Choose one:

1. Who will win the special election (see next page) to succeed the deceased Walter Capps (D-CA 22)? Take account of the district's makeup and voting record, as well as the candidates' positions, finances, and background.

2. Pick any incumbent senator who is seeking reelection in 1998. Devise a general-election strategy for defeating that senator. See: www.rollcall.com/election/map.html

3. Will Newt Gingrich still hold the speakership next January?

Do not merely rehash journalistic commentary. Instead, do your own analysis, applying the readings and class discussions. You may find additional information in The Almanac of American Politics or Politics in America, as well as on various web sites that I have listed on my homepage under Congress or Elections, Parties and Campaign Finance.

• Essays should be typed, stapled, double-spaced, and no more than three pages long. I will not read past the third page.
• Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.
• Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a bibliography. In either case, put your documentation in a standard format (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style).
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.
• Return essays by the start of class, Monday, February 16. Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day's lateness and a full grade for two days' lateness. After that, the paper will receive a failing grade. I will grant no extensions except in case of illness or emergency.

Excerpt from: http://www.rollcall.com/states/ca.html 22nd District

Open Seat: Rep. Walter Capps (D) died 1st term (49 percent) Outlook: Toss Up

In a blow to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga) and a big victory for conservatives, GOP state Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro advanced with Democrat Lois Capps to the March runoff to fill the seat of the late Rep. Walter Capps (D-Calif).

Bordonaro placed second in the Jan. 13 open primary, beating out state Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R), Gingrich's moderate, hand-picked candidate. With financial help from 15 GOP Members who openly defied Gingrich, Bordonaro survived despite being outspent four-to-one by Firestone.

"The Speaker's candidate was soundly defeated," said Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif), a Bordonaro booster.

"Despite the efforts of the leadership to impose the most liberal Republican on the Conference, we ended up with a strong Reagan conservative and someone who will go on and win in the runoff."

Capps led the top three candidates in the open primary with 62,013 votes, or 45 percent of the vote. She will face Bordonaro on March 10 in a runoff for the seat vacated last October when her husband died of a heart attack.

Bordonaro was the top Republican vote-getter with 40,146 votes, or 29 percent of the vote. Firestone placed third with 33,957 votes, or 25 percent.

Heavy national and statewide interest in the race, along with massive spending on get-out-the-vote efforts and early absentee voting, helped push turnout to more than 42 percent. That was the highest turnout ever in a non-consolidated race in California special-election history, according to the secretary of state's office, and is expected to be a major factor in March. outright." ....