With the People's Consent: Howard Baker Leads the Senate 1977-1984

by Michael P. Bobic

Overview

With the People’s Consent explores Howard Baker’s ability to lead the United States Senate at a time when it was divided by partisanship and ideology. This book features a quantitative analysis of Senate leadership through roll call analysis, an evaluation of the advantages and difficulties in roll call data, and a discussion of data used to evaluate Baker’s leadership in the 95th to 98th Congress. With the People’s Consent addresses how the current instability of the Senate could be improved by looking toward Baker’s own success during a tumultuous time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761865001
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	11/24/2014
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael P. Bobic is an assistant professor of political science at Glenville State College. In addition to American politics and campaigns, he is also interested in American folklore and political allegory.

Table of Contents

List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Howard Baker and Leadership in the United States Senate
Chapter 2: Defining Terms and Approaches to Analyzing Roll Calls
Chapter 3: Modeling Baker’s Leadership in the Senate
Chapter 4: Howard Baker in the 95th Congress: Leading through Cooperation
Chapter 5: Howard Baker in the 96th Congress: Leading a Divided Senate
Chapter 6: Howard Baker as Majority Leader:Leadership through Coordination
Conclusions
Appendix A:The Clustering Method9
Appendix B: Explaining Poor Performance of the NOMINATE Measure
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Bobic’s With the People’s Consent is a study of Howard Baker’s leadership in the Senate from 1977 to 1984. Most scholars of the Senate find that party leaders have little ability to shape legislative outcomes because the Senate’s individualistic rules require the accommodation of other members. .. Bobic evaluates Baker’s leadership through a series of statistical models analyzing the record of roll call votes on the Senate floor. He uses the results to argue that members who voted with Baker did so because of something he did rather than because of their underlying preferences or other reasons.. . .Summing Up: Recommended. Research collections.

CHOICE

Bobic’s With the People’s Consent is a study of Howard Baker’s leadership in the Senate from 1977 to 1984. Most scholars of the Senate find that party leaders have little ability to shape legislative outcomes because the Senate’s individualistic rules require the accommodation of other members . . . Bobic evaluates Baker’s leadership through a series of statistical models analyzing the record of roll call votes on the Senate floor. He uses the results to argue that members who voted with Baker did so because of something he did rather than because of their underlying preferences or other reasons. . . .Summing Up: Recommended. Research collections.

Choice

At once a fascinating look at the style of a unique Senate leader and the most thorough guide to the empirical analysis of Congressional voting behavior available. No one interested in either should neglect this work.

Michael Berheide

With the People’s Consent is a careful, painstaking empirical analysis performed by a political scientist, and done to ascertain whether Baker’s positions “created statistically measurable changes in voting patterns.

Stan Buchanan

Bobic’s With the People’s Consent is a study of Howard Baker’s leadership in the Senate from 1977 to 1984. Most scholars of the Senate find that party leaders have little ability to shape legislative outcomes because the Senate’s individualistic rules require the accommodation of other members. .. Bobic evaluates Baker’s leadership through a series of statistical models analyzing the record of roll call votes on the Senate floor. He uses the results to argue that members who voted with Baker did so because of something he did rather than because of their underlying preferences or other reasons.. . .Summing Up: Recommended. Research collections.

Choice Reviews

The most significant contribution of this book is that it links its statistical analysis to previous case studies and biographies of Howard Baker. In that effort it supports the proposition that Howard Baker was a highly effective leader during extraordinarily difficult times. With Baker’s passing this year, this book could not have come at a better time to offer lessons to current and future leaders on how to effectively lead the Senate without damaging the institution and its deliberative nature.

William Eric Davis