An Analysis of the 2014 Mid-Term Elections

Saturday, November 8, 2014The City Club of San Diego and La Jolla Country Day School Proudly Present:Gene Cubbison, NBC 7 San Diego; Laura Fink, political consultant and analyst; and Richard Reeves, former Chief Political Correspondent of The New York Times and Presidential Biographer Richard Reeves, Senior Lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of SouthernCalifornia, is an author and syndicated columnist whose column has appeared in more than 100 newspapers since 1979. A new column also appears on Yahoo! News each Friday. He has received dozens of awards for his work in print, television and film. Educated as a mechanical engineer, Richard Reeves began his career in journalism at the age of 23, founding thePhillipsburg Free Press in Phillipsburg, N.J. He has been a correspondent for the Newark Evening News and the New York Herald Tribune and was the Chief Political Correspondent of The New York Times. He has also written for numerous other publications, becoming National Editor and Columnist for Esquire and New York Magazine along the way. Named a “literary lion” by the New York Public Library, Reeves has won a number of print journalism awards and has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist and juror. Reeves has also worked extensively on television and in film. He was Chief Correspondent on “Frontline”. He has made six television films and won all of television’s major documentary awards: the Emmy for “Lights, Camera . . . Politics!” for ABC News; the Columbia-DuPont Award for “Struggle for Birmingham” for PBS; and the George Foster Peabody Award for “Red Star over Khyber” for PBS. He has also appeared in two feature films, “Dave” and “Seabiscuit”. In 1998, he won the Carey McWilliams Award of the American Political Science Association for distinguishedcontributions to the understanding of American politics. He was the Goldman Lecturer on American Civilization and Government at the Library of Congress that year. Gene Cubbison – Biographical Brief Gene joined NBC 7 San Diego in 1983 after reporting stints at KFMB-TV (1979-1983), the San Diego Union (1977-79), San Diego Daily Transcript (1973-77), and San Diego Independent (1972-73). Most recently Gene has been assigned to co-produce and host the local public affairs program, “PoliticallySpeaking”, airing Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM on NBC 7 San Diego. His daily assignments generally focus on government, politics, civic issues, law and economics. Coverage has included one-on-one interviews with Presidents H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Texas Gov. George W. Bush during his campaign for President; four national political conventions, three major earthquakes, two jetliner crashes, two Super Bowls, several catastrophic brush fires and floods, and massacres involving a San Diego grade school and a fast-food restaurant. Laura Fink – Biographical Brief Ms. Fink is the founder of the San Diego-based consulting firm Fink & Hernandez Consulting, LLC, Laura assists political candidates and groups, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and labor unions with communications, civic engagement, and public policy endeavors. Her experience ranges from facilitating multi-million dollar campaigns for national political candidates to helping local nonprofit organizations with strategic planning.