Virginia Gov. McDonnell to Address W&L Mock Convention
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell will address students at Washington and Lee’s Republican Mock Convention on Friday, Feb. 10.
McDonnell took office in 2010 after receiving the most votes of any Virginia governor in history. During his term, he has supported proposals to make the largest investment in Virginia transportation systems in a generation and announced a $311 million budget surplus for two consecutive fiscal years.
McDonnell also serves as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Regional Education Board, and the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Governors Association. Prior to becoming governor, McDonnell served Virginia as the attorney general and a state delegate.
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 ends on Saturday, Feb. 11. It will feature speeches by other distinguished politicians and analysts. The event will culminate in the students’ prediction of the Republican presidential nominee.
McDonnell will speak as part of a Friday lineup that highlights the key figures of the Virginia GOP, including majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA-7th District). Mock Convention will also feature a debate between analysts James Carville and Ann Coulter; former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee; and former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour.
W&L’s Mock Convention is a quadrennial tradition where students pick the presidential nominee for the party out of power. Roughly 99 percent of all students work 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. This year, the students have correctly predicted the outcome of the New Hampshire and South Carolina 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).
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
