Oct. 21, 2009

Washington, D.C. – The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) announced today it is bringing together some of the nation’s most prominent Republican and Democratic political consultants to take part in the BPC’s Inaugural Political Summit at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 9-10, 2009.

The Summit’s theme, Taking the Poison Out of Partisanship, will feature panel discussions with leading consultants from both parties who are on the front lines of the increasingly polarized debate in American politics. Participants include Republicans Dan Bartlett, Charlie Black, Tony Blankley, Alex Castellanos, Chris LaCivita, Jeff Larson, Bill McInturff, Mark McKinnon, Steve Schmidt, and David Winston, and Democrats John Anzalone, Tad Devine, Stanley Greenberg, Larry Grisolano, Mandy Grunwald, Joe Lockhart, Kiki McLean, Steve McMahon, Hilary Rosen, and Joe Trippi. The forums will be moderated by some of America’s top political journalists and analysts, including Ronald Brownstein, Charlie Cook and Walter Isaacson. Recent New Orleans transplants and veteran politicos, James Carville and Mary Matalin, will serve as Honorary Co-Chairs and Big Easy hosts.

“This Summit will provide an opportunity to discuss how Republicans and Democrats can adhere to their ideological principles while maintaining an aura of civility,” said Eileen McMenamin, BPC’s Vice President of Communications. “At a time when political battles have reached a fever pitch, the BPC is convening this forum to examine how bipartisan cooperation can be achieved in both policymaking and politics.” This year’s panel topics are: What’s Fair in Politics; Assessing the Obama Presidency; Looking Ahead to 2010 and 2012; and The Role of the Media in Elections.

To conclude the Summit, the BPC will host a barbecue and a charity Wii Decathlon with local children competing against political consultants and moderators. Proceeds will benefit The Devlin Student-Athletes for Education Center for Leadership Development, an organization which develops associations and relationships between Tulane University student-athletes and New Orleans’ schools and nonprofit organizations.

One of the goals of the BPC and its founders, former Senator Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, is to demonstrate that consensus and principled compromise can be achieved on difficult issues when policy differences are debated in a thoughtful and constructive manner. The BPC is currently conducting projects in the areas of health care, energy, national security, transportation, science, financial services and homeland security. For more information about the BPC and its Inaugural Political Summit, please visit: www.bipartisanpolicy.org.

The event is open to the press. Members of the press wishing to attend, please RSVP to press@bipartisanpolicy.org. Those interested in scheduling interviews with any of the participants, please contact Ashley Clark at (202) 637-1456 or aclark@bipartisanpolicy.org.

NOLA 2009, Bipartisanship