I am a political scientist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Canada. My primary interests are in the fields of political communication, public opinion and political parties. I am originally from Edmonton, Alberta, and did my undergraduate degree in Political Science at the University of Alberta. After some time in Germany, including a fascinating internship at the German Bundestag, the Canadian embassy and a leading national television political talk show, I returned to Kingston, Ontario to do my graduate work. I obtained my PhD from Queen’s University in 2008 and then moved back to Germany to do my post-doctoral work at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies.