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> The Power Game in Washington and Campaign Finance

As Washington Bureau Chief and Chief Washington Correspondent for The New York Times for more than a decade, Hedrick Smith covered seven presidents from Kennedy to Clinton and had a front-row seat at the Washington Power Game - the title of his classic study of how Washington really works and why it doesn't work better.

Join Smith as he explores America's political power circles in a series of thought-provoking PBS documentaries, NewsHour special reports, and in the best-selling book, The Power Game-"a knife with edge," according to the Los Angeles Times Book Review -and learn who really has power in our nation's capital and how they got it.

The Power Game: How Washington Works (1990)
Hedrick Smith conducts a probing examination of the Washington power structure to show the shadow government of staff, lobbyists, and the media, as well as the elected government of Congress and the President. Smith tackles the culture of Washington with the same analytical power and anecdotal color that distinguished The Russians. Praised by scholars and policymakers as the definitive work on Beltway politics, The Power Game is used in college courses around the country.

The People and the Power Game: The Media (1996)
Go behind the headlines and network news stories to see first-hand how print and broadcast journalists operate in a world increasingly dominated by ratings and tabloid-driven news stories in part one of the PBS series, The People and the Power Game.

The People and the Power Game: The Lobbies (1996)
Special interest groups have always had a close money relationship with Congress. Smith examines some of the most successful lobbying campaigns and talks to the important players in part two of the PBS series, The People and the Power Game.

The People and the Power Game: The Presidency (1996)
Part three of The People and the Power Game goes inside the Clinton White House to examine how competing power centers have weakened the power of the modern presidency.

The People and the Power Game: Congress (1996)
With a freshly elected majority, House Speaker Newt Gingrich set about launching the Republican revolution. Smith talks to Gingrich, Dole, and other members of Congress who were at the core of Newt's revolutionary army in part four of The People and the Power Game.

The Power Game (1990)
Against the backdrop of the Carter and Reagan administrations, this four-hour PBS series pries the lid off the Washington power game to show who really exercises power in the U.S. government, how the winners win, and why the losers lose. Hedrick Smith goes deep inside Congress, the White House, the lobbies, and the media to show the shadow government as well as the elected government. He makes the power game easy to follow and understand.

The Greening of the Class of '94 (1996)
In this classic story of American democracy produced for the PBS NewsHour, Hedrick Smith looks back on the evolution of the Republican class of '94 after two years in office.

The House: Which Way? (1996)
Correspondent Hedrick Smith goes inside three hotly contested 1996 Congressional races that have Republican freshmen battling for survival in this special segment for the PBS NewsHour.

Campaign Finance: Abuses and Reforms (1997)
In this three-part series for the PBS NewsHour, Hedrick Smith delves into the campaign finance laws, how politicians and special interests exploit loopholes in system, and efforts to reform the process.

Reagan: The Man, The President (1998)
Compiled immediately after the 1980 election, Hedrick Smith and a team of his fellow New York Times correspondents present this analysis of Ronald Reagan's career and his chances for success or failure during his presidency.

Beyond Reagan: The Politics of Upheaval (1985)
Ronald Reagan's presidency unleashed a tide of social, economic, and governmental changes unparalleled since Roosevelt's New Deal. Hedrick Smith joins his colleagues from the PBS Friday night favorite program, Washington Week in Review reporters to evaluate the impact of Reaganism, both in America and around the world.

Outside Resources:

Center for Responsive Politics
The Center's web site offers a wealth of information on Campaign Finance. The Center is a non-partisan research group that specializes in the study of the role that money plays in federal elections and actions.

FEC Info
This is not the official web site of the Federal Election Commission, but it does provide useful FEC data on recent elections, including top money-raisers and contributors.

Mojo 400
Mother Jones magazine's profile of the top 400 political contributors.

Get Involved
Maintains a comprehensive list of the various groups working toward campaign finance reform.

NewsHour
Search the archives of the PBS NewsHour for recent stories on the political power game.

NewsHour White House Backgrounders
A special section of the PBS NewsHour site dedicated to extensive coverage of White House issues.

NewsHour Congress Backgrounders
A similar section of the NewsHour site dedicated to Congressional issues.

THOMAS
Search current legislation in the Library of Congress's THOMAS database

The Annenberg School of Communications
The University of Pennsylvania tracked the 1996 campaign and put together a series of in-depth reports documenting how the media covered the '96 elections.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
FAIR is a national media watchdog organization that scrutinizes media bias, particularly in the area of political reporting.

So You Want to Buy a President?
Information and resources about politics from the PBS series Frontline.