Posted on Monday, January 19, 2004
Famed Democratic Political Strategist Paul Begala will be the keynote speaker for the 2004 ¾¨Ó㴫ý Mock Democratic Convention on Thursday, Feb. 5.
The 18th ¾¨Ó㴫ý Mock Convention, scheduled Feb. 5-6 in Memorial Fieldhouse, is the second oldest in the country. This student run convention, a tradition at ¾¨Ó㴫ý since 1936, has run every four years for the party out of power, with the exception of 1944.
Begala and James Carville currently provide the "views from the left" on Crossfire, CNN's political debate program, against conservatives Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson.
Begala first entered the national political scene after his consulting furm, Carville & Begala, helped elect President Bill Clinton in 1992. Serving in the Clinton Administration as Counselor to the President, he helped define and defend the Administration's agenda and served as the principal public spokesman.
Other political successes include the 1991 Senate victory of Harris Wofford in Pennsylvania, the 1990 gubernatorial victories of Georgia's Zell Miller and Pennsylvania's Robert P. Casey, and the 1998 re-election of Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
Bengala has also appeared with Oliver North on MSNBC's political talk show, Equal Time. He has authored or co-authored several books including "Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush," and current best seller "Buck Up, Suck Up and Come Back When You Foul Up." He helped to launch John F. Kennedy's "George" magazine, where he wrote the Capital Hillbilly column.
A native of Texas, he earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where he taught before entering politics.
For more information, contact Dr. James Rhoads, associate professor of political science, at (724) 946-7255 or e-mail jrhoads@westminster.edu.
