“A caucus is a closed meeting of equals, the word probably derived from the Algonquin cau-cau-asu, translated as ‘proponent’ or ‘advisor.’ At 6:30 pm on January 19th, Iowaís 1,993 precinct caucuses were called to order, beginning the first step of an elaborate six-month process… Although the count of state delegate equivalents is at least two steps removed from the actual votes cast by caucus attendees, the count is about as close as we can get to actual voting data, and deserves some study. Iowa is an interesting state because its 99 counties are all roughly the same size and shape.”

“An in-depth analysis of the nine major Democratic candidatesí Websites. Find out how Dean compares to Kerry, Sharpton, and the rest. Learn best practices for supporting grass-roots campaigns, swaying undecided voters, and keeping your core constituents informed.”

“We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”

“County maps can be deceptive, especially for large states like California. Unless the population of a state is dispersed evenly in proportion to the size of each county, there is no direct relationship between the physical area of a county and the number of people, registered voters, or votes cast within it. Which is why I was surprised to see an analyst from a leading all-news television network point to a map of California and single out San Bernadino county, California’s largest county by area, as a significant reason for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s victory.”

“The Georgia House of Representatives passed a bill recently that would redesign the state flag. In hopes of ending a decade-long controversy, the new scheme would eliminate the famously divisive Confederate battle flag imagery from the state flag for the first time since the mid-1950s. In its place, Georgia will return to a design based on the original Confederate national flag — the famous ‘Stars and Bars’ — that featured a blue field with three stripes of red and white. On the middle white stripe, the words ‘In God We Trust’ will be written.”

“The bs.tv peace project jury review has completed. Although the jurors were split on their choice of honorable mentions, they were almost unanimous in the selection of first, second and third favorite entries.”

“If you are like me, you’ve seen a map of Baghdad on television a lot in the last few days. The scale of the map may be hard to grasp, so I’ve created these city size comparison pages. Both maps below are 9 miles long and 9 miles across. If you are familiar with the size of this section of Los Angeles, this should help you visualize the size of Baghdad. This may be useful if you are trying to envision driving through, searching or invading Baghdad, but you’ve never actually been there.”

“Hi. Ever since I started posting these Propaganda Posters online, I’ve gotten tons of mail asking who I am and what my problem is. My name is Micah Wright. I’m a writer for film, television, videogames and graphic novels. Like most people, I was horrified by the events of 9/11/01, but unlike George W. Bush, I’m not willing to throw away our Bill of Rights in order to feel ’safe.’”

“Who is James R. Bath? A nodal point in Mark Lombardi’s drawing George W. Bush, Harken Energy and Jackson Stephens c. 1979-90, 5th Version, 1999, James R. Bath appears in the upper lefthand corner of the 16 1/2″ x 41″ piece of paper. The spatial syntax of Lombardi’s drawings — which map in elegantly visual terms the secret deals and suspect associations of financiers, politicians, corporations, and governments — dictates that the more densely lines ray out from a given node, the more deeply that figure is embroiled in the tale Lombardi tells.” Reminds me of The George W. Bush Money Tree XPLANE did for Harper’s Magazine.

“Most posters in our collection are originals (exceptions are clearly marked), political posters, made in the period 1960-1990, published with the supervision of the Communist Party, and were designed to make people work harder, be better communists and good patriots… These pages were made with the goal to establish an online museum of posters. Since we have multiple pieces of many (original) posters in our collection, we can sell the surplus. We also welcome trade — if you have any interesting posters, be they Russian, Chinese, American, old, new, home-made, political, movie, circus, ANY posters… let us know.”

“Paris 1968. Pent-up anger and frustration over poverty, unemployment and the conservative government of General Charles de Gaulle, gave rise to a mass movement for sweeping social change. In the month of May, workers and students took to the streets in an unprecedented wave of strikes, walkouts and demonstrations. By May 18th, 10 million workers were on strike and all factories and universities were occupied. During those days of turmoil the ATELIER POPULAIRE (Popular Workshop) was formed. The faculty and student body of the Ecole des Beaux Arts were on strike, and a number of the students met spontaneously in the lithographic department to produce the first poster of the revolt, ‘Usines, Universites, Union.’”

“Princeton professor Fred I. Greenstein has identified six qualities that play a big part in presidential job performance. Here’s how leaders outside the political sphere can follow a chief-executive example.”

Florida county ballot design raises questions about Election 2000: “The result of the 2000 U.S. Presidential race was so close that some Democratic Party officials argue that one Florida county’s hard-to-use ballot may have unfairly decided the presidency. Critics argue that some voters in Palm Beach County, Fla. might have accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, when they thought they were voting for Al Gore. Gore’s name was the second name in the left column; but punching a hole in the second circle actually cast a vote for Buchanan.”

Full view of the ballot. And here’s a pretty clear look at what it may have caused: Buchanan vote in Palm Beach.

“According to several news accounts, many voters in Palm Beach, Florida, have claimed that they were confused by the ballot structure and may have inadvertently voted for Buchanan when in fact they intended to vote for Gore. The event prompted a discussion among several academic friends and colleagues about whether the results could be statistically detected, since Palm Beach county alone had the unusual ballot structure.”