APLS463 Presidential Politics. Spring 2011 -- Final Exam -- Due 12 noon, Friday, April 29.

Honor Pledge: On my honor as a USCA student, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this examination.  By typing in the term "honor code" next to your name on this examination, you agree that you have abided by this code.

Instructions: Write no more than a 5-6 page double spaced (please double space it for me!!!), 12 point Ariel font, about a one inch margin essay on the following question. In grading your essays, I will be looking for several things.

• Understanding: did you demonstrate that you understand and can apply ideas in the text?
• Relevance: did you employ the ideas that best help solve the problem(s) or question(s) that you were asked to address? To put it another way, were your ideas relevant to the question? Just showing me that you can paraphrase things out of the book that may or may not be relevant is not enough.
• Number and detail: did you offer a sufficient number of strategies/solutions in enough detail? I do not expect you to cover everything, because you do have space limitations, but a couple of pages with only a couple of ideas covered will not be sufficient.
• Organization: did you organize the essay so that I can easily understand what you are talking about? That means use a lot of paragraphs and headings where appropriate.
• Insight: Did you teach me anything new? Were you creative in how you made the applications back under the first bullet -- this is the difference between an A and a B!
• Grammar: Was it grammatically correct?

When you have completed the essay, email it to bobb@usca.edu as a Word attachment with your name and the term "honor code" following your name.

Deadlines will be strictly enforced on this assignment -- so if you do not get it in on time you may have a zero on this exam! Due 12 noon, Friday, April 29. 

Question: It is 2015. You have been asked by the leading contender for the 2016 nomination president to advise her in several areas based on the assumption that she will win the election. Unlike so many past presidents, she wants to give some thought to how she will structure her office and its many relationships before she gets caught up in the campaign and the inevitable crises that always take place. She feels that if she does not take the time to think these things through now, she will almost certainly not have the time when the campaigns start. This is particularly important for her because as a governor, she has no Washington experience. She knows being an outsider will help her in the campaign, but hurt her in getting her administration moving quickly--as it must. She has employed several experts, and here are the areas she wants you to cover for her. (Note: please write this as a memo addressing it to this sitting governor, not to me! You may make her be in whichever party you wish, and you should assume that divided control of Congress is likely.)

• The Vice President. What should she look for in a vice president? How should she convince her first choice to accept her offer? How should she structure her relationship with the vice president after in office? 
• Political Party relationships. What have been the problems in dealing party leaders and staff in the past and how can she avoid these problems both in the campaign and after in office? How much time should she spend on party matters and leadership?
• The Cabinet.  The cabinet was invented by George Washington, yet most political historians would argue that it has not worked very well. Why has the cabinet failed to do what early presidents had hoped it would do? What can be done today to strengthen both the cabinet and the role that individual cabinet secretaries play in policy making and implementation?
• White House staff. She has little managerial experience, so she needs a lot of help here. What are the greatest problems and how can she avoid them? You should include relations with the vice president's and the first lady's staffs, with cabinet secretaries, as well as with party organization.