Newswise — For stories about mid-term elections, consider the following sources from The Johns Hopkins University. Listed with each source is a brief description of his or her area of expertise or particular take on the election, followed by contact information.
Congressional elections, politics, and legislative-executive relationsJoseph Cooper, professor of political scienceJoseph Cooper has long been a student of Congress, both the House and Senate. His expertise ranges from electoral politics to Congressional party voting and leadership, to Congressional rules, structures and processes, to executive-legislative relations. In all these regards, he has written in great depth not only about the present Congress, but the historical Congress and its relationship to the presidency. He is currently writing a book that compares the late 19th century balance of power between the Congress and presidency with the current balance. Cooper's aim is to place the growing power of the presidency in historical perspective so as to better understand the dynamics of increasing presidential power and the present and likely future impacts on representative government in the United States.
Presidential power Matthew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg, professors of political scienceCrenson and Ginsberg co-authored Downsizing Democracy and are at work on their second book, Presidential Power: Unchecked and Unbalanced. The book aims to explain how the office of the president has gotten more powerful in recent decades, even in the face of several failed administrations. Part of the answer is that election campaigns have become personal efforts rather than party campaigns and those who successfully campaign for president are, to use Crenson's phrase, "pathologically ambitious." Presidential Power is scheduled to be released in early 2007.
Local and statewide elections in MarylandMatthew Crenson, professor of political scienceFor stories concerning Maryland's political campaigns, from county executive challenges to the race for governor, Matthew Crenson is well-known by reporters as a go-to source. A native of Baltimore, Crenson has been studying local and state politics for more than 30 years.
Electronic Voting Machines: Can We Trust Their Results?Avi Rubin, professor of computer science and technical director of Information Security Institute at Johns HopkinsAvi Rubin has conducted research on the new electronic voting machines that many states, including Maryland, purchased in an effort to avoid the "hanging chads" and other punch card ballot problems that created an uproar during the 2000 presidential election.
Rubin believes the touchscreen machines pose problems of their own, because they are vulnerable to tampering and, in the absence of a paper trail, do not permit a meaningful recount in a contested race. Rubin has testified before government panels regarding his concerns. He also has studied security hazards posed by Internet voting proposals. In addition to his research, Rubin can discuss his hands-on, election-day experience with the voting machines as an election judge in Baltimore County. Rubin's new book, Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting (Random House, September 2006) tells of both his role as a whistle-blower and his observations of electronic voting in action.
The law, the Constitution, the courts, and the Supreme CourtJoel Grossman, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Law
A constitutional law scholar and expert on the Supreme Court, Grossman has been teaching those subjects for more than 40 years. He has been widely quoted and interviewed in local and national media on Supreme Court issues and cases.
Hispanic Voters and the 2006 ElectionsAdam J. Segal, director of the Hispanic Voter Project at The Johns Hopkins University, says Hispanic voters will play an important role in the November election in many statewide races. From Maryland to California, Segal says there is evidence that Hispanic voters can have an impact in some important close races. He also notes that Hispanics continue to move into more elected positions across the nation each election cycle.
Yet he sees evidence that candidates are doing less Spanish-language campaign TV advertising than in 2002. And he says that expected gains in Hispanic community cohesion and political energies developed during the major immigration rallies this past spring and summer appear to have dampened as the issue has been bypassed on Capitol Hill.
Since establishing the Hispanic Voter Project, Segal has appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, MSNBC, CNN en Espanol and Azteca America, among others. The Hispanic Voter Project's research has received national media attention, including stories on CNN, and in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and others.
Segal is a faculty lecturer in the master in communication program at Johns Hopkins, where he teaches ethnic marketing and political communication as well as Internet strategies. He is the president of The 2050 Group, a public relations and multicultural marketing agency in Washington, D.C.
Marriage and family issuesAndrew Cherlin, professor of sociologyAndrew Cherlin studies the sociology of the family and public policy, particularly in the area of marriage and divorce. He's available to comment on President Bush's support of a constitutional amendment on gay marriage, the evolution of marriage in America, marriage promotion legislation and other related issues as they arise. "It's not 'activist judges' who have redefined marriage," Cherlin says. "It's heterosexual America, which has changed the meaning of marriage from a focus on children to a focus on intimacy."
Election civilityP.M. Forni, director of The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins and professor of Italian literaturePolitical debates can quickly turn friends and co-workers into sparring partners. Johns Hopkins University professor and civility expert P.M. Forni can suggest ways to defuse arguments and can offer techniques for people to express themselves without offending acquaintances with differing political views. Forni is the author of Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct. Read Forni's tips online at http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home06/oct06/civility.html. Reporters may use these tips as direct quotes or edit them for length.
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