MNPSA member James Read is a Professor of Political Science at College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University and author of a recently-published book directly related to Minnesota politics and political history titled "Doorstep Democracy: Face to Face Politics in the Heartland" (University of Minnesota Press).

"Doorstep Democracy" is a beginning-to-end narrative of his own intensive door-knocking campaign for the Minnesota legislature (which he lost by 98 votes after recount). Read kept detailed notes of all his doorstep conversations and describes the whole practice of door to door campaigning by candidates, which plays an important role in our democracy but tends to be overshadowed by high-profile, media-heavy campaigns.  

Read offers an in-depth account of his door-to-door campaign for the Minnesota legislature in District 14A in 1992, which he lost by 98 votes after recount. The larger purpose of the book is to describe the whole practice of candidate door-knocking, which plays an essential but overlooked role in maintaining a healthy democracy. In-person doorstep conversations between candidate and voter facilitate democratic deliberation by ordinary citizens of a kind impossible in national and statewide campaigns. Doorstep Democracy also describes the role of local media in a low-profile race,  the difference between doorstep encounters and internet exchanges, the workings of the Minnesota campaign finance system, the mechanics of a recount, and abortion politics in rural and small-town Minnesota. The book is written for a national readership but should be of particular interest to political science faculty and students in Minnesota. It could be used for courses on state and local politics, Minnesota politics and political history, political participation and civic engagement, political parties, and introductions to the political process. The book will be on display at the Minnesota Political Science Association Meeting on November 8. The book is described on, and may be ordered from, the Univ. of MN Press website, http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/R/read_doorstep.html.  Questions about the book may be emailed to the author at jread@csbsju.edu or by calling him at 320-363-5239.