OBERLIN, OHIO -- Did the pundits and scholars get it right in predicting 2006 election issues and outcomes?  God, guns, gays, and cultural pluralism: did the 2006 elections make a difference?  Is election 2006 part of a major electoral realignment?

On November 11, just four days after midterm elections, nationally prominent elected officials, scholars, and election campaign organizers, including a number of Oberlin College alumni, will be on campus to discuss these and related topics in a program titled Election 2006 and the Future of American Politics. The talks are free and open to the public and will be presented in the Science Center’s West Lecture Hall, 119 Woodland Street.

Lee Fisher ’73, Ohio lieutenant governor-elect, will present the keynote speech at a luncheon Saturday, November 11 at 12:15 p.m. Other alumni taking part in the talks also on Saturday will be Democratic mayor-elect Adrian Fenty ’92, (Washington, D.C.) and Jan Ching-An Ting '70, U.S. Senate candidate (R-Delaware).

Also speaking will be John Lawrence '70, Chief of Staff to Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives; Professor James Thurber, American University; Professor Lawrence Jacobs '81, University of Minnesota; Professor Candice Hoke, Cleveland State University School of Law; and Marc Sandalow,’82, San Francisco Chronicle Washington bureau chief.

Many Cole-Oberlin Initiative in Electoral Politics Scholars now working on campaigns and in government positions across the nation will return to campus for the talks, which are part of a conference celebrating the first 12 years of the Oberlin Initiative in Electoral Politics (OIEP), November 10-12.

“OEIP is a unique program in undergraduate education fully endowed by the Cole family,” says Department Chair Ronald Kahn, James Monroe Professor of Politics & Law and OEIP director.” Its primary objective is to promote student interest in electoral politics and in pursuing careers as elected officials. Since the program’s inception in 1994, more than 120 of the College’s top students have become Cole-OEIP Scholars.”

Registration deadline for the conference is Monday, November 6th.
For information, go to the website or contact Professor Kahn at 440.775.8495 (office) or 440.774-1670 (home).