POL 1 Study Guide - Final Guide: Term Of Office, Rulemaking, Appellate Jurisdiction
15 May 2014
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Document Summary
Although incumbents often win by a large margin, their greatest threat to their position in congress is high quality opposing candidates. Therefore by appearing invulnerable, they discourage high quality opponents from running against them. As a result of having significantly more members in the house, more delegation, coordination problems, conformity costs, and transaction costs are in place. Committee systems have been applied to help reduce these challenges. Districts are required to have equal populations, may not dilute minority representation but also may not be drawn with race as the predominant consideration. When one party controls the legislature and the governship, it may attempt to draw lines to favor its own candidates, called gerrymandering. The bigger a state is the more members of congress they will have. The constitution declares that the president to be commander in chief of the nation"s armed forces; however implemented to serve as a check upon the presidents exclusive power, only congress can declare war.
