal, national opinion polls that are discussed in newspaper stories, Vital Statistics on Congress, and scholarly books and articles that predict the outcomes of congressional elections.

***I would encourage students to make their predictions as accurate as possible because some professors, including Paul Herrnson, give the student who makes the best prediction a really neat prize!

Student Projects for Campaigning for Congress to be used in conjunction with

Paul S. Herrnson, Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 5e, CQ Press, 2004

Questionnaire to Guide Student Interviews

Preliminary Information

Questions

Student Projects for Campaigning for Congress
to be used in conjunction with

Paul S. Herrnson, Congressional Elections:
Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 5e, CQ Press, 2004