Im so thrilled to see all of you here in centennial hall. Also id like to welcome all of the people in the overflow area which is in the back of the second floor. And if any of you get tired of standing, there are seats Still Available there. Actually, i am just absolutely thrilled that Dale Russakoff chose the Newark Public Library to launch her brand new book, her muchanticipated, her absolutely fascinating, brand new book, the prize, with the subtitle, whos in charge of americas schools. This is the very first event that she will be doing. Shell be doing a series of programs and interviews as she travels across the country to introduce her book to the public, so we are really honored to be the first. And were also honored to be the venue where an extremely Important Community conversation will be taking place tonight. After all, a Critical Role of libraries as you know is to invite Community Members to engage in discussions of important issues to that community. There is no doubt in
[applause] thank you very much. I must begin by apologizing for holding you folk up for almost 20 minutes. Now that newark is revitalizing the traffic at this time [laughter] it is impossible. But thats a good thing, i think. So while i apologize, im also happy that i got caught up in newarks overflow traffic tonight. Its my role to lay out the ground rules for our conversation. We will begin with the author, dale russ cough Dale Russakoff, making a presentation. She will then be fold by the three panelists who have joined us to, in effect, comment on what dale has written and what she will say to us tonight. Dales comments will be about, about 15 minutes. That means that the panelists will each get about ten minutes to respond. Is that all right, panel . Okay. We can have ongoing conversation after those initial remarks have been made. After they have made their presentations, then we will open the floor for comments, questions from the audience, and i think we have a microphone here,
And then we will open up for questions and answers. So, with these few words, im handing over to mr. Von spakovsky as agreed between the panelists that he would start first. The floor is yours. Thank you very much. And welcome to the United States. Were glad to have you here. You got an introduce of me as a lawyer and a write br these topics but i want to you understand also that i come at this from a practical standpoint. Because i actually have been an election administrator down at the local level. I was on a county registration and election board in the state of georgia where we were responsible for Voter Registration and running the polls on election day in the largest county in the state. I recently left another county electoral board in the state of virginia, Fairfax County, where i think many of you may be going to observe tomorrow. And Fairfax County also is the largest county in the state of virginia. So i have a lot of practical experience in what its like to register indivi
Going to vote for. The viewership of the debates is second only to the most widely watched tv program in the u. S. Which is the super bowl. The final of the u. S. Style football championships. To put it into scale, a well watched primary debate in the u. S. Will have 3 Million Viewers. A typical network news program will have 6 million to 7 Million Viewers. A poorly watched president ial debate will have 37 viewers and a well watched debate, 75 Million Viewers in the u. S. And any more overseas. I would like to shift gears at this point and discuss the commissions International Work which is done in partnership with the National Democratic institute. The commission has collectively help groups in more than 35 countries around the world. As you may have seen in your own country or as the slideshow indicates, there is a Global Movement toward making candidate debates part of an election. It is at least 65 country so far and ive suspect the number is higher. Why are more countries organiz
Future of her partys leadership. We have a lot of talented younger members. Its not just, by the way, mrs. Pelosi. I think shes been a great leader. And she is really good at raising money. Thats not one of my fortes. I was never good at that. But they have to start training younger people and bring younger people into the caucus, to become hopefully the future leaders. One of the things that i certainly believe with all my heart and soul, you have to know when to leave. And nancy obviously does not feel that this is the time to leave. Many of us thought that she might stay for, you know, maybe this coming year. Hopefully turn the reins over to somebody else. But when i look around, is anybody really ready to replace her. I mean, its a hard job. I give her a lot of credit for what shes been able to do. But i think its time that the leaders stop looking at whos going to fill my spot. Were all replaceable. There might be some bumps in the road. But i do always believe its time for younge