Return to Election '04 Resource Center

Date Issued: 10/26/2004

Tuesday's Election Night: Analyzing the Results continued a time-honored CMC tradition at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, providing a special election night menu and well-seasoned faculty commentary as guests watched the returns together on big-screen.

Although the momentum of the biggest race—the close, presidential standoff between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry—wouldn't peak for hours after the dinner event, students cheered and applauded each time one of their party candidates won a state's electoral votes.

"I think it's a very helpful program, and I found it interesting that people were willing to talk about the issues," said freshman Paul Snell, a government major. "An event like this shows that campaigns do involve real people, and I think it's awesome that we all are interested in the democratic process."

As part of Tuesday's program, Professors Andrew Busch and Ken Miller answered questions and lead discussions on all the night's races, from the White House and Congress, to statewide and local initiatives. Questions from CMCers included an almost prophetic inquiry including how long—if Tuesday's presidential election returns were legally disputed—might it take before a new president is declared? And, what might happen if there was a shortage of ballots, due to record-breaking voter turnout? One student wanted to know—more plainly—why this election seemed so divisive.

Students, engaged in each return flashed on the screen, discussed the issues amongst themselves throughout dinner and tallied electoral votes on a worksheet provided by the Ath. The audience included a number of CMCers who had worked on campaigns over the summer and shared those experiences Tuesday night, including Andrew Lee '07, one of the four first recipients of the College's new Political Education Fellowships.

In his response Tuesday night, Professor Busch attributed the devisiveness of the presidential race to factors such as the controversial opening circumstances of President Bush's election in 2000 ("Whomever would have come out of that race, even if it was Al Gore, would have faced as much division,") and a cultural divide drawn more between religious and personal values lines than issues of policy. He also iterated the networks' exercise in caution this year about calling the election prematurely.

Miller advised students to keep watch on local ballot initiatives as well, such as Proposition 66 (the Three Strikes Law) and the congressional bid for office facing incumbent David Dreier '75.

Busch, associate professor of government, joined the faculty this fall from the University of Denver's political science department, where he received the Teacher-Scholar of the Year award in 2002. His research interests include American elections and public policy and the Reagan presidency. He is the author of seven books, including: The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election, and Horses in Midstream: U.S. Midterm Elections and Their Consequences, 1894-1998. Busch received his bachelor's degree in political science and history from the University of Colorado, and his Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia.

Miller, assistant professor of government, joined CMC last year. A nationally recognized expert in direct democracy and representative government, Miller is a graduate of Harvard Law School and earned a doctorate in political science at UC Berkeley. He is a 1985 graduate of Pomona College and an alumnus of the CMC Washington Program, during which he interned for Congressman David Dreier '75, CMC Trustee. Miller is the author of The Populist Legacy: Initiatives and the Undermining of Representative Government, and the forthcoming paper, The Davis Recall and the Courts.