Budgeting during the Clinton Presidency

This article assesses the Clinton administration record of budgeting. During President Clinton's two terms, the federal government moved from an era of large deficits to one of equally large surpluses. This turnaround was caused by both the strong economy and the deficit reduction deals of 1990, 1993, and 1997. Defense spending and interest declined as a percentage of the budget, whereas mandatory spending and nondefense discretionary spending increased. Acrimonious interbranch budgetary relationships dominated, with Clinton ultimately winning far more fights than he lost. Executive branch budgetary and financial management capacity improved during the Clinton administration.     

The dynamics of candidate evaluations and vote choice in 2008: looking to the past or future?

In this paper, we leverage a 10-wave election panel to examine the relative and dynamic effects of voter evaluations of Bush, Palin, Biden, McCain, and Obama in the 2008 presidential election. We show that the effects of these political figures on vote choice evolves through the campaign, with the predictive effects of President Bush declining after the nominees are known, and the effects of the candidates (and Palin), increasing towards Election Day. In evaluating the relative effects of these political figures on individual-level changes in vote choice during the fall campaign, we also find that evaluations of the candidates and Sarah Palin dwarf that of President Bush. Our results suggest a Bayesian model of voter decision making in which retrospective evaluations of the previous administration might provide a starting point for assessing the candidates, but prospective evaluations based on information learned during the campaign helps voters to update their candidate preference. Finally, we estimate the “Palin effect,” based on individual-level changes in favorability towards the vice-presidential nominee, and conclude that her campaign performance cost McCain just under 2% of the final vote share.     

Generating DNA profiles from immunochromatographic cards using LCN methodology

The aim of this research was to obtain DNA profiles from immunochromatographic test devices which have already yielded positive results with body fluids obtained from fourteen volunteers. Three different immunochromatographic cards for the identification of human blood and one for the identification of human saliva were used for this research. Each body fluid was detected using the appropriate immunochromatographic card. The used cards were kept at room temperature for various lengths of time. The membranes were removed at the end of the designated times and the entire strip was extracted using low copy number (LCN) extraction procedure. The extracted DNA was amplified using reduced amplification volume and higher PCR cycle numbers. Autosomal STR profiles were detected using AmpFℓSTR^® Identifiler™ PCR Amplification Kit from Applied Biosystems (AB). Additionally, DNA extracted from the male volunteers was amplified using the AB AmpFℓSTR^® Yfiler™ PCR Amplification Kit. Analysis of the amplified products was carried out by capillary electrophoresis injection on the AB 3130xl Genetic Analyzer. The generated DNA data was analyzed using the SoftGenetics GeneMarker^® HID Version 1.7 software.Autosomal and Y-STR DNA profiles were obtained from most of the cards which were stored at room temperature for up to three months. DNA profile was obtained from all four types of the immunochromatographic cards used in this study. These profiles were concordant with the profiles obtained from the donors’ reference samples.     

The Executive Budget in the Federal Government: The First Century and Beyond

This article reviews the history of executive budgeting in the United States a century after President William Howard Taft's Economy and Efficiency Commission proposed an executive budget. This history, the authors argue, does not suggest that giving more budget power to the president will improve budget outcomes. Instead, what is needed is more cooperation between the branches of government and a better‐educated public—goals that were shared by budget reformers when the Taft report was published.     

Political marketing in untraditional campaigns: the case of David Cameron's Conservative Party leadership victory

• This study investigates the concept of political market orientation (PMO) in an untraditional setting, namely the 2005 contest for the leadership of the British Conservative Party. Based on a collective case‐study method, a content analysis of candidates' speeches and manifestos is provided. We operationalize four attitudinal constructs of a conceptual PMO model and adapt them to suit the novel campaign context. Our findings show further evidence for the existance of a ‘gravitational centre’ effect hypothesized in earlier studies. Furthermore, we qualify the concept of PMO through a long‐term focus and a context‐specific evaluation of the merits of alternative PMO profiles. Thus, the generic conceptual model of political market orientatation, which previously has only been used in the content of parties contesting a general election campaign, can be adapted to alternative campaign situations without a reduction in its explanatory power.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The New Legal Realism and The Realist View of Law

New legal realism (NLR) furthers the legal realist legacy by focusing attention on both the pertinent social science and the craft that typifies legal discourse and legal institutions. NLR's globalized ambitions also highlight the potential of a nonstatist view of law. The realist view of law raises three challenges facing NLR: identifying the “lingua franca” of law as an academic discipline within which NLR insights on translation and synthesis should be situated; conceptualizing NLR's focus on bottom‐up investigation, so that it does not defy the rule of law; and recognizing the normative underpinning for NLR's reformist impulse.