Separate No More : Presidential Campaigning, Congressional Voting, and the Separation of Powers

In this paper I examine the reasons for, and the impact of, presidential campaigning on the voting behavior of the U.S. Congress. Building off prior research in this area, I look at a particular aspect of campaigning — the endorsement of congressional candidates — as manifested in the public statements of presidents, and show how varied levels of campaigning — both in frequency and intensity — produce different levels of presidential support in Congress. In doing so I seek to push this line of inquiry so as not only develop a theory of presidential campaign behavior, but also to further understand how the actions of the ‘modern presidency' have interacted with and transformed deep-seated notions of the separation of powers