Democratic Convention Watch - 2012 Election

Last Race (or every vote counts)

tmess2 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 05:02:08 GMT

Before the election, Doc Jess asked who would be Florida in this year's election? While Florida ended up being Florida in terms of the last state to be decided in the presidential race, despite Alan West's best efforts, Florida is not the last state with elections still to be decided.

Putting aside Louisiana's weird rules which are producing a run-off between two Republicans for the last Congressional race outstanding, North Carolina had the pleasure of being the last Congressional race to be decided after the Republican challenger opted against a hand recount of selected precincts (having lost ground in the machine recount of all precincts).

However, at the state level and at the legislative level, I am aware of at least two races still oustanding. First, in Montana, there is race for Superintendent of Public Education (which is actually more important than the title suggests because the Superintendent also sits on the State Land Board which controls mineral leases on state lands. After the initial vote was certified on Tuesday, the Democrat led by over 2,300 votes. That margin is just barely less than 0.5% (the key number in Montana), so the Republican has until Monday to request (and is expected to request) a hand recount which may take all of next week and into the following week to complete.

The more interesting recount,however, is in North Carolina. While the machine recount settled two of the three recount races, it did not settle the third -- for State Senate District 1. The Democrat led on election night, but after all provisional and absentee ballots were counted, the Republican led by 32 votes. After the machine recount, the lead is down to 21 out of approximately 87,400 votes. The incumbent Democrat has now requested a hand recount.

Under North Carolina law, each of the counties involved picks precincts at random for the initial phase of hte hand recount -- given the size of the counties that means one precinct per county for a total of eight precincts out of eight-four. If the Democrat gains enough votes to indicate that a full recount might change the result (which would only take a gain of two or three votes), all of the precincts would be recounted. At this point in time, six of the eight counties have announced that they will hold their limited recount on Monday, one has announced that the recount will be Friday, and the last county has not yet announced when it will conduct the recount.

Regardless of the results of this recount, this race is proof again that every vote matters. The difference between the two candidates is only one-quarter of one vote per precinct, and whomever wins, the other candidates knows that ,with just a little better effort at getting out the vote, the result would have been different.

Romney Concedes Florida

Oreo — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:50:17 GMT

Final official electoral college vote is Obama 332-206

Romney’s Florida campaign has acknowledged their candidate lost in Florida as well. Romney already conceded the national race after he lost the other battleground states.
“The numbers in Florida show this was winnable,” Brett Doster, Florida advisor for Romney, said in a statement to The Miami Herald. “We thought based on our polling and range of organization that we had done what we needed to win. Obviously, we didn’t, and for that I and every other operative in Florida has a sick feeling that we left something on the table. I can assure you this won’t happen again.” - Miami Herald

The State Of The Race

Oreo — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:01:03 GMT

You've Heard of Nate Silver and 538... But Have You Heard of Sam Wang?

Oreo — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:15:06 GMT

The Princeton Election Consortium, run by Sam Wang, actually outperformed 538 in 2008. If you aren't familiar with the site you definitely want to check it out. I think you'll like @SamWangPhD's predictions

Video & Transcript From Segments of Last Night's Debate

Oreo — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:34:25 GMT

1) POTUS on Libya, Romney's Rose Garden response, POTUS rebuttal

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job, but she works for me.  I’m the President, and I’m always responsible.  That’s why nobody is more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do.  The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the rose garden, and I told the American people and the world that we were going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror, and I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime.  And then a few days later I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families, and the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Secretary of State, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, governor, is offensive.  That’s not what we do.  That’s not what I do as President, that’s not what I do as Commander-in-Chief.

MODERATOR:  Governor, if you want to reply quickly to this please.

GOVERNOR ROMNEY:  I think it’s interesting the President just said something which is that on the day after the attack he went to the Rose Garden and said this was an act of terror.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  That’s what I said.

GOVERNOR ROMNEY:  You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an attack of terror.  It was not a spontaneous demonstration?

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Please proceed.

GOVERNOR ROMNEY:  I want to make sure we get that.  It took the President 14 days before he called it an attack of terror.

MODERATOR:  Let me call it an act of terror.  He did call it an act of terror.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Can you say that a little louder, Candy?

MODERATOR:

He did call it an act of terror.

2) POTUS immigration clip – (Romney’s advisor called Arizona’s plan a “model”)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I want to make sure we understand something. Governor Romney said he wasn’t referring to as Arizona a model for the nation. His top advisor is the one who designed the whole Arizona program, not just E-verify. It’s a bad policy and it won’t help us grow. Look, when we think about immigration, we have to understand, there are folks all around the world who still see America as the land of promise, and they provide us energy and they provide us innovation, and they start companies like Intel and Google, and we want to encourage that. Now, we’ve got to make sure that we do it in a smart way, in a comprehensive way, and we make the legal system better. But when we make this into a divisive political issue and when we don’t have bipartisan support -- I can deliver, governor, a whole bunch of Democrats to get comprehensive immigration reform done.

3) Romney "Binders of women" clip

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: Thank you, an important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state because I had the chance to pull together a cabinet, and all of the applicants seemed to be men, and I went to my staff and I said how come all of the people for these jobs are all men? And they said these are the people who have the qualifications. I said, gosh, can’t we find some women that are also qualified? And so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women’s groups and said can you help us find folks? They brought us whole binders full of women.

More after the jump

4) POTUS on Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut / "Sketchy Deal" bite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3VWd-maaao

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The governor says that he is not going to allow the top 5 percent I believe is what he said to have a tax cut, that it will all even out, that what he wants to do is give that tax cut to the middle class. Settled?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: No, it’s not settled. Look, the cost of lowering rates for everybody across the board 20 percent along with what healso wants to do in terms of eliminating the estate tax, along with what hewants to do in terms of corporate changes in the tax code, it costs about $5 trillion. Governor Romney then also wants to spend $2 trillion on additional military programs even though the military is not asking for them. That’s $7 trillion. He also wants to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. That’s another trillion dollars. That’s $8 trillion.

Now, what he says is he’s going to make sure that this doesn’t add to the deficit, and he’s going to cut middle class taxes, but when he’s asked how are you going to do it, which deductions, which loopholes are yougoing to close? He can’t tell you. The fact that he only has to pay 14 percent on his taxes when a lot of you are paying much higher, he’s already taken that off the board. Capital gains are going to continue to be at a low rate, so we’re not going to get money that way. We haven’t heard from the governor any specifics beyond Big Bird and eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood interms of how he pays for that.

Now, Governor Romney was a very successful investor. If somebody came to you, Governor, with a plan that said seven or eight trillion dollars, and we’re going to pay for it but we can’t tell you until maybe after the election how we’re going to do it, you wouldn’t have taken such a sketchy deal, and neither should you, the American people because the math doesn’t add up, and what’s at stake here is one of two things. Either, Candy, this blows up the deficit because, keep in mind, this is just to pay for the additional spending that he’s talking about, $7 or $8 trillion, that’s before we even get to the deficit we already have. Or alternatively it’s got to be paid for not only by closing deductions for wealthy individuals. That will pay for about 4 percent reduction in tax rates. You’re going to be paying for it. You’ll lose some deductions. And you can’t buy this sales pitch. Nobody who has looked at it that’s serious actually believes it adds up.

5) POTUS on Ledbetter/Pay Equity/Women's Rights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0KuSrrsDk

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

I was raised by a single mom who had to put herself through school while looking after two kids, and she worked hard every day and made a lot of sacrifices to make sure we got everything we needed. My grandmother, she started off as a secretary in a bank. She never got a college education, even though she was smart as a whip, and she worked her way up to become a vice president of a local bank, but she hit the glass ceiling. She trained people who would end up becoming her bosses during the course of her career. She didn’t complain. That’s not what you did in that generation. And this is one of the reasons why one of the first, the first bill I signed was something called the LILY space space LEDBETTER bill. It was named after an amazing woman who had been doing the same job as a man for years, found out she was getting paid less, and the Supreme Court said she couldn’t bring suit because she should have found out about it earlier, where she had no way of finding out about it. So we fixed that. And that’s an example of the kind of advocacy we need because women are increasingly the bread winners in the family. This is not just a women’s issue. This is a family issue, this is a middle class issue, and that’s why we’ve got to fight for it. It also means we have to make sure that young people like yourself are able to afford a college education. Earlier Governor Romney said he wants to make Pell grants and other education accessible for young people. Well, the truth of the matter is, that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve expanded Pell grants for millions of people, including millions of young women across the country. We did it by taking $60 billion that was going to banks and lenders as middlemen for the student loan program and we said, let’s just cut out the middleman, let’s give the money directly to students. As a consequence, we have seen millions of young people be able to afford college, and that’s going to make sure young women are going to be able to compete in the marketplace, but we have to enforce the laws, which is what we’re doing, and we have to make sure that in every walk of life we do not tolerate discrimination. That’s been one of the hallmarks of my administration. I’m going to continue to push on this issue for the next four years.

6) POTUS response to Rommey's "binder of women's" / pay equity remarks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75iAcVntUeE

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Katherine, I want to point out that when Governor Romney’s campaign was asked about the LILYLEDBETTER bill, they said they would get back to us. There are other things that have a bearing on whether women succeed in the workplace. For example, their health care. A major difference in this campaign is that Governor Romney feels comfortable having politicians in Washington decide the health care choices that women are making. I think that’s a mistake. In my health care bill I said insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverage to everybody who is insured because this is not just a health issue, it’s an economic issue for women. It makes a difference. This is money out of that family’s pocket. Governor Romney not only opposed it, he suggested that employers should be able to make the decision as to whether or not a woman gets contraception through her insurance coverage. That’s not the kind of advocacy that women need. When Governor Romney says that we should eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, there are millions of women all across the country who rely on Planned Parenthood for not just contraceptive care, they rely on it for mammograms, for cervical cancer screenings. That’s a pocketbook issue for women and families all across the country, and it makes a difference in terms of how well and effectively women are able to work. When we talk about child care and the credits that we’re providing, that makes a difference in terms of whether they can go out there and earn a living for their family. These are not just women’s issues. These are family issues, these are economic issues, and one of the things that makes us grow as an economy is when everybody participates and women are getting the same fair deal as men are, and I’ve got two daughters, and I want to make sure that they have the same opportunities that anybody’s sons have. That’s a part of what I’m fighting for as President of the United States.

7) POTUS on energy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vREN8-DTFGw

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Think of what the governor just said. He said when I took office, the price of gasoline was $180.1.86. Why was that? Because the economy was on the verge of collapse. Because we were about to go through the worst recession since the Great Depression. As a consequence of some of the same policies that governor nor Romney is now promoting. So it’s conceivable that Governor Romney could bring down gas prices because with his policies we might be back in the same mess. What I want to do is to create an economy that is strong and at the same time produce energy, and with respect to this pipeline that Governor Romney keeps on talking about, we’ve created, we’ve built enough pipeline to wrap around the entire earth once. So I’m all for pipelines, I’m all for oil production, what I’m not for is us ignoring the other half of the equation. So, for example, on wind energy, when Governor Romney says these are imaginary jobs, when you’ve got thousands of people right now in Iowa, right now in Colorado who are working, creating wind power with good paying manufacturing jobs, and the RepublicanSenator in Iowa is all for it, providing tax credits to help this work, andGovernor Romney says, I’m opposed. I would get rid of it. That’s not an energy strategy for the future, and we need to win that future, and I intend to win it as President of the United States.

8) POTUS on helping the middle class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pO5xp4KssU

PRESIDENT OBAMA: My philosophy on taxes has been simple, and that is, I want to give middle class families and folks who are striving to get in the middle class some relief because they have been hit hard over the last decade, over the last 15, over the last 20 years. So four years ago I stood on a stage just like this one, actually at a town hall, saying illustrated cut taxes for middle class FAK LIGS, and that’s what I have done, by $3600. I said I would cut taxes for small businesses, who are the drivers and en JINSZ of growth, and we’ve cut them 18 times, and I want to continue those tax cuts for middle class families and for small businesses. But what I’ve also said is if we’re serious about reducing the deficit, if this is genuinely a moral obligation to the next generation, then in addition to some tough spending cuts, we’ve also got to make sure that the wealthy do a little bit more. So what I’ve said is your firsts $250,000 worth of income, no change, and that means 98 percent of American families, 97 percent of small businesses, they will not see a tax increase. I’m ready to sign that bill right now. The only reason it’s not happening is because Governor Romney’s allies in Congress have held the 98 percent HOS age because they want tax breaks for the top 2 percent. But what I’ve also said is for above $250,000, we can go back to the tax rates we had when Bill Clinton was President. We created 23 million new jobs. That’s part of what took us from deficits to surplus. It will be good for our economy, and it will be good for job creation.

Now, Governor Romney has a different philosophy. He was on 60 Minutes just two weeks ago, and he was asked, is it fair for somebody like you making $20 million a year to pay a lower tax rate than a nurse or a , somebody making $50,000 a year, and he said yes, I think that’s fair. Not only that, he said I think that’s what grows the economy. I fundamentally disagree with that I think what grows the economy is when you get that tax credit that we put in place for your kids going to college. I think that grows the economy. I think what grows the economy is when we make sure small businesses are getting a tax credit for hiring veterans whofought for our country. That grows our economy. So we just have a different theory. And when Governor Romney stands here after a year of campaigning, when during a Republican primary he stood on stage and said I’m going to give tax cuts, he didn’t say tax rate cuts, he said tax cuts to everybody, including the top 1 percent, you should believe him because that’s been his history, and that’s exactly the kind of top-down economics that is not going to work if we want a strong middle class and an economy that’s thriving for everybody.

9) POTUS Closing Statement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhJS3jy5-AM

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Barry, I think a lot of this campaign maybe over the last four years has been devoted to this notion that I think government creates jobs, that that somehow is the answer. That’s not what I believe. I believe that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity the world has ever known. I believe in self-reliance and individual initiative and risk takers being rewarded. But I also believe that everybody should have a fair shot and everybody should do their fair share and everybody should play by the same rules. Because that’s how our economy is grown. That’s how we built the world’s greatest middle class. And that is part of what’s at stake in this election. There’s a fundamentally different vision about how we move our country forward. I believe Governor Romney is a good man. Loves his family, cares about his faith. But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims, who refused personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. Folks on Social Security who have worked all their lives, veterans who have sacrificed for this country, students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams but also this country’s dreams, soldiers who are overseas fighting for us right now. People who are working hard every day, paying payroll tax, gas taxes, but don’t make enough income, and I want to fight for them. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last four years because if they succeed, I believe the country succeeds. And when my grandfather fought in World War II and he came back and he got a GI bill and that allowed him to go to college, that wasn’t a handout. That was something that advanced the entire country. And I want to make sure that the next generation has those same opportunities. That’s why I’m asking for your vote and that’s why I’m asking for another four years.

MODERATOR: President Obama, Governor Romney, thank you for being here tonight. On that note, we have come to an end of this town hall debate. Our thanks to the participants for their time and to the people of Hofstra University for their hospitality. The next and final debate takes place Monday night in Boca Raton, Florida. Don’t forget to watch. Election day is three weeks from today. Don’t forget to vote.

Obama for America's Activities Both Inside and Outside the Debate Hall Tonight

Oreo — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:28:37 GMT

CHICAGO -- President Obama will use tonight’s debate to talk about what we’ve accomplished over the last four years to rebuild our economy and restore middle class security, and his specific plans for the next four years to continue moving our country forward. He’ll also hold Mitt Romney accountable for dishonestly trying to mislead voters about his positions, which would take us back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy and punished the middle class.
To fight back against Romney’s dishonest practices during the debate, OFA will continue to fact check and respond to Mitt Romney’s statements in real time using the @OFAdebates Twitter handle. Followers of the campaign’s existing @TruthTeam2012 account will automatically receive tweets from @OFAdebates. Go to www.barackobama.com/OFAdebatesto follow.
Outside of the debate hall, the President’s grassroots supporters will be working to remind voters of what’s at stake in this election. Tonight, more than 1,500 grassroots voter contact events are scheduled across the country – and in nearly every battleground state, our margins in voter registration and early voting are bigger now than they were in 2008.
After the debate, the following campaign officials and surrogates will be in Hempstead to respond immediately to Romney’s performance:
·         David Axelrod, Obama for America Senior Strategist
·         Rep. Karen Bass (D, CA-33)
·         Rep. Xavier Becerra (D, CA-31)
·         Stephanie Cutter, Obama for America Deputy Campaign Manager
·        Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), OFA national campaign co-chair
·         Patrick Gaspard, DNC Executive Director
·         Robert Gibbs, Obama for America Senior Advisor
·         Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
·         Jim Messina, Obama for America Campaign Manager
·         Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD), Chair of the Democratic Governors Association
·         Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA), OFA national campaign co-chair
·         David Plouffe, 2008 Obama for America Campaign Manager
·         Jen Psaki, Obama for America Traveling Press Secretary
·         Mayor Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta
·         Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund*
·        Cecilia Rouse, Princeton University Economist
·         Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
·         Governor Ted Strickland, former Ohio governor and OFA national campaign co-chair
·         Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D, MD-8)
·         Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D, NY-12)
·         Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles and OFA national campaign co-chair
·         DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D, FL-20)
* For identification purposes only

Nice to see that OFA realized that sending out 4 people to talk to the media after the debate was a bad idea. If the media gets to talk to 30 Republicans and 4 Democrats who do you think is going to get more play? And no... it wasn't because of how Obama did in the debate. They only scheduled 4 people to come out before the debate.

@DemConWatch Twitter Feed For #DenverDebate

Oreo — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:00:00 GMT

While I will be at the debate today I'm not overly confident that I'll have any cell coverage. If I can get any kind of service I will be using Twitter from inside the arena. When possible we'll get pictures posted.

Attend A Debate Watch Party #Debates #DenverDebate

Oreo — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:59:39 GMT

The first presidential debate will be one of the most important moments of this campaign. When the President is getting ready to go one-on-one with his opponent, he’ll be glad to know you’ve got his back.
There are thousands of debate watch parties happening across the country on Wednesday. Spend debate night with fellow supporters—find a watch party near you.
Find a party

The Obama Campaign's debate page is here

Politics As Theater - A Pre-Debate Live Webcast

Oreo — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:16:47 GMT

I wanted to make you aware of a live-streamed conversation the Shorenstein Center is sponsoring that we think will interest you. Organized around the theme “Politics as Theater,” the conversation will look at the election from a variety of angles – media coverage, political rhetoric, Hollywood and more. Please tune in for what we believe will be a lively – and engagingly rich – exchange with Academy Award–winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, former Senator Alan K. Simpson, political scientist Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd, in Denver on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 12:45 p.m. MST (2:45 p.m. EST).

Click here to watch live

Injunction in Pennsylvania Voter Law

Oreo — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:21:30 GMT

DocJess just had her day made. The Voter ID law is now under injunction through the election.

A judge postponed Pennsylvania's controversial voter identification requirement on Tuesday, ordering the state not to enforce it in this year's presidential election but allowing it to go into full effect next year.
The decision by Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson on the law requiring each voter to show a valid photo ID could be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
However, Simpson based his decision on guidelines given to him days ago by the high court justices, and it could easily be the final word on the law just five weeks before the Nov. 6 election. - AP

Stay tuned for more news and analysis on this victory

The 10 Most Memorable Debate Moments #DenverDebate

Oreo — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:59:26 GMT

From The Fix

President Obama will debate Mitt Romney for the first time Wednesday night in arguably the most anticipated event of the campaign season.
Who doesn’t like a good debate? (Here at The Fix, we certainly do.) Debates hold the potential to etch lasting impressions in voters’ minds about presidential candidates’ personalities and policy positions. And part of the appeal of debates stems from memories of past showdowns that have left enduring imprints on our collective political consciousness. (Though, as history shows, there are few examples of debates dramatically shifting the trajectory of a campaign.)
Below is our list of the top 10 moments from past presidential debates, in reverse chronological order. The rundown includes moments that shook up campaigns, others that revealed something telling about a candidate’s temperament, and the zingers and one-liners against which all campaign quips are compared. (Did we miss any? The comments section awaits): Click here for the list.

Welcome to the first presidential debate #DebateDenver

Oreo — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:00:00 GMT

#DenverDebate Obama and Romney to Hold Denver Rallies Around Debate

Oreo — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:21:37 GMT

Both candidates will hold their own rallies in Denver next week.

Romney will attend a rally at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver on Monday evening. He is scheduled to speak around 6:45 p.m. Tickets for the event will be distributed through his campaign. - Denver Post

Tickets are available at the Romney website.

Obama will hold a rally next Thursday morning in Denver, just hours after the debate, his campaign announced Thursday afternoon, although the details have yet to be released. - KDVR

We'll post info on tickets when it's announced.

Moderator Jim Lehrer Talks About Wednesday's Debate

Oreo — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:00:00 GMT

From The Denver Post

Q: Can you describe the presidential debate's format?

A: There are six segments of 15 minutes each. Each candidate will get a two-minute answer to the first question in each segment and then there will be an open discussion. I selected the subjects for the six segments and all of the questions.

Q: How does this format differ from those you have moderated in the past?

A: This is a major change. Previous debates have mostly been more restricted on the timing of specific answers, responses, etc. This is the first time open discussion time of these lengths have been permitted.

Q: Why do debates matter?

A: They are the only opportunities the voters have to see and hear the candidates talk about the same things at the same time—and to take a real time comparative measure of them.

More here

They'll Call it The University Of Denver... We Call It DU

Oreo — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:37:14 GMT

If you're from Colorado you know that The University Of Denver is almost always referred to as DU.

Here are some facts about DU that even Denver residents may not know. (From the University of Denver website).

History & Tradition

Established in 1864 in downtown Denver by John Evans, Colorado Territory’s second governor, who also established Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Originally chartered as Colorado Seminary. When the Seminary was reorganized in 1880, the University of Denver was established as the degree granting body and Colorado Seminary as the property holding corporation. The University does not have a religious affiliation. The University of Denver is known as DU on second reference.

Vision: The University of Denver will be a great private university dedicated to the public good.

Values: In all that we do, we strive for excellence, innovation, engagement, integrity, and inclusiveness.

Mission: The mission of the University of Denver is to promote learning by engaging with students in advancing scholarly inquiry, cultivating critical and creative thought, and generating knowledge. Our active partnerships with local and global communities contribute to a sustainable common good.

Mascot: Pioneers

School Colors: Crimson & Gold

Leadership

• Chancellor Robert Coombe

• Provost Gregg Kvistad

Faculty

• 640 Full-Time Instructional Faculty (Fall 2010)

• 604 Part-Time Instructional Faculty (Fall 2010)

• 10.8% are domestic minorities (Fall 2010)

• 47% are women (Fall 2010)

Staff

• 1,623 Total Staff (Fall 2010)

Campus

• University Park Campus is 125 acres

• Eight miles southeast of downtown Denver

• On RTD’s light rail system

• In the past 15 years, the University has invested more than $700 million in new facilities, including the Daniel L. Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness, site of the Oct. 3, 2012 Presidential Debate. The Center, named after the 16th chancellor of the University, covers some 440,000 square feet and serves both the campus and Denver community in providing sports, wellness and event opportunities. The Center includes Magness Arena, site of the debate hall, as well as the Benjamin F. Stapleton Jr. Tennis Pavilion; Coors Fitness Center; El Pomar Natatorium; Gates Field House; Hamilton Gymnasium, site of the media filing center; Joy Burns Ice Arena; Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium; and the University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

• Other recent additions and major renovations include the Leo Block Alumni Center, the Joy Burns Center, home of the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management; the Merle Catherine Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women; the SIÉ CHÉOU-KANG Center; Craig Hall; the Daniels College of Business; the Fisher Early Learning Center; John Moye Hall; Nagel Art Studios; Nagel Hall; Nelson Hall; F.W. Olin Hall; the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, home of the Lamont School of Music; the Frank H. Ricketson Jr. Law Building, home of the Sturm College of Law; The Ricks Center for Gifted Children; Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall, home of the Morgridge College of Education; and Sturm Hall.