Carville-Coulter Debate, Huckabee Speech Open Mock Con
A debate between Democratic strategist James Carville and GOP pundit Ann Coulter will be followed by a speech from former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, on the opening night of Washington and Lee University’s Mock Republican Convention, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012.
That event will be open to the public and held in the Warner Center on campus. Tickets will be available online at mockconvention.com/2012 in January.
Huckabee rose to fame during the 2008 primary cycle, in which the former pastor placed second to John McCain. He hosts the hit weekend TV show “Huckabee” on Fox News, and is syndicated on almost 600 radio stations by the Citadel Media Network.
Carville is one of America’s best-known political consultants. He is widely credited for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory. He is the author of nine books and is a talk-show host and frequent CNN contributor. He is a member of the political science faculty at Tulane University
Coulter, one of the most recognizable faces of conservatism, is known for her biting wit and polarizing delivery. She has written seven New York Times bestsellers and is frequently featured on television shows such as “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “Hannity” and “The O’Reilly Factor.”
On Feb. 9, the Carville-Coulter debate will begin at 5 p.m., and Huckabee will speak at 7 p.m.
The program opens the 2012 Mock Convention, which will feature additional speeches by other distinguished politicians and analysts, including a keynote address by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The event will culminate in the students’ final prediction of the Republican presidential nominee.
W&L’s Mock Convention is a quadrennial tradition in which students pick the presidential nominee for the party out of power. Nearly the entire W&L student body, roughly 99 percent of all students, works for three years researching potential candidates, tracking polls and gathering on-the-ground data. With only two incorrect predictions since 1948, and an overall accuracy rate of over 75 percent, Mock Con has been called “the most realistic” exercise of its kind by Newsweek magazine.
After incorrectly selecting Hillary Clinton as the 2008 Democratic nominee, the students are eager to make an accurate prediction in the upcoming convention. The organizers hope that speakers like Huckabee, Carville and Coulter will solidify the convention’s credibility and will ensure that the 2012 Mock Convention will reaffirm its place as “the biggest and boomingest” of student political organizations (TIME Magazine).
Mock Convention Media Contacts:
Kali McFarland ’12
mcfarlandk12@mail.wlu.edu
(757) 404-1214
Katy Stewart ’13
stewartk13@mail.wlu.edu
(704) 560-2120
W&L News Contact:
Jeffery G. Hanna
Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs
jhanna@wlu.edu
(540) 458-8459
