Nearly 20 students still have no participation points in this class.  Participation is worth 20% of the grade.  Participation can be accomplished in class or students can send in comments.  You will find discussion topics listed in the posting prior to this one which changed the order of the classes.  You will need four participations to achieve your 20% for participation.  Participations will not be accepted on May 8, so in order to get credit students must provide at least four comments before then.  Again, comments can be verbal--in class--or they can be by e-mail.  If by e-mail, send the comment to dhope@sass.cla.umn.edu with a copy to wspano@polisci.umn.edu.   Here is the link to the study guide for the final exam

PAPER, READING AND DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENTS

Fifth Short Paper Assignment

Due April 17.

You know how to access lots of stories about the presidential election (govote.com or newyorktimes.com or any other newspapers or groups you can find). Using your sources, describe how either George Bush or Al Gore plans to win the election. What issues will they stress? What will they do (or what have they done) to differentiate themselves from each other?

There's a column in the April 6 St. Paul Pioneer Press by Darrell West about this subject, which you might find helpful. Go to www.pioneerplanet.com. Once there, click on news archives on the bottom left part of the page. Go to Thursday April 6 and click on "Opinion."

Readings: Chapter 11 and Federalist #10 . Both are in the text, Federalist #10 in the Appendix, p. 730. We'll talk about the various kinds of interest groups and the methods they use to attempt to influence policy. And we'll spend a fair amount of time on the theories of interest groups, e.g. the pluralist, elite, and hyperpluralist theories, which you'll be expected to remember.

Discussion topic: we'll talk about interest groups that you or your parents or friends belong to and what you know about them.

Last short paper due.

The Presidency.

Readings: Chapter 13 in the text. You'll need to read and understand Berber's typology of presidents, covered in chapter 13. We'll talk about the last few presidents and the current candidates to see where they fit in the typology. We'll also have a guest: someone who's worked on national presidential campaigns and can talk about the process of getting elected. We'll also make sure you understand the powers a president has and can describe those. All we've done on the primary should make this an interesting class.

Discussion topic: was Bill Clinton a good president or a bad one? How do we decide that?

The Courts

Readings: Chapter 16 We'll have a federal court judge come to class to talk about the politics of judicial selection, that is how did her/his name get in the mix and end up being nominated by the president and approved by Congress? Powerful courts, like ours in America, are quite unusual in democracies. Is it a good idea to have people with so much power appointed for life? Is it undemocratic to not allow citizens to vote on judges? We'll also discuss judicial activism vs judicial restraint. What do those terms really mean?

Discussion topic: we'll talk about the pros and cons of electing judges. Do you think we should elect judges so we can keep track of them?

Long Papers Due.

Congress.

Reading: Chapter 12 in the text. We'll have U.S. Congressman Jim Ramstad join us to discuss his job. Should Congress members be representatives or instructed delegates? And what's the difference? We'll talk about Congress' organization and how it is they do (or don't) translate voter preferences into meaningful public policy.

Discussion topic: we'll have a discussion with Congressman Ramstad.

Final Exam.

IMPORTANT NOTICE...DISCUSSION IS WORTH 20% OF GRADE

DISCUSSION POLICY IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 1001-3
POSTED MARCH 24, 2000

During the class Monday, March 20, we reviewed our discussion policy. As stated in the syllabus for the class, participation in discussion is worth 20% of the total grade. Some students said that the class was too large for discussion and the requirement should be dropped. After the discussion about discussion near consensus was reached on these guidelines for discussion grades:

1. Students need to participate at least four times in discussions in order to receive the maximum 20%. You can participate more than once per class period. Comments will not be qualitatively evaluated.
   
   
2. Students may submit written discussion points in place of verbal discussions, but they need to be handed in or e-mailed after class and should relate to the discussion held during that period.
   
   
3. If students feel they have participated in discussions more than is indicated on the record of discussions, they should see Teaching Assistant Dan Hope at the exam on April 3. He will have an up-to-date list of participations at that time.
   
   
4. There are four more discussion periods before the end of the year: April 10, 17, 24 and May 1. Each of these will be broken into two groups with Teaching Assistant Matt Weidenfeld leading one and Wy Spano the other. Students may earn discussion points outside discussion periods, for example by asking questions of our visiting Congressman (on April 10) and Judge (on April 17).

FINAL PAPER INFORMATION

I have been asked for some additional information relative to the final papers. They are due on May 1, the week before the final test.

As stated in the syllabus, the papers are supposed to be about a candidate in the primaries. Students are expected to focus on a single candidate and describe why that candidate has done well (or poorly) in the primaries. Most of the internet research for this subject can be accomplished through use of the non-partisan website, www.govote.com. You are, of course, free to use other resources, including the websites of the candidates in question or his opponents, etc.

Try to understand why things happened as they did. If Bush is your candidate, why did he lose in New Hampshire, yet win overall? If Bradley is your candidate, why didn't he do better in the Super Tuesday primaries?

You'll be helped if you can find some newspaper accounts on the web which answer the same question you're trying to answer. But don't copy what's been written. If you want to quote an article, put quote marks around the part you're quoting and cite the author and publication, e.g. "George W. Bush's campaign wasn't well organized in New Hampshire," said John Jones, in the March 1 New York Times. If you're not quoting, but totally using someone else's ideas, stipulate that, e.g. Reporter John Jones in the March 1 New York Times said campaign organization was George W. Bush's main problem in New Hampshire and I agree with that assessment.

Try to get a number of stories about the campaign and the candidate so you'll have varying views of what happened and you'll be able to evaluate between them.

EXAM ON APRIL 3

The second mid-term exam will be administered on Monday, April 3. We will begin at 6:30 P.M. There are 90 questions. At 8:00 P.M. we will pick up any tests remaining and redistribute them so that they may be graded. Between 8 and about 8:20 P.M. we'll go over the answers and ask you to mark the questions which are wrong on whoever's test your scoring. You can take a 10 minute break at 8:20 P.M. while the prof and T.A.'s record the results and calculate a quick distribution so you can see where you fall. At 8:35 you can have your test back to see if you agree with the grading. We'll ask you to hand the tests back in once your satisfied yours is graded properly. You should be able to leave about 8:40 P.M.

Click here for STUDY GUIDE

Short Paper assignments for March 13 and March 27; Precinct Caucus Paper or Immigration and Gun Control Papers:Students have two options for the short paper assignments due March 13 and March 20.

• One option is to attend a precinct caucus and write a short paper about it. That will be worth two short papers. Click for additional information on option one.



• The other option is to write one short paper on immigration and turn it in on March 13 and to write another short paper on gun control websites and turn it in on March 20. Click for additional information on option two.

Short paper assignment due Monday, February 28, 2000:The most critical period in the presidential primaries is at hand. The race is essentially down to two Republicans, Bush and McCain, and two Democrats, Gore and Bradley. In a brief one-two page paper, compare and contrast the websites of either the Republican candidates, Bush and McCain, or the Democratic candidates, Gore and Bradley. You can find the websites at www.govote.com. Remember, you're only talking about two websites, not all four. What do you like and dislike about the sites? How are they structured to appeal to voters?

STUDY GUIDE FOR FIRST MID-TERM EXAM TO BE GIVEN FEB. 21

Assignment for Monday, February 21, 2000:during the first hour there will be a test, the first mid-term, worth 15 percent of your grade.  The study guide for this test is above.  After the test, we will exchange papers and correct the test.  After that, we will complete the discussion of civil rights and have a discussion about affirmative action--the discussion we didn't have time for on Feb. 14.

Assignment for Monday, February 14, 2000:One to two page paper on any of the candidates involved in the New Hampshire primary.  What happened to the candidate in the primary?  More importantly, why did it happen?  What does it mean for their future?  You can get background for this on www.govote.com.

Discussion Topic for Monday, February 14, 2000:The modern outgrowth of the civil rights movement is affirmative action, which means special efforts to bring about increased employment and educational opportunities for groups previously affected by discrimination.  There are affirmative action programs involving racial, disability and gender groups.  Some argue that affirmative action is the only way to insure fairness in our society.  Others say affirmative action is inherently unfair.  What's your take?

Assignment for Monday, January 31, 2000:  Read chapters 1 and 2 from the text.  Log on to www.govote.com and take the short issues test.  This will give you the name of the presidential candidate closest to your views.  Be prepared to discuss that candidate.  To provide some discussion material, you may wish to forage around in www.govote.com looking at reports on the Iowa caucuses and the prospects for the New Hampshire primary.