Tasha Philpot is an Assistant Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also affiliated with the Center for African and African American Studies and the Center for Women's and Gender Studies. She specializes in American Politics. Her particular interests are in African-American Politics, Public Opinion and Political Behavior, Political Communication, and Political Parties. She received her B.A. from Marquette University, her M.P.P. from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. Her research examines the consequences of using racial images in political communication. Her work has been published in The American Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, National Political Science Review, and the Journal of Politics. In addition, she is the author of Race, Republicans, and the Return of the Party of Lincoln (2007, University of Michigan Press), which examines the circumstances under which political parties can use racial symbols to reshape their images among the electorate.