Explores an often overlooked factor in American electoral behavior, and illustrates that localism and regionalism are significant factors in the formation of voter preferences. Looks at Clinton's electoral performance as a candidate for Congress, state attorney general, governor, and president in his native state of Arkansas, and demonstrates that candidates receive greater support from voters who share that candidate's geographical origins than voters who do not. Author credentials are not stated. Paper edition (unseen), $22.00. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
This is the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of Clinton as a native-son presidential candidate employing local, country, state, and national data to show how elections can be derived from values and beliefs.
Since the passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, only three Democrats have captured the White House—all of them natives of southern states. The ascendancy and reelection of Bill Clinton to the presidency is a prime example of this phenomenon, and although books have been published on the "native son" psychological variable in electoral contests, no work to date has investigated this aspect of Clinton's political career.
Covering all of Clinton's twenty-one elections to state and national offices, Hanes Walton Jr. explores one of the political success stories of our century, showing how Clinton's popularity in his southern home has had a profound influence on his national electoral dominance. Walton combines the native-son theory with the issue of race to describe how the Democrats have built a vital power base in the South, in large measure because of their popularity among African-American voters.
With an epilogue on the Monica Lewinsky scandal and its effect on the Democratic Party,
Reelection is a major contribution to the literature on the psychology of national elections at a time when its insight into the possibility of Democratic leadership into the next century is most critical.
Arvustused
Sophisticated and impressive. Journal of American Studies
Muu info
This is the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of Clinton as a native-son presidential candidate employing local, country, state, and national data to show how elections can be derived from values and beliefs.
Notes on a Native Son: A Foreword ix Frederick C. Harris Introduction xix Robert A. Brown Presidential Politics and the Native-Son Contextual Variable: A Prologue xxv Vincent C. Hutchings Preface xxxi Elections 1(22) PART ONE Epistemology and the Native-Son Candidate 23(36) Theory 27(22) Methodology 49(10) PART TWO The Political Context of a Native-Son Candidate 59(58) The Arkansas Electorate 67(22) The African American Electorate 89(28) PART THREE The Making of a Native-Son Candidate 117(48) The Congressional Vote for Clinton 119(14) The Attorney General Vote for Clinton 133(12) The Gubernatorial Vote for Clinton 145(20) PART FOUR The Southern Native-Son Presidential Candidate 165(44) The Presidential Vote for Clinton 169(18) The Regional Vote: Clinton and Carter 187(22) PART FIVE The Native-Son Candidate and the Democratic Party 209(44) The Democratic Party in Presidential Elections: The Native-Son Theory Revisited 215(22) Epilogue: Scandal, Public Support, and the Native-Son Variable 237(16) Appendix The Election Data: A Research Note 253(8) Notes 261(22) Bibliography 283(12) Index 295
Hanes Walton Jr. is professor of political science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has been a Guggenheim, Ford, and Rockefeller Fellow, and is the author of eleven previous books on elections, race, and African-American politics, including African-American Power and Politics (Columbia, 1997) and The Native-Son Presidential Candidate: The Carter Vote in Georgia.
