Vital Statistics on Congress

Vital Statistics on Congress, 2001-2002, is the definitive source of essential information for all those who watch Congress - as citizens, journalists, political scientists, students, lobbyists, and even as staff and members of the institution itself. The volume covers more than 100 key topics, including characteristics of the membership, the internal structure of the institution, voting patterns, campaign and election statistics, staff and budgetary information, and ideology ratings for members of Congress. This edition features several substantive changes: - The addition of a thirty-page introductory essay that describes Congress during three key eras over the past fifty years and identifies the major changes and patterns of stability in that period. - New tables and charts using Poole-Rosenthal ideological scores that show how the ideological makeup of southern Democrats, northern Democrats, Republicans, and the body as a whole has changed since the Eightieth Congress in 1947. The volume also addresses several important issues about the contemporary Congress: - How the close presidential election in 2000 affected races for the Senate and House. - The changes that will occur in congressional apportionment of seats due to the results of the 2000 census. - A comparison of the ideological makeup of members and committees across several Congresses. Ornstein, Mann, and Malbin, three of the nation's best-known and most respected political scientists, present and analyze key facts on Congress in a convenient reference work. This volume is an ideal tool for academic research and for use in college courses on Congress.