Election Before & After (Updated with Video)

USC Law and Unruh Institute will hold two panel discussions exploring election issues

—By Gilien Silsby

UPDATED: Click to view the video of this event.

USC Gould School of Law and the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC are holding two panel discussions to explore the candidates, issues and events of the historic 2008 election season.

The first panel discussion, “Red States, Blue States, and the State of the Race,” is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 30, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the USC Law Faculty Lounge. USC Law Prof. Kareem Crayton; Dan Schnur, director of the Unruh Institute and former Sen. John McCain political strategist; and Bruce Nash, president of Nash Information Services, a consulting business that provides data analysis and projections for the movie business, will serve on the panel.

The second event, “What Happened and Why? A Post-Election Conversation about Candidates, Strategies and Ballot Measures in the Race of 2008,” will take place after the election on Thursday, Nov. 6, from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. in Room 1 of the law school. Crayton, Schnur and John Matsusaka, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at USC, will take part in the discussion.

“We hope that the panels will offer a substantive exploration of what shaped this seemingly endless campaign to determine the 44th President of the United States and many of the country’s ballot measures,” Crayton said. “We’re looking to attract USC students from the law school and the College who are seeking informed analysis about the entire campaign.”

In the panel discussion on Thursday, Oct. 30, three general questions will be addressed, including:

• Has this campaign for president been fundamentally different from those in the past, or has it reverted to a familiar set of campaign themes and techniques?
• Does the present state of the race indicate that the electorate has fundamentally shifted or realigned?
• What indicators should one look for on Election Night to determine who will win and by how much?

The post-election discussion on Thursday, Nov. 6, will look at:

• How did the presidential victor win the election? What impact will it have on future governance?
• Which ballot measures won, which lost, and will there be broad implications for the rest of the country?
• Who voted and what impact did it have on the presidential race, ballot measures and other races?

Both events are free and open to all students. To RSVP, please email [email protected].