Politics class meets President Clinton

The class in Current American Politics at Tulane University couldn"t be more current than this — taking a field trip to a congressional campaign event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and getting one-on-one time with former President Bill Clinton.

Students in James Carville"s political science class on Monday (Oct. 20) attended a campaign event for Sen. Mary Landrieu that featured Clinton. The students hoped simply to meet the former president, but Clinton spent about half an hour privately with the class, discussing the presidency and his presidential campaign in 1992.

“We are fortunate that of President Clinton"s many talents, brevity with young people is not one of them,” said Carville, professor of practice at Tulane and Clinton"s former campaign strategist. “What a great experience for our students and a terrific part of a Tulane education.”

Student Nick Stone, senior double major in political economy and political science, called the experience “unbelievable,” from “getting the email about the opportunity right up to meeting the former president himself. There was even a moment when both Sen. Landrieu and President Clinton were talking to us at the same time, which made the whole scenario completely surreal.”

The popular class regularly includes a variety of bipartisan speakers, including journalists, campaign professionals and academics.

“My goal is to challenge our students to think critically about the most important issues of our time,” said Carville, professor of practice at Tulane. “I always tell them it doesn"t matter what I think, it only matters that you think.”

Other guest speakers for the class have included Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, ABC “Good Morning America” and “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, Tulane alumnus and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, McCain-Palin campaign senior adviser Steve Schmidt, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and economist and Reagan adviser Art Laffer.