Bruce E. Cain

Bruce E. Cain (born November 28, 1948) is a professor of political science at Stanford University and director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West. Cain's fields of interest include American politics, political regulation, democratic theory, and state and local government. He has published works on elections, legislative representation, California politics, redistricting, and political regulation.

Cain also makes appearances as a political expert for KGO-TV in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Education Cain graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1970 and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Trinity College, Oxford. Since Baker v Carr (1962), the courts have been drawn into deciding disputes over political reforms related to redistricting, term limits, party primaries, campaign finance, direct democracy and election administration. Many of Cain's empirical studies show that political reforms rarely achieve all that they promise because of adaptive behavior by those being regulated and because there is typically more consensus about the problems than the solutions. His work has demonstrated that terms limits, for instance, have not reduced partisanship or increased the quality of state legislatures, that redistricting reform has been frustrated by the inability to define what fairness is, and that campaign finance regulation is hindered by being necessarily ex post facto. His most recent studies have focused on devising a more realistic and coherent theory of political reform.

Awards and board memberships

Throughout his career, Cain has been recognized for not only his distinguished research, but also for his commitment to mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students. In 1988, he was a co-winner of the Richard F. Fenno Prize for the best legislative studies book along with J. A. Ferejohn and M. Fiorina. In 1988, he received the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2000, Stanford University awarded him the Zale Award for Outstanding Achievement in Policy Research and Public Service. In 2003, UC Berkeley recognized Professor Cain for Distinguished Mentoring of Undergraduates. Also in 2003, the American Political Science Association and Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, honored Cain for outstanding teaching in political science.

He is a member of the American Political Science Association, and serves on the editorial boards of Election Law Journal and American Politics Research. Cain has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2000. During AY 2012–13, Cain will serve as a Straus Fellow at New York University's Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice.

Media Beginning in 1984, Cain has been an election commentator for every race in California both on the radio and on television. He served as a consultant to the Los Angeles Times from 1986–88 and was the political analyst on Mornings on Two, KTVU from 1998 to 2006. He is a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and currently appears as a regular political analyst for KGO-TV.

Government and political consulting He served as a polling consultant for state and senate races to Fairbank, Canapary and Maulin from 1985 to 1986. Cain's expertise has led him to work as a redistricting consultant to several government agencies, including: the Los Angeles City Council (1986), Los Angeles County (1991), the Oakland City Council (1993), the City of San Diego (2001), the City and County of San Francisco (2002), the Attorney General of Maryland (2011), the Attorney General of Massachusetts (1987–88), and the U.S. Justice Department (1989). He served as the special master to the three-judge panel overseeing the Arizona State Legislative Redistricting (2002).

Selected published works The Reapportionment Puzzle (1984) The Personal Vote (1987) (written with John Ferejohn and Morris Fiorina) Congressional Redistricting (1991) (with David Butler)