Quality Counts
Extending the Strategic Politician Model of Incumbent Deterrence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6230278 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Walter J Stone (0000-0001-5706-1232), L Sandy Maisel, Cherie D Maestas, Cherie Maestas (0000-0001-7443-7772) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 479 |
| Publication date | 2004-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1519911 |
| OpenAlex | W4251322468 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 95 |
| References cited | 39 |
Competitive elections are essential to representative democracy. Competition in U.S. House elections is low in part because incumbents have strategic advantages that deter strong potential candidates from running. Many observers conclude that incumbents retain their seats without full accountability to the electorate, but the mechanisms of deterrence have never been fully explored from the perspective of strong potential candidates. Based on a survey of potential House candidates designed to capture perceptions of incumbents' personal quality and reelection prospects, we find strong evidence for the “strategic politicians” thesis (Black 1972; Jacobson and Kernell 1983). We extend the logic of the strategic model first by showing that incumbents' reelection prospects are affected by their personal quality and second by demonstrating that incumbents' personal qualities deter strong challengers from running, independent of their electoral prospects. Our findings prompt us to suggest revisions to our understanding of competition and representation in contemporary House elections
Accountability · Business · Competition (biology · Democracy · Deterrence theory · Economics · Microeconomics · Perception · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Public relations · Quality (philosophy · Representation (politics · Strategic interaction · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Psychology
Tax Policy, Tax Competition, and Fiscal Rules
Candidates and Voters
The American Congress
Opting Out of Congress
The Qualifications Gap
It Takes a Candidate
Presidential approval, party brands, and candidate quality in U.S. national elections
Assessing the “Experience Bonus” Through Examining Strategic Entry, Candidate Quality, and Campaign Receipts in U.S. House Elections
Preventing leaders' autocratic entrenchment by exponential super-majority threshold escalators
(Sympathy for) the Devil You Know
Richer Parties, Better Politics? Party-Centered Campaign Finance Laws and American Democracy
Judicial Selection and the Democratization of Justice
Outsiders among outside groups? Campaign advertising and the electability of female US House candidates
Voters Don't Care Much About Incumbency
Uncontested Primaries
Do Quality Candidates and Incumbents Still Matter in the Partisan World? Comparing Trends and Relationship Between Candidate Differentials and Congressional Election Outcomes, 1900–2022
Candidate B-Roll as Super PAC Subsidy
The California Voting Rights Act and Uncontested City Council Seats
Nevertheless, He Persisted
Vote Choices and Valence
Party Nomination Strategies in Flexible-List PR
Recruiting, Grooming, and Reaping the Rewards
Gender, risk assessment, and political ambition
Los presidentes latinoamericanos y las características de la democracia
Qualidade Da Classe Política
Playing politics with traffic fines
An Ordinal Item Response Model for Understanding Attitudes
Policy-seeking candidates who value the valence attributes of the winner
What’s a losing party to do? The calculus of contesting state legislative elections
Pay for politicians and campaign spending
A preferential attachment model of campaign contributions in state legislative elections
Editor’s Choice
The Multidimensional Disadvantages of Centrist Parties in Western Europe
The Neglected Role and Variability of Party Intercepts in the Spatial Valence Approach
Selection and Sanctioning in European Parliamentary Elections
Divisive Primaries and Incumbent General Election Performance
Incumbency Reconsidered
Constituency Congruency and Candidate Competition in Primary Elections for the U.S. House
Explaining Major and Third Party Candidate Entry in U.S. Gubernatorial Elections, 1980–2005
Yo prefiero al corrupto el perfil de los ciudadanos que eligen políticos deshonestos pero competentes
Time Spent in the House
National Party Efforts to Recruit State Legislators to Run for the U.S. House
Female Candidates’ Incumbency and Quality (Dis)Advantage in Local Elections
The effect of candidate electoral experience on ballot placement in list proportional representation systems
Electoral Selection, Strategic Challenger Entry, and the Incumbency Advantage
Ideological Moderates Won’t Run
The Primary Path for Turning Legislative Effectiveness into Electoral Success
When Candidates Value Good Character
Candidates Matter
Intersectional Opportunities
The Good, the Bad and the Winner
Uncontested Seats Phenomenon
Gendered Candidate Emergence in Britain
Incumbent-Quality Advantage and Counterfactual Electoral Stagnation in the US Senate
How Much of the Incumbency Advantage is Due to Scare-Off
Challenger entry and electoral accountability
Running Backwards and in High Heels
Conditions for Competition in Low-Information Judicial Elections
The Implications of Apportionment on Quality Candidate Emergence and Electoral Competition
Does the Party Matter? Endorsements in Congressional Primaries
Picking Their Spots
The Sense of a Woman
Ambition, Gender, and the Judiciary
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Assessing How Timing and Repetition of Scandal Information Affects Candidate Evaluations
Stepping Up the Political Ladder
War Chests as Precautionary Savings
Why Do Experienced Challengers Do Better than Amateurs
Risk Attitudes and the Incumbency Advantage
When Gender Matters
Extracting Wisdom from Experts and Small Crowds
When does valence matter? Heightened valence effects for governing parties during election campaigns
Job Approval and Senate Election Outcomes In the United States
Challenger Quality and the Incumbency Advantage
Evidence of a Local Incumbency Advantage
Campaign War Chests and Challenger Quality in Senate Elections
Candidates, Campaigns, or Partisan Conditions? Reevaluating Strategic‐Politicians Theory
The electoral strategies of a populist candidate
When Do War Chests Deter
The Career Length and Service of Female Policymakers in the US House of Representatives
The good, the loyal or the active? MPs’ parliamentary performance and the achievement of static and progressive career ambitions in parliament
Quotas and qualifications
Candidate quality across different orders of elections
Good Types” in Authoritarian Elections
Donors, Primary Elections, and Polarization in the United States
Valence and Campaigns
Does Quality Matter? Challengers in State Supreme Court Elections
Selecting the ‘Best’? Competing Dimensions of Politician Quality in the Developing World
Stuck in the middle
Location, Location, Location
Whither the party vote bonus? Stand-down agreements in Ukraine's mixed-member system
Challenger Entry and Voter Learning
Competing on Good Politicians
Money in Politics
Congress, keystone of the Washington establishment
The Personal Vote
Elbridge Gerry's Salamander
Home Style
Determinants of Candidate Emergence in U. S. House Elections
Congress, The Electoral Connection
Congress
The Personal Vote
The Not-So-Simple Calculus of Winning
Elections as Filters
Elections as Filters
Decomposing the Sources of Incumbency Advantage in the U. S. House
The Deterrent Effect of Incumbency on Recruiting Challengers in U. S. House Elections
Strategic Decisions on Candidacy in U. S. Congressional Districts
Challengers in U. S. Senate Elections
Strategic Politicians and the Dynamics of U.S. House Elections, 1946–86
The Effect of War Chests on Challenger Entry in U.S. House Elections
Inspected by #1184063113
Explaining Challenger Quality in Congressional Elections
Competence, Integrity, and the Electoral Success of Congressional Incumbents
Preempting Quality Challengers in House Elections
The Advantage of Incumbency in Congressional Elections
Candidates, Money, and Voters-Assessing the State of Congressional Elections Research
Campaign War Chests and Challenger Emergence in State Legislative Elections
Risk-Bearing and Progressive Ambition
Estimating Incumbency Advantage without Bias
One Good Term Deserves Another
Explaining Patterns of Candidate Competition in Congressional Elections
Old Voters, New Voters, and the Personal Vote
Strategy and Choice in the 1982 Congressional Elections
Constituency Influence in Congress
Candidates and Parties in Congressional Elections
A Theory of Political Ambition
| Unique citing works | 93 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,8 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2025 (25) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 94 |