Post-Election 2004 Analysis: UM Experts

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The following University of Maryland faculty members and researchers are available to discuss the results of the 2004 national elections. Contact them directly (many have included home phone or cell phone numbers), or contact Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622, 301-257-0073 (after-hours), ntickner@umd.edu

Shawn J. Parry-Giles - associate professor of communication and women's studies; director, Center for Political Communication and Civic Leadership, University of Maryland
Expertise : presidential image making and rhetoric; presidential war rhetoric; presidential campaigning; propaganda; rhetorical, feminist and media criticism
Parry-Giles Says:
"Like 2000, the election of 2004 evidences the great cultural divide in this country. We must not forget, though, the war's significance in this campaign. The electorate supports the incumbent in times of war, even a controversial one."

Credentials: books include " The Rhetorical Presidency, Propaganda, and the Cold War, 1945-1955," "Constructing Clinton: Hyperreality and Presidential Image-Making in Postmodern Politics" (co-author); journal articles include "Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton: Television News Practices and Image-Making in the Postmodern Age," and "Embracing the Mess: Reflections on Campaign 2000;" co-directs Political Advertising Resource Center ( http://www.umdparc.org/)
Contact: 301-40 5-6527 (office); 301-495-8875 (home); spg@umd.edu
Web site: www.wam.umd.edu/~spg/

James Gimpel - professor of government and politics, University of Maryland
Expertise: American voting behavior; political geography of presidential elections; politics of immigration reform; voter turnout and absentee ballots; Maryland politics.
Gimpel Says:
"This election helps to put to rest the notion that higher turnout helps Democrats, and Democrats only. Republicans had a turnout problem in 2000, and it looks like this deficit was largely erased this time, to the benefit of the President."

Credentials: specialist in geographic and demographic targeting for campaigns and elections, including research on voter turnout patterns; recent work includes research on political socialization of adolescents and rural reactions to ethnic diversity; books include: "Patchwork Nation: Sectionalism and Political Change in American Politics," "Separate Destinations: Migration, Immigration and the Politics of Places;" editor, "American Politics Research"
Contact: 301-405-7929 (office); jgimpel@gvpt.umd.edu ; or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622 (office), 301-257-0073 (after-hours)
Web site: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/gimpel/index.html

Karen Kaufmann - assistant professor of government and politics, University of Maryland
Expertise: public opinion and voting behavior; gender gap and political parties; urban politics; racial and ethnic politics, especially Black and Latino; Los Angeles and California politics
Kaufmann says:
"The gender gap appears to be considerably smaller this year than in it has been in the past three presidential election cycles. Gender differences in social welfare attitudes tend to stoke their political differences. With the social welfare issues buried in the background of the campaign, though, male and female voting looks more similar than it has in a decade.

"A Republican clean sweep of the House, Senate and Presidency suggests that in spite of luke warm support for the administration and many of its policies, concerns for national security dominated the national mood. In general, Democrats are perceived to be weaker on issues of security and stronger on domestic issues like social welfare spending. Kerry took a role of the dice when he decided to compete with Bush on the foreign relations front, arguably ceding his party's advantage on domestic issues."

Credentials: publications include "The Urban Voter: Group Conflict and Mayoral Voting Behavior in American Cities;" "The Changing Politics of American Men: Understanding the Sources of the Gender Gap;" "Culture Wars, Secular Realignment and the Gender Gap in Party Identification;" "Cracks in the Rainbow: Group Commonality as a Basis for Latino and African-American Political Coalitions"
Contact: 301-405-4120 (office); kkaufmann@gvpt.umd.edu ; or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622 (office), 301-257-0073(after-hours)
Web site: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/kaufmann/

Trevor Parry-Giles - assistant professor of political communication, University of Maryland
Expertise: judicial nominations; presidential rhetoric, political strategy and advertising
Parry-Giles Says:
"Lurking beneath all the talk of the economy and terrorism and the war in Iraq are the startling number of voters who told exit pollsters that they voted on 'moral values.' This finding confirms the Rove strategy of turning out voters from the religious right by using moral issues like gay marriage, abortion, and religion to motivate turnout.

"Also of interest in the post-election findings are the relatively poor showing (again) of younger voters and new voters in opposition to the early projections on Election Day. Democrats clearly aren't finding voters in the existing pool--they need to figure out how to generate new voters and motivate their turnout for them to run a successful national campaign. Ultimately, the nation remains clearly divided with almost no states changing sides from 2000 and no clear landslide mandate for the re-election of the president. How Bush confronts this division will be the real test of his second term."

Credentials: former political consultant and writer; books include "Constructing Clinton: Hyperreality and Presidential Image-Making in Postmodern Politics" (co-author) and "The Character of Justice: Rhetoric, Law, and Politics in the Supreme Court Confirmation Process" (forthcoming); co-directs Political Advertising Resource Center ( http://www.umdparc.org/)
Contact: 301-405-8947 (office); 301-495-8875 (home); tpg@umd.edu
Web site: www.wam.umd.edu/~tpg/index.html

Kathleen Kendall - visiting professor of communication, University of Maryland
Expertise: political campaign communication, especially candidate-media interactions
Kendall says:
"The big surge in voter turnout demonstrates that voters respond with interest and involvement when they can see the real differences between the candidates. The campaigns used the Internet and e-mail to dramatically expand both their fund-raising capacity and the involvement of volunteers in personal campaigning in the battleground states.

"There is no clear message or mandate from this presidential election. Half the nation supports this president and his agenda; half the nation rejects him and wants a change. President Bush gained most from his image as the "crisis president" who led us through the 9/11 attack, and his consistent promotion of this theme. Senator Kerry effectively questioned Bush's competence to lead the nation, both in Iraq and at home. But as the lesser known of the two,
Kerry suffered from Bush's unrelenting negative attacks, and did not quite persuade the majority that he would offer a better alternative to the status quo."

Credentials: presidential debate publications include a "white paper" for the Presidential Debates Research Symposium (co-author) and "Presidential Debates Through Media Eyes" (journal article); books include " Communication in the Presidential Primaries: Candidates and the Media, 1912-2000" and "Presidential Campaign Discourse"
Contact: 202-363-6687 (home) ; kkendall@wam.umd.edu ; 301-405-0873 (office)
Web site: http://www.comm.umd.edu/people/faculty/kkendall.html

Paul Herrnson - director, Center for American Politics and Citizenship and professor of government and politics, University of Maryland
Expertise: voting technology; national and congressional politics; campaign finance reform; political debate guidelines

Credentials: recent books include: "Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington," "Party Campaigning in the 1980s," "The Financiers of Congressional Elections;" recent co-edited volumes include "After the Revolution: PACs, Lobbies, and the Republican Congress" and " Playing Hardball: Campaigning for the U.S. Congress "; sponsors the Debate Advisory Standards Project, developing guidelines and standards for political debates.
Contact: 301-405-4123 (office); pherrnson@capc.umd.edu ; or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622, 301- 257-0073 (after-hours)
Web site: http://www.capc.umd.edu/org.asp

Ron Walters - political scientist, professor and director, African American Leadership Institute, Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland
Expertise: national politics; African American political leadership; urban politics

Credentials: books include: "Black Presidential Politics in America," " White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community" and "African American Leadership;" deputy campaign manager, Jesse Jackson presidential campaign (1984)
Contact: 301-421-5919 (home); 301-405-1787 (office); rwalters@academy.umd.edu ; or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622 (office) or 301-257-0073 (after-hours)
Web site: http://www.academy.umd.edu/AboutUs/staff/RWalters.htm

William Galston - Stern Professor of Civic Engagement; director, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE); acting dean, University of Maryland School of Public Policy
Expertise: American politics and public policy; youth vote; civic engagement

Credentials: directs research center on civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25; deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy and executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal in first Clinton administration; served as senior advisor to Albert Gore Jr. during 1999-2000 presidential campaign and the run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988
Contact: 301-405-6347 (office); bgalston@umd.edu ; or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622 ,301-257-0073 (after-hours)
Web site: www.puaf.umd.edu/faculty/people/galstonm.html

Mark Graber - professor of government and politics, University of Maryland
Expertise: constitutional law; judicial review; civil liberties; national politics

Credentials: attorney and political scientist; books include "Transforming Free Speech" and "Rethinking Abortion"Contact: 301-405- 4215 (office); 410-706-2767 (office 2); 301-588-0119 (home); mgraber@gvpt.umd.edu Web site: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/graber/

Voting Machine Security
William Arbaugh - assistant professor, University of Maryland department of computer science and University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
Expertise: information systems security and privacy; role of security and privacy in future technologies

Credentials: as consultant examined security of electronic voting system technology; served as senior technical advisor and senior computer science for the National Security Agency; book (co-author): "The Next Generation of Wireless Security"
Contact: 301-405-2774 (office); waa@cs.umd.edu ; or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622, 301-257-0073 (after-hours)
Web site: http://www.cs.umd.edu/~waa
Note: Limited availability via telephone, Nov. 3 and 4

Presidential Leadership
James MacGregor Burns - distinguished senior scholar, J.M. Burns Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland
Expertise: presidential and political leadership

Credentials: Pulizter Prize-winning presidential biographer and historian and pioneer in the study of leadership; has written more than a dozen books including "Dead Center: Clinton-Gore Leadership and the Perils of Moderation" (co-author), "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" and "Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom;" his book "Leadership" is considered a seminal work in the field of leadership studies
Contact: Contact Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622, 301-257-0073 (after-hours)

Presidential Leadership
Georgia Sorenson - research professor and director of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland
Expertise: presidential leadership

Credentials: books include "Dead Center: Clinton Gore Leadership and the Perils of Moderation" (co-author) and a four volume comprehensive Encyclopedia of Leadership
Contact: 301-405-6399 (office); or Neil Tickner, 301-405-4622, 301-257-0073 (after-hours)
Web site: http://www.academy.umd.edu/AboutUs/staff/gsorenson.htm