I teach and research American politics at the University of Miami. I specialize in the study of Congress, political parties, interest groups, elections, political history, and political institutions. I have published research on filibustering, legislative parties, Congressional rules, and bill cosponsorship in the U.S. House.
Filibustering
Effort, Intensity and Position Taking: Reconsidering Obstruction in the Pre-Cloture Senate (with Kathleen Bawn), Journal of Theoretical Politics (2008)
Effort is a crucial element of the legislative process — writing bills, forming coalitions, crafting...
Filibustering and Majority Rule in the Senate: the Contest over Judicial Nominations, 2003-2005, Why Not Parties? (2008)
This chapter proves a simple point: the Senate could be a much more majoritarian chamber...
Filibuster Reform in the Senate, 1913-17, Process, Party and Policy Making: Further New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2007)
This chapter explains the adoption of the Senate's first cloture rule in 1917, specifically why...
Cloture Reform and Party Government in the Senate, 1918 to 1925, Journal of Politics (2006)
Why does filibustering persist in the U.S. Senate? This article analyzes senators' preferences toward majority...
Congressional Parties
Polarized Agents: Campaign Contributions by Lobbyists (with Jennifer Nicoll Victor), PS: Political Science and Politics (2009)
Are professional lobbyists loyal partisans? There are thousands of professional lobbyists in Washington, D.C., who...
Strategic Party Government: Party Influence in Congress, 1789-2000.” (with Matthew J. Lebo and Adam J. McGlynn), American Journal of Political Science (2007)
Why does the influence of Congressional parties fluctuate over time Building on prevailing answers, we...
Cloture Reform and Party Government in the Senate, 1918 to 1925, Journal of Politics (2006)
Why does filibustering persist in the U.S. Senate? This article analyzes senators' preferences toward majority...
Political Party Networks
Cooperative Party Factions in American Politics (with Seth Masket and Hans Noel), American Politics Research (2010)
What are the primary factions within the Democratic and Republican parties, and to what extent...
Partisan Webs: Information Exchange and Party Networks (with Seth Masket and Hans Noel), British Journal of Political Science (2009)
What is a party? We argue that the formal party apparatus is only one part...
Polarized Agents: Campaign Contributions by Lobbyists (with Jennifer Nicoll Victor), PS: Political Science and Politics (2009)
Are professional lobbyists loyal partisans? There are thousands of professional lobbyists in Washington, D.C., who...
Lobbyists
Polarized Agents: Campaign Contributions by Lobbyists (with Jennifer Nicoll Victor), PS: Political Science and Politics (2009)
Are professional lobbyists loyal partisans? There are thousands of professional lobbyists in Washington, D.C., who...
Congress
Strategic Party Government: Party Influence in Congress, 1789-2000.” (with Matthew J. Lebo and Adam J. McGlynn), American Journal of Political Science (2007)
Why does the influence of Congressional parties fluctuate over time Building on prevailing answers, we...
Cloture Reform and Party Government in the Senate, 1918 to 1925, Journal of Politics (2006)
Why does filibustering persist in the U.S. Senate? This article analyzes senators' preferences toward majority...
Position-Taking and Cosponsorship in the U.S. House, Legislative Studies Quarterly (2003)
Bill cosponsorship has become an important part of the legislative and electoral process in the...
Congressional Elections
The Electoral Consequences of Party Loyalty in Congress (with Jamie Carson, Matthew J. Lebo, and Everett Young), American Journal of Political Science (2010)
To what extent is party loyalty a liability for incumbent legislators? Past research on legislative...
Presidency
Making Change: A Six-Month Review, The Forum (2009)
This article surveys President Obama's policy agenda-setting for the first six months of his term....