Show Horses & Work Horses in the United States House of Representatives

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Abstract
It is the purpose of this article to examine the widely accepted thesis that Congress contains two types of members, the show horse (who gets publicity but does little legislative work) and the work horse (who gets little publicity but does much legislative work). The author develops a method for measuring legislative work and publicity and finds that for nonleadership members legislative work and publicity are mutually exclusive. However, his attempt to explain the phenomenon arrives at a more surprising conclusion: active participation in committee work appears to be of little help in advancing a congressman's political future. He finds indications that personality differences are a more powerful determinant of role choices than political scientists are normally ready to concede.

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