Many perhaps remember the presidential election in 2008, but doubt many pay much attention as to how the candidates end up in that level of election. The process starts with nominations, obviously and of course there are campaigns created to boost up the election votes but they must win the trust of the voters, beginning with their own people. Everything begins in the representation of a member, first in their districts. “Members of the House and Senate are expected to be representatives of their constituents back home” (Smith, 30). There are different types of representation style. Hill style is a type of representation style that tells you how members fulfill their campaign promises. An example of a hill style is an issue on water conservation and the promise to fix that problem because it is the way in which a member directly represents or gives back to their districts. The real question, however, is how do members present themselves in their districts? This type of question is the home style, the other type of representation style. Home style is not in the United States Constitution therefore it is not a formal structure, but an informal behavior of members. There is always a chance that members could possible present themselves differently in the district level than in the Congress. Evidently the member should be representing the district they were from and emphasize that scheme. The following video is the Tennessee 6th House District Race Profile and the mid-term elections where the state senator, Diane Black, who is a Republican, is running against Democrat Brett Carter.
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/296077-1
This video exposes an example of home style perfectly because it shows that the running U.S. House candidate for R-Tennessee of the 6th District, Diane Black, is everything that can relate to the people in her district. In the Concentric Circles of Constituency by Richard Fenno, there are four levels of the home style representation. The video on the Tennessee 6th House District Profile, both of the candidates showed the usage of the stages. In the personal level, the candidates must gain strongest political friends, encircled by a larger group of constituents who support the member in the primary election. Those become the candidates’ personal constituencies. The primary level is the constituency that gets you elected and can possibly be larger. The re-election level is where the constituency is expanded. Finally, the candidates represent the entire district in the geographical level.
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/296077-1
This video exposes an example of home style perfectly because it shows that the running U.S. House candidate for R-Tennessee of the 6th District, Diane Black, is everything that can relate to the people in her district. In the Concentric Circles of Constituency by Richard Fenno, there are four levels of the home style representation. The video on the Tennessee 6th House District Profile, both of the candidates showed the usage of the stages. In the personal level, the candidates must gain strongest political friends, encircled by a larger group of constituents who support the member in the primary election. Those become the candidates’ personal constituencies. The primary level is the constituency that gets you elected and can possibly be larger. The re-election level is where the constituency is expanded. Finally, the candidates represent the entire district in the geographical level.
Diane Black was currently the state senator and is obviously very well familiar with politics. She is from Tennessee and representing her state. Because she was a former nurse, she is able to use her medical knowledge to go against the Obama Care as well as to try to appeal against the legislation. The people in her district that she represents connect with her in this issue. This video also exemplifies the descriptive representation instead of substantive. Substantive asks whether the member can still represent their district even if the member does not look like it. However, Diane Black does look like her district and can relate to them since she is a woman and a working mother. Descriptive representation asks if the legislative body look like the representative. For example, does the legislative body have women or does it have minorities? Those must have the same percentage. Diane Black is a representation of most women in her district because she can relate to the mothers, grandmothers and any other women in her district in which exemplify the descriptive type of representation.
Another example that is shown in the video of the descriptive representation is Diane Blacks’ opponent, Brett Carter. Because Brett Carter is like the average Joe, he therefore is like everyone else. Brett Carter was a “nobody” that worked his way up to be known and be heard by the voters in his district. He did everything to make sure he has the chance to win even though he went against Ben Leming whom has every chance to win, especially his recognition in the military. All Brett Carter did was attracting voters with his connection to them as well as tried to avoid the “politician image.” However, Ben Leming has some disadvantages because he is fairly new to the politician life with not much experiences and he is not very familiar with it. All he has going for him are his concerns for his voters and support from them.
Both of the candidates gave great examples of the hill style representation as well. They both made speeches saying how they can fulfill their campaign promises to the people both concerning money spending issues. Yes, Diane Black emphasized her concern on the Obama Care but she also mentioned the ridiculousness of the government spending when it comes to the health care issue.
The video also shows the norms of behavior in the Congress that is unwritten and learned within the Congress. Everybody has to start somewhere. One important factor is the money issue because money gets recognition. Notice that in the video, the candidates did not emphasize their party identification because they only do that in the highly homogenous party districts. Also, one of the factors in the candidate selection is the quality candidates. There are amateurs, career politicians, and incumbents. Most candidates running usually already had a lot accomplished such as their professions. For example, Diane Black was already a business owner, an educator and a nurse. She had already built up her recognition as well as legitimacy to run. The most important of all is the fact that she already has the money to begin with. In terms of self-recruitment, Diane Black would be considered a professional because of her previous career accomplishments. She was already a well-off candidate that can do funding for her campaign herself. Brett Carter, however, would be considered not so much as an amateur because he is somewhat knowledgeable of politics therefore he would be a self-starter because he was a person that nobody knew about until he became somebody that everybody can relate to. This shows the legitimacy of their representation to their district. Another factor that could affect the members’ representation is the quality challenger. Questions such as whether the member is attractive to the voters, skilled at representation and reliability with the voters, capability in money raising, and perhaps previously had a position in the office. In terms of the considering Diane Black and Brett Carter’s credibility using their past familiarity of politics, Diane Black is more credible that Brett Carter because Carter is inexperience.
Career patterns within the politics consist of life cycle changes. In the beginning, members are not as aggressive because they are just trying to hold just enough votes. Eventually expansionism occurs and it is constructed on fundamental constituency. Members in this stage are aggressive because they need to make sure that they win the re-election and need to find a way to boost up the re-election in the second round. In the re-election stage, perks with the office come with the package. Voters will eventually start asking what the members have done for them lately.
Members usually eventually retire. Under their personal goals, they retire either after a defeat from the re-election or after they announce their retirement. Voters look at many aspects of the members’ life such as marriages, scandals, and even residency whether they come home often or not. This shows whether the member represent the voters if “they are like us.” The next video shows Paul Kanjorski’s personal goals when he talks about his Congressional career.
In the case of Senator Paul Kanjorski, as seen on video, the Pennsylvania Democrat lost his bid for 14th term to a Republican. He is not coming back to Congress because of a defeat. This decision came from the voter’s choice and not a retirement option. According to Senator Kanjorski himself, he does not perceive this decision as a rejection but rather a great opportunity he had experience in the last thirteen terms. Like the other career politicians, Senator Kanjorski was already an accomplished lawyer before he held an office and a good amount of fortune to start with to go to Washington.
In the political process, the system can change and this change means an end to the political process for some members. The next video shows the retirement announcement of Evan Bayh of Indiana back in 2010 and the reaction of the people and the Congress.
In this video, Evan Bayh announced his retirement from the Senate. The speech seemed like an advertisement of all the accomplishments he had done before and during his term. The speech almost seemed as if he is making a campaign speech all over again. Evan Bayh is moreover complaining about the Congress in which the reason why he is leaving because he is aggravated by the system.
Representation is very important when it comes to being a politician, especially for a member of the Congress. Representation reflects whether the candidates will get the votes they need because they need to “look like their districts” if they are representing them.
References:
Smith, Steven S. Jason M. Roberts. Ryan J. Vander Wielen. The American Congress. Cambrigdge, NY. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print
C-SPAN Video Library. (November 19, 2010). Congressional Career of Paul Kanjorski. Retrieved from http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/296698-1
C-SPAN Video Library. (October 18, 2010). Tennessee 6th House District Profile. Retrieved from http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/296077-1
C-SPAN Video Library. (February 16, 2010). Open Phones. Retrieved from http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/292097-2&start=332
