LSU to sponsor national political consultants' conference Nov. 14-17
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 1999
News Contact: Kelli L. Bozeman
LSU News Service
225 388-3869
[email protected]
BATON ROUGE -- The American Association of Political Consultants will hold its first annual Academic Outreach Conference Nov. 14-17 in Baton Rouge, attracting some of the nation's top consultants and political figures.
The conference, sponsored by the association along with LSU's Manship School of Mass Communication and the LSU Division of Continuing Education's Academy of Politics, aims to bring together the professional and academic communities to discuss common problems, opportunities and issues surrounding political communication. Many political consultants and journalists credited with shaping campaign discourse and practice in modern elections are scheduled to participate.
"For four days in November, the political eyes of the country will be on LSU," said LSU political communication assistant professor David Perlmutter, an AAPC board member. "Politics today is consultant-driven. Almost everything we hear and see about the political campaigns and from the political campaigns has either been thought of or tested by a political consultant. These are the people that matter, and they're coming here to reach out to academics and students, to talk about how to improve their profession, to bring a better sense of decorum to the political process and to provide opportunities for students interested in pursuing careers in politics and media."
Chairman of the event is James Carville, a Louisiana native who received his undergraduate and juris doctor degrees from LSU and went on to serve as chief campaign strategist for the Clinton/Gore 1992 presidential campaign.
Others scheduled to take part in the conference include Campaigns and Elections magazine editor Ron Faucheux, National Rifle Association director of federal affairs Charles Cunningham, Yahoo! Inc. president Jeff Mallett, Republican strategist Ralph Reed, Democratic pollster Mark Mellman and International Association of Political Consultants president Richard Ridder.
The event will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14 at the Radisson Hotel and continue through Wednesday, Nov. 17, with a host of panel discussions and lectures at the hotel and at Louisiana's Old State Capitol building.
Panel discussions will cover topics like "Who's on First and Why: The Presidential 2000 Election," "The Challenge of Alternative Media," "Energizing a New Generation of Voters," "Civility in Politics: Have We Lost Our Manners?", "Ethics in Political Consulting: An Oxymoron or a Needed Goal?" and "The Politics of Religion."
Also at the conference, the association will launch a mentoring program to reach out to students interested in the field. The program will formalize the help already provided by many group members to university students around the nation. Students interested in the program will be assigned mentors based on interest, geography or party affiliation.
For more information on the conference, contact the association at (202) 544-9815 or see www.theaapc.org.
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