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Over more than four decades, debate scholarship has addressed the auspices under which debates are conducted, debate formats, variables in news coverage, and debate’s influence on issue knowledge and candidate support across a wide range of audiences, primarily through examination of general election presidential debates in the United States. Primary debates and debates for other offices have received far less attention. While evidence strongly suggests that debates produce more acclaims than attacks from participants and attend more closely to policy than to character, a systematic understanding of performance and performance variables has eluded debate scholarship. Evidence does show that viewers learn from debates and that they can also influence the formation of opinions about candidates, although both phenomena depend to some extent on prior knowledge and partisanship.

George W. Bush has issued hundreds of "signing statements" objecting to select provisions of legislation that he has nonetheless signed into law. While signing statements have been used by previous presidents, President Bush's signing statements are unique in their volume, their frequent lack of specificity, and the breadth of the power that they claim for the executive branch. His statements undermine the deliberative exchange between the president and the Congress mandated for traditional veto messages and sustained in most signing statements prior to the 43rd presidency. In doing so, they imperil the prospect for effective legislative oversight, particularly in areas related to national security and, by extension, the Iraq war.

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