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The Democratic Party Coalition: A Social Network Analysis of Leadership PACs, Party Committees and Interest Groups
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The Democratic Party Coalition:
Pre-Nomination Behavior of Leadership PACs, Party Committees and Interest Groups
Casey B. K. Dominguez
Department of Political Science and International Relations
University of San Diego
## email not listed ##
This paper begins with the premise that political party organizations should be treated as open, fluid networks of actors who compete with each other for control over their collective agenda. It then examines nomination contests for evidence of factional conflict among interest groups in the Democratic party. The paper defines factions to be durable coalitions of different actors that try to influence the party's internal organization, and have some rational basis for doing so. Examining the 2002 congressional primary candidates that were supported by Democratic party-oriented Political Action Committees, it finds that there is a consensus on one primary candidate in about 70% of open primary races. This finding undermines the conventional wisdom that Democrats are frequently deeply divided, especially in primaries. In the races where these PACs do not support the same primary candidate, exploratory analysis hints at some discernible groupings, though not necessarily factions per se. The paper concludes that more work needs to be done defining the boundaries of the Expanded Party, and defining and measuring faction. Paper prepared for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 30- Sept. 2, 2007
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| | Authors: Dominguez, Casey. |
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The Democratic Party Coalition:
Pre-Nomination Behavior of Leadership PACs, Party Committees and Interest Groups
Casey B. K. Dominguez
Department of Political Science and International Relations
University of San Diego
This paper begins with the premise that political party organizations should be treated as
open, fluid networks of actors who compete with each other for control over their
collective agenda. It then examines nomination contests for evidence of factional conflict
among interest groups in the Democratic party. The paper defines factions to be durable
coalitions of different actors that try to influence the party's internal organization, and
have some rational basis for doing so. Examining the 2002 congressional primary
candidates that were supported by Democratic party-oriented Political Action
Committees, it finds that there is a consensus on one primary candidate in about 70% of
open primary races. This finding undermines the conventional wisdom that Democrats
are frequently deeply divided, especially in primaries. In the races where these PACs do
not support the same primary candidate, exploratory analysis hints at some discernible
groupings, though not necessarily factions per se. The paper concludes that more work
needs to be done defining the boundaries of the Expanded Party, and defining and
measuring faction.
Paper prepared for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association, Chicago, IL, August 30- Sept. 2, 2007
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