Binghamton University experts
Presidential Election 2008

David Louis Cingranelli
Professor of Political Science
Department of Political Science
Binghamton University, State University of New York
Tel: 607-777-2435
E-mail:davidc@binghamton.edu
http://www.binghamton.edu/polsci/People/index.html

Expertise: Cingranelli has general expertise on the American Constitution and he maintains a longstanding research program focused on ethics and American public policies, with a particular interest in worker rights in America and globally. He has begun writing a book-length manuscript on the subject of workers’ rights in America.  He is qualified and willing to discuss the policy platforms of the candidates for the presidency.

On Iraq: The real issue relevant to this election should not be whether the surge has worked. It should be the cost, or more accurately, the opportunity cost that the prosecution of the war requires. Because the United States government is spending approximately $10 billion a month prosecuting the war in Iraq, the country goes into deeper and deeper debt. Funds are therefore not available for desperately needed improvements to the nation's infrastructure, investments in research on alternative sources of energy, fixing the social security system, expanding access to health insurance, and, in other ways, promoting the expansion of the middle class.

On Afghanistan:Both McCain and Obama want to invest more in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Why? What does the United States hope to accomplish there that has not already been accomplished? The Taliban leaders who supported al Qaeda already have been punished. Many have been killed. Others have left the country. The basic requisites for a healthy democracy are not present in Afghanistan and will not be for at least a generation. By some standards, it is and always has been a failed state. The United States has punished the regime that sustained our enemy. It is now time to get out. If a new regime comes to power in
Afghanistan or anywhere else that provides support to al Queda, we can respond appropriately.”

On illegal immigration: Cingranelli argues that building a wall along the US-Mexico border is not a good way for the US government to “get control over the border” as many current Republican candidates for president contend. Instead, he believes the federal government should model its laws on those of the state of Arizona, which recently put into effect the nation's toughest law aimed at punishing employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Deporting 10 million illegal immigrants is both impractical and morally repugnant. And this is not a national security issue as many candidates contend. Terrorists will always look for the weak point on the US border. If we build a wall on our border with Mexico, they will cross the border on the East or West coast or through the equally porous border with Canada.

On the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain: Cingranelli argues in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act. Numerous studies have shown that the low rate of unionization of America’s private sector workers is mainly the result of employer directed anti-union campaigns rather than a lack of desire to form or join unions by American workers.

On what to do about economic globalization: Cingranelli agrees with Tom Friedman, that the economic world is getting flatter, but he doesn’t think that this is a good thing for American workers. In the developed countries it will lead to an ever-smaller middle class and deterioration in the quality of democracy. In the developing countries, the consequences will be mixed. There will be more low skill jobs but there will also be more environmental degradation. Fair trade is a better strategy than free trade.

 

Jonathan Krasno
Associate Professor of Political Science
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Political Science
Binghamton University, State University of New York
Tel: 607/777-2462
E-mail: jkrasno@binghamton.edu
Website: http://www.binghamton.edu/polsci/People/index.html

Expertise: Krasno's research focuses on public opinion, congressional elections, campaigns and campaign financing.

On campaign finance: "I have been an expert witness in three cases that made it to the Supreme Court and am cited by the Court and by Congress.

 

John McNulty
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Department of Political Science
Binghamton University, State University of New York
Tel: 607/777-6151
E-mail: jmcnulty@binghamton.edu
Website: http://www.binghamton.edu/polsci/People/index.html

Expertise: McNulty’s areas of interest include political behavior, voting behavior, campaigns and elections, political parties, American politics, technology and politics, and methodology.

On voter turnout: The 2008 Democratic primary can be contrasted with the 1984 Democratic primary. In 1984, frontrunner Walter Mondale staved off Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson by winning the old line, New Deal Democratic voters -- union members, Catholics, Hispanics, rural voters, and white working class voters in cities. Hart won college campuses, affluent ‘yuppies’ and environmentalists -- roughly the McGovern-ite coalition or the ‘New Left’ that evolved out of the Vietnam and civil rights protests of the 1960's. Jackson's base was African-Americans.
In 2008, frontrunner Hillary Clinton recreated Mondale's coalition, but Obama was able to combine the Hart and Jackson constituencies and defeat her.
In the general election, those people in the Clinton camp – a bigger universe now that it's no longer restricted to registered or self-identified Democrats -- will be decisive. McCain, though a Republican, appeals to these voters. Obama will have to hold his own among this demographic to win.
The battleground regions will be the Midwest and the Southwest. Ohio is probably the biggest prize again, but Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado and Virginia are big states that will be closely contested as well.