CBS News Analyst Dotty Lynch Speaks on Election 2008 at SU October 16

SALISBURY, MD---When it comes to political analysis, few journalists have had more hands-on experience than Dotty Lynch.

The CBS News political analyst speaks at Salisbury University 7 p.m. Thursday, October 16, in the Wicomico Room of the Guerrieri University Center. “Election 2008—McCain vs. Obama: How Will the Voters Decide?” is the topic of her discussion.

The 2008 election marks Lynch's 11th presidential campaign as a professional journalist and pollster. At CBS News, she covered five presidential campaigns, 10 national political conventions, 18 presidential and vice-presidential debates and five midterm elections.

“With the presidential election just weeks away, there could not be a better opportunity for Dotty Lynch, a veteran national reporter, to share her insights from years on the campaign trail with SU students and the community,” said Dr. Francis Kane, co-director of PACE.

Joining NBC News in 1968, she later served as CBS’ senior political editor from 1985-2005. In between, she joined Cambridge Survey Research, where she worked on political polls for the George McGovern and Jimmy Carter presidential campaigns. In 1983, she opened her own polling firm, Lynch Research, becoming the first female pollster in a presidential campaign.

Lynch was the co-director of the Election and Survey Unit where she managed a team of researchers to provide information and analysis to all TV broadcasts (CBS Evening News, 60Minutes, Face the Nation and The Early Show), CBS Radio and most recently CBS news.com where she writes a weekly column, Political Points.

Lynch worked extensively on political broadcasts with CBS correspondents including Dan Rather, Lesley Stahl, Bob Schieffer, Ed Bradley, Charles Kuralt, Mike Wallace and Diane Sawyer on their interviews with prominent American leaders including Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and vice presidents Al Gore and Dan Quayle. She often appears on C-Span, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and National Public Radio.

A former fellow at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Politics at Harvard University, she is currently an executive-in-residence at American University’s School of Communication.

Sponsored by the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE) with support from the Department of Communication Arts, her talk at SU is free and the public is invited. For more information call 410-677-5045 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.