and for consistent support and encouragement during my year in
Washington. Particular thanks are due to APSA Executive Director
Cathy Rudder, the Academic Director of the Congressional Fellowship
program Chris Deering, Administrative Director Kay Sterling, and her
assistant Matt Linke. All were consistently helpful and ensured that I
got the most out of my experience on the Hill.

I am further indebted to my fellow congressional fellows in 1995-
96 for their advice and assistance in the conduct of my research. From
an excellent group, special thanks are due to Jonathan Mott, Dimitra
Kessindes, Bob Franklin, Carl Walton, and Daniel Stid for their in-
sights and their friendship.

At the office of Congressman Radanovich, I am very grateful to Ian
Houston, Marko Radielovic, Lisa Ford, David Johanson, and John
McCamman, who allowed me to work at close quarters with the fresh-
man Republicans, and who endured my academic curiosity and idio-
syncrasies during an especially trying four-month period at the
culmination of the 1995-96 budget battle. In Senator Cochran's office,
I owe a special debt to a notable "refugee" from political science, Joe
Westphal, who tolerated the extracurricular activities of his temporary
assistant on "sunbelt issues" with great patience, and also for his hospi-
tality and many personal kindnesses. Thanks are also due to Doris
Wagley, Kay Webber, and Fred Pagan, who did their utmost to make
my time on the Senate side as comfortable and rewarding as possible.

My time in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area was made addi-
tionally pleasant by the excellent company and friendship of Elena
Pell, who represents all that is best about that much maligned part of
the world. My final debt of thanks in Washington is due to Stephanie
Griffith and Ben Wagner, who allowed me to occupy their apartment
for ten months and did everything to make sure that the move to
Washington was accomplished as smoothly and easily as possible.

Over the longer term I have continued to benefit from the wisdom
and encouragement of Byron Shafer, my best sounding board for ideas
on Congress and any other aspect of modern American government.
David Mayhew's work has been the benchmark for my studies of
Congress since my student days, and I continue to benefit from his
generosity and support. Ron Peters and his colleagues at the Carl Al-
bert Center at the University of Oklahoma have consistently produced
some of the finest scholarship on the American Congress, and I am
grateful for their encouragement and interest in my work over the

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