What explains which groups are included in a party coalition in any given election cycle? Recent advances in political party theory suggest that policy demanders comprise parties, and that the composition of a party coalition varies from election to election. We theorize three conditions under which parties articulate an interest group’s preferred positions in its quadrennial platform: when groups are ideologically proximate to the party median, when groups display party loyalty, and when groups are flush with resources. Using computer-assisted content analysis on a unique and rich data source, we examine three cycles of testimony that 80 organized groups provided to the Democratic Party. The analysis compares group requests with the content of Democratic and Republican National Committee platforms in 1996, 2000, and 2004. Results show that parties reward loyal groups and those that are ideologically proximate to the party but offer no confirmation of a resource effect.
AdkinsREDowdleAJ (2004) Bumps in the road to the white house: how influential were campaign resources to nominating George W. Bush?Journal of Political Marketing3(4): 1–27.
2.
ArellanoM (2003) Panel Data Econometrics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
3.
BaumMAZhukovYM (2012) What determines the news about foreign policy? newspaper ownership, crisis dynamics and the 2011 Libyan uprising. In: International Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. Available at: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/mbaum/documents/BaumZhukov_ISA2012.pdf(accessed 23 November 2016).
4.
BawnKCohenMKarolD. (2012) A theory of political parties: groups, policy demands and nominations in American politics. Perspectives on Politics10(3): 571–597.
5.
BeckNKatzJN (1995) What to do (and not to do) with time-series cross-section data. American Political Science Review89(3): 634–647.
6.
BonicaA (2014) Mapping the ideological marketplace. American Journal of Political Science58(2): 367–386.
7.
BrunellTL (2005) The relationship between political parties and interest groups: explaining patterns of PAC contributions to candidates for congress. Political Research Quarterly58(4): 681–688.
8.
BudgeI (ed) (2001a) Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments, 1945–1998. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
9.
BudgeI (2001b) Validating party policy placements. British Journal of Political Science31(1): 210–223.
10.
CohenMKarolDNoelH. (2008) The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11.
Democratic National Convention (2004) Frequently asked questions about the national platform and the convention platform committee. Available at: http://www.kintera.org/site/pp.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=97938(accessed 23 November 2016).
12.
DownsA (1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy, 1st ed. New York: Harper and Row.
13.
EsterlingKM (2007) Buying expertise: campaign contributions and attention to policy analysis in congressional committees. American Political Science Review101(1): 93–109.
14.
FineTS (1994) Interest groups & the framing of the 1988 democratic & republican party platforms. Polity26(3): 517–530.
15.
GilensM (2012) Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press; New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
16.
GrossmannMDominguezCBK (2009) Party coalitions and interest group networks. American Politics Research37(5): 767–800.
17.
HarveyAL (1998) Votes without Leverage: Women in American Electoral Politics, 1920-1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
HeaneyMTMasketSEMillerJM. (2012) Polarized networks: the organizational affiliations of national party convention delegates. American Behavioral Scientist56(12): 1654–1676.
19.
HerrnsonPS (2009) The roles of party organizations, party-connected committees, and party allies in elections. The Journal of Politics71(4): 1207–1224.
20.
IssenbergS (2013) The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns, Reprint ed. New York: Broadway Books.
21.
KarolD (2009) Party Position Change in American Politics: Coalition Management, 1st ed. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.
KogerGMasketSENoelH (2009) Partisan webs: information exchange and party networks. British Journal of Political Science39(3): 633–653.
24.
KogerGMasketSENoelH (2010) Cooperative party factions in American politics. American Politics Research38(1): 33–53.
25.
KollmanK (1998) Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
26.
KolodnyRDulioDA (2003) Political party adaptation in US congressional campaigns why political parties use coordinated expenditures to hire political consultants. Party Politics9(6): 729–746.
27.
KolodnyRDwyreD (1998) Party-orchestrated activities for legislative party goals campaigns for majorities in the US house of representatives in the 1990s. Party Politics4(3): 275–295.
28.
LaverMBenoitKGarryJ (2003) Extracting policy positions from political texts using words as data. American Political Science Review97(2): 311–331.
29.
LaverMGarryJ (2000) Estimating policy positions from political texts. American Journal of Political Science44(3): 619–634.
30.
LoweW (2008) Understanding wordscores. Political Analysis16(4): 356–371.
31.
MaiselLS (1993) The platform-writing process: candidate-centered platforms in 1992. Political Science Quarterly108(4): 671–698.
32.
MasketSE (2011) No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
33.
MasketSE (2016) The Inevitable Party: Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How They Weaken Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
34.
McKayA (2012) Buying policy? the effects of lobbyists’ resources on their policy success. Political Research Quarterly65(4): 908–923.
35.
MillerGSchofieldN (2003) Activists and partisan realignment in the United States. American Political Science Review97(2): 245–260.
36.
NoelH (2014) Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America. New York: Cambridge University Press.
37.
PomperGMLedermanSS (1980) Elections in America: Control and Influence in Democratic Politics, 2nd ed. New York: Longman.
38.
PooleKTRosenthalHL (2011) Ideology and Congress. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
RozellMJWilcoxCFranzMM (2012) Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering, 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
41.
SabatoL (1981) The Rise of Political Consultants: New Ways of Winning Elections. New York: Basic Books.
42.
SchattschneiderEE (1975) The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America, 1st ed. Hinsdale: Cengage Learning.
43.
SkinnerRMMasketSEDulioDA (2012) 527 committees and the political party network. American Politics Research40(1): 60–84.
44.
SlapinJBProkschS-O (2008) A scaling model for estimating time-series party positions from texts. American Journal of Political Science52(3): 705–722.
45.
SnyderJMJTingMM (2002) An informational rationale for political parties. American Journal of Political Science46(1): 90–110.
46.
TrumanDB (1993) The Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion (1993, 2nd (reprint). Originally published: New York: Knopf [1971, 1951] ed.). Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
47.
WolbrechtC (2000) The Politics of Women’s Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
48.
WooldridgeJM (2010) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data, 2nd ed. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
