A Different Kind of Party Animal

The Wall Street Journal recently featured Bowdoin Colledge senior Meredith Segal in an article about a new type of "party animals" - students who skips spring break in a vacation locale in favor of volunteering with presidential campaigns. Segal is national director of Students for Barack Obama.

News Sources: "Change You Can Xerox"

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has accused rival Barack Obama of political plagiarism during a live televised debate. But Obama brushed off the accusation that he represented "change you can Xerox", saying it was just part of "silly season" politics. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges and universities, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Stephen Medvic - Assistant Professor of Government, Franklin & Marshall College - Medvic has provided political analysis for numerous media outlets including CNN, The Washington Post and Fox News On-line. He is the co-editor of Shades of Gray: Perspectives on Campaign Ethics.

David Schwartz - Associate Professor of Philosophy, Randolph College - Schwartz's research focuses on the relation between ethical values and public policy.

John Wilcox - Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College - Wilcox is the founder and director of the Center for Professional Ethics.

Do Talk Show Hosts Get Too Much Credit?

Is the power of political talk-show hosts overrated? Jeffrey McCall, professor of communication at DePauw University, says a recent study showed that well over 80 percent of talk radio listeners say that their voting choices are not influenced by talk radio. "I believe that most talk radio listeners are independent thinkers who don't just want to get in line with the thinking of even their favorite talk hosts," McCall says.

Superdelegates Committing Super Early

About a fifth of all delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this year will be "superdelegates" - party regulars and elected officials who are free of the influence of party primaries or caucuses. More than 300 of these delegates have already announced who they will support for the presidential nomination. But DePauw University journalism professor Ken Bode says such early commitments run counter to the intentions of party officials who created the superdelegate slots.

News Sources: California Health Revamp Fails

The demise of California's proposed health-care restructuring underscores a difficulty states face in achieving universal insurance coverage: their inability to slow the upward trajectory of health-care costs, analysts said. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Merton Finkler - Professor of Economics, Lawrence University - A specialist in the economics of health care, Finkler has served as consultant to California's Kaiser Permanente Medical Group since 1987. He also runs Innovative Health Associates, a private consulting firm specializing in long-term care and managed care evaluation and strategy. He is a former Robert Wood Johnson Faculty Fellow in health care finance.

Edward Sayre - Assistant Professor of Economics, Agnes Scott College - Sayre has written extensively on the effect of HMOs on the quality of health, care.

Ann Owen - Associate Professor of Economics, Hamilton College - Owen served as an economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors before joining Hamilton College. Owen focuses her research on the effects of international trade on health and savings behavior. Owen is a frequent media commentator on issues related to Federal Reserve decisions, Social Security, and various economic indices for outlets including MarketWatch, Associated Press, The New York Times, UPI, Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Baltimore Sun. She also serves as director of the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College and is a board member for the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.

Undecided White Voters 'Flee' to White Candidates

Keith Reeves, political science professor at Swarthmore College, talks about the effects of race on politics in a recent issue of New Yorker. "The voting booth is tantamount to the confessional - it's the secrecy of the ballot that is the critical issue," says Reeves. "One thing we found that was surprising was when you have instances of a fairly large percentage of undecided white voters, they flee to the white candidate."

Clintons Have Little Room to Talk

You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't admit them, says DePauw communications professor Ken Bode. In that respect, he says, Hillary Clinton is altogether too much like George W. Bush -- she cannot and will not admit a mistake.

Viewers Want Better TV Political Coverage

Numerous polls show that the public wants a different kind of television election coverage - with increased focus on where candidates stand on issues and more coverage of lesser-known candidates. This is not likely to happen soon, says DePauw University communications professor Jeffrey McCall. That's because it's easier and cheaper to cover elections by discussing the latest poll numbers and celebrity supporters and by showing and analyzing Hillary Clinton’s teary eyes.

How Should Presidential Candidates Be Nominated?

While political pundits try to make sense of the votes in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Allegheny College prepares to launch a national effort to reform the presidential nomination process. Meanwhile, a visit to the Iowa caucuses caused a skeptic from DePauw University to reassess his stance.

Point Guard Scores Political Coup

The the Sunnyside, Washington, City Council is about to dramatically change its composition, after a Whitman College student's research showed its at-large voting system kept Hispanic residents off the council. The studies by Ian Warner, a 2007 graduate who was a point guard on Whitman's basketball team, attracted the attention of the U.S. Justice Department.

News Sources: New Hampshire & Iowa Vote

The Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary mark the start of a highly compressed presidential nomination process that some observers say could be wrapped up as early as February. But on the eve of these crucial contests, polls show the outcomes of the races in both parties and in both states appear to be anybody's guess. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Barbara Trish - Associate Professor of Political Science, Grinnell College - Since joining Grinnell, Trish has examined and researched the Iowa Caucus system as well as the "coordinated campaign" efforts in the Midwest. She has served as president of the Iowa Conference of Political Scientists (2000-2001) and is active in party and campaign politics.

Emmett H. Buell Jr. - Professor of Political Science, Denison University - An expert on the New Hampshire primaries, Buell is author of Nominating the President 1991 and wrote the "invisible primary" chapter in recent book, In Pursuit of the White House. He is the director of the Richard G. Lugar Program in Politics and Public Policy at Denison, Lugar's alma mater.

Douglas I. Hodgkin - Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Bates College - Hodgkin is a specialist in American government, political campaigns/elections, public-opinion polling, political action committees and elections. He and his students at New Hampshire-based Bates College conduct regular opinion polls on issues. He is active Republican with valuable insight into the evolution and current state of the Republican Party.

News Sources: Putin Goes from Prez to Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin told delegates at the pro-Kremlin United Russia party's convention that he will serve as prime minister if his longtime aide Dmitri Medvedev is elected to replace him as president next March. Some fear such an arrangement may be fundamentally unstable, as a strong figure in that post may create tensions which have already buffeted Russia in its brief democratic history. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Larry Caldwell - Gamble Professor of Political Science, Occidental College - A former visiting professor at the National War College, scholar-in-residence in the CIA's Office of Soviet Analysis, and RAND consultant, Caldwell is an expert on Russian-American relations, Russian politics and military, and arms control who has testified before Senate and House committees.

Michael Hamm - Boles Professor of History, Centre College - Hamm is the author of books on the history of Ukraine and Russia, and he has been a guest scholar in Russia and a university lecturer in Kazakstan. His work has been honored with Fulbright and IREX fellowships.

George E. Hudson - Professor of Political Science, Wittenberg University - Hudson is a Fulbright Scholar, an authority on the former Soviet Union and modern Russia and the use of the military as an instrument of foreign policy. An adviser to the Department of Defense and a consultant to the National Security Council, he was a member of the U.S. team which negotiated with Soviets for convential arms reductions in 1979.

Oprah and Obama

Oprah Winfrey's coming to town for Senator Barack Obama, scheduling a three-state tour beginning Dec. 8. Ms. Winfrey, who has been fiercely protective of her extraordinary brand, is dipping into presidential politics for the first time with a visit to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic, can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Barbara Trish - Associate Professor of Political Science, Grinnell College - Since joining Grinnell, Trish has examined and researched the Iowa Caucus system as well as the "coordinated campaign" efforts in the Midwest. She has served as president of the Iowa Conference of Political Scientists (2000-2001) and is active in party and campaign politics.

Keith Reeves - Associate Professor, Swarthmore College - The Director of Swarthmore's Center for Social and Policy Studies, Reeves is an expert on the impact of racial politics on electoral behavior. He is the author of Voting Hopes or Fears?: White Voters, Black Candidates, and Racial Politics in America.

Ronald Lembo - Associate Professor of Sociology, Amherst College - Lembo teaches and writes about the sociology of mass media and mass culture, news and entertainment systems, media corporations. His newest book is Thinking Through Television: Viewing Practices and the Social Limits to Power.

Former CNN Analyst Says Networks Need "Reality Check"

DePauw Visiting Professor Ken Bode was a long-time political analyst for CNN. After watching CNN's Democratic presidential debate last week, Bode says somebody in the network's executive suites needs a reality check on fairness. At the same time, he says, things are no better at competitor Fox News.

Voter ID Law: A New "Poll Tax?"

A new Indiana law requires voters who can't show identification at the polls to use a provisional ballot and then travel to the the courthouse within the next 10 days to either show a valid ID or swear that they are either indigent or have a religious objection to being photographed. Swarthmore College political science professor Richard Valelly recently joined a group of leading scholars of race, class, and politics in America in signing an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court this week challenging the Indiana law, contending it amounts to a poll tax and a "democratic emergency."

News Sources: Driver's Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Wednesday dropped a plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants in his state because of overwhelming opposition to the proposal in an issue with repercussions in the U.S. presidential campaign. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Dean Hubbard - Professor of Public Policy, Sarah Lawrence College - Holder of the Joanne Woodward Chair in Public Policy, Hubbard’s expertise focuses on issues of immigrant laborers, U.S. labor law, employment discrimination and community organization.

Ellen Percy Kraly - Associate Professor of Geography, Colgate University - Kraly's studies on emigration are displayed in exhibits on Ellis Island and frequently cited in national publications. She has served as a consultant to the United Nations Statistical Office and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform on immigration and the environment, and is currently working on a federally funded study of undocumented migrants in the U.S. workforce.

Robert Smith - Assistant Professor of Sociology, Barnard College - Smith has authored numerous articles on immigration, and is currently revising book on Mexican immigration. He is co-author of a report to U.S. State Department comparing InterAmerican and Mediterranean-European migration systems.

Hillary Clinton's Prospects

Two months away from the Iowa caucuses, some questions appear to have been answered about Hillary Clinton's race for the Democratic presdential nomination, says DePauw's Ken Bode. For example, Bill Clinton is obviously a powerful asset, rather than a liablity. But questions linger about her other potential vulnerabilities.

"Soapbox Alliance" to Challege Closed-Door Political Meetings

When political candidates hold "town meetings" on college campuses but limit attendance to hand-picked suppporters, is that consistent with the goals of higher education or democracy? Allegheny College thinks not, and it's launching a national movement to end such practices.

FEMA and the California Wildfire

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials know the agency's performance in the California wildfires will be watched closely for comparisons to its failures in Hurricane Katrina. FEMA Director David Paulison promised on Tuesday "a different type of response" and declared "this is a new FEMA." Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact info):

Vincent Gawronski - Assistant Professor of Political Science, Birmingham-Southern College - Gawronski studies the political impact of natural disasters. As a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development, he has been involved in the evaluation of training programs for civil defense personnel and in the assessment of post-impact disaster response and nongovernmental organization capabilities.

Richard Ellis - Associate Professor of Politics, Willamette University - A widely published author on politics, Ellis's books include Presidential Lightning Rods: The Politics of Blame Avoidance and Dilemmas of Presidential Leadership: From Washington Through Lincoln.

Char Miller - Professor of History, Trinity University - Miller's research interests in environmental history include forests, fires, water, and wildlife in the American West, and the U.S. Forest Service. She is currently editing an environmental atlas of Canada and the U.S.

News Sources: Drivers Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to grant illegal immigrants driver’s licenses has encountered a wave of opposition among New York State voters and politicians. In response to those concerns, he has announced the endorsement of the proposal by Richard A. Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism czar. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Dean Hubbard - Professor of Public Policy, Sarah Lawrence College - Holder of the Joanne Woodward Chair in Public Policy, Hubbard’s expertise focuses on issues of immigrant laborers, U.S. labor law, employment discrimination and community organization.

Robert Smith - Assistant Professor of Sociology, Barnard College - Smith is the co-author of a report to U.S. State Department comparing InterAmerican and Mediterranean-European migration systems. He is the author of numerous articles on immigration, and is currently revising a book on Mexican immigration.

Miguel Tinker-Salas - Chair of Latin American studies, Pomona College - Tinker-Salas' areas of expertise include contemporary Latin American immigration and the Diaspora; Mexican border society; Mexico in the 19th and 20th centuries; Latin American history; and Chicanos/as and Latinos in the United States.