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Congressional Activity Summary

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Congressional Activity As it is suggested by the title of the article, Presentation of Partisanship: Constituency Connections and Partisan Congressional Activity by Scott R. Meinke, House members play an imperative role by informing their constituents in regards to the work the members partake in partisan Washington D.C., the nation’s capital. Going into depth, this article challenges and explores the extent of the choice to which the House members “relate their involvement in partisan Washington activity to constituency representation.” (Meinke 854) In essence, Meinke, within the article, discusses that many members of the House involve themselves with committees and higher chair positions within those committees, as well as whip networks …show more content…

Meinke uses this list so that he can examine the 107th, 109th, and the 110th Congresses. Meinke observes self-presentation choices on approximately 160 extended leaders from each of the three Congresses. Meinke uses the official websites of each of these members so that he may see how each members’ presentation of self, the behavior exhibiting a member’s stance and accomplishments on an issue, and style of communication for the public to availably see. What Meinke intends to find on each member’s website are the following: explicit claims of position that the member is holding as well as the explanations of their role in that position. According to Meinke’s findings, there was a a large variation in the extent to which members actually advertise their partisan work. The differentiators that account for the variation are the parties and Congress. Meinke then deduces from the information that the majority party in Congress exhibits a significant substantial number of members that advertise their partisan activity — “…majority party status—and possibly the strength of the party brand name—is associated with the choice.” (Meinke 860) Meinke also discovers that the stronger the partisan base (measured by same-party presidential vote), there is a more

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