Need Help Designing A College Course On Midwestern Politics

[displacedyankeedem]

My college currently allows for the option of designing your own independent study course. Unfortunately, as I'm stuck in the South, there's not a course available about Midwestern politics. So I need some ideas for books applicable to the various sections of my course design.

So far, I've made some decisions about the course structure:

Part I:Overview of Midwestern Politics-History, Demographics, Trends

Books So Far: The Emerging Democratic Majority

I'm gonna need one really good book that gives a fairly up-to-date picture of the Midwest.

Part II:The Midwest's Role in National Politics

Books So Far: None

This is the section that I'm most clueless about.

Part III: Applying Parts I and II at the State Level
Case Study:Minnesota

My reasoning:Indiana's too Republican, Iowa's too rural, Illinois is skewed by the Chicagoland area, Michigan's too Democratic, Missouri has too much of a Southern influence, Wisconsin's got Madison to explain away. That leaves Ohio and Minnesota, and I'm a big fan of Paul Wellstone, so.........

Books So Far: The Conscience of A Liberal

Possible Part IV: Applying Parts I and II at the Local Level

My only idea for this section so far is a case study of Chicago.

Suggestions?

[Radical Activist]

1. Hmm... a few ideas that may or may not be good

For history and the midwests role in national politics you might check out a farily new book called "An Uncertain Tradition: US Senators from Illinois 1818-2003" by Kenney and Hartley. As the title suggests it gives short bios of all the US Senators from Illinois over the years, several of which have played major roles in national leadership. It can be useful for people like Stephen Douglas, Everett Dirksen, The Stevenson dynasty, Paul Douglas, Paul Simon, Dick Durbin, and other national leaders from the state. It gives some nice perspectives that might have broader applications on midwest politics.

Another good Wellstone book is Professor Wellstone goes to Washington, which is basically a campaign book written by two reporters. I enjoyed that one a lot.

I'm more of a political history buff, so I don't have many suggestions for modern times. Hopefully you won't leave out populist leaders historical like William Jennings Bryan, John L. Lewis and Fighting Bob Lafollet.

There are tons of great books on Chicago politics and I wouldn't know where to start. A lot of national leaders on the left came from there or spent much time there like Saul Alinsky, Jane Adams, Eugene Debbs and Jesse Jackson. Maybe someone from Chicago has more suggestions.

[no name no slogan]

2. MN's a GREAT case study!

I'm a lifelong Minnesotan (just about 35 years), and first got involved in DFL politics back in 1988, where I'm proud to say I helped get Alan Quist out of our state legislature, who is our homegrown version of John Ashcroft.

Wellstone's also got a couple other books out, too. I forget the titles, but you could probably find them on Amazon or Powell's or someplace. They're published by the University of Minnesota Press, which may also be another good place to look for books on MN politics.

For MN's role in national politics, think 1968. Both Hubert Humphrey and Gene McCarthy are Minnesotans, and were pretty influential that year. Also, you may want to look into the history of the MN Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, which is the only coalition Democratic party in the nation. Their website is at www.dfl.org.


Also if you're looking for modern case studies for progressive politics, you may want to investigate the grassroots campaigns from this year, too-- in particular the Kucinich campaign. I always thought it would make a good case study or term paper of some sort. I also worked on the Wellstone campaign in 1990 (and I'm going to Camp Wellstone next weekend), and that would also be an interesting study in applied grassroots politics, too.

Feel free to PM me if you need more info on MN politics. I may be able to hook you up with some other useful stuff!

:)

[displacedyankeedem]

8. Also

MN has been the only state that has developed a third party movement successfully (albeit largely at the DFL's expense).

Finally, there's the whole dynamic of the wacky Senate election that sent Norm "the human greaseball" Coleman into office.

Who are the Dems running in '04 for Governor against Pawlenty anyways?

[displacedyankeedem]

10. and the cast of characters from MN...........

is like something from central casting, as I've discovered

Rudy Boschwitz: Incumbent R Senator that Wellstone whipped twice in 1990 and 1996, he owned a plywood company and tried to "out-Jew" Wellstone as a campaign tactic

Jesse Ventura: Possibly the strangest man ever elected Governor to any state

Rod Grams: The invisible Senator.

Arne Carlson: How many times did this guy run for President?

Norm Coleman: Slick is an understatement.

and the good guys:

Paul Wellstone: Best. Seanator. Ever.

Mark Dayton: A quiet guy who seems to care. A lot.

[salin]

16. bumbling Boschwitz

never understood how he got elected ... twice. I recall sometime when speaking (perhaps to students) he tried to have a big moment and whipped off his shoe and banged it on the table.

Who was the other senator at the same time (there were two republican senators from Minnesota during the mid eighties) - had the reputation of being pretty moderate and fair.. but then was involved in some sort of scandal before leaving.

And who is the former Minnesota GOP republican who has become quite the neocon political operative?

Some very colorful players.

[displacedyankeedem]

20. Some guesses

Dave Durenburger (1978-1994)?
Rod Grams(1994-2000)?

[salin]

26. Durenburger

though I can't quite remember the stain that blotted his rep as heleft dc.

[AlFrankenFan]

11. "Powerline"; "How the Rural Poor Got Power"; "Revitalizing Rural America"

All great :)

[John_H]

3. A coulple of books for you

Since Chicago is the major urban center of the midwest you should read "City of the Century" which shows how many of what would later be labeled "midwestern" values came into being, as well as describes some of the roots of the "Rural-urban" conflicts that still define politics in many midwestern states--Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin come to mind. "American Paharoh," a biography of Richard Daley, picks up where City of the Century leaves off and of course studies the life of the most powerful midwestern politician of all time.

[displacedyankeedem]

7. So it looks like Chicago is a good case study

I just picked it at random, but it appears that for my local level section, this is the place to go.

[LoZoccolo]

22. Mmmmmwellllllll...

...I don't know. It doesn't seem "typical" to me, as there tends to be a lot of weird corruption and stuff. Like I'm afraid to get involved on a local level here! Read the Sun Times ( http://www.suntimes.com ) for a month and you'll see all sorts of interesting stories.

As we say here, "vote early, and vote often."

[displacedyankeedem]

23. Daley (the younger)

Good, Bad, or Beneign?

[LoZoccolo]

24. I'd say good. I don't mind him.

It's funny though, he puts his name on all sorts of public works projects, but I've seen this from past mayors too. Like you'll be walking down the street and see little plaques embedded in the sidewalk that say like:

State Street Renovation - 1996
Richard M. Daley, Mayor

[dusty64]

4. Sounds interesting.

I can't really help now, but I can :kick:

[oldlady]

5. where to get great advice

go to www.fightingbob.com and send an email to Ed Garvey. Read his articles while you're at it -- the heir of Bob LaFollette's Progressive vision, he's great at returning email!

Good Luck

[goodhue]

6. please cover Wisconsin's "Fighting Bob"

http://www.fightingbob.com/aboutbob.cfm

[todwest]

9. Midwest Academy

These are a great bunch of folks:

http://www.midwestacademy.com/

I went through one of their training seminars, years ago. I also attended several of their retreats. They've trained more progressive organizers than the next ten organizations, combined.

If you're going to talk about grass-roots politics, you could do a lot worse.

[displacedyankeedem]

12. UPDATE

Thanks guys for everything. I'm starting to make progress on putting things together.

As for your suggestions:

-I'm going to use LaFolette in Part I as a historical piece on the Midwest's history of Progressive Politics.
-"City of the Century" and "American Pharoh" will be my texts for Part IV
-Part III is shaping up well too, I'm going to use "Conscience of a Liberal", "Sen. Wellstone Goes to Washington", "How the Rural Poor Got Power", and another book on Arne Carlson as texts.

I still need a textbook type piece for Section I and anything for section II.

I'll put together something for you guys to see tomorrow.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

13. The Emerging Republican Majority...Kevin Phillips.

Tho written when Phillips was working for Nixon, there is an excellent discussion of political history in terms of Geography....you will find your assumptions a bit challenged as to where the Democrats are weak or strong.

For Chicago politics there are some good works out there....you would have to approach Chicago as a case study of urban politics or machine politics...its a very specific case, and I would probably not use it as a generic case study of Midwestern politics in rural ares (but it might be applicable to places like Detroit or Kansas City).

[displacedyankeedem]

14. My plans for Chicago

I don't want to use Chicago as a study of Urban or Machine Politics(I have Urban Politics later next year).

What I intend to use it as is a case study of the urban/rural divide that is typical in most of the Midwest(and America at large as well).

[salin]

15. Michigan would make for a very interesting case study

it was quite moderate but dem leaning for years... then in the post Reagan years - very conservative republican governor (Engler) elected multiple times (3?), a senate seat turns over (briefly) to a republican (spenser abraham) and returns democratic, with some shifts going on in the statehouse.

Over the past fifteen years Michigan politics have been very dynamic.

[displacedyankeedem]

17. Hmmm, if I did Michigan............

I could talk about David Jaye, another wonderful individual proudly brought to us by the Republican Party.

[salin]

18. is he the state rep (or was it senator)

who got kicked out of the statehouse after multiple charges tied to either spousal abuse (if they were married) or assualt (if she was just the girlfriend... don't recall the whole story) ?

[Bozita]

19. That's him ... and her

[Bozita]

25. Jaye was a rising star ... sweeps month ... topless photos of gf ...

... career over.


It's an extreme oversimplication, BUT all occurred in the same sequence.

Fox News reporting.

[displacedyankeedem]

27. Engler

He's the guy who couldn't carry the water for Bush in the '00 Primary, which McCain won.

[Blue_Tires]

21. don't forget

Harry S. Truman and the Jackson Co. Political machine