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This research is an extension of the body of work seeking to explain variation in levels of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforcement as a function of national and local variation in the agency's political environment. Although we examine a number of relationships, the new question is whether legislative oversight affects the behavior of OSHA compliance officers at the district level. OSHA is an interesting test case of the impact of oversight on bureaucratic output because of the way policy is implemented—enforcement takes place in the field by street-level bureaucrats, far removed from the federal office. Using data gathered at the congressional district level(1983-1995), results suggest that variation within OSHA's enforcement behavior is influenced by oversight committee assignment, overall oversight committee's and appropriations subcommittee's attitudes toward labor, and the district representative's disposition toward labor issues. We conclude legislative oversight indeed imposes limitations on compliance officers' district-level enforcement actions.

All personal choices by individuals, what they drink, what kind of products they buy, what kind of candy they consume can reveal the type of political ideologies those individuals hold. “Campaigns have entered the era of „Big Data‟ - they target voters based on scraps of information they gather from unlikely places” (Wadhwa 2012). Campaigns utilize this available data to their advantage and are able to combine all of this information to learn about voters and what they like to increase their chances at getting elected. Extant studies of microtargeting and consumer behavior have indicated relationships between drink preference, candy preference (and other consumer choices) and political preferences. Such studies have revealed a link between Democrats and light-colored spirits and more moderate political thinkers and their choice Butter Fingers as their favorite candy. We focus on choices made by consumers of technology and the potential link between choice of electronic device (laptop, tablet, and smartphone) and that consumer‟s political preferences. Using a survey of incoming freshman at a small liberal arts college we attempt to demonstrate just such a link. Further, do such consumer preferences tell us anything more about the differences, particularly in thought processes, between Democrats and Republicans, and can that knowledge aid in attempts to bridge our political divide?

“The term public policy always refers to the actions of government and the intentions that determine those actions. Making policy requires choosing among goals and alternatives, and choice always involved intention” (Cochran et al. 2006, 1). For our purposes, public policy and the making of it, is about the intentions of the president and about his or her choices among goals and alternatives. It’s about decision making, but it’s more than decision making; it’s also about the follow-through. In the preceding chapters we have discussed the electorate’s choice between candidates—an alternate way of saying a choice between one set of preferences and another—the character or personality of presidents, how they get advice, how they interact with other political actors, and the tools available to them. In other words, we have discussed how presidents make decisions—how they go about making policy.

Any examination of the presidency as an institution, especially one that focuses on the role and impact of the individual on the institution, must pay attention to the manner by which the individuals are selected. In the United States, it is essentially a two-stage process. The selection of candidates by political parties is the first stage, the second being the electoral contest between those candidates and any others who have made it to the ballot by some other means.

When discussing vice-presidential selection a few chapters ago, I stated that one of the reasons why this was so important was that it was an early indicator of the president’s character and his ability to make decisions. Certainly, picking a vice president is not the only decision a president will make over the course of his or her tenure. Many decisions are made, some rather small and with relatively little impact on politics or history, while others can be monumental and change the political landscape or the course of history. In this chapter, we will discuss two rather significant decisions in the area of national security and foreign relations, decisions that could have led to war in each scenario. Both decisions come from the same presidency and demonstrate what Barber (1992) and others would argue are positive characteristics for a president to have, namely the ability to admit to a mistake and learn from it.

Every recent president has been well aware of his1 standing in the polls and has often commissioned his own polls. One should not take from this that presidents are passive observers of public opinion. Rather, they actively engage in activities to shape opinion. As noted in chapter 13, presidents employ strategies to ensure that interpretation of their statements and actions favor them, and these same strategies are used to influence how their policies are viewed by the American public. Other than to massage their own egos, why would presidents feel the need to shape opinion, whether about themselves or their policies? The answer lies in their ability to work with others, both domestically and in foreign affairs. A president’s standing and reputation, both partly a function of popularity, impact whether he or she is in a position of dominance when dealing with leaders of Congress or foreign leaders.

There is a broad literature describing the vast underrepresentation of women in elective offices in the United States. At the same time there is much literature demonstrating that the offices women do hold are generally more local in nature. This paper is a preliminary step in looking at one of the potential underlying reasons for women to choose not to seek office beyond their local community – distance from home to the job. Being a preliminary analysis only rather weak support is found, but further work is urged.