 Thomas “Tip” O’Neill

 “All politics is local”- most (politicians) are focused on local things when they should be
focused on national things
 This is why Madison said a senate was necessary—to embody the national character
 Madison: elections were too few and far between, so house of representatives had a quick turnover
and could revitalize the system because they had so many elections
 This also presented a problem because then there is no continuity
 Institutional memory: knowledge a politician can draw on, quality of a veteran, wisdom, good
for the production of the legislation
 Senate: people would have to be picky about who they chose to be on the senate because of the
great responsibilities given to them, would have to be less impulsive
 Considered to be more objective, more restrained, more refined, more deliberate, really
considering the consequences of their impact on society, possessing long-run view of policy
 Richard Fenno, Jr.
 H. Rep- More sensitive to popular sentiment, unstable in action, impulsive, unpredictable,
changeable in decision-making, possessing a myopic (near-sighted) view
 This is necessary because of the short term, forces them to think about quick policies that they
can put into play
 Firebrand and Fisticuffs- book describing behavior of representatives
 Gerrymandering- manipulation of state districts, originated in 1812 with Governor Eldridge Gerry,
who re-created the districts in the favor of his Democratic-Republican party, goal is to create a
majority for the party of power in the state, or minimize the majority for the party out of power in
the state
 3 ways or techniques to do this:
 Packing- attempts to concentrate the voting power of the opposition party into just a few
districts
 Stacking- drawing bizarre district boundaries to concentrate the power of the majority party
 Dilution- diluting the

Gerrymandering takes place in place in senatorial elections- FALSE!! (might be on the exam)

Cases to look:

1962- Baker v. Carr

1964- Wesberry v. Sanders

1986- Thornburg v. Gingles