Even in the best of times, our own constitutional power-sharing arrangement is an invitation to struggle between the two branches. During an unpopular war, with deeply divided party government, and a lame duck president, the relationship is even more complex than usual. Our speaker describes the sources of Congress and the president with special focus on wartime relations. And, he as well suggests a way to systematically evaluate the performance of Congress.
James Thurber, Director, Center for Congressional & Presidential Studies - distinguished professor at American University School of Public Affairs in Washington, and founder/director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Dr. Newport goes in-depth with a scientific examination of Americans’ views, feelings, and projections about the 2008 presidential election -- the first since 1928 with no incumbent president or vice-president seeking his party’s nomination. From Hillary Clinton to Mitt Romney – who’s ahead and why? What are the issues driving the electorate? Based on tens of thousands of interviews already conducted this year, a long look at the election through the eyes of blacks, women, highly religious voters and the party faithful.
Frank Newport, Ph.D., Editor in Chief of the Gallup Poll - the best known and longest-running continuous monitor of American public opinion.
Former Congressman Charles Bass provides some personal musings and unique perspectives of the way Congress works in practice, and how this 226-year old institution survives, in some ways remarkably just as the Founding Fathers had envisioned it, and yet in others ways that would probably have appalled them. What are the issues Congress can deal with effectively, and where has it failed intractably?
Charlie Bass - third generation NH politician; 12 year former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from N.H., and now Director of The Republican Main Street Partnership.
Size of staff and its complexity have both expanded beyond our understanding, as has all the mythology surrounding them. Are these political ‘cronies,’ donors and hangers on, or the best of the truly dedicated professionals? What motivates, stimulates and frequently enervates them, and how does anything constructive really get done? Two expert practitioners tell it from the inside, warts and all, and the audience gets to guide the discussion with everything you’ve always wanted
to know...but were afraid to ask.
Bill Kurtz - Chief of Staff for former Senator Jim Jeffords. Bill has run the Senator’s re-election campaign; and then the Washington office for this key political figure.
Geoff Brown - Legislative Director of the National Environmental Trust, following ten years of service in the U.S. Senate, as Legislative Director and Senior Policy Advisor on the Environment and Public Works.
Congressional candidates will raise more than $1 billion for their political campaigns in 2008, a drive that some see as an unending money chase that has blurred the line between campaigning and governing. Why so much emphasis on fundraising? What effect has it had on the quality of representation in Congress? Our lecturer examines trends in elections and the role of money in the political process, particularly in recent decades.
Anthony Corrado - author, editor and leading national expert on campaign finance and elections. Colby College (ME) Professor of American Politics and Political Theory.
Gerrymandering is the political tool abused by majorities to draw political boundaries for electoral advantage. Racial gerrymandering has now been successfully litigated, however recent state legislatures have increasingly redistricted for patently partisan reasons. Furthermore, even the most egregious examples of partisan redistricting have been upheld by the courts, because Supreme Court standards have provided almost no basis for determining harm to the voters. Do we voters have an electoral system where people select their representatives or where partisans select their voters?
Charles Weed - Professor of Political Science at Keene State College, and Vice Chair of the New Hampshire House election law committee, a student of gerrymandering, its uses and excesses.
The framers, distrustful of human nature, decided to keep government power separated in a sophisticated system of checks and balances and overlapping power. Dispersing power in this fashion was a means of avoiding the inevitable abuse that comes with concentrating it. Sadly, this delicate system is in feeble shape today because Congress has lost the appetite, the will, and the institutional understanding to protect itself. But what does this portend for a constitutional government like our own?
Lou Fisher - Specialist in constitutional law, with 36 years at the Congressional Research Service, now at the Law Library
of the Library of Congress. A prodigious author and frequent invitee at many Congressional hearings.
A number of strongly qualified candidates are currently running for President. The front-runners are well funded, successful to date, with each vying for the all-important primary votes in New Hampshire, Iowa, California and a raft of other states. To give us their perspective on Congress, we have invited three of them to join us in concluding this series on yet another high note, and we are hopeful that one will see the unique opportunity of speaking at ILEAD. But it’s a tough competition, with fund- raising competing for scheduling time with actual vote solicitation. Although it is simply too early for any of them to have agreed to attend, our collective fingers are crossed.
