Election 2000 Resource Guide

With the presidential election drawing closer, Baylor University's Office of Public Relations has developed the following list of Baylor faculty who offer expertise and perspective on major election issues.

Presidential Debates and Presidential Rhetoric
Dr. Karla Leeper, associate professor of communication studies, serves as director of Baylor's award-winning debate program and was a finalist at the National Debate Tournament in 1985, and coached nationally successful teams at the University of Texas and the University of Kansas. Currently, she is serving as president of the American Forensics Association. The author of numerous articles for Forensic Quarterly and Communican, Leeper also regularly presents papers at the Speech Communication Association annual meetings on a variety of topics, such as "Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton and the Budget Battle of FY96," "Enemy Images and American Policy in Bosnia" and "Clinton and the Former Yugoslavia: Justifications for Action."
To contact Leeper, call (254) 710-6919

Electoral Behavior and Voter Turnout
Dr. Donald Greco, assistant professor of political science and director of the American Studies program, received his juris doctor from Northwestern University and his doctorate from the University of Illinois - Urbana. He is author of several book chapters and articles, including "The Right to Vote and the Supreme Court," in The Supreme Court; "Constitutional Principles," a series of web-based study guides; "Voter Turnout in U.S. Presidential Elections: An Historical View and Some Speculation," in Politica I; and "Barriers to Voting in the 21st Century," among others.
To contact Greco, call (254) 710-6043.

Church-State Issues
Dr. Derek Davis, director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, is a nationally-recognized authority on church-state issues. He is the author of "Original Intent: Chief Justice Rehnquist & the Course of American Church-State Relations" (1991) and "Religion and the Continental Congress, 1774-1789: Contributions to Original Intent" (2000 Oxford University Press). He is the editor or coeditor of seven other books including "The Role of Religion in the Making of Public Policy" (1991), "Problems and Conflicts Between Law and Morality in a Free Society" (1993) and "Welfare Reform and Faith-Based Organizations" (1999). He has also published extensively in various law and academic journals.
His frequent magazine, radio and television interviews have included those for Time Magazine, First Things, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, National Public Radio, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, the Fox News Network, CBS News and ABC News.
To contact Davis, call (254) 710-1510.

The Supreme Court and Election 2000
Dr. John Blakeman, assistant professors of political science, received his master of science from the London School of Economics and Political Science and his doctorate from the University of Virginia. His research interests include American Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court and British Constitutional Law. He is the author of "British Courts and the European Court of Justice: Constitutional Politics and Constitutional Change" in Law Above Nations: Supranational Courts and the Legalization of Politics; "Appellate Review of Administrative Law Injunctions in the United States and Britain"; and "Appellate Courts and Injunctive Relief: Freedom of Speech and Press Injunctions in the United States and Britain."
To contact Blakeman, call (254) 710-6045.

The Media and Political Campaigns
Dr. Michael Mansfield, professor of political science, has extensive expertise in the area of communication and politics. He received his doctorate from the University of Missouri and began teaching at Baylor in 1973. He is the author of "Drama in Life: The Uses of Communication in Society and Government" and "The News Media: Comparative Dimensions." Articles he has written include "Politics: Tastes Great or Less Filling" in Politics in Popular Context: Projecting Politics Through Popular Media and "Political Communication in Decision-Making Groups" in New Directions in Political Communication. Additionally, he served as co-editor of the World Heritage series Studies in Political Communication.
To contact Mansfield, call (254) 710-4853.

Public Policy
Dr. Richard Riley, professor of political science and director of graduate studies, joined the Baylor faculty in 1979. He received his master's degree from American University and his doctorate from Duke University. He is the co-author, with James Curry and Richard Battistoni, of Constitutional Government and the co-editor of The American Constitutional Experience: Selected Readings and Supreme Court Opinions. Additionally, he often has presented papers or participated in panel discussions on such topics as "Nuclear Weapons Contamination: The Economic and Environmental Legacy of the Cold War Era," "Control of Public Administration and Policy," "The Politics of Judicial Change and Reform," and "Evolving Issues in State Courts."
To contact Riley, call (254) 710-6050.

Pre-Election Polling
Dr. Larry Lyon, professor of sociology and dean of Baylor's Graduate School, is the director of the Center for Community Research and Development, a multidisciplinary research entity with a mission of engaging Baylor faculty and students in applied social research on local, statewide and national levels. Lyon is a Baylor graduate and earned his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been a source for various news media on polling, including such topics as how samples are selected, how questions are framed, how results are interpreted and the meaning of "margin of error." He has served as president of the Southwestern Sociological Association and president of the Southwestern Social Science Association.
To contact Lyon, call (254) 710-3588.