 "Photo: Curt Youngblood, Daily Texan Staff")
Followers of the historic 2008 presidential election can now step back and digest the entire campaign, which began almost two years ago when Barack Obama announced his candidacy.
Seventy-five students from 11 universities around the state of Texas gathered at the Capitol this weekend for a campaign debriefing, which featured speeches from campaign strategists, political activists and journalists. The event was hosted by the New Politics Forum, a nonpartisan group encouraging young people to break into the political field.
The New Politics Forum has hosted debriefings for past elections since 2004. Emily Balanoff, project manager of the forum, said the events are typically smaller so students can feel comfortable interacting with speakers.
Government junior Michael Karm saw the event as an opportunity to meet more than 20 distinguished speakers.
“I’d love to meet people that work in area politics, and of course network.” Karm said.
Government junior Patrick Van Kessel also took the opportunity to speak with the political figures present at the event.
“I think the most important thing about these sort of events is hearing the mix of ideas,” Van Kessel said. “It is a forum, so there is discussion going on. Just talking to people and hearing different perspectives can only be a good thing.”
Daron Shaw, a UT government professor, participated in a panel discussion about the polarization of the Democratic and Republican parties. Shaw’s lecture focused on what Obama did to secure a 365-to-162 electoral-vote victory over Republican candidate Sen. John McCain.
“Republicans have a tendency to nominate the ‘next in line,’” Shaw said. “McCain was essentially the runner-up in 2000, so he ran this election. The party should [probably] not nominate an old ,white guy again.”
Austin American-Statesman Metro Editor Gary Susswein focused specifically on election results in Travis County.
“Two themes emerged locally this year,” Susswein said. “Democratic candidates did do better than Republican candidates. Propositions also did very well this year — tax increases for schools, bond initiatives.”
Balanoff said the debriefing was meant to provide a forum for students to get to know each other, in addition to having the opportunity to speak to journalists and key political figures.
“We really encourage people to look around the room and get to know their peers,” Balanoff said. “Four or five years from now, they will be the ones that I’ll be inviting to speak on these panels.”
Be the first to comment on this article!