FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MARTY TOMPKINS
(540) 458-4057
tompkinsm@wlu.edu

REV. AL SHARPTON TO SPEAK AT WASHINGTON AND LEE’S MOCK CONVENTION SPRING KICKOFF

LEXINGTON, VA (April 28, 2003) – Presidential hopeful Rev. Al Sharpton will speak during the Spring Kickoff of the 23rd quadrennial Mock Convention. Plans for the three-day Kickoff include a Presidential Issues Forum, a debate between the College Republicans and Young Democrats, and speeches from key Democratic Party figures.

Sharpton in 1991 founded the National Action Network, a civil rights organization devoted to protecting the rights of middle-income black Americans. He ran unsuccessfully in 1992 and 1994 for a New York Senate seat, and again in 1997 for New York City Mayor. He will speak Thursday, May 8 at 4:30 p.m. in front of historic Lee Chapel along with author and political consultant Dick Morris. Democratic activist Donna Brazile will address the university community the following afternoon.

"The Rev. Sharpton should be an added dimension to an already prestigious Spring Kickoff line up,” said Michael Denbow, Mock Convention’s political chairman. “With Dick Morris, Larry Sabato, Charlie Cook and Donna Brazile, we already had a more than impressive list of participants for our Spring Kickoff, but the Rev. Sharpton will add the only missing piece to our very ambitious Kickoff celebration— a 2004 presidential candidate."

The Mock Convention is known for over 90 years as "the nation's most accurate mock convention." Mock Con is a completely student-run event that attempts to predict the presidential nominee for the party currently out of the White House.

More than 90 percent of the Washington and Lee student body has a hand in researching the issues and candidates in all 50 states and territories. The W&L students have been correct 17 of the last 22 attempts in predicting the non-incumbent presidential nominee and have been wrong only once since 1948— a 92 percent prediction rate.

Applauded on the floor of the U.S. Senate for being "known throughout our nation as one of the outstanding practical experiments in politics for students," and famous for its "raucous realism," the Mock Convention has attracted such political personalities as William Jennings Bryan, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Newt Gingrich.