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Forewords | |
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Introduction | |
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What this Book Can Help You Do | |
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How to Use this Book | |
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Conventions Used in this Book | |
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A note on names | |
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Information on icons | |
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How this Book Is Organized | |
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What this Book Is Not | |
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A Word to the Wonks Should Be Sufficient--I Hope | |
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Considering the Two Chambers | |
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Welcome to Congress | |
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The Three Branches of Government | |
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The congressional branch | |
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The executive branch | |
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The Supreme Court | |
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Congressional Relationships | |
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House-Senate relations | |
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Executive-congressional relations through the years | |
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Congressional-constituent relations | |
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Your Role as a Citizen | |
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Voting | |
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Registering your opinion | |
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Running Your House: The House of Representatives | |
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Describing the House | |
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Coming up with qualifications | |
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Defining the congressional district | |
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Finding a Lawmaker of Your Very Own | |
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Doing the Job of Representative | |
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Getting the most from a short-term contract | |
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Diving into the congressional workweek | |
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Doing Housework: The Responsibilities of the House | |
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Taxing responsibilities | |
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Considering legislation | |
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Taking care of you, the constituent | |
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Scoping Out the Senate | |
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What It Takes to Be a Senator and How to Find Yours | |
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Qualifying with experience | |
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Setting forth a senator's duties | |
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Finding and contacting your senator | |
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Senatorial Responsibilities | |
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Passing legislation | |
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Proceeding to impeachment | |
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Giving advice and consent | |
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Looking at the Legislative Process | |
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Introducing a Bill | |
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Starting the Process | |
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Dealing with the Players | |
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Members of Congress | |
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Staffers | |
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Committee folk | |
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Building a Bill | |
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Starting with an idea | |
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Looking at the types of legislation | |
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Introducing a bill | |
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Giving a bill an identity | |
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Getting There is Half the Fun: The Legislative Process | |
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Gathering cosponsors | |
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Pushing through the committee jungle | |
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Holding hearings | |
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Making the markup | |
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Meeting the Players, Setting the Schedule | |
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Following the Leaders | |
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Knowing who the leaders are | |
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Putting age before beauty: The role of seniority | |
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Elbowing into the Huddle: The Role of Caucuses and Delegations | |
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Caucuses | |
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Delegations | |
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Timing is Everything: Congressional Schedules | |
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The House calendar | |
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The Senate calendar | |
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Reaching the Floor and Beyond | |
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Waiting to Debate | |
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Snagging Attention with an Introduction | |
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Playing by the Rules: The Role of the Rules Committees | |
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Debating on the Floor | |
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Speaking in a sedate and timely fashion | |
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Timing is everything | |
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Adding amendments | |
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Voting | |
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Struggling toward Yes: The Conference Process | |
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Convening a conference | |
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Compromising in conference | |
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Closing the conference | |
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Getting the President's Signature | |
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Wielding the veto | |
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Overriding a veto | |
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Battling after Passage | |
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Protecting newly passed legislation | |
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Coping with change | |
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Following the Money | |
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Raising Revenues | |
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Seeing the Sources | |
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Acting on Taxes | |
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Proposing | |
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Disposing | |
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Bearing the Burden: Taxation and You | |
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Budgeting, Authorizing, and Appropriating Government Money | |
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Holding the Purse Strings | |
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Budgeting | |
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Scheduling the money calendar | |
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Checking out the players | |
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Mandating the type of spending | |
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Interpreting the language of the budget | |
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Authorizing | |
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Appropriating | |
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Smoking out the Cardinals and their court | |
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Appreciating the appropriations process | |
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Being earmarked | |
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Inserting Items in Appropriations Bills | |
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Putting Your Political Contributions to Work | |
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Contributing to the Candidate of Your Choice | |
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Making an individual contribution | |
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Limiting your contributions | |
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Giving money early | |
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Becoming a PAC-man or PAC-woman | |
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Forming and forms of PACs | |
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Leveraging your money into influence | |
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Distinguishing Hard Money from Soft Money | |
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Mastering the Nuts and Bolts of Fundraising | |
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Feting candidates with fundraisers | |
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Getting professional help | |
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Providing Other Campaign Services | |
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Lobbying from All Angles | |
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Looking at Lobbying | |
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Explaining the Basics | |
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Categorizing Lobbyists | |
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Defining and describing | |
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Demystifying special interests | |
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Getting Your Member's Attention | |
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Evaluating Scorecards and Key Votes | |
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Determining whether You Need a Professional | |
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Choosing a Lobbyist | |
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Finding a professional | |
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Quantifying the qualifications | |
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Working out a plan of action | |
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Evaluating your lobbyist | |
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Explaining Your Cause | |
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Knowing What You Want to Achieve | |
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Educating Yourself | |
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Building Your Case | |
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Defining your core issue | |
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Practicing the fine art of compromise | |
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Knowing Your Issue | |
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Doing the research | |
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Taking stock of your assets and liabilities | |
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Putting together a packet | |
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Gathering Support | |
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Building coalitions | |
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Courting a congressional champion | |
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Testifying before Congress | |
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Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty: Lobbying Members of Congress | |
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Writing to Your Representative and Senators | |
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Crafting written communications | |
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E-mailing for every issue | |
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Sending snail mail | |
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Nixing faxing | |
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Meeting Face to Face | |
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Making an appointment | |
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Making the most of face-time | |
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Following up | |
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Conveying Your Cause | |
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Taking a Walk on the Dark Side: Going Negative | |
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Giving Gifts, Travel, and Entertainment | |
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Gift-giving guidelines | |
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Travel | |
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Entertainment | |
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Keeping the Pressure On | |
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Getting the Job Done: Congressional Staff | |
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Making Contact | |
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Surveying Congressional Staff | |
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Personal staff | |
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Staff positions | |
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Staff principles | |
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Office structure | |
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Getting Down to Personalities | |
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Acknowledging Committee Staff | |
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Committee staff | |
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Leadership staff | |
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Recognizing Auxiliary Support Staff | |
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Congressional Budget Office | |
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General Accounting Office | |
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Library of Congress and the Congressional Research Service | |
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Other support staff and services | |
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Making the Most of the Media | |
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Understanding the Relationship between Congress and the Media | |
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Getting Your Story Straight | |
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Seeing the shades of gray | |
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Working the congressional beat | |
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Making the News | |
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Lobbying the Media | |
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Working with editors and producers | |
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Working with reporters | |
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Writing and Distributing Press Releases | |
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Writing a good press release | |
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Distributing a press release | |
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Following up on your press release | |
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Organizing a Press Conference | |
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Booking a venue | |
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Organizing the event | |
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Working with Television | |
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Broadcasting on Radio | |
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Browsing through Internet Media | |
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Paying for Space | |
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Using Celebrities | |
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Delineating the types of celebrities | |
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Preparing your celebrity | |
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Keeping your celebrity on a tight leash | |
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Conducting a Demonstration | |
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The uses of demonstrations | |
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Planning a demonstration | |
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Working with Various Media | |
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Delineating Daily Print Media | |
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The big-three national dailies | |
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USA Today and The Washington Times | |
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Local dailies | |
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Cozying Up to Columnists | |
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Making the Most of Magazines and Periodicals | |
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The newsweeklies | |
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Ideological periodicals | |
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Regional and city periodicals | |
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Courting Capitol Hill Media | |
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Newspapers | |
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Congressional Quarterly | |
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National Journal | |
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Burning Up the Wire Services | |
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National services | |
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Specialized, industry, and trade media | |
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Trumpeting Broadcast and Cable Television | |
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The broadcast networks | |
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The cable networks | |
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Talk shows | |
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Tuning in to Radio | |
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Investigating Internet Media | |
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Going Abroad with Foreign Media | |
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Putting the Practical Side to Use | |
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Making Use of Congressional Services | |
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Helping Out with the Feds | |
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Intervening with federal agencies | |
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Expediting your passport | |
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Intervening in Local Issues | |
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Putting in a Good Word | |
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Getting an academy nomination | |
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Serving Congress as a page | |
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Interning in the Capitol | |
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Visiting Congress | |
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Visiting the Capitol Campus | |
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Finding out what's where | |
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Touring the Capitol | |
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Adhering to security restrictions | |
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Visiting the Capitol Visitor Center | |
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Making Your Way to the House Side | |
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Distinguishing the House office buildings | |
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Making the most of other features | |
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Seeing the Senate Side | |
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Holding a Function at the Capitol | |
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Dining on Capitol Hill | |
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The Part of Tens | |
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Ten Tips for Conducting a Lobbying Campaign | |
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Knowing Your Core Issues | |
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Knowing What You're Trying to Achieve | |
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Assessing Your Assets and Liabilities | |
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Knowing Whereof You Speak | |
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Building Coalitions and Alliance | |
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Helping Your Friends and Frustrating Your Enemies | |
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Being Open to Compromise | |
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Not Expecting Quick Results | |
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Finding a Champion | |
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Being Patient, Persistent, and Persevering | |
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The Ten Commandments for Dealing with Congressional Staff | |
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Being Prompt | |
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Knowing the Goal of the Meeting | |
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Preparing the Ground | |
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Doing Your Homework | |
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Being Courteous and Calm | |
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Commanding the Facts | |
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Respecting the Staff | |
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Being Ready to Offer Assistance | |
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Giving them Something to Remember You By | |
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Always Following Up | |
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Ten Tips for Dealing with Journalists | |
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Assume the Best | |
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Strive for Accuracy | |
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Don't Pick a Fight with Anyone who Buys Ink by the Barrel | |
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Realize that the Only Bad Question is the One that Isn't Asked | |
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You Don't Have to Comment but Never Stonewall | |
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Understand the "Public" in Public Figure | |
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Avoid Source Remorse | |
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Keep Things in Perspective--They'll Wrap Fish in It Tomorrow | |
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Don't Fall for "Trust Me, I'm a Journalist" | |
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Return Journalists' Phone Calls First | |
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Not Even Ten Suggestions for Improving Congress | |
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Get a Toll-Free Number | |
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Gather Voting Records Online | |
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Post Appropriations Online in a Timely Fashion--Like Immediately | |
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Hire a Historian for the House | |
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Upgrade the House Web Site | |
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The Appendixes | |
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Glossary of Congressional and Political Terms | |
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Committees of the 107th Congress | |
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Senate Standing Committees | |
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Senate Select and Special Committees | |
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Joint Committees | |
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Index | |