Becoming a Candidate: Political Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office

302 Pages·2012·1.141 MB·English

by  Jennifer L. Lawless

BecomingaCandidate
PoliticalAmbitionandtheDecisiontoRunforOffice
Why does anyone make the move from politically minded citizen to
candidateforpublicoffice?Whatfactorscontributetotheinitialdeci-
siontorunforoffice?Whatcircumstancestriggerandsuppresspolitical
ambitionovertime?BecomingaCandidate:PoliticalAmbitionandthe
Decision to Run for Office explores the factors that drive political
ambition at the earliest stages. Using data from a comprehensive sur-
veyofthousandsofeligiblecandidates,JenniferL.Lawlesssystemati-
callyinvestigateswhatcompelscertaincitizenstopursueelectiveposi-
tions and others to recoil at the notion. She assesses personal factors,
such as race, gender, and family dynamics, as well as professional
circumstances and attitudes toward the political system to shed new
light on the candidate emergence process. By developing a broader
conceptionofpoliticalambition,Lawlessspeakstofundamentalques-
tionsofelectoralcompetition,politicalrepresentation,anddemocratic
legitimacy.
JenniferL.LawlessisanAssociateProfessorofGovernmentatAmeri-
canUniversity,wheresheisalsotheDirectoroftheWomen&Politics
Institute. She is the current editor of Politics & Gender. Her research
focusesonpoliticalambition,publicopinion,andwomenandpolitics.
HerarticleshaveappearedintheAmericanJournalofPoliticalScience,
Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Political Research Quar-
terly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Politics & Gender, and Women
& Politics. She is also the coauthor of It Takes A Candidate: Why
Women Don’t Run for Office (Cambridge 2005) and It Still Takes A
Candidate:WhyWomenDon’tRunforOffice(Cambridge2010)with
Richard L. Fox. She is a recognized speaker on the subject of elec-
toral politics, frequently discussing these issues on national and local
television and radio. Her scholarly analysis and political commentary
have been quoted in the New York Times, theWall Street Journal,
the Washington Post, and USA Today, among numerous other news-
papers, as well as on the websites of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.
In2006,shesoughttheDemocraticnominationfortheU.S.Houseof
RepresentativesinRhodeIsland’s2ndcongressionaldistrict.

Becoming a Candidate
Political Ambition and the Decision to Run
for Office
JENNIFER L. LAWLESS
AmericanUniversity
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521756600
(cid:2)C JenniferL.Lawless2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Lawless,JenniferL.,1975–
Becomingacandidate:politicalambitionandthedecisiontorunforoffice/Jennifer
L.Lawless.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-76749-1(hardback)–isbn978-0-521-75660-0(paperback)
1.Politicalcandidates–UnitedStates. 2.Politicalcandidates–UnitedStates–Case
studies. I.Title.
jk2281.l385 2011
324.7–dc23 2011025064
isbn978-0-521-76749-1Hardback
isbn978-0-521-75660-0Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls
forexternalorthird-partyInternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
For Marjorie and John Lawless,
who always encouraged me to be a candidate,
and
for Adam Deitch and Nick Goldberg,
who helped me become one.

Contents
ListofTables pagexi
ListofFigures xv
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Mudslinging,Money-Grubbing,andMayhem:Who
WouldEverRunforOffice? 1
TheImportanceofStudyingtheInitialDecisiontoRun
forOffice 6
OrganizationoftheBook 10
2 TheDecisiontoRunforOffice:TheTheoreticaland
MethodologicalApproach 14
TheInitialDecisiontoRunforOffice:DevelopingaMore
CompleteTheoryofPoliticalAmbition 16
TheCitizenPoliticalAmbitionPanelStudy 24
3 PoliticalAmbitionintheCandidateEligibilityPool 31
CandidateEmergencefromtheEligibilityPool 35
WhoRunsforOffice?EligibleCandidates’ExpressiveAmbition 35
WhoConsidersRunningforOffice?EligibleCandidates’Nascent
Ambition 37
PredictingNascentAmbition:TheNullEffectsofthePolitical
OpportunityStructure 40
DynamicAmbitionintheCandidateEligibilityPool 42
Conclusion 48
vii
viii Contents
4 BarackObamaand18MillionCracksintheGlassCeiling:
Sex,Race,andPoliticalAmbition 49
ThePoliticsofExclusion:Sex,Race,andtheConventional
ExplanationsforNumericUnderrepresentation 53
Sex,Race,andPoliticalAmbition:ExistingLiteratureand
CompetingExpectations 57
SimilaritiesinPoliticalParticipation,Proximity,andInterest:
AnOverviewbySexandRace 60
Sex,Race,andInterestinRunningforOffice 66
Sex,Race,andChangesinInterestinRunningforOffice:
PredictingDynamicAmbition 73
Conclusion 74
5 YouCouldBePresidentSomeday!EarlySocialization,the
RoleofFamily,andPoliticalAmbition 77
IntheGenes:TheLifelongEffectsofaPoliticizedUpbringing 78
TheInfluenceofFamilyStructuresandRolesonPolitical
Ambition 86
ChangesinFamilyCircumstances:PredictingDynamic
Ambition 99
Conclusion 102
6 On-the-JobTraining:ProfessionalCircumstancesandthe
DecisiontoRunforOffice 104
ProfessionalDifferencesandPoliticalAmbitioninthe
CandidateEligibilityPool:ABivariateAnalysis 106
TheRoleofIncomeandFinancialSuccess 110
TheRoleofProfessionallyConferredPoliticalProximity 114
TheRoleofProfessionalCredentialsandQualifications 117
ASideNoteontheGenderGapinPerceptionsofQualifications 121
TheImpactofProfessionalCircumstancesonPolitical
Ambition:MultivariateResults 124
ChangesinProfessionalCircumstances:PredictingDynamic
Ambition 129
Conclusion 133
7 YouThinkIShouldRunforOffice?PoliticalParties,
PoliticalRecruitment,andPoliticalAmbition 135
EligibleCandidates’PoliticalAttitudesandPartisanship 137
WhoGetsAskedtoRunforOffice? 142
PoliticalRecruitmentandConsideringaCandidacy 150
ChangesinRelationshipsWithandAboutthePolitical
Parties:PredictingDynamicAmbition 155
Conclusion 161
Contents ix
8 BitingtheBullet:DecidingtoRunforOffice 164
SoManyReasonsNottoRunforOffice:Negative
PerceptionsoftheElectoralEnvironmentandthe
CampaignProcess 166
FundraisingasaDeterrenttoRunningforOffice 170
InvasionofPrivacyasaDeterrenttoRunningforOffice 172
NegativeCampaigningasaDeterrenttoRunningforOffice 174
ExpressingThatAmbition:TheDecisiontoEnteranActual
Race 176
TheRoleofthePoliticalOpportunityStructure 185
Conclusion 186
9 FuturePatternsofCandidateEmergenceandStudiesof
PoliticalAmbition 188
SummaryoftheFindings:ContemporaryPatternsof
CandidateEmergence 190
ImplicationsforCandidateEmergenceandtheStudyof
PoliticalAmbition 195
AppendixA: TheCitizenPoliticalAmbitionPanelStudy 201
Appendix B: TheFirstWaveSurvey(2001) 204
AppendixC: TheSecondWaveSurvey(2008) 217
AppendixD: TheFirstWaveInterviewQuestionnaire 229
Appendix E: TheSecondWaveInterviewQuestionnaire 234
Appendix F: CodingofVariables 239
WorksCited 251
Index 269