Vanderbilt University’s 2008 Elections course will meld rigorous academic research with real-world politics as two former U.S. representatives join renowned political scientists John Geer and Bruce Oppenheimer to team-teach one of the university’s most popular classes.
Harold Ford Jr. and Vin Weber, both former congressmen who remain active in national politics, will work with Geer and Oppenheimer to provide the students a broader understanding of how elections fit generally into the American political culture.
"Some students anticipate that the class will be simply a discussion of what the national media reported that morning," said Geer, a Distinguished Professor of Political Science who teaches and writes about elections, campaigns, public opinion and negative ads. Geer’s books include In Defense of Negativity and From Tea Leaves to Opinion Polls.
"We will certainly discuss daily campaign news when appropriate, but only when it speaks to larger questions about the current races and how elections in general work." He noted that having Ford and Weber on board will greatly enrich the class experience. "Both of them are analytical thinkers who ask more thoughtful questions than the typical ones we hear on the pundit talk shows," he said.
Weber, who is teaching his first Vanderbilt class as an adjunct professor of political science, is a Republican campaign and policy strategist who has counseled numerous presidential campaigns. He recently served as policy chairman for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Weber is also the chief executive officer of Clark & Weinstock, where he provides strategic advice to institutions that have matters before the legislative and executive branches of government. He represented Minnesota’s Second Congressional District from 1981 to 1993 and is frequently quoted by the national press about the latest political development.
Harold Ford Jr., a visiting professor of public policy at Vanderbilt, serves as chair of the Democratic Leadership Council. He is also a political analyst on MSNBC for NBC News. Ford represented Tennessee’s Ninth District for five terms in the House of Representatives before narrowly losing a statewide race for the U.S. Senate in 2006. He has taught or co-taught Vanderbilt political science courses on American political leadership, the presidential nomination process and the 2008 presidential campaign.
With Ford and Weber approaching the presidential campaign from opposite sides of the political spectrum and other academics and journalists being invited to address the class, the students will be exposed to a wide variety of perspectives, the professors said. They emphasized that the class will be non-partisan in its agenda, and only speakers who have something to contribute in terms of understanding the overall electoral process will be invited.
Oppenheimer, who focuses on congressional elections, legislative process and political parties in his research, said that for most of the students, this will be the first or second set of elections in which they will participate at the ballot box.
"Many will enroll in the course as strong Republican or Democratic partisans, and they will not understand what it is like to win or lose a political race," said Oppenheimer, who is co-author of Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation.
"We will emphasize that the American political process never really has closure. There are going to be some years when your party does great and some when your party loses. That’s what American politics is all about."
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu