Instructions: In a 5-7 page essay, answer one of the questions below. Your essay will be graded according to the standards used for papers, including organization, content, sources/citations, and writing will be given much weight. Use citations to identify your sources, following the form of the Nelson reader. While you may refer to sources not on the syllabus, you are responsible for using the material we have covered in the course. This exam will be due on Thursday, May 24th by 11:00 AM in my mailbox in the department office, Room 1724 HW. You may not fax or e-mail the paper. Late papers without a documented valid excuse will not be accepted. Please ask the department secretary to initial the date and time when you drop off the exam. Never leave a paper under my door. Final exams may be picked up in the department office but they will not have comments on them.

    1. The Nominating Process: Undermining Moderation? Some observers contend that changes in the presidential nominating process during the past forty-plus years have altered significantly the type of candidate selected by the parties. Assess the validity of this claim by tracing the evolution of the presidential nominating process since the 1960s, examining the shifts in roles played by various participants in the process, and evaluating whether the modern nominating process yields different types of candidates than the system in use before 1960.

    2. The Public President. Some observers worry that presidents can manipulate the media by staging spectacles, while others counter that presidential use of the media can backfire when presidents try to engage in a communications war. Explain (using examples) and evaluate these two perspectives on the public dimension of modern presidential leadership. Can both views be correct?

    3. The President as Chief Legislator. Presidents have assumed greater roles in the modern era in shaping legislation, yet their success in securing the passage of measures varies considerably. Trace the development of presidential resources for influencing the legislative process from agenda-setting through bureaucratic implementation. Then explain the variations in presidential success rates in securing congressional support for their legislative program.

    4. Presidents, Congress, and the Power to Wage War. Discuss the constitutional and other sources of the expanded capacity of modern presidents to wage war and examine why Congress has been unable to check presidential commitment of military force. Does the lack of effective congressional restraint present a danger to the nation and the presidency?