thank you. mic on? oh, yes. sorry for that. i want to get started. we run as tight a ship as we can for world affairs. welcome to session 2164 of the conference of world affairs, entitled the political crystal ball. how appropriate, given what is coming in the next couple years. today is tuesday, april 8, and we are in umc 235. ime is suzi addicks m have the pleasure of moderating this panel today. we will have each of our panelists give some comments, roughly 10 minutes. them an opportunity, if they wish, to comment on each other s comments. up tonviting you to come the microphones on either side of the dais. we will give preference to students. if i see students in line, do not feel upset if i call them to the microphone ahead of you. that is the focus of the conference. i want to start this morning by reminding all of you to turn off your cell phones, any other elect rick electronic devices that you have. we do this out of respect for our panel and each other. we d
and he, in seventh grade, took a leave of absence to participate in bob kennedy, robert kennedy s presidential campaign. so [applause] [laughter] it is called truancy. [laughter] i was trying to be diplomatic, here. leave of absence. second is mary hughes. mary is a seasoned political strategist and author, who has focused her efforts on increasing the number of women in congress and state legislatures, especially california. [applause] fromhould know that 1984-2008, in the nine bay area counties in california, they sent six women to the house of representatives, 2 to the u.s. many of us know, celebrated the selection of nancy pelosi as speaker of the house. mary had a hand in many of those campaigns, and she continues to be involved in working on an urging women to run and win. escalchi,have daniel od a known voice and face to many who attend the conference. he is a political consultant and campaign strategist. he has worked in many emerging countries and tradition in
that you have. we do this out of respect for our panel and each other. we do not want these things going off in the middle of our meeting. i am when to start by introducing our four panelists in the order in which they will speak. on this, socided there is no significance to be read into the order in which they will speak. our first speaker is to my immediate left, david bender. he is well known to many conference attendees for his involvement in public issues and political activities. he also has been a broadcaster and an author. one of the things you may not know about david is that his interest in politics goes way, way back. and he, in seventh grade, took a leave of absence to participate in bob kennedy, robert kennedy s presidential campaign. so [applause] [laughter] it is called truancy. [laughter] i was trying to be diplomatic, here. leave of absence. second is mary hughes. mary is a seasoned political strategist and author, who has focused her efforts on increas
slowing up, so the sheldon adelson primary to me is some part of what we might call the political crystal ball. we are looking for signs, tea leaves to read. the most interesting part of that, and i look to my colleagues on the panel today who has worked for former florida governor jeb bush, is the fact that jeb bush went and participated. i think that s a very, very interesting indicator. as a lifelong democrat, i will tell you that the person that i believe has the strongest possibility to both win the nomination and be elected in 2016 is jeb bush. [inaudible] it s not an endorsement. you will ruin any of his chances. it s an assessment. if i can ruin his chances, and i have more power than i think i have. but i will do that out of respect i do believe he brings the strongest credentials to that field, apparently wheatfield, but he would give a great run. whether or not he wants to run. i think the person we should ask is his mother who has said we have had too many b