Election Forecast Discussion

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Center for Policy Studies
Public Affairs Discussion Group
Election Forecast Discussion

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Karen Beckwith, Ph.D. – Flora Stone Mather Professor of Political Science

Friday October 30, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Online Zoom Meeting

Dear Colleagues:

Greetings, and I hope that you and yours are healthy and safe in this socially-distanced time.

As part of that distancing, we’re continuing the “Friday Lunch” as an online event. After over thirty-years of in-person discussions it’s a bit of an adjustment; but it has been good to see colleagues who have moved away and now can take advantage of the new format.

The topic for this Friday is part of a long-established election year tradition, in which faculty related to our Department of Political Science give their best guesses of what will happen the following Tuesday. This year I am very pleased that Professor Karen Beckwith, who among other things teaches our course on Elections, Voters and Political Parties, has agreed to take the lead. You probably can think of all the logical questions – what the polls seem to be saying about both the presidency and congressional elections; how election results might differ from the polls (even if they are accurate at the time!); what to watch for on Tuesday night and beyond; even whether Democrats have a prayer of reducing Republican margins in the Ohio legislature. We’ll do our best to respond in ways that go beyond or at least make sense of the headlines that morning.

Signing In

This semester’s discussions will begin at 12:30 p.m., the usual time. The meeting will be set up as from Noon to 2:00 p.m., so people are not all signing in at the same time and to allow for the discussion to run a bit long. Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. Every Monday the same information will be posted on our website: fridaylunch.case.edu.

If you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. This week’s link for registration is:

https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMpceqopzIsHNWJOQyU-JEW3qfIL7Qp9v5t

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Please e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about how the Zoom version of the Friday Lunch will work or any other suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program to share information about the discussions.

Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,

Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies


About Our Guest

Karen Beckwith is the Flora Stone Mather Professor in the Department of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University. She received her BA from the University of Kentucky (1972) and her MA and PhD from Syracuse University (1977, 1982). Teaching primarily in the areas of political parties, political movements, and women, gender, and politics, she has special regional interest in the United States and West Europe.

Professor Beckwith’s current research projects examine 1) how social movements respond to loss; 2) how party leadership contests are gendered in parliamentary democracies; and 3) the impact on party system change on women’s political representation. Her research has been funded by grants from the American Political Science Association Centennial Program, the Council for European Studies, the European Consortium for Political Research, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation. Her book, Cabinets, Ministers, and Gender, with Claire Annesley (University of New South Wales) and Susan Franceschet (University of Calgary) was published by Oxford University Press (2019).

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

November 6: “Banning the Box”: The Substance and Politics of Legislation to Reduce Obstacles to Hiring Felons. With Daniel Shoag, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

November 13: Targeted Assassinations and Other Red and Not-So-Red Lines. With Shannon E. French, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, Inamori Professor of Ethics, and Director, Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.

November 20: What’s the Beef? The Controversy Over the Health Effects of Red Meat. With Hope Barkoukis, Ph.D., Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor in Wellness and Preventive Care and Chair, Department of Nutrition.

December 4: The Economics of Sports After (?) COVID-19. With Jonathan Ernest, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics.

Visit the Public Affairs Discussion Group Web Site.

Center for Policy Studies | Mather House 111 | 11201 Euclid Avenue |
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7109 | Phone: 216.368.6730 | padg@case.edu |
Part of the: College of Arts and Sciences

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