BP3 California Government, Politics, and Public Policy/State and Local Government
Win the Right Way: How to Run Effective Local Campaigns in California
Christine Trost and Matt Grossmann, 87 pp, Book #4172, $20
Candidates don't have to sling mud to win. This state-of-the-art guide combines the latest research on voter attitudes from UC Berkeley's Center for Campaign Leadership with advice from leading campaign strategists on how to run clean, honest, effective campaigns for public office in California. Rather than echo the conventional wisdom that negative campaigning works, this guide shows candidates how to plan a campaign, build an effective organization, develop and deliver a clear and compelling message, and mobilize voters on election day-all in a way that promotes public trust in both the candidates and the offices they seek.
California Votes: The 2002 Governor's Race & The Recall That Made History
Gerald C. Lubenow, ed., 273 pages, Book #4105, $24.95
As the effort to recall Governor Gray Davis swirled toward the polls in the spring of 2003, the IGS publications staff was just putting the finishing touches on the definitive account of his election in the autumn of 2002. Every four years since 1990, the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, has assembled the key players in the governor's race-campaign managers and consultants, pollsters and political operatives, money people and the media- to assess what really happened.
But, as our editing progressed, so did the recall effort. And about the time we were ready to send the book to press, it became clear that the recall would reach the ballot and, quite possibly, undo the results of the election. We decided to hold up publication and include the recall as the final chapters in the book. The result is a publication as unique as the recall itself: a book that combines an in-depth look at the 2002 election that put Gray Davis in the governorship with a behind-the-scenes analysis of the recall election that plucked him from office less than a year later.
This volume, the latest on the quadrennial gatherings that draw what one reporter called "the innermost of California's political insiders," details the planning behind Davis's preemptive strike that took Richard Riordan out in the Republican primary, and the dynamics of his hairsbreadth victory over Bill Simon in the general election. And here, too, is a compelling first-person narrative of the angry groundswell that drove him from office. Reading the two in juxtaposition, one is struck by a sense that the recall's success and Davis's failure were almost an inevitable climax to the election of 2002.
As IGS Director Bruce Cain observed, "We've discovered that with the passage of time people tend to be more willing to speak frankly about the reasons why they did what they did in the heat of the battle, and we have learned a lot of extraordinary things about how decisions are made." The verbatim transcripts and expert commentary published here will serve as a text for students of politics, a must read for political junkies, and a handbook for the next election.
Voting at the Political Fault Line: California' s Experiment with the Blanket Primary
Bruce E. Cain and Elisabeth R. Gerber, eds., 373 pages, Book #8340, $22.50, published in association with University of California Press
California's adoption of the blanket primary in 1996 presented a unique natural experiment on the impact that election rules have on politics. Billed as a measure that would increase voter participation and end ideological polarization, Proposition 198 placed California voters once again on the frontier of political reform. The contributors to Voting at the Political Fault Line apply their wide-ranging expertise to understand how this change in political institutions affected electoral behavior and outcomes. This authoritative study analyzes the consequences of California's experiment with the blanket primary, including the incidence of, motivations behind, and persistence of crossover voting; the behavior of candidates and donors; the effects on candidate positions and party platforms; and the consequences for women, minorities, and minor-party candidates.
Latinos and Public Policy in California: An Agenda for Opportunity
David Lopez and Andres Jimenez, eds., 347 pages, Book #4091, $24.95
Despite California's Mexican origins, the Mexican/Latino presence represented no more than three percent of the state's population at the beginning of the 20th century. While this presence grew slowly but steadily during the state's postwar population boom, in the last three decades of the 20th century Latinos emerged as the most dynamic sector of the state's population. In the 1990s Latinos accounted for 85 percent of all population growth in the state. Currently Latinos are one-third of the population and the largest ethnic group among the state's school children. If these demographic trends continue, Latinos will become the absolute majority of the state's population before the middle of this century.
California's future is inextricably intertwined with the fate of its burgeoning Latino population. Despite their growing social and political presence, Latinos as a whole still constitute less than 20 percent of the electorate, possess a smaller share of wealth relative to other groups, and lag significantly behind other groups in educational attainment. These disparities are likely to persist into the foreseeable future and to frame statewide policy debates on opportunity and access.
The UC Latino Policy Institute commissioned this volume to examine the effects of the growing Latino population on the state's policy agenda. In a series of 11 topical chapters, contributors from a variety of disciplines review the status of California Latinos in areas such as education, health-care access, housing, the criminal justice system, economic opportunity, and political participation. The authors recommend policy approaches to enhance opportunities, improve service delivery, and make best or more efficient use of public resources. The UC Latino Policy Institute is administered by the California Policy Research Center, University of California Office of the President, and receives funding from the University of California Committee on Latino Research.
The Third House: Lobbyists, Money, and Power in Sacramento
Jay Michael and Dan Walters with Dan Weintraub 151 pp, Book #3974, $14.95
Unlike the sanitized version in civics texts, this book provides a savvy, sophisticated look at how laws are really made. It profiles colorful characters like Artie Samish and Jesse 'Big Daddy' Unruh, big money conflicts over horse racing and Indian casinos, and the clash of public and private interests over issues from insurance to health care and beyond. The authors are Jay Michael, one of the state's most experienced lobbyists, and Dan Walters, the capitol's premier columnist.
Making Government Work: California Cases in Policy, Politics, and Public Management
Barry Keene, ed., 210 pages, Book #3966, $21.95
Shaping public policy in a huge, diverse state like California is seldom easy. Those who hold political power can rarely wield it without restraint. There are political rivals, opposing interest groups, and wavering allies. Making Government Work teaches how to achieve public policy goals by thinking and acting politically.
The cases are political fables--stories with a lesson. They teach the skills and techniques that make government work. This book is a collaboration between the IGS and the Center for California State Studies at CSU, Sacramento
California Public Management Casebook
Barry Keene, ed., 245pp, Book #3915, $21.95
Our hopes for a better world depend on attracting to government leaders who not
only have good intentions, but the wisdom to see the difference between good intentions and good public policy and the political skills to see that the best of their intentions become law. These cases help students understand and appreciate the realities of public service. -- Former State Senator Barry Keene
The two California Casebooks may be purchased as a set for $35!
Free teaching tips! Teaching With Cases (zipped WordPerfect 9 file, or right-click and use "Save Link as..." to save a plain Wordperfect file to your computer)
Racial and Ethnic Politics in California, Vol. Two
Michael B. Preston, Bruce E. Cain, and Sandra Bass, eds., 330pp, Book #3281, $24.95
California is America’s first majority minority state, and racial and ethnic voters are reshaping the state’s politics. This ground-breaking book, the leading text in the field, examines these changes and their political impact. Few texts address these difficult questions, and none does it as well as this. Bruce Cain, Franklin Gilliam, Don Nakanishi, Harry Pachon, Michael Preston, Jaime Regalado, Fernando Guerra, Sandra Bass, Leland Saito, and Raphael Sonnenshein write about Latino politics and empowerment, the growing Asian vote, affirmative action, transnational political identity, immigration, and political incorporation.
California Votes--The 1998 Governor's Race: An Inside Look at the Candidates and Their Campaigns
Gerald C. Lubenow, ed., 310pp, $21.95
This series--with companion volumes on the 1990 and 1994 races--is the insiders’ guide to California politics. Following each of the past three California governor's races, the key players came to Berkeley to review and critique the strategy and tactics of the race. In two days of brutally candid discussion, they examine every aspect of the race. An edited transcript of these discussions, with commentary and analysis by the leading political journalists, scholars, and party operatives, provides an extraordinary look behind the scenes of a major campaign.
"California Votes is a tribute to democracy."--Pete Wilson, Former Governor of California
"New insight into the reasoning behind strategic decisions from the winners and losers."-- The Political Hotline
"A unique and path-breaking account of the politics of California, with lessons of importance for this state and other large states and, indeed, for national campaigns."--Eugene C. Lee, Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley; Director of IGS, 1968-88
"Politics as seen by the innermost of California's political insiders."--Bill Stall, Los Angeles Times
California Votes--The 1994 Governor's Race: An Inside Look at the Candidates and Their Campaigns
Gerald C. Lubenow, ed., 296pp, $19.95 *OUT OF PRINT
California Votes--The 1990 Governor's Race: An Inside Look at the Candidates and Their Campaigns
Gerald C. Lubenow, ed., 240pp, $15.95 *OUT OF PRINT
Governing California: Politics, Government, and Public Policy in the Golden State
Gerald C. Lubenow and Bruce E. Cain, eds., 372pp, $21.95
Written by the state's leading scholars and journalists, Governing California is a popular text for courses in American politics and state and local government. Analytical, authoritative, and accessible, its crisp narratives focus on the people and events that have shaped politics and government in the Golden State.
Constitutional Reform in California: Making State Government More Effective and Responsive
Bruce E. Cain and Roger G. Noll, Editors 514pp, $24.95
California’s Constitutional Revision Commission assembled the state's leading scholars to investigate how the structure of the constitution affects state and local government. Their proposals for far-reaching and innovative reform incorporate ideas from across the political spectrum and form a benchmark for future debate about California governance.
The Speaker's Electoral Connection: Willie Brown and the California Assembly
Richard A. Clucas, 168pp, $14.95
"Legislative leaders now have as one of their principal jobs raising funds for their party's legislative candidates. None mastered the art of campaign finance like Willie Brown of California, the subject of Richard A. Clucas's groundbreaking contribution to our knowledge of legislative leadership. Theoretically based, methodically analyzed, and cogently argued." -- Alan Rosenthal, Professor of Public Policy, Rutgers University
Prison Population and Criminal Justice Policy in California
Franklin E. Zimring and Gordon Hawkins, 72pp, $9.95
In the late eightes, a series of blue ribbon studies urged a massive prison-building program to accommodate huge projected increases in the state prison population. Zimring and Hawkins show that the booming prison population reflects a change in policy rather than an increase in crime and suggest innovative ways to reduce the prison population.
