Kevin Drum highlights a ranking of the most name-dropped think tanks of 2007. The study, by FAIR, found that overall think tank citations dropped 17 percent last year. Like Kevin, I'd chalk that up to more digestible policy analysis available online. Think tanks like the New America Foundation and the Center for American Progress (my former employer) are beginning to understand that and co-opt the blogging medium. The bad news for left-leaning think tanks is that Brookings, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Enterprise Institute, and Heritage fill the top four slots, and CAP, at number 8, is the highest ranked left-of-center organization. The Kaiser Family Foundation is number 7 and described as "centrist," but with their data-based approach to health disparities, I'd say they have a pretty progressive influence on the world. All that said, it's not clear to me that the number of media mentions a think tank accrues can really be used a stand-in for influence. Think tanks brief members of Congress, meet off-the-record with journalists and pundits, and also act as a job mill for out of power political parties. --Dana Goldstein
