Almanac: At the Capitol

Eric J. Ostermeier
Smart Politics

Ostermeier is a Post Doctorate at the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota in 2006 and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1995. He is the author of the Center's Smart Politics blog, launched in September 2006, and his research has been published in Presidential Studies Quarterly, Journal of Politics, and Public Perspective.

His research interests include elections, legislative politics, public opinion, crime policy, and mass communication. He has worked with Pew Charitable Trusts on several consulting projects, directing survey research and co-authoring reports in areas such as state government performance, early childhood education, journalism, higher education, and environmental health. Ostermeier also owns and manages Words On Music, an international record label home to ten artists, founded in Minneapolis in 1998.

Ostermeier can be contacted at oster017@umn.edu. Visit Smart Politics for more of his musings on Upper Midwestern politics.