Ronald Keith Gaddie

Keith Gaddie is Professor of Political Science and Faculty Fellow in the Institute of Science and Public Policy at the University of Oklahoma. He has taught in the department since 1996.

BORN TO RUN
Origins of the Political Career
(Campaigning American Style Series)
Ronald Keith Gaddie, Foreword by David L. Boren
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2003)

What makes young, aspiring politicians take the leap and enter the electoral arena? Born to Run tells the stories of nine young politicians from all walks of life who enter into races at the state and local levels in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Georgia, Nebraska, and Maine. Across the board, Gaddie finds a great range of motivations, strategies, and success rates among his carefully selected group. He doesn't rely strictly on interviews (although they provide lots of colorful detail), but hit the campaign trail along with his subjects to observe firsthand the pressures and challenges with which a new candidate is faced. Five years of fieldwork is amplified by survey data on candidates, legislators, and activists that bear out in greater numbers what Gaddie discovered on the ground.

Working in the tradition of Richard Fenno's esteemed Homestyle, Born to Run contributes to developing a more comprehensive model of political ambition that accounts for the origins of aspiration and the uncertainties that accompany every political career, but especially the early ones. Born to Run is irresistible for students of the same age as some of the candidates, invaluable to anyone who has studied campaigns and elections from the top down, and intriguing to anyone who wants a line on some potential rising stars within both the Democratic and Republican parties. (from publisher)

ELECTIONS TO OPEN SEATS IN THE U.S. HOUSE
Where the Action Is 
Ronald Keith Gaddie, Charles S. Bullock, III
Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (2000)

"Shifting the focal point from incumbency to open seat competition in the U.S. House of Representatives is the task this book embraces. In the process, the authors demonstrate the importance of candidates and competition, and the role of money, gender, and special elections in determining how open seats get filled and when partisan changes occur." (from publisher)

"In Elections to Open Seats in the U.S. House, Keith Gaddie and Chuck Bullock give us a sophisticated analysis of competitive U.S. congressional elections....The authors have "peeled away the cloak of incumbency" to reveal the electoral prospects of candidates with political experience and strong financial backing, the successes and future of women running for Congress, and the probable effects of term limits on congressional competitiveness. This book is an indispensable resource for students of congressional elections."— Samuel C. Patterson, Ohio State University

REGULATING WETLANDS PROTECTION
Environmental Federalism and the States
(Suny Series in Environmental Politics and Policy)
Ronald Keith Gaddie and James L. Regens 
State University of New York Press (1999)

"An alternative recently promoted to improve wetland protection is state assumption of the law governing wetland protection, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act–section 404. Gaddie and Regens discuss the implementation problems associated with the national wetland regulation program, and examine the state assumption option in twelve states, with extended case studies of Florida, Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey." Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (from Amazon.com)

Wetlands are a valuable natural resource, yet over 200,000 acres are destroyed in the United States each year. An alternative recently promoted to improve wetland protection is state assumption of the law governing wetland protection, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (section 404). This book discusses the implementation problems associated with the national wetland regulation program and examines the state assumption option in twelve states, with extended case studies of Florida, Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey. (from publisher)

ALMANAC OF OKLAHOMA POLITICS 2002
Gary W. Copeland, Ronald K. Gaddie, Craig A. Williams, editors
Oklahoma Political Science Association Press, third edition (2001) 

ALMANAC OF OKLAHOMA POLITICS 2000
Gary W. Copeland, Ronald K. Gaddie, Craig A. Williams, editors
Oklahoma Political Science Association Press, second edition (1999) 

ALMANAC OF OKLAHOMA POLITICS 1998
Gary W. Copeland, Ronald K. Gaddie, Craig A. Williams, editors
Oklahoma Political Science Association Press, first edition (1998) 

THE ECONOMIC REALITIES OF POLITICAL REFORM
Elections and the U. S. Senate
(Murphy Institute Studies in Political Economy)
James L. Regens, Ronald Keith Gaddie
Cambridge University Press (1995) 

"The central political issue in American politics during the 1990s is the need for political campaign reform. A variety of proposals have been advanced to reform the system of congressional elections, most notably in relation to campaign financing. The authors examine the United States Senate elections to determine the role money plays in the contests; their analysis indicates the system of campaign finance resembles a market, with legislators serving as the recipients of financial largesse based on their institutional positions and political vulnerability. This rent-seeking relationship between economic interests and legislators has transformed the dynamic of Senate elections.

Assessing the potential impact of several electoral reform proposals, Professors Regens and Gaddie argue that debates over the nature and consequences of proposed changes in election finance are often waged without an underlying point of theoretical reference. In addition, little consideration is placed upon impacts relative to each other or collectively on the political system. Spending limits and public funding proposals, they contend, will not have the effects expected by reform advocates. Term limit and public funding proposals would disrupt the rent-seeking relationship between legislators and economic interests, and these proposals would also face political and constitutional barriers to implementation." (from book jacket)

"...The final fate of reform resides with self-interested incumbents who will design reform." (from publisher)

"The book has an excellent statistical analysis that demonstrates the impact of money on winning..." Choice

"Regens and Gaddie use the United States Senate as a laboratory to investigate the dynamic features of campaign financing. Both indivually and collectively, senators are preoccupied with campaign money, and the reform of its collection and distribution....[The authors] formulate and then test a very nifty model of campaign contributions, leading them to account for surpluses that candidates may accumulate as 'profit taking' or rent seeking.' The upshot of the empirical work is a superior set of regression estimates for crucial variables affecting senate election outcomes. Because Regens and Gaddie use their analysis to draw important conclusions about Senate electioneering, and about reform of campaign finance, this is a significant book which all students of congressional elections will need to read." Samuel C. Patterson, Ohio State University

"The authors present forcefully the notion that the Senate is run by incumbents to benefit incumbents, so that campaign reform will be enacted by incumbents to benefit incumbents. Their volume needs to be on the market, so that it might inform the ongoing debate on campaign financing. I am certain the book will stimulate future research." Joe D. Reid, Jr., George Mason University

DAVID DUKE AND THE POLITICS OF RACE IN THE SOUTH
John C. Kuzenski, Charles S. Bullock III, Ronald K. Gaddie, editors
Vanderbilt University Press (1995)

"Nine studies provide rigorous political science perspectives on how the former Klansman rose to prominence in Louisiana politics and the national scene. They find that the racist politics in the Louisiana and the South of the 1950s and 1960s have traded their overalls for sharp suits and returned to vie for high office in the 1990s." (from Book News, Inc. , March 1, 1996)

"What we hoped to do with this volume...! Our book has received some nice reviews and commentary for its rigorous approach to understanding a very complex phenomenon—the Duke experience in Louisiana. We appreciate these comments, but are also aware that some readers/reviewers believe it to be "too scientific" for pleasure reading.  Personally, I agree with this critique; it was not meant to be "pleasure reading," since the whats, wheres, whys and hows of the Duke phenom are far too complex to be consumed like some sort of  mystery novel. What we have done successfully, I believe, is to provide understandable theory supported by reasonably understandable statistical analysis to make the case for how Duke managed to become such a pivotal figure in the populist-conservative political revolution of the early 1990s. This is an accomplishment, as one trusted colleague noted, that 'other books on Duke, trying to oversimplify the whole thing, simply have never done.'"  John C. Kuzenski, January 12, 1998 (from Amazon.com)

"A thought-provoking collection of essays examining the constituencies and the impact of one of the most notorious political figures of our time. Journalists have thoroughly documented David Duke's rise to prominence in Louisiana politics, but until now, more scholarly approaches to the Duke phenomenon have not been taken. This new collection identifies the significant junctures of Duke's political career, from its earliest beginnings to his recent campaigns for Governor, the Senate, and the Presidency. Through a variety of methodological approaches, the essayists in this volume advance our understanding of what made Duke a significant political force, and of how and why he failed in his attempts to gain higher office. 

The authors contend that the dormant racial overtones of the 1950s and 1960s, both explicit and implicit, have returned in the 1990s in a more subtle, polished, and somehow socially acceptable way. They argue convincingly that changes in electoral politics throughout the region provide the structural basis for this "rebirth" of racially charged campaigns. Even as messenger supplanted message in the political rise of David Duke, however, one simple observation remained true: the politics of the South—and Louisiana in particular—remains rooted at least in part in, as V.O. Key phrased it, "the negro question." 

Dividing Duke's political career into three parts, the authors examine the effect he has had on Louisiana political institutions and actors within the state and the region. Part One looks at Duke's past-his membership in both the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan and his founding of the National Association for the Advancement of White People—and how he affected the state legislature and Louisiana's two parties long before he actually entered the political arena. Part Two analyzes the effect of Duke's candidacies on the voters of Louisiana, with special attention paid to "the white backlash" and black counter-mobilization and why certain groups supported Duke while others mobilized to stop him. Part Three focuses on the aftermath of Duke's 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial and 1992 presidential campaigns and their effects on voters, political parties, and electoral institutions in the South. 

The first work to study Duke and the politics of race entirely from a rigorous political science perspective, this collection makes a considerable contribution to furthering our understanding of Duke's popularity, his constituencies, and the reasons for both his successes and his failures." (from the publisher)