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For nearly two decades congressional elections scholars have struggled to match individual-level findings for the pocketbook voting thesis with aggregate-level findings. Whereas strong and consistent support can be found for the pocketbook thesis in presidential elections with both individuallevel and aggregate-level data, significant support has been found for this thesis in U.S. House elections with aggregate-level data only. The typical individual-level congressional elections study examines a single election or series of single elections. We take an alternative approach. By pooling elections from 1980 to 1990, this inquiry demonstrates that retrospective pocketbook assessments indeed influence the individual's vote in congressional elections. The benefit this result brings to the elections literature is symmetry between the findings for presidential elections and congressional elections regarding the decision rule voters follow when weighing economic conditions when they vote.Although there is a lively debate in the elections literature over the decision rule voters follow in applying economic assessments in their voting decisions in presidential and congressional elections, there is actually more agreement than disagreement on how the economy influences the vote. At the aggregate level, evidence from both presidential (Tufte

Although women candidates for public office have experienced greater success recently, women candidates for executive offices are still considered to be a novelty in much of the country. This study examines the electoral impact of novelty status for female gubernatorial candidates. We propose that the novelty of female gubernatorial candidates negatively affects the level of support women candidates receive from voters and their likelihood of winning the gubernatorial election. We develop the concept of novelty status and test its impact on female gubernatorial candidates by examining female-male gubernatorial elections from 1980 to 2006. Our findings suggest that novelty status negatively impacts the success of women candidates for governor. These results are important as we continue to develop our understanding of the barriers women face when they seek elective office and how this situation might change when a woman's candidacy is no longer considered a novel event.KEYWORDS women candidates, novelty, elections, governor "When a woman candidate is no longer a novelty, the thinking goes, success becomes more likely." (Clift and Brazaitis 2000, 16) As the introductory quote suggests, when women are no longer thought of as unusual in the political world, we will see more women elected to political office. Some argue that women are not as much of a novelty as the statement

The dominance of rational choice‐inspired models of policy development, implementation, and evaluation has grown dramatically over the years as a challenge to traditional, pluralist politics. In this article, we analyze the theoretical foundations of the rational choice perspective and its criticism of pluralist politics. We explore the values inherent in the rational choice perspective and suggest that they feed into growing public cynicism about government and lead to a conservative policy agenda of less government. We then develop an unusual argument that the very tools of rational choice analysis and its values actually produce far more government involvement than expected. by examining school voucher programs. We conclude by making a case for pluralist politics as a more appropriate means for addressing the concerns of classical liberals and others about excessive government intrusion.