Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, authors of international bestseller “Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime," and Steve Schmidt, senior advisor to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, will discuss the book, the HBO film based on it and the historic 2008 race for the White House on Thursday, March 29, 2012.

The event will be held in the Helene Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, from 12:30 – 2 p.m. It is  free and open to the public, but registration is recommended. To register, go to hofstra.edu/debate. 

The event is part of Hofstra’s “Debate 2012 – Pride, Politics and Policy” programming, a series of lectures, conferences, and other events designed to engage and inform the campus community about the election, politics and presidential history in the months before Hofstra hosts the second presidential debate on October 16. 

Heilemann and Halperin’s book is the product of more than 300 interviews with political insiders involved in the 2008 presidential campaign.  Game Change, released in January 2010, is divided into three parts; the Democratic primary, the Republican primary, and the general election.

John Heilemann is the National Affairs Editor for New York Magazine and NYMag.com. He is also a political analyst for MSNBC. As a journalist and author, Heilemann has covered politics, business and their intersection for two decades in America and abroad. At New York, he writes the Power Grid column in print and the Impolitic column online, as well as longer features in the magazine. 

Mark Halperin, editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME, covers politics, elections and government for the magazine and TIME.com. Halperin is also the creator and author of TIME.com’s “The Page,” a news and analysis tip sheet that gathers and edits the latest political stories, campaign ads, TV clips, videos and campaign reactions from every news source, along with Halperin’s own analysis. In addition, Halperin is senior political analyst for MSNBC, where he appears regularly on Morning Joe and other programs on the cable channel.

Steve Schmidt is a strategic counselor to business leaders and major corporations across the U.S. and global economy. Recognized as one of the top public affairs and political strategists in the country, he has been described as a "damage-control master.” Schmidt served as a senior advisor to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and before that, as campaign manager for the re-election of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. 
Upcoming Debate 2012 events can be found at www.hofstra.edu/debate. 

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from about 140 undergraduate and more than 150 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services; and honors studies, as well as a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.                         

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