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Bob Beatty emails: I wanted to let you know about something that may be singular: a newspaper syndicated column run by political scientists (and one mass media prof). It’s called “Insight Kansas” and we started it a couple of years ago. Basically, it’s five political scientists from across the state, plus a mass media professor, […]

Contrary’s to Mitt’s assertions, the poorest 20 percent have seen the largest change in income in the past few years. 

It seems obvious that they did. He outspent Gingrich 5-1 precisely when his poll numbers were increasing. But, as is well-known in social science, conclusively demonstrating the effects of campaign ads or other media is actually quite difficult. Thanks to some data that SurveyUSA was willing to provide me, I took a stab in this […]

A reading list to help unravel who voters will blame for intransigence when November arrives.

You may have seen a news item in today’s New York Times (posted yesterday as part of “The Caucus” blog on the Times’ site), which noted that negative ads accounted for over 90% of the political advertising Floridians saw during the last week. Figures are courtesy of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. Anti-Gingrich 68% […]

George Packer: McGovern’s debacle forced the Democratic Party to find its way back from the ideological wilderness—from being the party of delegate quotas and “acid, amnesty, and abortion.” Every successful Democrat after 1972, from Carter to Clinton to Obama, has had at least one foot in the party’s center. A Gingrich rout in November might […]

My sometime coauthor Aaron Edlin cowrote (with Ian Ayres) an op-ed recommending a clever approach to taxing the rich. In their article they employ a charming bit of economics jargon, using the word “earn” to mean “how much money you make.” They “propose an automatic extra tax on the income of the top 1 percent […]

This is a guest post from previous guest contributor Eric McGhee. ***** The latest legal decision is in, and things are looking even better for California’s nascent Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC).  Last Friday, the California Supreme Court ruled strongly in favor of the CRC, declaring unanimously that the commission’s state Senate map should be used […]

Here at The Monkey Cage we allow people to “Tweet” posts to their Twitter followers, and “Like” posts to their Facebook friends. Lately I’ve noticed that some posts get more tweets than likes, some get more likes than tweets, and others get roughly the same amount. Anyone have any idea why? Is there any research […]

Newt Gingrich’s marital infidelity hasn’t sank his campaign the same way sex scandal derailed the Cain Train, and race is a factor.