Monday, August 25, 2008

From the RNC - First day of seminar. Monday

Today we enjoyed what our group leader said was one of the slower days of the seminar. First, the faculty members who are leading the study groups were introduced and asked to answer two questions: Is Biden a good pick for Obama’s vice-president? and, who will Mc Cain pick for VP? In general, everyone agreed that Biden’s foreign policy experience was a plus. Someone mentioned David Brook’s editorial where he mentioned that Biden has more: he is Catholic, comes from a working class family and did not attend an ivy-league school. However, some professors thought that because of Biden’s tendency to speak carelessly and become next day headlines, he might be a risk to Obama. As to the question of who will McCain pick, most of the professors answered by saying who they wanted McCain to pick, but three professors mentioned Mitt Romney, Tim Powlenti and K Bailey-Hutchison as possible picks. From 8:30 AM to noon, we listened to former Oklahoma Congresman Mickey Edwards. Congressman Edwards recently published a book “Reclaiming Conservatism.” He talked about the fact hat for the last few decades, the vice-president is chosen with one goal in mind, and that is to get the president elected. Congressman Edwards and Dr. Meena Bose, a Political Science professor, answered a number of questions from students on political parties, role of the President and the Supreme Court in issues such as abortion, term limits for congress members and more. It was quite an interesting session.

After lunch, we had a three hour study group session. We discussed the electoral process, its strengths and weaknesses, and why even with its weaknesses we admire those who envisioned the wisdom of this complex process. We also looked at the syllabus. We have been given assignments that seem a bit overwhelming. They include a lot of reading (textbook, editorials, newspapers), writing (short essay, journal), and conduct a minimum of six interviews, including at least one Convention Delegate, one Elected Public Official at the local or state level, an Elected Public Official at the national level, a Media Representative and a political consultant or other individual not included above. We also need to do our fieldwork, which may open the door to meet the people we will interview.

The Augsburg College has been a great host to this seminar. They are providing meeting places, encouragement from the College President and faculty, and today they organized an ice cream social for us.

Tomorrow, after a morning session and our study group session, we will have a tour of the Twin Cities, and then we will go to the Minnesota State Fair.

The pictures are from the Texas study group that Frank and I attend, and a picture of the all the students and faculty attending this seminar.

1 comment:

txrepublican said...

Great blog! Who's that good-looking guy with the striped tie?