I am conducting research at the University of Chicago, which takes me to the Hyde Park neighborhood--heart of State Senator Barack Obama's district. "My Momma Loves Obama" t-shirts and smiling pictures of the president grace storefronts. Obama bumperstickers seem obligatory. In the morning I conducted research at one of America's most prestigious universities. In the afternoon I ate jerk chicken, rice, beans, plantain, and candied yams. A crosssection of urban underclass and academic elites, Hyde Park strikes me as President Obama's national constituency in microcosm. Perhaps his intense appeal to such seemingly disparate groups has its roots in his tenure as a state senator, where he learned how to please poor blacks and rich whites.

Go eat at Harold's Chicken Shack for an authentic down and dirty local meal. You get served through bulletproof glass.

But my favorite restaurant is Cafe de Medici, on 57th Street, which is a nice collegiate area. The pizza and barbecued chicken are great, and the hot apple pie is amazing.

Other than that, I just remember a lot of bitter cold and crime. I actually saw a homicide there at one point. It shook me up and I never could quite look at the city the same way again. (the south side anyway).

Whenever I watch The Wire -- which is set in Baltimore -- I kind of think of those days near Hyde Park. Hyde Park itself is gorgeous, but it is surrounded by scary stuff.

Dan,

Changing the subject for a second, what is your take on Palin? I realize it can be a dangerous subject to take a definitive stance on since many of your readers adore her, but many conservatives also regard her as a backwards move for the Republican party to take.

I see Conservatives as being split into two camps: those that think we aren't conservative enough and would win elections if we became more right wing across the board (Hannity, Rush), and those that think Republicans need to get stricter about its core message about limited government, and stop fiddling with the issues that involve the evangelical wing.

So where does the Tea Party enter this? I guess I am getting confused as to what the "Tea Party" is really about. Is it a Libertarian movement? It seems like it has been diluted to be so many things, kind of like the word, "hipster", and thus without a strong brand identity.

For instance, I respected Ron Paul in many of the debates I saw him in, and I see a consistency in his politics. The very philosophy that wants little government also wants to take us out of foreign wars and out of our bedroom politics. I get that. It seems like a genuine libertarian take: government should not be invasive.

Yet... and it is a big, big yet... the Tea Party seems to have a generous amount of social conservatives, and seem to have more of that neoconservative stuff. But most of all, it seems to be very much defined as a reactionary movement against Obama, with Roger Ailes fanning the flames.

I would be very curious to know what the actual statistics of the Tea Party are, once you take away the spin and propaganda.

It might be a genuine movement, but hijacked here and there by opportunists. I feel the same away about the Democrats to be fair. As a self-confessed Obama voter, I am not crazy about leadership dynamic of the Democratic party itself. My biggest pet peeve with them? Unlike the Democrats, Republicans are much, much better at branding and showing a unified front. Democrats seem to lack good "group strategy." Democrats should also distance themselves from celebrities, Hollywood, and they should adopt a friendlier attitude to small business (from a PR standpoint especially).

What are your thoughts, Dan?

If I had known about this a couple weeks in advance I would've bought a discounted Greyhound ticket to your lecture. Hopefully you can spend some time sightseeing despite the terrible weather. Chicago rocks!

When are these Anthropogenic Global Warming hand wringers going to stop making a$$es out of themselves? Just asking.

Have you ever looked into the student take-over of the administration building at the U of C ca. 1970? As a proud alum, I point to that confrontation as one of the few battles of the era where good old fashioned Western mores triumphed (when 39-odd students were kicked out). Hyde Park obviously is one of the most liberal neighborhoods in Chicago (and to think I moved from there to Bridgeport, home of the Daleys), but the University is actually a place where conservatism finds some institutional ballast.

James: I unwittingly stumbled into Harold's yesterday. Disturbed that it advertised "chicken, fish, and pizza"--a strange combination to be sure--and more disturbed that pizza had disappeared from the menu, I left without ordering. Today, after reading your post, I realized that the Harold's I had ventured into was your Harold's and I gave it a second chance--only to be greeted by nobody behind the bullet-proof glass. Again, I departed without getting food.

That's the one. Catfish and chicken served in a pungent sauce topped with a slice of wonder bread.

Despite many of the posts I read here, there was a strong conservative presence when I attended, especially in the business school and economics departments.

They are also known for their "realism" on international issues and they practically invented Reagonomics.