What happens after November 2nd?

I’m crashing on several projects at the moment, so blogging will be very sparse this week. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t talk amongst youselves. Today’s topic: assume that next week’s election ends cleanly — i.e., it’s clear to one and all who wins and who loses, and the losing candidate concedes defeat on election ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

I'm crashing on several projects at the moment, so blogging will be very sparse this week. However, that doesn't mean you can't talk amongst youselves. Today's topic: assume that next week's election ends cleanly -- i.e., it's clear to one and all who wins and who loses, and the losing candidate concedes defeat on election night. Does the country remain as polarized as it has been during the campaign season (or as polarized as the discussion thread in my last post suggests)? And can that question be answered differently depending on who the winner is? UPDATE: Richard Rushfield's unscientific one-man journalistic experiment suggests that polarization will be stronger if Bush wins -- not necessarily because of Bush, but because of his opposition. ANOTHER UPDATE: The ever-industrious Tom Maguire offers advice for Republicans if Kerry wins over at Glenn REynolds' MSNBC blog.

I’m crashing on several projects at the moment, so blogging will be very sparse this week. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t talk amongst youselves. Today’s topic: assume that next week’s election ends cleanly — i.e., it’s clear to one and all who wins and who loses, and the losing candidate concedes defeat on election night. Does the country remain as polarized as it has been during the campaign season (or as polarized as the discussion thread in my last post suggests)? And can that question be answered differently depending on who the winner is? UPDATE: Richard Rushfield’s unscientific one-man journalistic experiment suggests that polarization will be stronger if Bush wins — not necessarily because of Bush, but because of his opposition. ANOTHER UPDATE: The ever-industrious Tom Maguire offers advice for Republicans if Kerry wins over at Glenn REynolds’ MSNBC blog.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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