Thompson, Watts, Capito, McCotter to Address W&L's Mock Convention
Four more prominent Republican leaders — Senator Fred Thompson and Representatives J.C. Watts, Shelley Moore Capito, and Thaddeus McCotter — will address Washington and Lee students at the school’s 2012 Republican Mock Convention. Watts and McCotter will speak Friday, Feb. 10and Thompson will speak Saturday, Feb. 11. They join a growing list of speakers currently announced for the three-day event. (See the complete schedule below.)
Thompson is a former United States senator from Tennessee and former Republican presidential candidate. While in office, Thompson served as the chair of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. He is also a celebrated actor, having portrayed district attorney Arthur Branch for five seasons on Law & Order and several of its off-shoots.
• Mock Convention will be streamed live at mockconvention.com.
Capito, the only woman in West Virginia’s congressional delegation, has represented the second district since 2001. She serves on the House Financial Services Committee as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, as well the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
McCotter has represented the 11th district of Michigan since 2003. He is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services and plays lead guitar in the congressional rock band “The Second Amendments.”
Mock Convention will also feature a debate between analysts James Carville and Ann Coulter; an opening address by Mike Huckabee; a keynote address by Haley Barbour; and speeches by leading Virginia politicians, including Governor Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Majority Leader and Representative Eric Cantor, Representative Bob Goodlatte, and former governor George Allen.
The public is invited to attend the event, which will be held in the Warner Center. Tickets are available at mockconvention.com. Mock Convention begins on Thursday, Feb. 9 and runs through Saturday, Feb. 11. The event culminates in the students’ prediction of the 2012 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. Roughly 99 percent of all students are involved, 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. This year, the students have correctly predicted the outcome of the New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries and are eager to prove the 2012 W&L Mock Convention will continue to be “the biggest and boomingest” of student political organizations (TIME Magazine).
Schedule of Events
Thursday Feb. 9
5 p.m. — Debate between Ann Coulter and James Carville, moderated by POLITICO’s Mike Allen and Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Evans
7 p.m. — Opening Address by Gov. Mike Huckabee
Friday Feb. 10
10 a.m. — Parade through Lexington
1 p.m. — Session One, featuring speeches by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito and Va GOP leaders Gov. Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, and Leader Eric Cantor
7 p.m. — Session Two, featuring speeches by Rep. Thaddeus McCotter and Rep. J.C. Watts
Saturday Feb. 11
10 a.m. — Session Three, featuring speeches by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Gov. George Allen, Sen. Fred Thompson, and Attorney General Henry McMaster
3 p.m. — Session Four, featuring keynote address by Gov. Haley Barbour and the Roll Call of the States, with the final prediction of the nominee
CONTACTS:
Kali McFarland ’12
mcfarlandk12@mail.wlu.edu
(757) 404-1214
Katy Stewart ’13
stewartk13@mail.wlu.edu
(704) 560-2120
Jeffery G. Hanna
Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs
jhanna@wlu.edu
(540) 458-8459
