Books about Congressional from Amazon.com

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann are outrage—and you should be, too!

• Half of all illegal immigrants came into this country legally—and we have no way of knowing they're still here!
• Congressmen are putting their wives on their campaign payrolls!
• The UN is a cover for massive corruption!
• Drug companies pay off doctors to write scrips—whether we need them or not!
• Teachers unions block the firing of bad teachers—and battle against higher education standards!
• Katrina victims are being stiffed by their insurance companies!
• Special interests cost our consumers $45 billion through trade quotas that save only a handful of jobs!

Unaware of these abuses? It's not surprising since the mainstream media don't talk about them. Too many powerful people are working very hard to cover them up. But in Outrage, New York Times bestselling authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann give you the cold, hard facts you won't read about anywhere else—and offer tough, common-sense proposals on how to fight the special interests of the left and right . . . so we can start making these outrageous inequities things of the past!

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Price: $8.54 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Brought completely up-to-date with the latest data from the National Election Study and the Federal Election Commission, and including coverage and analysis of the dramatic 2006 midterm elections, this seminal work continues to offer a systematic account of what goes on in congressional elections and demonstrates how electoral politics reflect and shape other components of the political system, with profound consequences for representative government.

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Price: $47.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Congress is the first branch of government in the American system, write Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, but now it is a broken branch, damaged by partisan bickering and internal rancor. The Broken Branch offers both a brilliant diagnosis of the cause of Congressional decline and a much-needed blueprint for change, from two experts who understand politics and revere our institutions, but believe that Congress has become deeply dysfunctional.
Mann and Ornstein, two of the nations most renowned and judicious scholars of government and politics, bring to light the historical roots of Congress's current maladies, examining 40 years of uninterrupted Democratic control of the House and the stunning midterm election victory of 1994 that propelled Republicans into the majority in both House and Senate. The byproduct of that long and grueling but ultimately successful Republican campaign, the authors reveal, was a weakened institution bitterly divided between the parties. They highlight the dramatic shift in Congress from a highly decentralized, committee-based institution into a much more regimented one in which party increasingly trumps committee. The resultant changes in the policy process--the demise of regular order, the decline of deliberation, and the weakening of our system of checks and balances--have all compromised the role of Congress in the American Constitutional system. Indeed, Speaker Dennis Hastert has unabashedly stated that his primary responsibility is to pass the president's legislative program--identifying himself more as a lieutenant of the president than a steward of the house. From tax cuts to the war against Saddam Hussein to a Medicare prescription drug benefit, the legislative process has been bent to serve immediate presidential interests and have often resulted in poorly crafted and stealthily passed laws. Strong majority leadership in Congress, the authors conclude, led not to a vigorous exertion of congressional authority but to a general passivity in the face of executive power.
A vivid portrait of an institution that has fallen far from the aspirations of our Founding Fathers, The Broken Branch highlights the costs of a malfunctioning Congress to national policymaking, and outlines what must be done to repair the damage..
Price: $12.34 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Praised for combining solid empirical research with real-world politics, Paul Herrnson provides a thorough and balanced assessment of congressional campaigns and elections. Arguing that successful candidates actually run two campaigns one for votes, the other for resources Congressional Elections shows how this dual strategy affects not only who wins individual races, but who impacts representation in Congress more broadly, and ultimately the entire electoral system. Using campaign data, original survey research, and hundreds of interviews with candidates and political insiders, Herrnson systematically analyzes candidate, party, and PAC strategies to give students a feel for how these crucial avenues of political influence converge. Case studies of individual campaigns are woven throughout to paint vivid portraits of real people raising money, giving speeches, serving constituents, and tackling important policy issues. New coverage and analysis include:

• the 2006 campaign and election results, including the impact the national parties had on the outcomes of individual races;
• the Democrats winning control over the House and Senate;
• the effects of the war in Iraq and political corruption on candidates' issue positioning;
• the role of the Internet in waging political campaigns;
• the use of outside campaigning, advocacy ads, and grassroots activities to influence election outcomes.

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Price: $39.96 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $19.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Well-known scholars and practitioners of Congressional-Presidential relations come together to explore both branches of government and what unites as well as divides them. Highlights include chapters on budgetary politics in a time of deep deficit, the impacts of campaign message and election mandates, veto bargaining, and the making of U.S. foreign policy over four decades. Case studies of budget battles, trade wars, and the war in Iraq lend concrete detail to political theory. First-hand experience on the Hill and in the Oval Office--and everywhere in between--is reflected in each chapter. Visit our website for sample chapters!.
Price: $10.27 [Notify me when price goes down.]