Ozean Political Blog
A political blog about digital media, data, research and consulting.
Alex Patton Political Science Guest Lecturer of the Year
It was my absolute pleasure to be a guest lecturer at the University of Florida's graduate political science program. I was extremely impressed with the engagement and intellect of the students. My only concern is 90% of the students in the graduate program self...
Opinions and Probability
I have become that guy. You know THAT guy that likes to discuss politics on Facebook. I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. I'm curious and I want to try and figure put how people think. What I am finding is that people are fighting and not arguing, in the classical...
Does Policy really matter in political campaigns?
Just finished a pretty dense read by Gabriel Lenz, Follow the Leader: How Voters Respond to Politicians' Policies and Performance, and yes, it does include math. However, it is a very interesting read and I strongly suggest you take a gander. The main question I...
Campaigns & Elections Magazine mentions Ozean as Political Blog to Bookmark
Ozean was surprised and honored to be mentioned in Campaigns & Elections Magazine as one of their "Consulting blogs to bookmark" Ozean Media Political Consulting Blog Ozean Media itself is not exclusively a political consulting firm, but part of its focus is on...
Political thinking: What if they are right?
I must admit, I think I may be maturing or mellowing in my age. The past year/18 months has been a period of intense study in an attempt to answer the question "How do people REALLY make decisions, especially political decisions?" This has lead to a more intense...
Political Strategy Master Lesson in 6 minutes
British game show contestant shows you everything you need to know about political strategy in 6 minutes. Takes EDIT: a variation of the classic prisoner's dilemma and "solves" it by thinking forward and reasoning backwards.
Judgement versus Choice
Ever read a line and it hits you as a WOW! moment? You know a paragraph that when you read it clarifies something so well that it is embarrassing that you haven't connected the dots on your own? I had one of those moments this past week when reading How Voters...
Do not ask for applause, format your speech for it!
Rhetorical Design in Speech Making Welcome to 'science time' with Ozean Media (Yes, it normally it is Science Friday, but I have recently become aware of NPR's Science Friday so we must re-brand!) While we re-brand, I came across some literature that I found...
What we learned from Talk of the Town
I am bummed. The failure of our attempt to save Talk of the Town kicked me right in the gut. We lost money, time, and ego, and if you know anything about me, you know that I don’t take losing easily. Losing hurts, and I admit upfront that I am a horrible loser. I...
What makes a good political candidate?
I am asked all the time, what makes a good candidate? While we all know a great candidate can get beat when the political environment and/or district are not in his/her favor or at least even, we will set this aside. We will just look at the simple question, “What...
The case for negative campaigning
Science Friday: Why negative campaigning works! An Overview As political consultants, we catch TONS of blow-back for negative campaigning. However, when we are asked why we engage in negative campaigning, we don't do ourselves any favors by flippant remarks such...
It’s NOT a Low Information Voter
There has been a trend towards political pundits using the term "low information voters"; however, I am growing greatly concerned with the misuse of this term. Low Information Voter Low information voters, also known as LIVs or misinformation voters, are people who...