THE GODS ARE SMILING ON US

Tuesday morning, August 19, 2008
Regis University, Denver


The lovely light air in this mile-high city hardly seems capable of holding all the anticipation of the 370 college students and 50 or so assorted faculty and staff assembled here for the political experience of a lifetime. With the expert coordinating efforts of The Washington Center, which has been in the business of supervising internships and academic seminars for more than 30 years. I’ve served as a faculty leader for the organization for almost 15 years. This will be my third Democratic Convention, but it will be the first for most of these young people, who are ready to blow up with excitement.

I arrived on this Jesuit campus Friday evening – one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. I found out that it’s actually an arboretum. The grounds include a variety of rare and beautiful species of trees, plants and flowers that are all carefully marked and tended. There’s one famous tree whose branches droop to the ground in a way that creates a shelter underneath. It’s quite remarkable.

The buildings are traditional stone and brick, the grass is lush and fragrant – altogether a lovely place. We’re very fortunate to be here. Apparently, the university moved back their fall semester calendar to accommodate all of us. Kudos to them!

Saturday, we faculty spent the entire day in training, but in the evening, we were taken by bus to Colorado Springs for a spectacular dinner at a country club in a place called the Garden of the Gods. If the weather hadn’t been so overcast, we would have seen Pike’s Peak in the not-so-distant horizon. Even so, it took one’s breath away. I’ve included a photo of the spot.

Our faculty director for the program is Prof. Tom Cronin of Colorado College, a renowned political scientist, who gave us all much to think about during our first academic session. My favorite part is the list of “what ifs” he posed. Here are a few:

*What if Mitt Romney had been a Methodist instead of Mormon? (He probably would have won the nomination)

*What if John Edwards had not run this year or if the announcement about his affair had been made last year? (Clinton would probably be the nominee)

*What if Michigan and Florida had waited a month to have their primaries? (Hillary would probably have been the nominee)

*What if the Supreme Court had produced one more vote for Al Gore? (Lieberman would probably be the nominee, assuming Gore would have had two successful terms)

*What if Ron Paul had decided to not run for Congress but would have run on the Libertarian Party ticket for the Presidency? (He would take votes away from McCain)

*What if Barack Obama had not been asked to speak at the 2004 Convention? (He probably wouldn’t have hurtled to stardom the way he did)

*What if Barack Obama were not African-American? (Difficult to say how this would change things, but overall, it would probably be an advantage)

*What if McCain were 62 instead of 72? (He would probably be a much more viable candidate)

Prof. Cronin also pointed out that, although we’re spending a lot of time focusing on this race, there are more than 600 other political campaigns going on this year, including 35 Senate seats. It will be a busy fall season!