America’s readiness for a woman president focus of Vanderbilt political panel

Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut will share insights from book

Washington Post political reporter Anne Kornblut will be at Vanderbilt University’s First Amendment Center on Feb. 24 for a panel discussion of her book examining America’s readiness for a woman president.

The forum “Is America Ready to Elect a Woman President? Sarah Palin and the 2012 Presidential Election” will be moderated by John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be at 5 p.m. with a reception and book signing at 6 p.m.

Joining Kornblut will be Jon Cohen, director of polling at the Washington Post; John Geer, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, and Joshua Clinton, associate professor of political science and NBC News election analyst.

“With speculation rampant about a possible presidential bid by Sarah Palin, Anne Kornblut’s and Jon Cohen’s visit could not be better timed,” Geer said. He and Clinton serve as co-directors of the Vanderbilt Poll.

Kornblut’s book, Notes from the Cracked Ceiling: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for a Woman to Win, takes an in-depth look at the 2008 campaigns of Clinton and Palin and explores the current landscape for prominent women in politics.

Kornblut, a White House correspondent for the Washington Post, has covered the past three U.S. presidential campaigns. She previously worked for The New York Times and the Boston Globe and is a frequent commentator on national political television programs.

Kornblut won the Aldo Beckman Award for distinguished White House coverage in 2001. She is a 1994 graduate of Columbia University, where she majored in history.

The panel discussion is co-sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and the First Amendment Center. For more information, call 322-3175 or 727-1600. The First Amendment Center is located at 1207 18th Ave. S.