CANDIDATE ________________ :  SERVING THE _____________________ CLASS.

The goal of this assignment is to link one of the presidential candidates to the "needs" of a particular social class.  In other words, your aim is to EXPLAIN WHY the candidate whom you select is the best presidential choice for members of the social class that you select.  For your candidate, you may choose anyone running for the presidency in any state primary.

For this assignment, annual household income will be used to define social class. More specifically, we will sort American households into quintiles on the basis of their 2007 income.  There are a total of about 116 million households in the US; each quintile contains 20% or one-fifth this number.  So, each class contains about 23 million households.  Here are the cutting points for defining each class:

“upper”  more than $97,030 

“upper middle” $60,001 - $97,030

“middle” $37,772- $60,000

“lower middle” or “working” $20,033 - $37,111

“lower”  less than $20,032

These figures come from the US Census Bureau web site:

http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/hhinc/new05_000.htm

Having selected a "class constituency", you should research and write a paper that incorporates the following material:

(1) An introductory paragraph that offers your message.  It should identify the social class that you have chosen and the presidential candidate whose program you believe best represents the interests of this class.  You may want to add a sentence or two defining your class more specifically and a sentence or two "previewing" your argument.  (5 points)

(2) Provide a lengthy (at least one page) description of the class whose "cause" you are taking up.  This description should answer at least two (preferably more) of the following questions about your class.  How many earners do households in this class usually contain?  What sorts of occupations are held by members of the class? How many years of schooling do they typically have?  Where do they tend to live (big cities, suburbs, rural areas, the South, California)?  What is their racial composition?  How many are foreign born? What percent own their own homes?  Feel free to address other questions of this sort, if you can find the information.   (20 points)

 Two good sources for information for (2) are

http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/faminc/new06_000.htm

http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/hhinc/new05_000.htm

(3) Next, present one issue on which the candidate of your choice accurately represents the needs of the class of your choice.  This could a position that the candidate has advocated during the campaign, or, if the candidate already has a “record” in government, it could be a law or program that he already introduced.  It is recommended that students  choose a ‘domestic’ rather than a ‘foreign policy’ issue in this part of the assignment. 

a. Describe the position/proposal/ program so that your reader understands it completely. (10 points)

In this effort, begin with The NY Times, CNN or U.S. News and World Report website below, and move out from there:

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/candidates/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/

http://www.usnews.com/features/news/campaign-2008/campaign2008.html

b. Explain WHY this policy/proposal would be beneficial to the social class of your choice.  The best way to do this is to use some of the facts that you discussed earlier in the paper as evidence of your social class's needs. Then show that your candidate's proposals addresses these needs. (20 points)

(4) Next you must show that your candidate has received campaign contributions from individuals, organizations, firms, industries or other interest groups that represent the social class constituency you attribute to him. 

a) Find a contributor to your candidate. The contributor can be an individual person a company, an industry or an organization. Identify the contributor and state how much money she/he/it has given to your candidate so far.  (Nowadays, contributors often give to many candidates, so the contributor you identify may also have given to other contenders.  If your contributor is engaged in this practice, mentioning it in the paper might add an interesting twist.) (10 points)

b) Explain why you believe that this contributor represents the interests of the class you have selected. In other words, discuss why you think that money from this contributor should motivate your candidate to support programs or policies of benefit to the social class you have selected. (20 points)

One place to get information on contributions appears below (click on the name of the candidate of interest, then under ‘campaign profile’ click on ‘top industries’ or click on ‘top contributors’):

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp

Or you can try to find information about contributions from the official government agency responsible for providing this information:

http://www.fec.gov

Or you can use links provided by the Hoover Institution, a think-tank at Stanford:

http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/giving.html

An example of a trail you might follow is this: In 2000, candidate Pat Buchanan received $50,500 from Milliken & Company, a textile and chemical manufacturing firm in South Carolina.  A few years earlier, Milliken complained that Bangladeshi companies were selling cotton towels in the US at a price lower than it charges in Bangladesh (a practice called “dumping”).  The Dept of Commerce took action to prevent these products from being “dumped” on the US market. Mr. Buchanan has stated that he supports passage of “tough anti-dumping” legislation. “Dumping” is a practice that hurts manufacturers with plants in America as well as their employees.  Therefore, Buchanan’s position should appeal both to some members of the upper class and to most members of the working class.

5. Conclude your paper by predicting whether or not members of the social class that you've selected will in fact "vote their interests".   There are several reasons why they might not do so.  They may be "fooled" into supporting the "wrong" candidate.  For instance, they may believe TV ads, which usually present all candidates as the best choice for ALL Americans (regardless of social class).  Or, members of the class you have selected may feel that their class membership is not very important.  For instance, some Americans believe that a candidate's views on terrorism or gay  marriage or views on the environment are more important than the candidate's views on social class issues.  For such people, any relationship between their social class needs and the policy/ proposals of the man they vote for is accidental. Be sure not only to state your prediction but to defend it.  (5 points)

6.  Append a bibliography.  All material used in writing the paper, other than the readings listed on the syllabus, should be cited in the bibliography. MLA or APA (or any other widely used bibliographic style) is fine for books or articles.  Be sure to present enough information for a reader to be able to find the items you cite.  Web sites should be cited by address and date of access; for example, http://www.umass.edu (September 25, 2007). (5 points)

Papers should run from 4 to 6 double-spaced, typewritten pages, excluding the bibliography.  If you cannot type the paper, please write it legibly and skip lines.  Do NOT put the paper in a folder or binder.  Rather, make a cover sheet with your name, a title, and the date, and staple the pages together. 

GRADING:

Of the 100 points possible on this assignment, credit will be allocated as follows:

(1) Introductory paragraph: 5 points

(2) Describe at least two characteristics of your social class: 20 points (total)

(3) Your candidate’s position on an issue

    a. A description of one policy/proposal offered by your candidate: 10 points

    b. An explanation of why this policy is beneficial to your social class: 20 points

(4) Your candidate’s financial support

a. Name a contributor to your candidate and state the amount given: 10points.

b. Discuss one way that this contributor’s “agenda” coincides with the “agenda” of your social class: 20 points

(5)Prediction and defense of prediction regarding whether or not your social class will support the candidate you have selected: 5 points

(6) Bibliography: 5 points  

For each major error in grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc., one point will be deducted, up to a maximum of 10 points.  Thus, run spellcheck, grammar check and proof read! Late papers will be penalized 10 points per “class period” late.