If you're ready to take a break from day-to-day variations in the polls and the latest attack ads and seek a deeper understanding of the political forces that shape an election year like this one, consider spending Monday evening at the McNamara Center attending:

Views from the U: The Political Science of Election '08

A panel of terrific political scientists will address some combination of these questions:

1. How do electoral rules and institutions shape campaign strategies and election outcomes?

2. Do campaigns and candidates matter, or are elections determined more by longer-term factors?

3. What are the limits of polls in describing public opinion and political sentiment?

4. How do campaign ads and political debates affect voters?

5. To what extent do issues and candidate image, including race and gender, affect election outcomes?

6. What's going to happen over the next two weeks?

The panel will be moderated by Emeritus Regents Professor of Political Science Frank Sorauf and will include the comments of these political scientists (whose specialties and research interests are in these fields):

William Flanigan (American electoral behavior and political parties)

Lawrence Jacobs (public opinion, the American presidency)

Joanne Miller (polling, news media influences)

Kathryn Pearson (U.S. Congress, congressional elections, women and politics)

Regents Professor John L. Sullivan (political psychology).

The event, free and open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. Monday. The McNamara Alumni Center is at 200 Oak St. SE., Minneapolis.