General Wesley Clark will speak May 25th at Washington and Lee University for the Spring Kickoff of the Washington and Lee Mock Convention. W&L’s Mock Convention, now in its 100th year, is the premier student-run convention in the nation. Time magazine referred to the Mock Convention as the, "biggest and boomingest” of all amateur gatherings.

From May 23-26, Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., will begin the countdown to its centennial Mock Convention with the Spring Kickoff festivities. The Mock Convention, which predicts the nominee for President from the party not in the White House, is held every four years at the historic Washington and Lee University campus. The student body has predicted the nominee correctly 18 out of 23 times, with only one incorrect prediction since 1948.

The keynote address will be given by General Clark on Lee Chapel lawn at 5:00 p.m. The Spring Kickoff will also feature an issues panel with prominent political commentators Mike Allen, Steve Jarding, Larry Sabato, and Chuck Todd; a debate between the W&L College Republicans and Young Democrats; and a live performance by the band Gov’t Mule. All of these events are open to the public. Last year’s keynoter was the Rev. Al Sharpton.

After the Kickoff, students will continue securing nationally prominent speakers and researching each state’s politics for the centennial Mock Convention to be held January 25-26, 2008. Typically, ninety percent of the Washington and Lee student body gets involved. The Convention will feature several speakers, a political parade through downtown historic Lexington, and a simulated of the Presidential Nominating Convention.

In the past, C-SPAN has covered the event gavel-to-gavel alongside the Washington Post and New York Times, among others. Newsweek dubbed it, “the most realistic” student conclave. The Mock Convention has been applauded on the floor of the U.S. Senate as an “outstanding practical experiment in politics.”

Previous speakers at the Convention have included Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Mario Cuomo, Harry Truman, and William Jennings Bryan.

For more information visit the official Mock Convention website at mockconvention.org.