Who Runs for the Legislature?

Gary F. Moncrief, Peverill Squire, Malcolm Edwin Jewell

Prentice Hall, 2001 - Political Science - 130 pages

This is the first comprehensive book on state legislative candidates in almost 30 years. Based on extensive interviews with over 600 candidates--"traditional" and "non- traditional"--in 8 states, it is exciting and easy to read and not only reveals the inner-workings of the campaign process, but provides an in-depth look at what motivates "ordinary" people to seek office. Focuses on non-incumbants and features a series of in-depth "Candidate Profiles." Candidacy as Political Participation. The Context of Recruitment and Candidacy. The Agents of Recruitment. The Candidate and the Campaign. The Road Less Traveled: Women, Minorities and Third Party Candidates. Candidates and the Quality of Civil Life. For anyone interested in State Government, Legislative Politics, Elections, and Campaigns.

Contents

• The Costs and Benefits of Being a State Legislator: 4
• Overview of this Book: 13
• The Context of Recruitment and Candidacy: 19
• Political Ambition Rational Actors and Strategic Politicians: 29
• Conclusion: 45
• Chapter: 10
• The Agents of Recruitment: 51
• Recruiting by Interest Groups: 70
• Contacting the Voters: 86
• The Recruitment of Minority Candidates: 105
• Chapter: 6
• Candidates and the Quality of Civic Life: 116

About the author

Gary F. Moncrief is professor of political Science at Boise State University.

Peverill Squire, Ph.D., University of Iowa
Peverill Squire is professor of political science at the University of Iowa, where he has served as chair of the department. Professor Squire received his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1990, he was a visiting professor at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan, where he taught a course on American politics. During the 1999-2000 academic year, Professor Squire was a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, holding the John Marshall Chair in Political Science at the Budapest (Hungary) University of Economic Sciences.

Jewell is professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky. He has written, cowritten, or contributed to many books on legislative government and state-level politics and has been the recipient of numerous research grants. He is former president of the Midwest Political Science Association, the Southern Political Science Association, and the Kentucky Political Science Association.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Who Runs for the Legislature?; Real politics in America
• Authors: Gary F. Moncrief, Peverill Squire, Malcolm Edwin Jewell
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2001
• ISBN: 0130266086, 9780130266088
• Length: 130 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / General