Faculty experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can provide expert commentary and analysis on the transition between the Bush and Obama presidential administrations, challenges facing the president-elect, changing voting patterns in the South and North Carolina and results of the Nov. 4 elections.
Faculty experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can provide expert commentary and analysis on the transition between the Bush and Obama presidential administrations, challenges facing the president-elect, changing voting patterns in the South and North Carolina and results of the Nov. 4 elections.
The Carolina News Studio is available for live and or pre-recorded television interviews with our election experts. We are also equipped with ISDN connectivity for radio interviews. http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/666/111/
For assistance in reaching any UNC-Chapel Hill experts or to schedule studio time, please contact News Services:
| Melissa Sowry | LJ Toler | |
| Studio Manager | Arts and Humanities Editor | |
| (919) 360-2425 | (919) 962-8589 | |
| melissa_sowry@unc.edu | laura_toler@unc.edu |
A list of experts by topic follows:
Presidential transition
The Presidency, economic crisis
Campaign coverage, negative advertising
Analysis of U.S. and N.C. elections results
Terry Sullivan, Ph.D.
Associate professor of political science
College of Arts and Sciences
(919) 593-2124
sullivan@email.unc.edu
Online bio: https://s4.its.unc.edu/UNCExperts/
uncexperts/getperson?ID=RWSVFDXFE
Topics: transition from one presidential administration to the next, requirements of jobs in the White House.
Sullivan is advising both the president’s Transition Coordinating Council and Barack Obama’s transition team on how to create as seamless as possible a change in leadership, and what is required for Obama’s team to be able to hit the ground running. Sullivan is executive director of the nonpartisan, multi-institutional White House Transition Project, which created the first ever job descriptions for White House positions. These can be found at http://whitehousetransitionproject.org.
edited “The White House World” (2003), about White House operations and functions of White House offices, and “Nerve Center” (2004), about the job of White House Chief of Staff and how to evaluate presidential transitions.
Media citation:
Cox News Service
Obama faces challenges in bringing change to Washington
http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/hp/
content/shared/news/stories/2008/11/CHANGE_POLITICS09_COX.html
Nov. 7, 2008
William P. Marshall, J.D.
William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor
School of Law
(919) 843-7747
wpmarsha@email.unc.edu
Online bio: http://www.law.unc.edu/faculty/directory/
Topics: Transition of executive power; the tendency of outgoing presidents to enact what are called midnight regulations just before leaving office that conflict with the incoming president’s agenda; historic shifts in the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution for the use of executive power and in how society interprets the value of executive power.
Marshall was a deputy White House counsel and deputy assistant to the president during the Clinton administration, where he worked on issues including freedom of religion. An expert on Constitutional law, the first amendment and federal judicial selection, Marshall studies relationships among the media, law and politics. He was recently on a panel about the Supreme Court confirmation process.
Media citation:
The (Raleigh) News & Observer, RealClearPolitics.com
Our Overpowerful President
Nov. 14, 2008
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1293949.html
Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5gqjRJT5E
In this video clip available for media use, Marshall advocates for the Bush administration to hold back on midnight regulations during transition. Marshall also addresses the constitutional significance of Rahm Emanuel leaving his post in Congress to become the next White House Chief of Staff.
The Presidency, economic crisis
William E. Leuchtenburg, Ph.D.
William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor emeritus of history
College of Arts and Sciences
(919) 967-1257
Online bio: https://s4.its.unc.edu/UNCExperts/
uncexperts/getperson?ID=RXFDDDWFE
Topics: The presidency; the economic crisis facing Obama compared with Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt and their responses to the Great Depression.
Leuchtenburg, a past president of the American Historical Association, has written books including “Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-40” and “In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.” His new book, due in January, is “Herbert Hoover: The American Presidents Series: The 31st President, 1929-33.”
Leuchtenburg has analyzed election results live on networks including NBC.
Media citations:
Wall Street Journal
Fans of the 31st President Find Hate for Hoover Greatly Depressing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122566429276691471.html
Nov. 4, 2008
The San Diego Union Tribune
First black president traveled unlikely path
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20081105-9999-1n5assess.html
Nov. 5, 2008
Campaign coverage, negative advertising
Leroy Towns
Professor of the Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication,
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Research Fellow, Program on Public Life,
Center for the Study of the American South
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Office: (919) 843-5388
Cell: (919) 260-9326
dltowns@email.unc.edu
Blog: http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu:16080/talkpolitics
Topics: How media covered state and national campaigns; how the media cover politics; how campaigns are affected by new media; how campaign strategy is influenced by negative television advertising.
Towns, who teaches political reporting and political communication, specializes in intersections between journalism and politics. From 1980 to 2001, he was chief of staff for U.S. Rep. and later Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, directing eight successful campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives and two campaigns for the U.S. Senate. Previously he was press secretary for Kansas Gov. Robert F. Bennett and political reporter and Sunday editor for Harris Newspapers. He won awards from the Kansas Press Association for column writing and from the American Political Science Association for political reporting.
Media citations:
“The State of Things,” WUNC FM
Downsizing newspapers
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0926a08.mp3/view
Sept. 26, 2008
“The State of Things,” WUNC FM
Reporting Rumors
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0812a08.mp3/view
Aug. 12, 2008
The News & Observer
State PIOs have a public responsibility
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1092131.html
June 1, 2008
Supreme Court
I
saac Unah, Ph.D.
Associate professor of political science
College of Arts and Sciences
(919) 962-6383
iunah@email.unc.edu
Print or taped interviews only
Topic: The Supreme Court
Unah specializes in decision making by the court, selection of justices and the impact of the court on American society. He can comment on the possibility that the next president might change the balance on what now is a closely divided Supreme Court, given that as many as three of the more liberal justices might retire in the next four years.
Analysis of U.S. and N.C. elections results
Ferrel Guillory
Director, The Program on Public Life; lecturer
School of Journalism and Mass Communication/College of Arts and Sciences
(919) 962-5936, (919) 259-2708
guillory@unc.edu
Online bio: https://s4.its.unc.edu/UNCExperts/
uncexperts/getperson?ID=RCEDWDXFE
Topics: The closely divided electorate in Virginia and North Carolina, their shift to blue after decades in the red, the toppling of the race barrier for some Southern voters and the election of Democratic state senator Kay Hagan as a U.S. Senator, replacing incumbent
Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
Guillory founded the Program on Public Life to connect the academic resources at UNC-Chapel Hill with the governmental, journalism and civic leaders of North Carolina and the South. He publishes “South Now,” a biweekly electronic publication tracking a wide range of Southern and North Carolina trends. http://www.southnow.org. The latest issue examines North Carolina's shifting electorate and changing political landscape.
Guillory spent more than 20 years as a reporter, Washington correspondent, editorial page editor and columnist for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
Media citations:
The New York Times Politics Blog
Obama Wins North Carolina
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/obama-wins-north-carolina/
?scp=1&sq=%22university%20of%20north%20carolina%22&st=cse
Nov. 6, 2008
USA Today
Hagan wins Senate seat held by Dole
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-11-05-hagan-defeats-dole_N.htm
Nov. 5, 2008
Thad Beyle, Ph.D.
Professor emeritus of political science
College of Arts and Sciences
(919) 942-1281
beyle@email.unc.edu
Online bio: https://s4.its.unc.edu/UNCExperts/
uncexperts/getperson?ID=RVFDRDWFE
Topics: North Carolina’s first woman governor and predominantly female Council of State; gubernatorial races across the country; Congressional races in North Carolina; the behavior of the electorate.
Beyle taught American politics and North Carolina politics for more than 30 years and has provided extensive analysis for media. He worked in the North Carolina Governor’s Office from 1964-65.
Media citations:
Associated Press
Democrats make gains in NC amid startling changes
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmRuOle7ikPdXH_9noP5zlaIBNDAD948IOSO0
Nov. 5, 2008
The Dallas Morning News
Obama wins big, breaks White House color barrier
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/
news/nation/stories/110508dnpolprezmain.40bf3bd.html
Nov. 5, 2008
George Rabinowitz, Ph.D.
Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Political Science
College of Arts and Sciences
(919) 962-0407
rabinowitz@unc.edu
Topics: Obama’s use of issues, young and minority voters.
Rabinowitz’s research has focused on the role that issues play in elections and the strategic considerations that influence election outcomes. In this election, he has been impressed by Obama’s effective use of issues and ability to attract new voters – particularly young and minority voters – into the political process.
Political advertising, gender and politics
Anne Johnston, Ph.D.
Associate dean for graduate studies and professor
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
(919) 962-4286
amjohnst@email.unc.edu
Online bio: http://www.jomc.unc.edu/faculty/anne_johnston.html
Topics: The significance of North Carolina’s first woman governor; political advertising and how types of advertising may have influenced voters; young voters and their reactions to news sources; gender and politics.
Johnston’s research interests include political communication, political advertising, women and politics and diversity issues in the media. She is the co-author of the 2001 book, “Videostyle in Presidential Campaigns: Style and Content of Televised Political Advertising,” a comprehensive analysis of more than 1,200 televised presidential ads from 1952 to 1996. During the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign, Johnston was a member of a national consortium of scholars, researchers and students studying communication and media related to the election.