* Jim Warren’s dispatch from the Midwest Political Science Association, focusing on research by Tasha Philpot.
* The coups in Mali and Guinea-Bissau aren’t really a trend. Jay Ulfelder’s analysis is here.
* John Wihbey on knowledge-based reporting and new media.
* What the public knows about political parties. Interesting that older people don’t consistently know more than younger people about the parties’ positions of policy issues.
* Hunger Games survival model. [Hat tip to Eric Lawrence.]