UI in the National Political News

May 2007

Squire Comments On Tancredo Immigration Stance (Chicago Tribune, May 31)
The longer the problem of illegal immigration lingers, the easier it will be for Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo of Colorado to serve as a GOP spoiler as his hard-line stance attracts voters feeling overwhelmed by their changing social landscape, said University of Iowa political science professor PEVERILL SQUIRE. "Here in Iowa, things have changed dramatically in the last two decades and it's probably caught a lot of Iowans by surprise," Squire said. "Tancredo talking in a way to suggest that some of these changes can be slowed down or even reversed, for some people, may be comforting." Link to article

Obama Unveils Health Care Plan At UI (New York Times, May 30)
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., proposed a major overhaul of the nation's health care system on Tuesday aimed at covering the nearly 45 million uninsured Americans and reducing premium costs for everyone else. Obama described his plan to an audience at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, invoking the memory of Medicare and arguing that the time had come to finish the work of Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. "It is simply not right that the skyrocketing profits of the drug and insurance industries are paid for by the skyrocketing premiums that come from the pockets of the American people," he said. Versions of the story also appeared on many other media Web sites, including the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, the LOS ANGELES TIMES, CNN.com, NPR.org and NEWSDAY, with an ASSOCIATED PRESS version appearing in the ARIZONA DAILY STAR, the DENVER POST, the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS and other newspapers. Link to article

Obama Workers Solicit Early Support (Chicago Sun Times, May 24)
Workers in Barack Obama's presidential campaign are handing out as many "Join Obama For Iowa" cards as possible. As University of Iowa political scientist DAVID REDLAWSK has determined from studies, encouraging people to sign a card in support of a candidate "adds a level of psychological commitment," and "once people have made a commitment, they say to themselves, 'I like candidate X,' and they become immune to negative information about candidate X." In fact, his research has shown "a little bit of negative information about someone you like makes you like them more. It becomes a sort of 'get your back up' effect." Redlawsk says the Obama people have been the most aggressive in trying to get Iowans to sign a support card. Link to article

Gronbeck Compares Obama To McCarthy And McGovern (Huntington News, May 23)
Political writers often compare Sen. Barack Obama to the Kennedys -- either to another wartime "change" candidate, the slain Robert F. Kennedy of 1968, or his brother, the assassinated President John F. Kennedy. BRUCE GRONBECK, director of the Center for Media Studies and Political Culture at the University of Iowa, prefers to compare Obama to a pair of 1970s Democrats: Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. "They both offered clear, value- and morality-based perspectives from which they hung their policies," and Obama is doing that now, Gronbeck says. The newspaper serves Huntington W.V. The article also appeared in the KITSAP SUN in Washington. Link to article

Redlawsk Comments On Thompson Gambling Questions (Winona Daily News, May 23)
A new report is resurrecting old questions about the handling of Wisconsin gambling projects by presidential candidate Tommy Thompson. According to DAVID REDLAWSK, a University of Iowa political science professor, the report could hurt Thompson as he tries to appeal to religious conservatives, many of whom strongly oppose gambling. Thompson's campaign is focusing almost exclusively on trying to win the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa. A new poll puts Thompson in fourth place among likely Republican caucus attendees. "You could see the potential for a double-whammy: People may see this as potentially corrupt and the group that Thompson needs to appeal to make some headway might be particularly attuned to this issue," Redlawsk said._ The Winona Daily News is based in Minnesota. This Associated Press article also appeared in the EAGLE HERALD of Marinette/Menominee, Wis. Link to article

Manning Studies Legislatures (Mankato Free Press, May 21)
An editorial promoting a nonpartisan legislature cites a study of the Minnesota legislature by UI political science faculty member ERIC MANNING showing that legislators elected on nonpartisan ballots often voted more for their districts and their own preferences versus party mandates than those elected on partisan ballots. Manning concluded: "Parties do have appreciable effect on the voting behavior of the legislators ... Without a strong party caucus system, the legislators are free to vote as they want or how their district wants them to vote." The Mankato Free Press is published in Minnesota. Link to article.

UI Studies Power Of Incumbency (Times-Reporter, May 20)
Getting elected to a first term greatly increases the chances of winning again. Since 1914, challengers have unseated U.S. House incumbents only about 4 percent of the time compared to 25 percent of challengers in U.S. Senate races winning in the same time period, according to a recent study by researchers with the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, University of Arizona and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Times-Reporter is published in Delaware. Link to article.

Squire Comments On Dodd Candidacy (Republican American, May 20)
U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd's presidential campaign fundraising has been a disappointment, according to this article. PEVERILL SQUIRE, professor of political science at the University of Iowa, said it "puts Dodd in the also-ran column." Squire thought Dodd would have a sizable fund considering "his wealth of connections within the Democratic establishment, the insurance industry of Connecticut" and his chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee. The Republican American is published in Connecticut. Link to article.

UI Professors Critique May 14 GOP Debate (Rocky Mountain News, May 15)
After watching the Republican presidential candidate debate on Fox News Monday, May 14, University of Iowa political science professors David Redlawsk, Peverill Squire and Bruce Gronbeck offered the Rocky Mountain News detailed critiques of the 10 GOP candidates. Link to article

Jones: Voting Machine Companies Will Comply With California Regs (Tri-Valley Herald, May 14)
California requires all vendors of automatic voting machines to submit their software for a security test, which only one company has agreed to do so far. However, analysts say that most companies will comply eventually. "Any vendor who said no to a state as big as California would be shooting themselves in the foot," said DOUGLAS JONES, a voting-system tester in Iowa and computer-science professor at the University of Iowa. "You can walk away from little states -- they've done it in Iowa -- but you can't do that with the big states. To walk away from them is basically to admit inadequacy.' The Herald is published in California. The same story was published in several other Bay Area newspapers. Link to article

Squire Comments On Perceptions Of Bush (Austin American-Statesman, May 14)
How is President Bush viewed, and how does that reflect on his home state? In Iowa, where Bush scored his first big win in the 2000 presidential campaign, University of Iowa political scientist PEVERILL SQUIRE said there is a Texas-related "sense that President Bush follows his convictions without giving much thought to the consequences. There is this notion of running off half-cocked." The Austin American-Statesman is published in Texas. Link to article

Gronbeck Comments On Federal Investigations (Fox News, May 13)
In the past month, the FBI raided businesses owned by two members of Congress, forcing the Republican representatives to step down from key committee assignments and join a growing number of lawmakers targeted and even jailed by aggressive federal investigations. "The whole notion of raiding government officials is probably a comparatively new type of battle" in the Justice Department's response to possible legislative branch corruption, said BRUCE GRONBECK of the University of Iowa. Link to article

Gronbeck Comments On D.C. Madam Scandal (Guardian, May 12)
The D.C. Madam scandal is, at its heart, about hypocrisy, this story asserts: It is about the Washington movers and shakers sweating out the prospect of Jeane Palfrey's court case. It is about the public face of a city whose political denizens exhort others to standards they clearly fail to meet themselves. "We think of ourselves as faithful to our Puritan founders, but the U.S. regularly loses its innocence with scandals like this," says BRUCE GRONBECK, an expert on political scandal at the University of Iowa. The Guardian is published in the UK. Link to article

Redlawsk Studied Voting Choices (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 12)
How do voters choose their candidates? How do they process all the political information that they are bombarded with so they can make intelligent choices during elections like next week's primaries? No one knows everything about how voters think and act, but Richard R. Lau and University of Iowa faculty member DAVID REDLAWSK wrote "How Voters Decide: Information Processing in Election Campaigns." The article is an interview with Lau. Link to article

Rocha Assesses Richardson Ads (Scripps News, May 11)
Comic ads are designed to convey New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's experience and his sense of humor to Iowans, said University of Iowa political science professor RENE ROCHA. "They are instrumental in establishing a biographical reference for Richardson, who remains relatively unknown among the general public and among Iowans," he said. "So to the extent they are successful in conveying that, they could be beneficial to the campaign." However, Richardson now has to take his credentials and turn them into votes, Rocha said. "Success in Iowa has always been about building a grass-roots organization." Link to article