I‘m back from a day and a half at the American Political Science Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, and here are the highlights: breakfast with an old friend at the Down Home Diner in Reading Terminal Market; dinner with several political scientists/TWS contributors at the 117-year old Dante & Luigi‘s at 10th and Catharine; and lunch with my friend John DiIulio at Susan’s and my old favorite, Marra’s, on E. Passyunk in South Philly, where, it turns out, John’s parents had their first date just before World War II. I’ve been to Philly three times this summer, for a family occasion, the Democratic convention, and now the political science convention. Each time, I’d just resolved to begin to diet. It turns out Philly is the city where diets go to die. They should call it The City of Brotherly Eating. But for the foreseeable future, I have no plans to be in Philadelphia. So health and svelteness beckon!
Meanwhile, you ask, what wisdom did I imbibe, what intellectual breakthroughs did I learn of from the thousands of political scientists assembled in the Philadelphia Convention Center and various nearby hotels?
