Expertise on Politics, Religion and Gender Put Professor Deckman in Media Spotlight

Deckman participates in a Brookings Insitution event that discussed
the findings of the 2012 American Values Survey.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Political science professor Melissa Deckman has been busy on the media circuit, sharing her expertise on how religion and gender are affecting voter attitudes in the presidential election through appearances on nationally broadcast panels and in interviews with radio and print journalists.

            At an October 22 event at the National Press Club in D.C., sponsored by Catholic University's Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies and covered live by C-SPAN, she shared her research findings on the gender gap among Catholic voters. You can see C-SPAN video of her observations here.

            The following day, as an Affiliated Scholar with the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), she participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Brookings Institution to announce the results of PRRI’s “2012 American Values Survey,” the organization’s annual comprehensive look at how values and beliefs affect voting behaviors. Deckman addressed several key areas of the survey: the correlation between religious affiliation and support for Romney or Obama, perceptions about the state of religious freedom in the U.S., and Tea Party opinions on social issues. Video of the event is available on the Brookings Institution Web site (Deckman’s segment begins about an hour into the video).

            Most recently, she was videotaped talking about religion’s impact on the presidential election for a segment of the PBS show “Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly,” which is scheduled to air on PBS stations across the country starting Sunday morning, Nov. 4.  (The show is carried locally on MPT2 that day at 6:30 a.m. and on Washington-based WETA at 10:30 a.m. For other station schedules, visit the show’s website.)

            She also appeared on Baltimore’s WYPR radio to discuss the election with Midday Show host Dan Rodricks, and was quoted in a piece by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Baer.

            “This election season has been busier than usual because being an Affiliated Scholar with the Public Religion Research Institute has brought exciting new opportunities,” says Deckman, who is the College’s Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs. “As someone who has studied political behavior for a long time, I’ve enjoyed sharing my knowledge in these different settings.”

Appearing as part of an event at the National Press Club, Deckman
discussed Catholics and the gender gap in presidential politics.

Four Political Journalists Will Visit Oct. 23 to Share the Inside Scoop on Election Coverage

Betsy Fischer Martin.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The news media have always played a huge part in the electoral process, but today’s continuous feed puts unprecedented pressure on candidates, reporters, and voters alike. With the days until the presidential vote dwindling, several journalists who work at the heart of that maelstrom will take a momentary breather to visit Washington College and share some of their inside stories and first-hand perspectives. 

“The Anatomy of an Election: Media” is the finale of a four-part series on the 2012 presidential election hosted by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 23, in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the Washington College campus. 

Appearing on the panel will be four journalists with extensive experience in both traditional and new media: 

 Betsy Fischer Martin has been with “Meet The Press,” NBC’s top-rated Sunday morning public affairs program and the longest running television program in the world, for 21 years, including 10 as Executive Producer. She has worked on the network’s coverage of the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 elections, and has received numerous awards, including two Emmys and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Journalism. 

James Hohmann.

James Hohmann, author of the daily online news feed Morning Score, is a national political correspondent for Politico and previously served as a reporter for the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. He is at work on a book about the 1976 election and the political ascendancy of Ronald Reagan. 

Jonathan Martin.

Jonathan Martin is a correspondent for the online journal Politico, where he has covered the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. In the past six years he has been to about 30 states covering elections. He previously covered politics for The National Review and The Hotline. 

Jack Bohrer '06.

Jack Bohrer, who will serve as moderator, has written about politics for The New Republic, Politico, Salon, and other publications, and is completing a book about Robert F. Kennedy under contract with Bloomsbury Press. A 2006 graduate of Washington College, he majored in Political Science and was a student associate at the Starr Center.

With just two weeks left until the final presidential vote, the guests will discuss the campaign endgame and answer questions from the audience about the 2012 election. Their discussion will also cover the rapidly changing media universe and its effect on electoral politics. 

Bohrer, who has been tweeting about politics for three years, says that both journalists and candidates are trying hard to keep on top of rapid shifts in electronic media and forecast the future as best they can. “Blogs were the 2004 and 2008 campaigns, and Twitter is this one,” he says. “If the blogging cycle is anything to judge by, Twitter has another election cycle to go.”

Fischer Martin adds that over the course of her two-decade career, she has seen the news cycle shift “from slow and via fax (1992) to quick and via web and email (2004/2008) to warp speed via Twitter.”

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Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For more information, www.washcoll.edu.

The College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is dedicated to fostering innovative approaches to the American past and present. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large. For more information on the Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established at the College in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia and visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy. For more information, visit http://academics.washcoll.edu/goldsteinprogram/.

Campaign Expert and Colbert Guest Trevor Potter Discusses Campaign Finance October 16

CHESTERTOWN, MD—More than $600 million has been spent on election advertising in the 2012 presidential campaign, most of it in just three swing states. Can special-interest and corporate money buy an election?

That’s one question that will be addressed on Tuesday, October 16, in a talk by Trevor Potter, former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, founder of the Campaign Legal Center and a leading authority on lobbying regulation, government ethics, and campaign finance issues. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, at Washington College.

Potter is perhaps best known as a regular guest on “The Colbert Report” – in fact, journalist Bill Moyers has called him “the man who keeps Stephen Colbert out of jail.” Potter set up the Colbert Super PAC, “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow,” and appears regularly on the Comedy Central program to explain the muddy legalities of campaign finance.

The American Bar Association Journal described Potter as “hands-down one of the top lawyers in the country on the delicate intersection of politics, law, and money.” He was general counsel to both the 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns of Senator John McCain and deputy general counsel to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign. He also was one of the leading lawyers behind the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, commonly known as McCain-Feingold and considered the most significant campaign-finance law in 30 years.

Potter is featured in the cover story of the latest issue of The Atlantic. The magazine describes him as America’s leading advocate of the position that “more money, more anonymity, and more spending by non­candidates are bad things, dangerous to democracy.”

“The Anatomy of an Election: Money” is the third event in a four-part series on the 2012 presidential election, co-sponsored by Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

The series concludes on October 23 with an event on the role of media. Panelists will include Betsy Fischer, longtime executive producer of Meet the Press, political reporters James Hohmann and Jonathan Martin of Politico, and Washington College alumnus Jack Bohrer ’06, who has written about politics for many publications, including The New Republic and Salon.

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Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

The College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is dedicated to fostering innovative approaches to the American past and present. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large.

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established at the College in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia and visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy.