Experts can comment on super tuesday and the impact of new Jersey voters on the 2008 Presidential campaign

As the primary season continues to unfold and Super Tuesday looms near, the following Rutgers-Newark experts are available to comment on a variety of issues that affect the 2008 presidential campaign and New Jersey’s own Feb. 5 primary.

RACE IN THE PRIMARIES AND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
DR. CLEMENT PRICE, director of the Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience (IECME), and Rutgers Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History, can comment on race relations and modern culture in the United States and in New Jersey, and on Afro-American history, urban history, public history and the history of New Jersey and their impact on the political scene. Price is the author of Freedom Not Far Distant: A Documentary History of Afro-Americans in New Jersey.
Contact: 973/353-5410, ext. 28 (office), 973/477-9987 (cell), caprice@andromeda.rutgers.edu, or leave a message with Marisa Pierson at 973/353-1871, ext. 11.

CURRENT AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON NJ ELECTIONS AND NJ POLITICS; POLITICS OF RACE AND CIVIL LIBERTIES IN NJ; NATIONAL POLITICS AND THE 2008 ELECTION

LISA HULL, professor and chair, political science, can speak on most aspects of elections and politics, especially issues involving race and civil liberties. She also can comment on national politics, and in particular, the presidential election. Hull teaches courses in American government and public law.

Contact: 973/353-1324 (office), 973/376-6648 (home), eahull@andromeda.rutgers.edu, eahull47@hotmail.com

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN PUBLIC DEBATE AND IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL RACE
MARY SEGERS, professor, political science, can comment extensively on virtually all aspects of American politics, with special emphasis on the often volatile collision of religion and politics, such as political endorsements by churches during election campaigns; inappropriate clergy intervention into political campaigns; issues of special importance to women such as abortion rights; and the efforts by presidential candidates to reach out to religious voters. Segers has written widely about religious and ethical values underlying public policy, including the book Piety, Politics and Pluralism: Religion, the Courts and the 2000 Election.
Contact: 973/353-1324 (office), 908/522-1573 (home), msegers88@hotmail.com, or leave message with Beth Freda at 973/353-5105

IMPACT OF INTELLIGENCE REPORTS ON NATIONAL SECURITY; FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES, PARTICULARLY U.S.-EUROPEAN RELATIONS; AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE DEMOCRATIC-LED CONGRESS
FRANK FISCHER, professor, political science, can address issues ranging from presidential politics, party politics and environmental issues. He teaches courses on the American political and policy-making processes and is the author of numerous books on government and public policy.
Contact:  973/353-5105, ext. 5171 (office), 212/674-5078 (home),  ffischer@andromeda.rutgers.edu, frankfischer24@aol.com

IMPACT OF THE MEDIA AND “SPIN”
ROBERT SNYDER, associate professor of journalism and media studies, can provide sharp insight into media and “spin.” Snyder has an extensive record as both a working journalist and a media analyst. He has worked in newspapers, magazines and television, including as editor of Media Studies Journal – a quarterly dedicated to analysis of the news media by journalists, scholars and informed commentators.
Contact: 973-353-5119, ext. 33 (office), 212/861-9880 (home), rwsnyder@andromeda.rutgers.edu

ADDITIONAL RUTGERS-NEWARK EXPERTS ON POLITICS

WOMEN’S RIGHTS; INTERNATIONAL LAW AND TERRORISM; AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANSTAN
KARIMA BENNOUNE, associate professor and recipient of the 2006 Derrick A. Bell, Jr. Award for her activism, mentoring, colleagueship, teaching and scholarship. A member of the boards of Amnesty International−USA and the Center for Constitutional Rights, she has participated in human rights field missions to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Korea, southern Thailand, and Tunisia. She can comment on women’s rights, international law and terrorism, and human rights in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Contact: 973/353-3375 (office), 646/332-7529 (cell)

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES; CIVIL RIGHTS; AND PROTECTIONS FOR IMMIGRANTS SEEKING ASYLUM
PENNY VENETIS, clinical professor and co-director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic, recently has been lauded for a successful clinic lawsuit that resulted in new international human rights law and another suit that won protections for voters against unreliable and insecure electronic voting machines. She can comment on issues regarding civil rights, protections for immigrants seeking asylum, and the use of electronic voting machines.
Contact:   973/353-3240 (office), 917-617-3524 (cell)

URBAN POLITICS; URBAN EDUCATION; HOUSING POLICIES; AND RACIAL INEQUITIES IN HOUSING
MARA SIDNEY, associate professor of political science, can discuss public policy, race and ethnicity, and urban politics, housing discrimination, affordable housing, and urban education. Sidney also studies political struggles to advance racial equality, and the political role that nonprofit and community-based advocacy organizations play in them.
Contact: 973/353-5787 (office), 201/341-7741 (home), msidney@andromeda.rutgers.edu

WOMEN AND POLITICS AND ISSUES OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO WOMEN VOTERS
JYL JOSEPHSON, director of the Rutgers-Newark Women’s Studies Program, is an expert in gender and public policy, American politics and political thought, and feminist and democratic political theory. She can provide insight into issues of particular impact on American women as well as the historic presidential campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Contact: 201/533-1459 (home), 551/221-1232

ELECTION LAW; BALANCING CIVIL LIBERTIES AND NATIONAL SECURITY; AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE
FRANK ASKIN is professor of law and founder and director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic, which under his almost four-decade leadership has established numerous important legal precedents in civil rights and international human rights cases. He also teaches Election Law. He can comment on balancing civil liberties in responding to terrorism, executive branch obstruction of Congressional oversight, campaign finance, legal remedies that address public corruption, and election law issues.
Contact:  973/353-3239 (office), 973/519-0235 (cell)

URBAN AND NEW JERSEY ISSUES

STEPHANIE BUSH-BASKETTE, Esq., Ph.D., director, Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, served three terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, representing both urban and urban communities before joining Gov. James Florio’s cabinet as state commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs. She can comment on issues impacting cities and city residents in general, and New Jersey politics and urban affairs in particular.

Contact: 973/353-1750, ext. 225 (office), bushbask@newark.rutgers.edu, sbushbask@aol.com