PROFESSOR EXAMINES PRESIDENTS
WHO FACE A CONGRESSIONAL MAJORITY
OF THE OPPOSITE PARTY

October 2000 — Just in time for the Nov. 7 presidential election and the dynamic it will set up between the next president and Congress, Trinity University political science professor David Crockett is completing a book on presidents of one political party who must work with a Congress whose majority members are of the opposite party.             Professor Crockett says his book will have relevance to whoever is elected – Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, or Texas Gov. George W. Bush, a Republican – because of the political patterns set by 12 presidents he analyzed who have faced opposition congresses. President Bill Clinton, for example, is a Democrat who started his eight years in office with Congress that had a Democratic majority.  But two years into his first term, the Congress went Republican.  “When the Republican Congress took over, Clinton made a decision to shift to the right to reclaim ground and portrayed himself as a moderate against extremist Republicans,” Professor Crockett says.             If the Congress after the November races does return to a Democrat majority, Governor Bush would be in a similar situation, Professor Crockett notes, adding that if voters choose Vice President Gore, he would need to brace for Congress returning to Republican control in 2002. To learn more about Professor Crockett’s book, contact Susie P. Gonzalez at (210) 999-8406 or e-mail at Susie.Gonzalez@trinity.edu.

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Last updated on November 6, 2000 by the Office of Public Relations