PRE-LEADERSHIP SIGNALING IN THE US HOUSE

This research note builds on the work of scholars who have identified the importance of ideological and partisan criteria in the selection o f congressional leaders. Viewing leadership selection as a problem of agency, we develop a framework for conceptualizing how ideology and pa rtisanship affect leadership selection. Testing the framework on House leaders from 1875-1987, we find substantial variation between the two parties. While Republican leaders conform to the ''core'' hypothesis, Democratic leaders behave in accordance with the ''polarizer'' hypoth esis. We conclude by suggesting that these interparty differences are the result of varying levels of intraparty heterogeneity.