scholars of political parties frequently note that a party candidates are aided by the
presence of a consistent and favorable party brand name . we argue that partisan success
in maintaining a consisten position on important policy issues hinges on how their role in the government motivates their strategies about public policy formation. Specifically
when parties share control of government institutions ,parties need to balance their electoral interest in promoting a consistent brand name whit the need to generate public that leads to effective governance, when control is held by one party, the costs and benefits of effective governance are born entirely by the majority , absolving both parties of the need to compromise on the substance of policy, By employing item response theory methods to assess patterns of party voting on deficit issues,we find strong support for these hypotheses.