FiveThirtyEight, the noted political polling research site and blog that played a sigficant role in predicting the outcomes of the 2008 presidential and congressional elections, is partnering with The New York Times:

This summer The New York Times will incorporate the political blog FiveThirtyEight into the political news section of NYTimes.com. Blogger, polling expert and founder of FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver will continue to oversee the blog and will also be a regular contributor to The New York Times and to The New York Times Sunday Magazine.

FiveThirtyEight will continue to exist as a separate blog under Mr. Silver’s direction, but under the banner and the auspices of NYTimes.com. Its contents will be featured daily on NYTimes.com/politics.

Silver explains more about the partnership on his site, and it’s interesting to note that it isn’t an outright purchase by The New York Times. The arrangement is something different, and appears to balance the value of the brand and influence FiveThirtyEight has built on its own with the complementary journalistic goals of the two organizations:

In the near future, the blog will “re-launch” under a NYTimes.com domain. It will retain its own identity (akin to other Times blogs like DealBook), but will be organized under the News:Politics section. Once this occurs, content will no longer be posted at FiveThirtyEight.com on an ongoing basis, and the blog will re-direct to the new URL. In addition, I will be contributing content to the print edition of the New York Times, and to the Sunday Magazine. The partnership agreement, which is structured as a license, has a term of three years.