Quotes from Thomas E. Mann

He (Newt Gingrich as a freshman congressman) was both passionate about his goals and coldly analytical in his means.

the limits amplified the corrosive effects of ambition on the legislators, who focused from day one on how best to use their limited time as a springboard to their next post. That produced incentives to go for a big, short-term splash and leave the long-term mess to the next wave of their successors.

The country has sorted itself ideologically into the two political parties, and those partisan attachments have hardened in recent years. It will take an extraordinary event and act of leadership to break this partisan divide. I thought 9/11 might provide such an opportunity, but it was not seized.

Responsibility for overseeing the implementation of election law typically resides with partisan officials, many with public stakes in the election outcome.

Partisanship particularly increased after the 1994 elections and then the appearance of the first unified Republican government since the 1950s.

But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism.

But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism.

All of this suggests that while citizens became more comfortable with President Bush after September 11 and thought him to have the requisite leadership skills, they continue to harbor doubts about his priorities, loyalties, interests, and policies.

Democrats do best in urban centers, Republicans in outer suburbs and rural areas.

America is an outlier in the world of democracies when it comes to the structure and conduct of elections.

Further-more, partisan attachments powerfully shape political perceptions, beliefs and values, and incumbents enjoy advantages well beyond the way in which their districts are configured.

Redistricting is a deeply political process, with incumbents actively seeking to minimize the risk to themselves (via bipartisan gerrymanders) or to gain additional seats for their party (via partisan gerrymanders).

It is impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for their presentation is provided or available.

With the parties at virtual parity and the ideological gulf between them never greater, the stakes of majority control of Congress are extremely high.