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Even though no explicit hierarchy among political positions can be recognized13, strong
incentives to think on subnational executive offices do exist in Argentina.
However, politicians do fill the 325 existing positions in the legislative branch.
Once there, what can they do in order to improve their prospective positions? One of the
best resources (and probably the prototypical asset) in the hands of a legislator is the
obvious one: the ability to write legislation. By submitting bills, deputies and senators
can target constituents and groups, highlight events, put issues and topics in the agenda
and increase public knowledge of their "hard work on behalf of the citizens". One of the
likely targets is the set of voters that might choose to appoint or dismiss them in a future
candidacy. Following this reasoning, if the "shadow of the future" (Powell 1999) is
present in their minds, they should try to anticipate their fate, writing, pushing, and
submitting bills in order to claim credit and improve their prospective positions. This is
not a unique feature of the Argentine case. Desposato and Crisp (2005) show how
Colombian Senators increase the amounts of flights to their provinces to bolster their
future electoral support. The American literature states that delivery of pork has a
prospective goal. So, why shouldn't an Argentine Congressman maximize her available
resources?
If the ambition statements are right, legislation should reflect congressmen's
future career goals. Thus, we should expect considerable efforts toward some forms of
constituency service over the basis of the existing resources. Even though the
characteristics of electoral institutions would not foresee high levels of personalization,
*3 Mayors may withdraw from their positions to join a national legislative list. This may be even rational
for the case of executives of big districts. Being at the top of a legislative list may mean that this politician
became the principal political reference of the province, which may involve more benefits for a future
career than sticking at the head of the municipality.