This is your brain on politics: Researchers from the fields of neuroscience and public policy watched the brains of a group of swing voters as they responded to the leading 2008 presidential candidates (and more). Are Americans' entertainment tastes as polarized as our political views? Tell me what you watch (and listen to, and read), and I'll tell you how you vote. America must learn to love consensus: Pursuing consensus for its own sake is wrong, as pointed debate over principled differences is healthy. But you need some measure of bipartisanship – at least, a suspension of the view that people who disagree with you are evil – to have even that. From CJR, an article on the Don King-ification of a Democratic presidential debate. A review of The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma by David Paul Kuhn. A review of Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire by Matt Taibbi. An interview with Kinky Friedman, author of You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can't Make Him Think: Ten Commandments for Texas Politics (and part 2 and another interview). When considering presidential candidates, how much weight should be given to a messy personal life (Hillary, Rudy) versus an exemplary one (Barack, Mitt)? The Presidential Circus: Nothing typifies the Iowa primaries more than an ambitious politician discussing the intricacies of the Central American Free Trade Agreement while munhcing on a deep-fried twinky. America's next top spouse: A guide to the brassy, opinionated, loud, difficult and plum-crazy partners on the arms of their president-running partners — who says the campaign season is dull? Don't trust anyone over 50: The 2008 campaign offers the sixties generation a shot at redemption.
