Craig McPherson '06 Runs For Kansas Third Congressional

Craig McPherson, CMC '06, is running for Kansas's Third Congressional district. I have copied his record from The Kansas City Star below:

Craig McPherson of Overland Park is the latest to enter the burgeoning 3rd District race for the right to succeed Democrat Dennis Moore.

McPherson, a 22-year resident of the district, was the campaign manager for 2006 nominee Chuck Ahner.

"I am running for the Republican Party nomination because we need someone who will fight for less government regulation, lower taxes and a strong national defense even when it is politically unpopular to do so," McPherson said.

He's attended Claremont McKenna College in California where he received a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.

He also attended George Mason University School of Law where he was active in the Federalist Society and was president of the Business Law Society.

His career includes service in the White House and in the Department of Justice.

The McPherson campaign will host a reception Saturday at the 2010 Kansas Days from 4 - 6:30 p.m. in River Room A of the Topeka Capitol Plaza.

I spent a lot of time these past two summers in that district, as an employee of the Kauffman Foundation. Many of my fellow interns hailed from Johnson County and indeed, I have some great friends that still live there. The district has been represented by a Democrat, but he resigned, in part because of a recognition that this will be a horrible year for the Democrats. The Cook PVI is Republican by three, so he's definitely got a shot if he dispatches some primary challengers.

Good luck to Craig and be sure to join the Facebook group supporting him.

Hat tip: Professor John J. Pitney Jr.

J'Accuse: CMC's PR Department Bias Against Conservatives With Update

I wrote last week about the lack of PR surrounding conservatives on campus with regards to David Daleiden's article published in . Allow me to be more specific and to offer an opportunity for Claremont McKenna's PR department to explain its bias against conservatives and what can be done to help correct it.

• Last year, the PR department ran an article on its website profiling the students who had campaigned for Obama, ignoring conservatives who had campaigned for David Dreier and John McCain. It was corrected, but only after an alum complained.
  

• Again, this year, Ilan Wurman CMC '09 had his thesis featured prominently in the pages of Commentary, a well respected conservative publication. Update: I have been informed by a knowledgeable source in the PR department that they are waiting for the online version to come out so that they can link to it. Very well. We'll wait for then.
  

• In 2008, Elise Viebeck won a $10,000 Breindel Award for an investigative piece she wrote. It wasn't mentioned anywhere on the school's website, despite the fact that the school mentioned John Wilson's Breindel Award from the year before.
  

• Also, in 2008, Kevin Vance won a prestigious year long fellowship with The Weekly Standard. Mr. Vance currently works with the new publication, National Affairs.

• In 2007, John Wilson was hired by The New York Post's editorial board, becoming one of the youngest editors in the history of the publication.
  

• CMC's website has featured nothing on the U.S. Senate campaign of Chuck DeVore, the congressional campaigns of John Lerew, Adam Kokesh, or Craig McPherson. (That last one is a bit unfair, as he announced today.) The website has featured lots on Jake Zimmerman, a relatively minor Missouri politician, much more than it ever has on David Dreier, a U.S. congressman. Why?
  

• The website has refused to even mention the expert testimony of Professor Ken Miller in the recent federal court case dealing with gay marriage.
  

• CMC has avoided publicizing any of the work of Jon Shields, which has been featured in The New York Times or his book, which was discussed in The Atlantic. It has commented on speeches that Professor Espinoza has given in Europe.
  

It's time for this kind of bias to stop. I understand that they are far away from the campus on goings, but there many conservative students on campus who would be glad to be of help should they need it in publicizing the successes of their alumni and students.