2008 Presidential Primaries Panel Feb. 4 at F&M
Franklin & Marshall Professors to Discuss Super Tuesday

Four Franklin & Marshall professors will hold a 2008 presidential primaries panel on the eve of Super Tuesday. The panel, sponsored by F&M Votes, the Department of Government, and the Floyd Institute's Center for Politics and Public Affairs, will take place on Monday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. in Stahr Auditorium, Stager Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

There's a reason that Tuesday, February 5, is being called "Super Duper Tuesday." Twenty-four states will hold primaries or caucuses that day, and more than 40% of each party's delegates will be selected. On the eve of this historic event, Professors G. Terry Madonna, Robert Friedrich, Stephen Medvic, and Matt Schousen will discuss the context and implications of this critical day in the 2008 presidential election process.

Madonna is director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs, Professor of Public Affairs, and director of the Franklin and Marshall Poll. He joined F&M in 2004. For more than 30 years, Madonna has taught and written about his two academic specialties: the American presidency and American political parties and political behavior. As a pollster in recent years, he has written extensively about voters and voting behavior. He holds a Ph.D. in political history from the University of Delaware.

Friedrich received his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1968 and master's and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He came to Franklin & Marshall in 1976 and has served on the faculty since then, with a break between 1984-91 when he served as the College's first director of academic computing. He teaches courses in American government, public opinion and mass political behavior, and research methods. His current research interests are in electoral politics and electoral institutions, particularly the relationship between seats and votes in legislative elections, and in political values and ideology, particularly their relationship to religion.

Medvic earned bachelor's degrees in political science and philosophy from Texas A&M University and a master's and Ph.D. in political science from Purdue University (Ph.D. 1997). Before joining the faculty at Franklin & Marshall, he taught at Old Dominion University from 1997 to 2002 and was a Research Fellow at ODU's Social Science Research Center from 2001-2002. His research and teaching interests include campaigns and elections, political parties, the media and politics, public opinion, ideology, and American political thought.

Schousen, who joined the F&M faculty in 1993, was previously the Robert Rankin Instructor of American Government at Duke University. Schousen earned his bachelor's in philosophy and political science from Cornell College in 1983, his master's in political science from Duquesne University in 1986 and his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University in 1994. Schousen's research interests are American government and legislative studies, including Congressional institutions and rules, split-ticket voting, candidate emergence, and Congressional redistricting. The author of numerous political science journal articles and papers, Schousen has also presented papers at political science conferences in the United States.

Established in 2004 under the auspices of the Center for Liberal Arts and Society, the F&M Votes Coalition organizes non-partisan voter education, registration and "get out the vote" drives, and lectures designed to emphasize the importance of active citizenship. As a place where the College community can connect liberal education to social and civic engagement, CLAS was the natural home for F&M Votes.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: MARCY DUBROFF (717) 291-3837
E-MAIL: MARCY.DUBROFF@FANDM.EDU
WEB: HTTP://WWW.FANDM.EDU