Students set to hobnob with D.C. politicos

University students will have an opportunity to meet and debate one-on-one with several well-known politicians, journalists, and other political pundits in the nation's capital tomorrow. Using his numerous political connections from the 1992 Presidential campaign, American Civilization Adjunct Assistant Professor Frank Luntz rounded up a handful of Washington celebrities to join his class in a series of panel discussions on selected political issues. Each of the four sessions tomorrow will feature two panels: one consisting of six students selected by Luntz and another with four to six pundits. Members of the audience will be able to interject at any time from standing microphones on the floor. Pennsylvania Representative Lucien Blackwell will open the day-long program by discussing issues facing the 103rd Congress. The first celebrity panel will include renowned political pundits Fred Barnes and Eleanor Clift of the McLaughlin Group, Cokie Roberts of ABC News, and Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal, who will evaluate the bias in media coverage of the campaign. Congressman Vin Weber (R-Minn.) and former Democratic Whip Tony Coelho will comprise the second panel, discussing the futures of Democratic and Republican parties. CBS News reporter Bob Schiefer, U.S. News and World Report Senior Editor Don Bear, and Time's White House correspondent Michael Duffy will lead the next discussion on President-elect Clinton's first 100 days in office. A final reexamination of the 1992 bid for the presidency will be led by McLaughlin Group member Morton Kondracke, Bush media consultant Alex Castellanos, Clinton campaign staff members Jim Dembo and Mike Donilon, Buchanan press secretary Greg Muller, and Newsweek staff writer Andy Murr. The program will conclude with a "surprise" and "controversial" guest lecturer whom Luntz refused to identify. "I know he works his ass off to get all these important people," said College senior J. J. Cutler, one of Luntz's students who will attend the forum. College senior Lisa Nass said the panel discussions will allow students to see what the pundits "are really like" in person. "This is a chance to actually talk to these people and not to just read their articles or watch them on TV," Nass said. Luntz said the entire University community is invited to attend the forum, which will last from 9:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and will be held in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building on Independence Avenue. The panel discussions will be aired on C-SPAN Live between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and then from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Friday.