CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
Newman discusses differences in running between the two houses. House elections tend to be more local and parochial in character, but national issues like the economy can intrude.
CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
Shots, interior of car, driving through rural Wisconsin. Shots of DAIRY FARMS. V.O.-Reaganomics is hurting Dairy farmers with interest rates and subsidy cuts. Shots of Dairy Farmer with his herd. Dairy farmer talks about his problems with loan interest. Shot of Republican incumbent Steve Gunderson, still of Gunderson with Reagan in White House. Shot of Gunderson in a Republican Campaign school session. Gunderson in his front yard, jokes that he needs to get the cow vote to win. V.O.--Gunderson needed to convince voters that he opposed Reaganomics cuts in Dairy Subsidies. Shots of Gunderson in Committee hearing. Gunderson says he opposes Reagan when policies are bad for the district.
CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
Shot of a Dairy farmer on his spread. Farmer says that Gunderson knows when to oppose Reagan to help the district. Gunderson discusses his campaign strategy. Shot of Gunderson in a donut shop with a group of Dairy farmers. V.O.-Gunderson benefitted from "sophomore surge", the process in which freshmen congressmen take extreme pains to provide service to the district and from incumbency. Shot of Democrat challenger Paul Offner discussing his disadvantage in the campaign. Shot of Offner talking to dairy farmers. Offner says Gunderson doesn't take tough stands in office. Shot of Offner in conference with three dairy farmers trying to talk about economic policy in high-flown terms. Shots of Offner campaigning at a high-school football game. V.O.-GUNDERSON won fairly handily, as local issues, as usual, took the fore.
CONGRESS: WE THE PEOPLE
Norm Ornstein in front of Capitol says that national issues can turn local Congressional elections, especially the economy, as in the 1982 election in Pontiac, Michigan. Shot of Jim Dunn, the Republican incumbent. Still of Democrat Bob Carr. Shots of the district in Pontiac, an African-American working class neighborhood with a group of men washing a car in the driveway of small house. Shot of unemployment offices in Pontiac. Series of shots of citizens, all of whom say that jobs are the biggest issue in the election. Shots of an auto assembly plant, groups of people with union emblems on their jackets. Shot of empty parking lot of an auto plant. Shots of auto workers in unemployment line. Shot of Bob Carr and Jim Dunn. Carr says that Reaganomics is killing Michigan and Dunn is going along with it. V.O.-CARR campaigned by attacking DUNN'S record of voting with Reagan on economic issues. Shot of Jim Dunn headquarters. Dunn insists that he's opposed Reagan on key votes. Shot of George Bush at Dunn campaign meeting, Shot of Gerald Ford campaigning for Dunn. Shot of Walter Mondale, saying that Carr voted to help the auto industry in his previous term in Congress.