PoliticalScience

The American Political Science Association has selected Tyson King-Meadows, associate professor of political science, for the 2012-2013 class of Congressional Fellows.The APSA Congressional Fellowship Program is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious congressional fellowship. Fellows gain “hands on” experience with the U.S. legislative process by serving as a legislative assistant to a U.S. Representative or a U.S. Senator, or as a staffer on a congressional committee.King-Meadows will use the yearlong experience on Capitol Hill to augment his teaching and research on the U.S. Congress. He will also lay the groundwork for his new book project examining post-Reconstruction Era efforts by… Continue Reading Tyson King-Meadows named APSA Congressional Fellow

“[T]he 2012 presidential election is effectively over right now,” suggests political science professor Thomas Schaller in a provocative new Salon column this week. Despite the twists and turns of the GOP primary, he argues, “All of the available data indicate that Romney will be the Republican nominee by end of spring, and Barack Obama will be the victor come fall.” So what is at stake in the GOP primary in Schaller’s eyes? The identity and future prospects of the Republican party. Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun column focuses on Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about Sandra Fluke and his later apology to her,… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon and the Baltimore Sun

UMBC Political Science Professor Roy T. Meyers offered a dissenting voice in PolitiFact’s recent analysis of comments by White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew on President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal. Lew said, “You can’t pass a budget in the Senate of the United States without 60 votes” — a statement rejected by critics who note only a simple majority is needed for a budget vote.Meyers offers the counterargument that “Lew is absolutely on the mark on the bigger picture” given that the budget resolution requiring a majority vote is just a blueprint and legislation to actually implement the budget’s… Continue Reading Roy Meyers, Political Science, on PolitiFact

As GOP presidential candidates vie for support in Florida, immigration politics and the fight for the Latino vote have moved front-and-center, notes UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller in Salon. He writes, “onstage at the University of North Florida, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich…went after each other with obvious, mutual disdain on immigration, the subject of the opening question and nearly the full first half-hour of the debate.” Schaller suggests that the challenge for GOP candidates is to “appease xenophobes within their base during the primaries” without alienating the Latino voters they will need to remain competitive in swing states… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller continues his commentary on the presidential election today with new columns in Salon and the Baltimore Sun. In “Obama takes his case to the swing states,” Schaller explores the implications of the president’s post-State of the Union speaking tour. Schaller writes, “For the past three months, political eyes have been focused squarely on the Republican White House contenders. But after his State of the Union speech, the commander-in-chief shifts himself into campaigner-in-chief mode, whether or not the GOP has settled on a candidate yet.” Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun column explores the GOP field, arguing… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon and the Baltimore Sun

UMBC political science professor and national political commentator Thomas Schaller appeared on CurrentTV’s “Young Turks” show last night, weighing in on the question “Should liberals root for Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich?” Schaller suggested, “Newt will get the base fired up, but… a vote cast with intensity counts the same as a vote cast reluctantly. It doesn’t matter how juiced up the conservative id is. The votes in the middle are going to matter.”Schaller also weighed in on the GOP candidates’ abilities to collect delegates, in The Daily Beast‘s primary coverage. Whereas neither Gingrich nor Santorum will appear on the… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, on Current TV and The Daily Beast

“This year, Barack Obama may become America’s first billion-dollar candidate. […] Can he do it and, more to the point, will he even need all that much cash?” This is the question UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller asks in his latest Salon article “The Obillionaire candidate.”Schaller compares in detail the Obama campaign’s fundraising in 2007-08 versus 2011 and finds that the evidence he’ll hit new record is mixed. Further, Schaller writes, “the $1 billion goal creates something of a dilemma for Obama’s reelection campaign” at a time when the public is increasingly concerned with income inequality and campaign financing… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

In response to Mitt Romney’s first Spanish-language ad, released this week, Salon has published “GOP’s Latino problem gets worse,” a new commentary by UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller.Schaller argues that although Romney’s commercial is a positive step, the GOP still has a long way to go in appealing to Latino and other minority voters. What is the biggest issue? “Although other issues have contributed to the GOP’s struggles with Latino voters, the party’s strident opposition to immigration reform has poisoned the electoral well,” Schaller says.

UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller has published a new commentary in the Baltimore Sun exploring presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s positions on the hot-button issues of abortion rights and the individual mandate for health insurance. In “Rick Santorum’s moral flexibility,” Schaller suggests that the politician has changed his positions on these issues over time not due to personal reflection, but “in the interest of party cohesion.”

“This is the moment [Obama] and his presidency promised to deliver,” writes UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller in Salon, of the fight over the payroll tax cut extension. “This is,” he suggests, “a moment  for the president to demonstrate the resolve that earned his hopeful believers’ support three years ago, and it comes as he begins asking the electorate for another four-year lease on the Oval Office.” Beyond supporting the payroll tax cut extension, Schaller argues, “the president should go a step further and call out the GOP’s Tea Party wing,” which blocked the passage of a two-month extension… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

“With the Iowa caucuses less than three weeks away, the narrowed Republican presidential contest between Romney, Newt Gingrich, and the surging Ron Paul remains a muddle,” writes UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller in Salon.com. This landscape has led Romney to focus on a new strategy to win the GOP presidential nomination: surviving a tough fight in January to win more favorable states in February. Schaller argues that the crucial step for Romney is to attack Gingrich “using a negative television and radio blitz on the issue of Medicare to win Florida’s pivotal seniors.” He suggests, “If Romney can pair… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller offered insight on the upcoming GOP primary election in two publications today. In the Colorlines article, “Why (Very White) Iowa and New Hampshire Mean So Much in Politics,” Schaller commented, “The prominence and first-in-nation position of Iowa and New Hampshire do elevate white primary voters over non-white ones, and in both parties.” However, the electoral process is beginning to change to better account for our nation’s diversity. According to Schaller, “Both parties, and especially the Democrats—who receive the lion’s share of the black and Latino vote in general election—have tried to address this inequality… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Colorlines and Baltimore Sun