The Impression of Influence: Legislator Communication, Representation, and Democratic Accountability

List of Illustrations ix List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii 1 Representation, Spending, and the Personal Vote 1 2 Solving the Representative's Problem and Creating the Representative's Opportunity 15 3 How Legislators Create an Impression of Influence 32 4 Creating an Impression, Not Just Increasing Name Recognition 64 5 Cultivating an Impression of Influence with Actions and Small Expenditures 81 6 Credit, Deception, and Institutional Design 121 7 Criticism and Credit: How Deficit Implications Undermine Credit Allocation 148 8 Representation and the Impression of Influence 174 9 Text as Data: Methods Appendix 186 Bibliography 189 Index 203