Overcoming One‐Party Dominance

How Contextual Politics and West Virginia Helped Put George Bush in the White House

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12805109
AutoresLawrence J Grossback (autor correspondente), Allan S Hammock
Ano2003
Volume31
Fascículo3
Páginas406-431
Data de publicação2003-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitics & Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1555-5623 • E-ISSN: 1747-1346
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1747-1346.2003.tb00155.x
OpenAlexW2052724688
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas13

In West Virginia it is often said that coal is king. If so, the Democratic Party and organized labor serve as its princess. West Virginia had voted Republican in presidential contests on only three occasions since 1932. If there ever was a one‐party state, West Virginia was it. Yet in 2000, Republican George Bush won the state, thus securing five electoral votes—one more than his eventual margin of victory. This article looks at how this victory came about in light of scholarly questions about how national campaigns select issues on which to campaign in targeted states and how a dominant party can be overcome through such efforts. We propose an answer to these questions that is rooted in the contextual theory of electoral politics and test this theory against qualitative data taken from local and national media and quantitative data in the form of county level election returns

Archaeology · Art history · Biology · Dominance (genetics · George (robot · House of Representatives · Political science · Politics · West virginia · White (mutation · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · History · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration