From a new research paper in PS: Political Science & Politics: “Many reformers continue to argue for a de-politicization of the redistricting process, claiming that partisan redistricting is responsible for declining electoral competition and increasing legislative polarization. Our analysis of evidence from state legislatures during the last decade suggests that the effects of partisan redistricting on [...]

From Politico: Several readers came very close to forecasting Tuesday’s primary results almost perfectly. Kurt Witzel, a member of the Missouri Republican State Committee, wins. Peter Schorsch, who edits the Florida politics blog Saint PetersBlog and runs Extensive Enterprises, finishes a close second. Matthew B. Hoekstra, Patrick Caldwell and Joe Cody tie for third. Here’s the ranking [...]

Several key states are introducing tighter voter ID requirements this year, which many see as a thinly-veiled effort to suppress voter turnout. Corey Dade explains why more than three million Americans don’t own a government-issued picture ID: [T]he first thing to look at is to look at who actually drives. The most common form of government-issued ID [...]

Jonathan Bernstein: “If you’re planning on making political donations this year, and you really want your money to help the cause, here’s what you should do: Instead of sinking cash into either presidential campaign, put it where it will really matter — into Congressional or state and local races.” “Here’s why: The battle for the [...]

Dominique Browning: “Politicians spent hours analyzing what soccer moms thought about them. We were, after all, a huge voting cohort — whether we were Republican or Democrat, centrists or independents. But the children are now grown and on their own — it happened in the blink of an eye, it seems. So what happens to [...]

As of 9:05 p.m., with 5098 of 6796 precincts in (75% of the vote), Mitt Romney has 47% of the vote, Newt Gingrich has 31% of the vote with Rick Santorum at 13% and Ron Paul at 7%. Toot, toot! I emailed James Hohmann of Politico this morning at 10:23 a.m., writing this prediction: I’m [...]

Alex Tabarrok wants to increase innovation spending: We like to think of ourselves as an innovation nation but our government is a warfare-welfare state. To build an economy for the 21st century we need to increase the rate of innovation and to do that we need to put innovation at the center of our national vision. Innovation, [...]

Jonathan Cohn keeps focused on the economic rebound: Once again, today’s biggest political news isn’t about the Republican candidates or the President, even though the former are battling in Florida and the latter is about to give the State of the Union address. It’s the latest Gallup survey, which shows economic confidence has risen sharply since August and [...]

  At a campaign stop in St. Petersburg, Florida on Tuesday, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich expressed strong support — maybe the strongest yet of any presidential contender — for full funding of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program.  

“Amidst the bipartisan banter of election season, there persists an enduring belief that people get more conservative as they age — making older people more likely to vote for Republican candidates,” according to Discovery News via The Political Wire. “Ongoing research, however, fails to back up the stereotype… In fact, studies show that people may actually [...]