State In-Class Presentation
Southern Politics – Fall 2012

You’ll be working with the other person or persons who are covering your state, if you aren’t working on your state alone.  As you divide up the work, make sure you all do an equal portion of the work. 

Your presentation will lead off our discussion of your state.  Be ready on the date assigned.  If you have a crisis, let me know and I’ll see what adjustment we might be able to make.  You should plan for your portion to run for 10-15 minutes or so – and if there are more than 2 of you, you might take a little longer.  At the maximum, think 20 minutes. 

Overall, your presentation should give us a good briefing on politics in the state.  One way to think about it – imagine that you are giving a briefing to a bunch of journalists from other states who are going to be spending time reporting on this state, like before a presidential primary.  What would you want to know yourself before being sent to cover that state (besides where to find a good restaurant)?

Here are some things that your presentation should address.

Demographics:  What does the population of your state look like?  What percentage of the population is African-American, Hispanic, or other?  Is it an urban state or a rural state?  What are the primary cities or regions? Where are elections usually won or lost? 

Economics:  What are the principal industries? Remember, tourism is an industry! 

Politics:  Remember, demographics and economics affect politics, so you should explain how.  Does one part of the state have more influence politically than others?  Does industry exert influence over politics?  Do any other groups – religious, environmental, civic – have influence?  What issues have been at the forefront?

Political structure: Is the governor powerful or weak?  How does the governorship compare to other states?  How about the legislature? How are judges selected, by the voters, by the governor, by the legislature?  Is the executive branch large (lots of officers elected by the voters) or small (only a few, like the governor alone elected by the voters)?   Is the constitution old or new? 

Elections: Which party is dominant?  When did it become dominant?  Or is this a swing state?  Think about presidential elections, elections for the Senate and House, and state elections – like the governor and legislature. 

History: I’ll hit some of the older material after you have finished your presentation, but think about defining characteristics for the state.

Conclusions: How important is the state to regional or national politics? Is the direction of the state positive?  Are things getting better or worse? Is this state still “southern,” whatever that means? 

Suggested sources:  The Almanac of American Politics, the Book of the States, and the four major books on Southern Politics – Key, Bass and De Vries, Alexander Lamis, and Charles Bullock have chapters on each state.  See what these tell you about your state.  Your newspaper readings should inform your work as well. 

Format:  PowerPoints are fine.  Video clips are fine  (We’ll do more on political ads later in the semester, but showing these are OK.) 

October 22:   Alabama:

October 24: Georgia:

October 26: Mississippi:

October 29: Louisiana:

October 31: South Carolina:

November 2 (No class)        

November 5: North Carolina:

November 7: Virginia:

November 9: Tennessee:

November 12: Arkansas:

November 14: Florida:

November 16: Texas:

November 19:Any other states?  (West Virginia and Maryland)