This past spring, with the approval of APSA President Susanne Rudolph and under the guidance of President-Elect Margaret Levi, a subgroup of the APSA Council formulated a set of recommendations for the Association with regard to its “public presence”—or activities that sought to raise the public profile of political science research and illustrate its utility for larger public debates. The intent behind the recommendations was to guide the development of resources for the media and broader public in specific areas that were of direct relevance to the 2004 U.S. elections. The group's recommendations resulted in the reorganization of APSA staff to create a new position: Director, International and External Relations.

Between March and November, APSA staff engaged in a range of activities in support of the growing public presence agenda, including the following:

• Promoting and disseminating the research conducted by the APSA Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy (released several press releases and media advisories and held a press conference at the National Press Club on Monday, June 7).
• Establishing a new online APSA Media Resource Guide <www.politicalsciencenews.org> to serve as the Association's principal access point for journalists.
• Soliciting experts and editing and collating introductory essays and compilations of research on 19 various themes related to the 2004 U.S. elections. The final list of themes:

—The Big Picture: Dimensions of American Politics

—Asian Americans in the Electorate

—Campaign Finance Reform

—Campaign Dynamics for the 2004 Presidential Election

—Congressional Elections

—Election 2004 and the Courts

—Geography of American Politics

—Interest Groups in Campaign 2004

—Labor and the U.S. Electorate

—Latinos and the 2004 Elections

—Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and the Electorate

—Political Parties

—Polling and Public Opinion

—The Presidency

—Redistricting and Voting Rights

—Religion and Politics in 2004 U.S. Elections

—Third Parties and Battleground States

—Voter Mobilization

—War and U.S. Public Opinion

—Women Voters and the Gender Gap

www.politicalsciencenews.org will be updated and expanded in 2005 and will remain a permanent feature of APSA's media relations.

• Developing a long-term public presence strategy, including input from external consultants as well as APSA staff.
• Acquiring the infrastructure that has allowed the Association to significantly raise the profile of its press releases and advisories, and to gather information on journalists doing relevant research.

In 2004, APSA issued 19 press releases and advisories, a significant increase from the two issued in 2003 that were focused on the Annual Meeting. Current plans for 2005 are to issue monthly releases to the national media drawing on articles appearing in the Association's journals, along with other releases for special events or themes such as the report of the APSA Task Force on Difference and Inequality in the Developing World.

In short, APSA's public presence activities have grown considerably in 2004 given the widespread interest in political science research during the elections. We will use this fast start to establish a broad-based and comprehensive approach in the future.