090808_LouDobbsTonighttrue1334616740577webdzndobbs, goodwin, zimmerman, rollins, educate, educate '08, Hofstra, College, election, presidential race, debateMichael Goodwin, Edward Rollins and Robert Zimmerman Featured in "2008 Election: Issues Up Close"/Hofstra_Main_Site/Home/News/PressReleases/Archive/090808_LouDobbsTonightprpgse1220896572750prpgse1221053536250Press Release Sub TitlePanelists from CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" Take the Hofstra Stage; September 16, 2008, at 12:45 p.m.; Monroe Lecture Center Theater, South CampusPanelists from the Program "Lou Dobbs Tonight" Take the Hofstra Stage; September 16, 2008, at 12:45 p.m.; Monroe Lecture Center Theater, South CampusPress Release TitleMichael Goodwin, Edward Rollins and Robert Zimmerman Featured in "2008 Election: Issues Up Close"Press Release Date2008/09/082008/09/10Ginny GreenbergUniversity RelationsRoom 202 Hofstra Hall(516) 463-6819(516) 463-5146prpgse@hofstra.edu//Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … Hofstra University’s Educate ’08 series presents regular panelists from CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight – Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Daily News Michael Goodwin, Republican political strategist and communication expert Edward Rollins; and Democratic National Committeeman and communications expert Robert Zimmerman – in a program titled “2008 Election Issues Up Close” on September 16, 2008, at 12:45 p.m. at Monroe Lecture Center Theater, California Avenue, South Campus.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.hofstra.edu/Educate08.

Hofstra’s Educate ’08 series is presented by The Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency and The John D. Miller Fund at the Long Island Community Foundation, with additional support by Newsday, The New York Sun and The New York Observer.

About the panelists:

Michael Goodwin has won virtually every top award in American journalism. In a career that spans 30 years, he has edited and written for newspapers and magazines and has offered expert commentary on television and radio.

Since 2004 Mr. Goodwin has been the lead political columnist for The New York Daily News and nydailynews.com. His columns appear twice a week on the Op-Ed Page and additional columns are carried in the news section. He is a twice-weekly contributor to Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN, and he appears frequently on national radio programs.

Previously, Mr. Goodwin served as the Daily News’ executive editor and before that, as editorial page editor. In that role, he led the Editorial Board to its first Pulitzer Prize in 58 years for a series of editorials on the famed Apollo Theatre. In their 1999 award, the Pulitzer judges cited the Editorial Board’s “effective campaign to rescue Harlem’s Apollo Theatre from the financial mismanagement that threatened the landmark’s survival.”

Under Mr. Goodwin’s leadership, the Editorial Board also was awarded the George Polk Award in 2000 for editorials on the plight of migrant farm workers. The Editorial Board’s investigation revealed shocking conditions that resulted in a new law that improved the workers’ living conditions.

Mr. Goodwin, is the co-author of I, Koch, a 1985 unauthorized biography of New York’s former mayor, Edward I. Koch. Twenty years later, in 2005, Goodwin edited a series of essays published under the title of New York Comes Back, which focused on the Koch mayoralty. That book accompanied a museum exhibit that Mr. Goodwin helped plan and organize.

Before joining The News in 1991, Mr. Goodwin was a reporter and City Hall bureau chief for The New York Times. He also wrote the paper’s sports media column. He served for three years as an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Ed Rollins has long been considered one of America's premier political strategists and communication experts. He has advised Fortune 400 chief executives, heads of state and leaders of major trade associations on corporate reputation, governmental affairs, crisis management and public relations. His extensive international experience includes work in China, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines and Latin America. Mr. Rollins served four U.S. Presidents (Nixon, Ford, Reagan and George H.W. Bush) including two tours of duty at the highest level of the White House as assistant to the President. He directed both the White House Office of Political Affairs and the White Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and served as deputy chief of staff for President Reagan. He directed Congressional Relations at two cabinet agencies: the Departments of Commerce and Transportation; and served as Assistant to the Speaker and Chief of Staff for the California State Assembly.  Mr. Rollins was the first non-member of Congress to serve as the co-chairman, chief executive officer of the National Republican Congressional Committee (the political arm of the House Republicans) and served as the senior adviser to the chairman of the National Republican Committee for four years.

He is also a well-known political commentator and is a senior political analyst for CNN. He appears regularly on Lou Dobbs Tonight, Anderson Cooper 360, CBS News, The Today Show, NBC, MSNBC, and has frequently appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week, Nightline, Crossfire, Hardball and Larry King Live, among others.  

Mr. Rollins is best known for managing President Reagan’s landslide re-election campaign in 1984 and directing the defeat of the first House Speaker Tom Foley in 1992. He has held major managerial roles in eight other Presidential campaigns including serving as national chairman and chief strategist for Governor Mike Huckabee’s 2008 Presidential campaign. He has also been involved in the oversight of hundreds of other campaigns at the state, congressional, and local level. His memoir Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms was the number one selling political book in America in 1996.

Robert Zimmerman, co-founder of Zimmerman/Edelson, Inc. has been an influential figure in the public relations field for years. Since joining forces with advertising and marketing expert Ron Edelson in 1989, Mr. Zimmerman has helped countless businesses and organizations achieve their communications goals. His knowledge of the field and his many connections with local and national media and governmental figures have made him one of the most prominent PR professionals in New York.

Robert Zimmerman was elected in 2000 to serve as a Democratic National Committeeman and was re-elected to that position in 2004. In 2003, he was appointed Co-Chair of the John Kerry for President New York State Campaign. In 2000, Robert Zimmerman was named Managing Chair of the Gore-Lieberman Presidential Campaign in New York State. Additionally, Mr. Zimmerman has served on the National Finance Board of the 1996, 2000 & 2004 Democratic Presidential Campaigns. Robert Zimmerman is often featured in the New York and national media discussing and debating a variety of national and political issues.

Robert Zimmerman has compiled an extensive background in government and community service.  Most recently, he was appointed to the Board of the American Museum of Natural History representing the Speaker of the New York City Council Christine Quinn. He was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Presidential Commission on the Arts in February of 1995 and held that position through June of 2001. In the past, Mr. Zimmerman has served as deputy executive assistant to Congressman Lester L. Wolff (1977-1980) and special assistant to the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Mel Miller (1987-88, 1989).  He has also been appointed to the Long Island Economic Development Council (1985 to 1995) and served on the New York State Commission on Open Government (1990 to 1996).  In his private and public sector activities, Mr. Zimmerman has worked with congressional leadership and the New York State Legislature on behalf of environmental protection, economic development, senior citizens, Vietnam veterans and education.

Mr. Zimmerman's work with numerous organizations includes past service as a board member of the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Long Island Association for Commerce and Industry, Small Business Council.  He served as president of the American Jewish Congress, Long Island Region from 1990-1994 where he developed educational programs to combat crimes and incidents of bias and prejudice.  One such program is the Center for Prejudice Reduction, which had been awarded New York State grant funding for its activities.
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