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Friday, May 17, 2013
Linux, Standards and the Enterprise: Why Red Hat Enterprise Linux Remains the Best Choice
I've been a professional UNIX/Linux systems administrator for 18 years now. I've had to implement, maintain and support servers from all of the enterprise distributions and a few distributions not generally used in the enterprise as well for my employers and customers over the years. I'm a big advocate for Red Hat and the various free clones (CentOS, Scientific Linux and Springdale Linux) as the best solution for most organizations. First, it's exceptionally stable as Mr. Schmitz points out. Second, it offers the longest support period at 10 years. Third, they have excellent and professional support.* Fourth, they do the best job at insuring compatibility with both FOSS and commercial apps during the full 10 year release cycle.
My big issue with SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLES/SLED) is that they do push major version changes of the kernel, tool chain and apps in what they euphemistically call Service Packs. The Service Packs are actually major releases recently and have been known to cause major breakage and pain. My experience with their support organization here in the U.S. has been less than satisfactory, particularly the time needed to respond to and resolve issues.
Canonical (Ubuntu) has much shorter support periods than either Red Hat or SUSE. They also don't backport additional hardware support or patches into their kernel, forcing you to either do the SUSE style update gamble even more frequently than with SUSE or else to run without needed support and/or vulnerabilities.
The free clones of Red Hat Enterprise Linux I mentioned earlier are not permitted to name their source, referring merely to "the upstream provider," but pretty much everyone in the Linux community knows precisely what they mean. They represent a real advantage to Red Hat (the distribution if not the business) in that they allow businesses to try before they buy. They provide the opportunity to run a test bed or non-critical system at reduced cost. The clones also allow non-profits and cash strapped small businesses to forgo commercial support, at least for a time, and still use software that is entirely compatible with the leading enterprise Linux distribution. As organizations grow and their needs change converting a server or workstation running a clone to a genuine, supported Red Hat system is a simple process.
Finally, I'm sure fans of Debian and Slackware packaging will disagree with me, but keeping to standards, specifically the LSB, also goes a long way to insure application compatibility. I think it's vital that all enterprise distros follow standards.
*= Disclaimer: I was part of the support team for seven months as a consultant in 2005. I no longer am affiliated with Red Hat in any way, shape or form. [NOTE: This article originally appeared as a comment on LXer.com in abbreviated form.]
33 comments:
Great article, thanks.ReplyDelete
I have been using both Fedora and CentOS and find them to be both excellent choices. CentOS for the stability and Fedora for the incredible innovation. They are both very easy to work with and provide solid systems.
- AnonymousMay 17, 2013 at 9:47 PM
I disagree. When you look at what happened with RHELAS 3, where Red Hat backported the new thread architecture into their 2.4 kernel, that was a huge risk. Much more so than anything SUSE has done. When RHAS 4 came out there were many issues, but the most glaring one was lack of a hypervisor. RHEL 5 introduced many incompatibilities forcing RHEL 4.5 which included Xen support (something they laughed at SUSE for including at the time). To make matters worse, they defaulted the install to use Xen... I can't tell you how many people "think" they installed Linux, but really installed Xen. Then in RHEL 6 they recinded their support for Xen and said that only kvm would be supported. Also in RHEL 6 we saw a switch to upstart, instead of SysV init. And we now know that in RHEL 7 they are going to switch (again) to systemd.ReplyDelete
No sir. I can't believe you actually had to support both in an enterprise situation. Nobody supporting both would ever agree with your position.Replies
You know, you were making some arguments that made some degree of sense but in your last paragraph you blew away any credibility you might have had. Red Hat is dominant in server space market share while SUSE, by comparison, has a miniscule presence. Yes, they are a distant second in the enterprise, but the operative word is distant. The bottom line for me is that a Service Pack shouldn't cause major breakage and in SLES it does, almost every time.Delete
Yes, Red Hat (and SUSE and Ubuntu) do major changes and switch to newer technology when they do a major release every three or four years. It's called progress. There is a reason there are no in place upgrades between major releases in any of the enterprise distros: major changes are to be expected. Also, since when is Xen virtualization not Linux?
Also, I'm not a "sir". Have you ever heard of a man named Caitlyn? Nope, me neither. No sales on all points.
This had me in TEARS!....too funny "Ma'am"!.....Hope he's not too offended..LOL!Delete
- AnonymousMay 18, 2013 at 6:13 AM
Funny that you got the links right to all the distros, except for Slackware, Caitlyn. Still trying to suggest that Slackware is dying? You suggest that Debian and Slackware are not LSB-compliant, but give no details to back it up. This seems nothing more than a corporate, Red Hat suck-up piece.ReplyDeleteReplies
First, a one character typo on the Slackware link isn't exactly something sinister, is it? I've corrected that now. Second, if you bothered to actually read I gave a reason why Slackware and Debian are NOT LSB compliant: the only LSB compliant packaging system is RPM. Neither Slackware nor Debian use RPM. I should have thought that was blindingly obvious.Delete
Slackware isn't dying. However, it isn't appropriate in any way, shape or form for enterprise server use. It lacks security tools needed in the enterprise, like PAM, which is required for multiple authentication methods. It has nothing like either SELinux or AppArmor offered by the major enterprise distros. It also lacks really basic functionality like automated dependency resolution offered by every major distro except Slackware. Considering IT staff and budget cuts over recent years overworked systems administrators have no time for hunting down dependencies and building lots of lots of packages which aren't included.
Corporate suck up? How about a real analysis from a business perspective? Huge clue: without commercial enterprise-level support a distro will not merit any consideration in enterprise space.
- AnonymousMay 19, 2013 at 11:25 AM
Blindingly obvious? Only if you are a Red-Hat shill maybe. As-if RPM is an albatross hanging around all of Red-Hat's competitors since it is not used much of anywhere else, and it is a "standard". As-if that wins an argument. No, I would not have expected a pot-shot from a IT consultant. Maybe you should open up your eyes a little more, because you are coming off as a shill. Here are a few reasons.Delete
If RPM was included for standardization reasons, then what does it achieve? It is yet just another tool? Compatibility reasons? You as anyone know that among RPM distros, that doesn't mean you can mix and match RPMs, even from the same vendor. Is it better than other solutions?
In my "corporate" IT experience, I have installed and managed software on top of my Red Hat system using a local version of the Slackware package manager. Why? Because it simply works. RPM does not. RPM makes dependency management a monstrosity, but Slackware's pkgtools doesn't treat IT as budget constrained idiots. I got it to work, it was easy. Easier than the IT idiots I've that don't know scripting.
Also, the enterprise level software we have to install never comes in RPM form. They even say they support RHEL. I wonder why. So much for LSB promoting a "standard" package tool.
"Huge clue: without commercial enterprise-level support a distro will not merit any consideration in enterprise space."
What budget constrained company would pay for enterprise-level support? Huge clue: None. None of them want to spend any money if they can help it. If that means that install a "free" OS and don't pay for RHEL, so be it. Your points are irrelevant.
Also another ironic point. Slackware does have RPM. You can install RPM packages all you want. But I'll proudly be called non-LSB compliant to show how pointless it is. You can even do automated dependency tracking in Slackware.
Actually, every company I've done work for is budget constrained in some way, as are the two state governments I've contracted for. None would ever consider a distro without commercial support, period. I respectfully suggest that your real world experience is extremely limited if you claim support is somehow irrelevant.Delete
RPM isn't used much of anywhere? Really? Red Hat and SUSE dominate enterprise space and they both use it. Yes, rpm is included in Slackware but it's not native to the distribution. pkgtools, OTOH, are not used in ANY enterprise grade distributions. Nada. None. Yes, you can add anything you want to Slackware, including PAM and SELinux. It isn't included in the distro and requires using third party tools not supported by the distributor. Once again, no IT manager worth their salt would permit that in their shop.
Regarding standards, one of the main bits of FUD used to discourage businesses from migrating to Linux is a supposed lack of standards. If you claim that LSB is irrelevant and you are "proudly" LSB non-compliant then you really aren't functioning in the real enterprise world.
A Slackware fan throwing around pot shots under the name "Anonymous". Hmmm... not much credibility there. You know what is really irrelevant in the enterprise? Slackware and all the other hobbyist distros.
- AnonymousMay 29, 2013 at 11:04 AM
The actual LSB specification does not dictate the package format the system must use for its own packages. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=43781Delete
The PDF you linked is behind a pay wall so I can't confirm that one way or another. Having said that, I believe you are incorrect. In any case, as I already pointed out in another comment, neither Debian nor Slackware is certified compliant against any version of the LSB so my point stands. See: https://www.linuxbase.org/lsb-cert/productdir.php?by_lsb Any organization that wants a standards compliant Linux distribution will NOT choose Debian or Slackware.Delete
OK, make that you're definitely incorrect. RPM is specified in LSB 4.1. See: http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/LSB_4.1.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/pkgformat.htmlDelete
Seems confusing to me - Debian, SUSE, REDHAT maybe big names in the server markets. AFAIK - their equivalents in the Opensource Desktop markets are (respectively): Ubuntu, OpenSuse and Fedora.ReplyDelete
All the six big names above have many clones that IMO include non-opensource addons, so are generally used by non-commercial end-users, who might dare look at Youtube, etc.
In Distrowatch of the last few months, I have tried to publish my opinions, including the above ones - sometimes successfully. In their eyes, Android is not a Linux distribution; perhaps because it is not optimized for the 8-core CPU that it now has?Replies
@Greg Zeng: The article is focused on the server room, not the desktop. Linux is, according to Forrester Research, just 9% of the corporate desktop market. Like it or not, Microsoft still dominates that space. In addition, openSUSE and Fedora are both test beds for their respective enterprise distributions and have made no significant inroads into enterprise space on their own. As far as the OpenSource enterprise desktop market, in my experience whatever is in the server room is also on the desktop so that companies have a single source for support and so that their internal maintenance is simplified. I think you'll find that in enterprise space the desktop and workstation editions of Red Hat are dominant, not Ubuntu or the others you've listed. The consumer market is entirely different, of course, and that is where Ubuntu is out ahead of all other distributions other than Android and ChromeOS.Delete
SUSE Linux Enterprise has no clones whatsoever. Novell did all they could to make sure of that. openSUSE is very significantly different from SLED and really needs to be considered separately.
Finally, of course Android is a Linux distribution. I can't answer as to why Ladislav Bodnar has decided not to include it on DistroWatch. I can tell you that it doesn't have a server edition and isn't optimized for conventional desktops at all. It's main uses in the enterprise market are the same as it's main uses in the consumer market: Smartphones and tablets. Chromebooks, OTOH, are being purchased by businesses and ChromeOS does bear watching to see how it does in enterprise space.
Agreed. Certainly while Ubuntu is comfortable (sort of) on the desktops of home users, Enterprise does not need radical shifts in interface, infrastructure and ideology in the OS. Linux systems aiming to be bleeding edge leave users users with a bloody nose, as I have rediscovered when I reluctantly upgraded from a stable and fast Ubuntu 10.04. If my home experience was replicated in industry i am sure the CIO would be looking for another job.ReplyDelete
I'm not a Large Company IT/IS professional, nor am I a developer. I am a SMALL BUSINESS IT/IS manager. I work for a factory employing around 125 people and maintain 4 servers and around 80 PCs. It is from that prospective that I offer my comment. IT is looked at as "non-value added" and a "necessary evil". I need to offer high end solutions at next to no cost to maintain my job. My only complaint about RHEL/CentOS (vs. Debian/Ubuntu) is that there is a clear fork between "server" and "workstation" versions in the RHEL camp. That makes good sense at the enterprise level, but for us guys in the trenches, the line is often blurry as we struggle to come up with low cost high yield solutions. I can create a PC that is both workstation and server or host and virtual machine in under an hour. I read these high end flame session by your folks that are clearly smarter than me, and I say you all miss the real deficiency in ALL LINUX DISTROS: Give us a Desktop Shell we can sell to our boss! I am getting Win8 crammed down my throat and I can't sell switching our mainstream PC's because we can't get a common USABLE desktop. That is my cry from the trenches. Help!ReplyDeleteReplies
Most of the consulting work I do is in medium sized and smaller businesses though I certainly have plenty of large enterprise experience. When I write about the enterprise I am writing about all different sizes of businesses, not just large ones.Delete
With all due respect, combining a server and a workstation is a recipe for disaster in most cases. It usually means non-technical people working directly on a server, which in turn means a mistake can take down a whole office. That's an incredibly bad idea. I would also say that the server edition of the enterprise distributions can easily have workstation packages added and vice versa since they share common repositories. This is equally true for Red Hat, SUSE Linux Enterprise and Ubuntu.
Finally, Linux has several desktops that are much more usable than Windows 8. For a "common desktop" within an organization you end up setting the common standard. For shops migrating from Windows I usually recommend KDE as it is highly configurable and looks the most familiar out of the box.
However, if you are crying out for one common desktop across Linux distributions that can NEVER happen due to the nature of FOSS and open licensing. The only reason Microsoft and Apple have a common desktop is because they are single companies that can dictate. There is no single entity in control of anything in the various and sundry Linux distributions.
I happen to believe that competition among desktops is a good thing for Linux, not a detriment. Competition is vital to innovation and progress in all businesses and in all fields. I really, really doubt you are being forced into Windows 8 due to the lack of a good desktop. If so you aren't marketing the strengths of Linux from a business perspective.
I would say peer to peer file sharing and client PC's using Web services on a workstation PC is not a bad idea if administrated correctly. As for a common desktop solution, I couldn't disagree more. I fully understand the FOSS issue and I fight for it's adoption with my employer on a daily basis. However, the disparity between Gnome 3 (who has lost their recipe) and KDE (who also has lost their way) prevents me from moving forward. I cannot find an easy to use interface that meets both business needs, and still has an intuitive, easy to use look and feel so as to allow for adoption. I find Linux better for absolutely everything I do, but I am a technology insider (for the most part). My employer is not, nor are the minions in his employ who do various tasks throughout the plant. Please, nothing I said should be taken to the extreme that I am suggesting competition is bad. It's what makes Linux great. But can we get at least one desktop shell that meets my employers LTS and usability requirements? As for being force into windows 8, get a clue. I'm forced to but it because you CAN'T PURCHASE A WINDOWS 7 MACHINE ANY MORE. Until the desktop shell is resolved, major vendors of things like ERP/MRP systems etc. will stay in the MS camp. It's just easier for them. And worse for us.Delete
I've been working with Linux on different environments for 10 years; I've used distributions like Suse, Open Suse, Red Hat, Slackware, ArchLinux, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and CentOS.ReplyDelete
In my current job I was the one who suggested the use of Red Hat on the servers but mainly because I saw interest of the company on getting support from the company, other than the support they give (LTS and technical support over their tools), I haven't noticed any real advantage of Red Hat over Debian at the enterprise servers environment, we have recently migrated all our cloud servers to Debian for stability and performance reasons.
Btw, RPM and DPKG systems are both part of the LSB
As we all know, each distribution have their specific target and, for example, using Ubuntu on servers might represent a risk or loss of time doesnt matter it is a certified LSB distribution too; and even when I loved Slackware or ArchLinux I wouldn't recommend them for Servers neither.Replies
First, let me start by saying that Debian is most definitely an enterprise quality distribution from a purely technical standpoint. So long as you stick with the stable branch it adheres to the same principles as the major enterprise distributions. However, the lack of commercial support from the distributor and the lack of corporate backing is a no-go for management in most cases. That is a reflection of what management demands from IT, not a reflection on the quality of the distribution.Delete
dpkg (Debian packaging) is NOT part of the LSB unless the standard has changed very recently. Can you provide a source for your claim that it fits the standards?
Finally, like it or not, a false claim of a lack of standards is a major FUD point used against Linux to management. It's not true and that is where the LSB and compliant distributions are incredibly important.
Good article! Thanks a lot!Delete
Caitlyn, In your opinion, what is currently the best clone of Redhat Enterprise? Recently there have been changes in CentOS (CentoOS more "Redhat investments").
And we have the Oracle Linux and Linux Springdale!
Thanks again!
Many people know Red Hat for its Operating System. But now RH has more that RHEL. Gluster, rhev, cluster suite, manageIQ etc. That makes RH a leader.ReplyDelete
Good article Caitlyn.ReplyDelete
I started my Linux journey with SLS in 1993, and have used and supported a lot of distros since then. I currently support RHEL, SLES and Debian servers and like them all. I will say that IMHO SLES was superior to RHEL at one time, but the situation has evolved to where RHEL and/or clones are the best fit for virtually any server scenario.
Hello Caitlyn:ReplyDelete
I found your article when I was searching for various articles on enterprise workstation distributions. As an avid fan of stable distributions, I enjoy using RHEL and Slackware both. However, while there are plenty of reasons one might try to claim Slackware is not LSB compliant, from my limited reading of the RPM situation, I do not think Slackware can be considered non-compliant because of RPM. Specifically, my understanding of the LSB is that software should be distributed with a specific RPM subset of features, but not that distributions are required to use that format as their native format. Slackware provides at least two means of supporting such RPMs: it can install them using the RPM(1) program itself, but this lacks distribution integration; it can convert LSB compliant RPMs to its native packaging format, which does support integration into the system.
There are plenty of reasons you might want to avoid Slackware on the Enterprise at scale, or even perhaps in mission-critical applications, (though I wouldn't rule it out either, depending on the enterprise or application), but lack of standards-compliant support for RPM is not one of them.
Thanks for an interesting article; the smoldering comments (I won't call them a flame war outright) were also quite enjoyable.Replies
OK, let me clarify the LSB issue and (hopefully) put it to bed. The Linux Foundation maintains a list of LSB compliant products including Linux distributions at: https://www.linuxbase.org/lsb-cert/productdir.php?by_lsb Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Oracle Linux, Mandriva Enterprise Server, Asianux Server, Linpus Lite and a number of other distributions are certified LSB compliant. Debian and Slackware are not. Even if Slackware meets the packaging requirements (and I am perfectly willing to accept that it might) it has not been certified as LSB compliant. Organizations looking for standards compliant Linux distributions won't choose either Slackware or Debian.Delete
Aaron, the Slackware fans forced the issue and I went and read the relevant sections of LSB 4.1 again. RPM format is most definitely specified. Please see: http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/LSB_4.1.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/pkgformat.htmlDelete
Slackware and Red Hat appeal to different sorts of security consciousness. Red Hat appeals to the sort of security consciousness found in business: Is there somebody I can sue if things go wrong? If I get sued, can I blame somebody else? Will the due-diligence reports look good to Risk Management, the CFO, legal counsel, and so on?ReplyDelete
Slackware appeals to the sort of person who starts to worry any time they cede any control to anyone other than themselves: Do I have to trust some package management system designed by somebody else? Do I have to worry about bugs and security holes in that package management system? Or am I in complete control of which packages are installed? Most enterprise clients would fear a sysadmin with the sort of control Slackware provides.Replies
I've read this sort of comment from Slackware users before and I honestly don't get it. As someone who has used both distros my question is this: what can I control with Slackware that I can't control with Red Hat or CentOS or openSUSE or any other distro?Delete
I find it edging into tinfoil-hat / lock up your food levels of security consciousness, myself. That's one reason why I took the trouble to compare and contrast with the sort of security consciousness one finds prudent in a business environment. (Something I should have added: If/when it goes down, how soon will the experts have it back up? Time IS money, after all.)Delete
My best understanding is that Slackers regard the presence of a big, complex dependency resolution system controlling software installation on their system as a a giant bug source and a security risk in and of itself. Anyone aware of how bad dependency hell could get back in the early days of Red Hat should be able to understand how such an attitude could develop, if not how it could survive the current reliability offered by APT, zypp, and yum. But you are better off asking Patrick Volkerding (alternately, his disciples at linuxquestions.org) than me. It is his project after all, and that is how he has run it from the beginning.
As to your comment on commercial support below: I am reminded of http://xkcd.com/979/
The xkcd cartoon does hit the mark in terms of what peer/community support can be like at times. Commercial support is an insurance policy on two levels. The first is when you have a complex problem that you can't solve easily and where time is money. The second, the big one for management, is what happens if the system administrator(s) leave suddenly and you just don't have a top notch Linux person on site.Delete
I really, really hope more companies and systems administrators take your attitude on security, as in it's not that important and treat it as "tin foil hat" paranoia. Why? I make really good money cleaning up after security incidents and then hardening the systems. I can use the business. Seriously, considering all that's going on nowadays there is no such thing as too much security.
One comment I received on LinkedIn by Alvin Sylvain probably sums up why many of the comments that don't take commercial support into consideration are so very far off the mark:ReplyDelete
"Caitlyn is absolutely correct about the commercial support. That's one reason why so many businesses go Windows vs. Linux and/or Paid Product vs. Open Source.
And to a large extent, it's a perfectly rational way to go. You hear a lot of advocates of Open Source claim that any time you have a problem, you can look up the solutions online, which is true. But this takes TIME, and not always a small, predictable amount of time. TIME while you're paying your SysAdmin $120/hour or more.
Plus, many of the "solutions" found online need to be used with a grain of salt. Sometimes, they're just plain wrong.
I've had experience where, the only "solutions" I found to my question was other people asking the same question! And no answers.
With a commercial solution, you're paying for support. You're paying to have somebody come over and solve your issue NOW. That very often can be the most cost-effective way to handle things.
That's why businesses are going Redhat. When they buy it, they pay for support. If they have a question or an issue, they call them up on the phone and get the correct answer immediately. No worries, no issues, no wondering if a download should have been virus-scanned. "
- AnonymousFebruary 13, 2014 at 9:13 AM
Ladies and Gentlemen,ReplyDelete
I would highly suggest you try and switch to FreeBSD based servers.Replies
What on earth do you base this recommendation on? FreeBSD is NOT well supported by OEMs at all. It's market share is minuscule. The number of people who have that skill set as compared to Linux is also minuscule. To me that's a terrible recommendation, one I completely disagree with.Delete
Good article - With regards to support, when you wear multiple hats like mine; part time sys admin, part time Oracle dba, in addition to the "day job", it is vital to have support when things go wrong. Over the years I've used both Red Hat and SuSE and my personal experience has been better with Red Hat.ReplyDelete
We are a Dell shop, and I find that while Dell supports both Red Hat and SuSE, they seem to be biased more to Red Hat. Their system tools such as Open Manage - are only designed for these two distro's, which is another reason to stay supported. Lastly when I call Oracle to open a tar (support ticket) one of the first questions is always "are you running on a supported O/S.
I will mention that one of my coworkers prefers SuSE because YAST bundles all the day to day support tools in an easy to use GUI.


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Pfeiffer's 20 Questions With ... Volleyball Libero Kaci Markham
September 17, 2010
Courtesy of Charles Curcio at the SNAP.
ALBEMARLE, N.C. - Thursday, September 16, 2010 This installment in Pfeiffers 20 Questions With... features Kaci Markham, a junior libero on the Pfeiffer womens volleyball team from Asheboro. The former Asheboro Blue Comet led the Falcons last season in digs with 361 and had 32 aces last year as well.
To see Kaci's 20 Featured Questions by the SNAP, click HERE. All questions asked are posted below.
Whats your Favorite Area Restaurant? -Mazatlan
What Do You Miss Back Home? -Moms cooking
Like Home Games or Road Games Better? Why? -Home because all the good fans!
Favorite Class? -Painting
Best Thing About Pfeiffer? -Playing volleyball
Do you eat M&Ms one at a time or by the handful? -One at a time
What's the best part of a cake - cake, frosting or filling? -Frosting!!
What sweet food could you never ever give up? -My grandmaws home-made cakes
Name the ingredients of your ultimate sundae. -vanilla, chocolate ice-cream, lots of sprinkles, whipped cream and caramel
Which bowl is best to lick - chocolate brownie batter, cake batter, raw cookie dough, something else? -Cake Batter
What's your favorite flavor M&M - plain, peanut, almond, dark, peanut butter, pretzel? -Pretzel :)
What's your favorite sugary road food? -Gummi Worms
What's your favorite salty road food? -Lays potato chips
What's the best Halloween candy? -Milky Ways
How do you eat Oreos - lick center first, dunk in milk, no special way? -Take them apart and eat the plain one first then the one with frosting last.
Do you drink the milk left over from a bowl of cereal? -No
What's your favorite breakfast food? -French toast sticks
What's the most outrageous thing you've ever eaten? -Frog legs
What's your favorite way to eat a potato - French fries, home fries, baked, chips? -French fries
What is the ultimate winter sport? -Snowboarding
Where is the farthest place you've ever traveled? -Jamaica
If you had to spend the rest of your life in another country, which one would it be? -France
Who do you text the most? -Friends
Who is the last person you hugged? Friend
Who encourages you the most? -My mom and dad
What magical power you wish you had? -Become invisible
Name something make-believe you wish was real. -SANTA!
Do you need more shoes, think you need more shoes or have plenty of shoes? -Have too many but could always use more :)
What fashion item defines you? -Shoes and/or accessories
Do you take the road less travelled or the one everyone else follows? -Road less travelled for sure
What's the worst pain you ever felt? -Thankfully never felt true pain
How long do you stay mad when you are wronged - min, hrs, days, forever? -Minutes
What do you do when you're mad? -Listen to music
When do you make your bed - morning, when told, never? -Usually mornings.
What two things do you want very badly at the moment? -Money and a championship ring this year!
Do you ever wear socks with holes in them? Yes
What's under your bed? Any monsters? No monsters under my bed.
Are you afraid of public speaking? Very afraid of public speaking..unless its on something i can talk forever about.
Have you ever been hypnotized? No thank goodness
Do you untie your sneakers before you take them off? I do unless im in a hurry.
Are you patient or impatient? Very patient
Which is most fun to pop - popcorn, bubble wrap or balloons? Bubble wrap!
Do you have awful, OK or great handwriting? Pretty good handwriting.
Which magazine cover would you like to appear on? Elle
Do you have any nervous habits? I get really nervous before games and have to move around to keep me from getting too nervous.
When are you at your best - morning, afternoon or late night? afternoon and late night...not an early morning person
What is your favorite holiday and why? Probably thanksgiving because the food.
Do you read the directions before putting something together? No i just try to figure out as i go.
What's the meanest thing you ever did as a kid? I pulled my little sister back in her high chair when we were really little and she had to get stitches from hitting her head on a bookshelf.
What do you crank up on the iPod before a game? -remixes of songs..gets me pumped
Favorite TV Show? -right now...Jersey Shore
All-Time Favorite Movie? Finding Nemo
Favorite U.S. City to Visit? NY
Favorite Vacation Spot? Somewhere tropical
What Three Words Would YOU use to Best Describe You? Sweet, Dependable, Generous
What Three Words would your FRIENDS use to describe you? Random, Fun and Artistic
What's Something Most People Don't Know About You? I have always wanted to do interior design and i'd also love to travel and learn different cultures and language.
What is your pre-game superstition? What about your team? I always get ready an hour or so before i have to be at the gym and listen to music to get myself pumped. Its something i do every game.
Whats your own season outlook for your team? Our team is young but very very talented! We're gonna show that talent this season and come out with an even better record than before! Come Support!

subset: commoncrawl


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United States Senate elections, 2014
Elections to the U.S. Senate will be held on November 4, 2014. A total of 33 of the 100 seats will be up for regular election. Additionally, two special elections will take place in 2014 to fill vacancies that occurred in the 113th Congress (Hawaii and South Carolina).
On November 4, 2014, those elected to the U.S. Senate in the 33 regular elections will begin their six-year terms on January 3, 2015.
2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the direct popular election of U.S. Senators. Prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, U.S. Senators were selected by state legislatures.
As of July 2013, seven senators had announced they would not be running for re-election. In comparison, ten incumbent senators did not run for re-election in 2012 and twelve did not run for re-election in 2010.
Partisan breakdown
In 2014, Republicans would need to pick up six seats currently held by Democrats in order to gain a majority.[1]
Three incumbent Democratic U.S. Senators (Max Baucus of Montana, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia) have announced that they are not running for re-election in 2014, and the GOP is considered a favorite to pick up the seats they are leaving vacant.[1] Three other states with Democratic U.S. Senators up for re-election in 2014 (Alaska, Arkansas and North Carolina) are generally considered to have GOP-leaning electorates.[1]
In 2012, the Democratic Party retained control over the chamber, winning 25 of the 33 seats. With Republican candidates winning only eight seats, this was the worst performance by a major party since the 1950s.[2]
The following table displays the partisan composition of the U.S. Senate heading into the 2014 elections.
|U.S. Senate Partisan Breakdown
|As of 2014 Election
|After the 2014 Election
|Democratic Party
|Republican Party
Open seats
As of December 2013, seven senators have announced they will not be running for re-election in 2014:
|Current office:
|Carl Levin
|U.S. Senator, Michigan
|Jay Rockefeller
|West Virginia
|John Walsh
|Mike Johanns
|Saxby Chambliss
|Tim Johnson
|South Dakota
|Tom Harkin
|U.S. Senator, Iowa
Campaign finance
April 2013
According to an April 2013 Politico report, incumbent Democrats in red states raised "millions" in the first three months of 2013.[3] The candidates highlighted in the article were:
- Mary Landrieu (LA) had raised $1.2 million and had $3.5 million cash on hand
- Mark Pryor (AK) had raised $1.9 million and had $3.4 million cash on hand
- Kay Hagan (NC) had raised $1.6 million and had $2.7 million cash on hand
- Mark Begich (AK) had raised $948,000 and had $1.5 million cash on hand[3]
August 2013
An August 2013 Politico report reported that the 27 incumbents running for re-election in 2014 had together raised about $125 million by the end of June 2013.[4] The report also found that 2014 may be the most expensive midterm election to date, pointing to the fact that the total amount raised for incumbents seeking re-election is $30 million more than at the same point in 2012 and on par with the amount they had raised in 2010.[4]
The incumbents highlighted in the article were:[4]
- Minority Leader Mitch McConnell led in fundraising, having raised more than $15 million for the 2014 cycle
- Lindsey Graham (SC) an John Cornyn (TX) have raised more than $8 million in the 2014 cycle
- Kay Hagan (NC), Mark Pryor (AR) and Mary Landrieu (LA) have each raised between $4 million to $7 million in the 2014 cycle
In July 2013, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) president, Rob Collins, circulated a memo to top donors outlining the path to a majority in the Senate for the Republican Party. From the memo:
- "Montana now joins West Virginia and South Dakota as the third red-state where Democrats have not only failed to land their top candidates, but to recruit a candidate capable of winning a general election matchup."
Collins went on to state that Republicans need to win just three seats in states with incumbent Democratic senators.[5]
NRSC fundraising worries
In September 2013, Politico released a report fundraising and internal problems within the NRSC. The group had only raised $21.7 million through September in 2013, which was $5 million less than it had at the same time in 2009, with 2010 being the most recent midterm elections.
There was also speculation that a staff chasm has left some staffers loyal to Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), the acting NRSC chairman, while others fall more in line with Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), the vice chairman of finance.[6]
Outside race ratings
|U.S. Senate predictions
|Prediction from:
|Solid D
|Likely D
|Lean D
|Lean R
|Likely R
|Solid R
|Rothenberg Political Report
|June 28, 2013
|Sabato's Crystal Ball
|June 27, 2013
|Rothenberg Political Report
|October 16, 2013
Cook Political Report
Each month the Cook Political Report released race ratings for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House (competitive only) and Governors in 2014. There were seven possible designations:[7]
Solid D
Lean R
|Cook Political Report Race Rating -- U.S. Senate
|Solid D
|Likely D
|Lean D
|Lean R
|Likely R
|Solid R
|Total D
|Total R
|Total races
|June 27, 2013[8]
|August 2, 2013[9]
|October 17, 2013[10]
|December 19, 2013[11]
|February 7, 2014[12]
|February 27, 2014[13]
|March 19, 2014[14]
|April 25, 2014[15]
|August 15, 2014[16]
|September 19, 2014[17]
|October 17, 2014[18]
Changes by month
July 2013
- From June 27, 2013 to August 2, 2013, Cook's race ratings changed in the following states:
- Virginia went from Likely Democrat to Solid Democrat
- Arkansas went from Likely Democrat to Solid Democrat
- Iowa went from Lean Democrat to Tossup
- Montana went from Tossup to Lean Republican
- West Virginia went from Tossup to Lean Republican
- Georgia went from Lean Republican to Likely Republican
- Kentucky went from Likely Republican to Tossup
New York Times
According to an analysis by Nate Silver of The New York Times, Democrats are looking at a tough road ahead of them in the U.S. Senate in 2014. Democrats hold 21 of the 35 seats up for election in 2014, and there are more Democratic controlled seats that lean Republican than Republican seats that lean Democratic.[19]
Additionally, Democrats could suffer from a lower voter turnout of their base due to the fact that 2014 is a midterm election and President Obama will not be on the ballot.[19]
However, Republicans need to take six seats in order to gain control of the Senate, a large gain that will be difficult to accomplish even in a favorable environment. Based on the data below, at this very early stage Republicans are expected to be able to pick up four or five seats.[19]
The table below lists the initial race ratings overview for the 35 senate seats up for election in 2014 as of February 2013.[19]
|FiveThirtyEight -- U.S. Senate
|Solid D
|Likely D
|Lean D
|Lean R
|Likely R
|Solid R
|February 20, 2013[20]
|July 15, 2013[21]
|March 23, 2014[22]
Most vulnerable seats
The FiscalTimes compiled a list of the seven most vulnerable Senate seats up for election in 2014. The seven included in the list are: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Going into the 2014 election, all seven seats are held by Democrats.[23]
Washington Post
In August 2013 The Washington Post compiled a list of the 10 Senate seats most likely to change control in 2014:[24]
- Georgia: After Michelle Nunn (D) announced her candidacy in July 2013, it greatly increased the chance for Democrats to pick up the seat. On the Republican side, as of August 2013 there already had been five major Republican candidates in the field that could break any which way.[24] Who emerges from that primary will be a huge determining factor when it comes to whether this race is competitive.[24]
- Iowa: Democratic candidate Bruce Braley seems to be a capable fundraiser and looks set to cruise to his party's nomination without any trouble.[24] The Republican primary, meanwhile, lacks a clear front-runner. While it features a former Senate aide, a conservative radio host, a former U.S. attorney, a state senator and possibly a retired businessman, Gov. Terry Branstad (R) says he likely won't endorse in the primary.[24] Democrats have the advantage in this open race as of August 2013, but the political contours of the state suggest it is not out of the question that Republicans can compete there.
- North Carolina: State house Speaker Thom Tillis (R) has been plagued by headlines about major donors getting seats on the UNC Board of Governors and the money he has received from the gaming industry, and criticism over his decision to launch a Senate campaign while the legislature was still in session.[24] According to Washington Post none of it means Tillis cannot compete with Sen. Kay Hagan (D), who remains vulnerable.[24] However, his rough start was not the way to begin what promises to be a hard-fought campaign.[24]
- Kentucky: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) drew a self-funding primary challenge running to his ideological right as well as a Democratic challenger in Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.[24] Despite a rocky start for Grimes, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reportedly will ensure she has a solid team around her to make sure she avoids further rookie mistakes.[24] Polling as of Augsut 2013 suggests it is already a close race.[24] According to the Washington Post, "We think McConnell still is a slight favorite to come back to the Senate in 2015, but his chances got longer over the past month."[24]
- Alaska: Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell appears to be the favorite, and 2010 nominee Joe Miller is the guy Republicans definitely don't want. In the middle is the potential wild card, state Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan — not to be confused with the Anchorage mayor of the same name — who recently deployed to Afghanistan.[24] Treadwell didn't get off to a fast start, raising just $180,000 in the first six months of 2013, and there is speculation that Sullivan, who is not a candidate yet, could start looking more attractive as an alternative.[24]
- Louisiana: Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) had a strong fundraising quarter, hauling in over $1 million for his bid against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D).[24] His only Republican opponent, meanwhile, brought in just $40,000, which is more good news for Cassidy.[24] Landrieu has shown an ability to win in competitive races, but 2014 promises to be her toughest test yet.[24]
- Arkansas: Rep. Tom Cotton (R) is the rare Republican recruit with the ability to unite the conservative grass roots and the Republican establishment, spelling trouble for Sen. Mark Pryor (D), the Senate's most vulnerable incumbent, according to the Washington Post.[24]. Pryor has already taken criticism over the airwaves from both conservative groups on his right and a leading gun-control organization on his left.[24] When Cotton committed to running, things looked even bleaker for the Democrat.
- Montana: Former governor Brian Schweitzer's (D) surprise decision not to run effectively turned a seat that leaned Democratic into a seat that leans Republican.[24] Since his announcement, a trio of big-name potential female Democratic candidates have passed on the race, including state Auditor Monica Lindeen, Emily's List President Stephanie Schriock, and state schools superintendent Denise Juneau.[24] On the Republican side, all are still waiting to see if freshman Rep. Steve Daines jumps in.[24] As of August 2013, former state senator Corey Stapleton is seen as the front-runner.[24]
- South Dakota: Four Democratic senators from the state have lined up behind Rick Weiland as the Democratic standard-bearer in this race, but national Democrats are still in search of an alternative, not believing Weiland can make a race of it against likely Republican nominee and former Gov. Mike Rounds.[24] According to the Washington Post Democrats' best hope here may be the possibility that Rounds gets a legitimate primary challenger who can damage his candidacy or somehow upset him.[24]
- West Virginia: Not even Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) could have dared to imagine that the path to the Senate would have opened up so well for her back in late 2012 when she announced her candidacy.[24] Democrats have watched candidate after candidate say "no" to the race.[24] The latest candidate to take a pass is West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Robin Davis. All Democratic hope now lies in Natalie Tennant, the West Virginia Secretary of State.[24]
Issues heading into 2014
Government shutdown
- See also United States budget debate, 2013
Beginning in August 2013, House and Senate members began discussing the possibility of a government shutdown over the funding of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). On September 20, Republicans passed a spending bill in the House that funds the government until December, but strips funding from Obamacare. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the Senate would hold a procedural vote on Wednesday, September 24, many senators began to announce their positions on voting against a cloture, the motion to end debate on a bill. After Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave a marathon speech, the motion for cloture was accepted and Reid was able to strip the Obamacare defunding language contained in the Republican House members' continuing resolution (CR).
Following the successful cloture vote and the Senate subsequently sending a clean continuing resolution back to the House, the two chambers began a high-stakes game of hot potato. By September 30, the House had voted and sent three resolutions to the Senate that all were struck down. The Senate then sent back a clean resolution stripped of any healthcare defunding language. With Obamacare being the issue-at-hand, Congress was unable to agree on whether a resolution would fund the landmark healthcare law.[25]
In the midst of the government shutdown in October 2013, talks began regarding the impending debt ceiling.
Polling during the shutdown
|Congressional approval rating
|Total approve
|Total disapprove
|Margin of Error
|Sample Size
|The Economist/YouGov (September 21-23, 2013)
|CBS/New York Times (September 19-23, 2013)
|CNN/ORC (September 27-29, 2013)
|Gallup (October 3-6, 2013)
|AP-GfK (October 3-7, 2013)
|Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Approval of own congressmen
During the shutdown, American's disapproval rating of their own congressmen reached new a new high, with almost as many people stating disapproval of their member (43%) to approval (44%). The Gallup poll concluded:
- "While members of Congress may continue to argue that problems with the image of the body as a whole is not their fault, and that they are doing nothing more than faithfully representing their particular constituents, it is clear that even their own constituents are less positive about the job they are doing than they were in the past."
Farm Bill
- See also: United States Farm Bill 2013
The farm bill is an expansive piece of legislation that provides funding for commodity programs, conservation, trade, nutrition, credit, rural development, research, forestry, energy, horticulture, organic agriculture, livestock, crop insurance, disaster assistance programs and tax provisions.[26] The farm bill is typically passed every five years. The 2008 Farm bill expired September 30, 2012. Congress extended the 2008 bill for one more year, bringing us to the current controversy over the 2013 Farm Bill.[27]
The vast majority of the farm bill is nutrition--roughly 75% of the total farm bill. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) makes up about 72% of the nutrition budget. Crop insurance is expected to be the next largest budgetary expense.[26]
Nutrition and federal spending are in the cross hairs of the current farm bill debate. Republicans want to see cuts to the food assistance programs and Democrats are concerned with crop insurance fraud.[28] In an effort to push through some type of farm bill, the House has attempted to split food stamps from farm policy and create two separate bills. This is the first time since 1973 that food stamps have been split from farm policy.[29]
If the bill expires on September 30, 2013, effects of not having a new bill would not be seen until December 31, 2013, when the dairy price support program would end. If a new bill is not passed before the current one ends, the program would revert back to 1940's era agriculture laws. Crops would likely not be effected until summer of 2014, when the 2013 crop cycle ends.[30]
- See also: United States involvement in Syria
In August 2012, President Obama said the "red line" for U.S. involvement in Syria was the use of chemical or biological weapons.[31] In April 2013, reports surfaced that Syria had used chemical weapons twice in their civil war, but it was not enough for the U.S. to intervene. In June 2013, President Obama authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels following more reports of small scale chemical weapon attacks.[31]
On August 21, 2013, the Syrian government was accused of a chemical weapons attack on a town in the suburbs of Damascus, killing thousands, including women and children.[31] On September 3, 2013, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry and General Martin Dempsey met with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to support President Obama's decision to use military force to intervene in the Syrian conflict.[32] The group met with the House Foreign Affairs Committee on September 5.[33]
- See also: Gang of Eight
Most recently, the Gang of Eight has been used in reference to immigration reform and includes eight of the most influential Senators, with four from each party.[34][35]
On May 6, 2013 Senators John McCain (R), Chuck Schumer (D), Richard Durbin (D), Robert Menendez (D), Michael Bennet (D), Lindsey Graham (R), Marco Rubio (R), and Jeff Flake (R) unveiled the outlines of their bi-partisan immigration plan.[34][35] The statement of principles was rather broad, but sets forth "four basic pillars":
- 1. A "tough but fair path to citizenship . . . .contingent upon securing our borders and tracking whether legal immigrants have left the country as required";
- 2. Reform our legal immigration system with a greater eye toward our economic needs;
- 3. Workplace verification; and
- 4. Setting up a system for admitting future workers (although the term "guest worker" is not used).[35]
On June 27, 2013 in a late afternoon vote, the Senate voted to approve the immigration reform bill, Senate Bill 744.[36] The bill passed by a vote of 68-to-32, with 14 Republicans voting in favor.[37][36]
Speaker John Boehner told House Republicans in a closed-door meeting on July 10, 2013 that the internal debate over immigration reform is an "important conversation," and that while the House will not take up the Senate-passed bill, members must do something to address the issue.[38]
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) on July 8, 2013 ridiculed the House's strategy of using the "Hastert rule" to pass legislation and said Speaker John Boehner will eventually have to take up the Senate's immigration bill.[39] Reid also said Boehner's adherence to the "Hastert Rule" requiring a majority of Republican caucus votes to move legislation is emblematic of the lower chamber's dysfunction.[40]
- See also: United States Farm Bill 2013
The Senate passed a $1 trillion farm bill in June 2013 to fund both food stamps and farmer subsidies. States heavy in agriculture, including ones that will be competitive in 2014, may turn more favorably to Democratic candidates due to Republican opposition of the bill. The vote was 66-27, with 25 of the 27 nay votes being from Republicans. The two Democratic senators to vote against the bill were Jack Reed (RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
Both Montana and South Dakota, with agriculture being a major industry, will reap the benefits of the bill and also have open seats due to the retirement of Max Baucus (D-MT) and Tim Johnson (D-SD). [41]
The comprehensive bill failed in the House due largely in part to the votes of 8 Democratic House members who joined the Republican majority to vote down the measure.[42] Reps. Collin Peterson, John Barrow, Sanford Bishop, Cheri Bustos, Sean Maloney, Mike McIntyre, Bill Owens, and Tim Walz were the 8 Democratic members who voted to reject the bill.[42] According to analysis by OpenSecrets, many of these Democratic members have received significant political contributions from agricultural organizations that benefit from crop insurance subsidies.[42] Five of the eight are on the House Agriculture Committee--Peterson, Bustos, Maloney, McIntyre, and Walz-- from which agribusiness firms routinely target committee members with sizable contributions.[42]
Upon arrival at the House, the bill was altered by focusing solely on the farm programs and did not include the food stamp program, which will be voted on later. The House and Senate will now need to draft a final bill through conference committee.[43]
For senators up for re-election in 2016, this will be the first election since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This may be problematic for Democratic senators who voted in favor of the bill in states where it is no longer popular. Among these senators include:
- Mark Begich (AK)
- Mark Pryor (AR)
- Mary Landrieu (LA)
- Jay Rockefeller (WV)
- Tim Johnson (SD)
Sen. Lee letter
In July 2013, Lee authored a letter, which as of August 2013 had been signed by 14 Republican senators, which promised a government shutdown unless the Affordable Care Act was defunded. The senators up for re-election in 2014 who signed the letter are:
- Mike Enzi (WY)
- Jim Inhofe (OK)
- Jim Risch (ID)
- Pat Roberts (KS)
Senate Conservative Fund targets
The Senate Conservative Fund targeted Sens. Isakson (R-GA), Graham (R-SC), Alexander (R-TN) and Burr (R-NC) in August 2013 with two weeks of radio ads designed to push Senate Republicans to support Utah's Mike Lee's effort to defund Obamacare. [45]
House Republicans passed a bill, the Student Success Act, on July 19, 2013 to reduce the federal role in public education and outline their vision for a national educational policy to replace the No Child Left Behind law.[46][47] The measure would give state and local governments greater powers to determine how best to improve schools and would sharply reduce federal involvement in education matters.[47]
It marks a significant departure from No Child Left Behind, the 2002 law that set federal goals for academic achievement and penalties for schools that fell short of those goals, as well as prescriptions for steps states must take to improve failing schools.[46]
No Democrats supported the bill, which passed by a 221 to 207 margin, with 12 Republicans voting with the Democrats against the measure.[48] It marked the first time in a dozen years that either chamber of Congress approved a comprehensive bill to update federal education law.[46]
The House bill is said to have no chance of moving through the Democratic-led Senate as it is written and President Obama has threatened to veto it.[47] The Senate committee overseeing education has completed work on its own measure that would give states greater flexibility in writing their own plans to improve schools. But, unlike the Republican proposal that passed the House, that bill would allow the education secretary to retain approval power over those proposals.[47] Full Senate consideration of the measure is unlikely to happen before the fall of 2014.[47]
State-by-state breakdown
See also
External links
- Senate Conservatives Fund "2014 Senate Races"
- Roll Call "Inside the 2014 Senate Races"
- Public Policy Polling "US Senate 2014"
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Politico, "Brian Schweitzer move aids GOP in battle for Senate", July 13,2013
- ↑ Salon.com "The House GOP can't be beat: It's worse than gerrymandering," January 13, 2013
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Politico "Red-state Democrats raise millions" Accessed April 18, 2013
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Politico "Senate cash dash now a marathon" Accessed August 1, 2013
- ↑ MSNBC, "GOP to donors: Democratic Senate majority is in serious trouble," accessed July 22, 2013
- ↑ Politico, "GOP fears fundraising disaster," accessed September 12, 2013
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Our Accuracy," accessed December 12, 2011 (dead link)
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," June 27, 2013
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," August 2, 2013
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," October 17, 2013
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," December 19, 2013
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," February 7, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," February 27, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," March 19, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," April 25, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," August 15, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," September 19, 2014
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2014 SENATE RACE RATINGS," October 17, 2014
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 The New York Times, "Can Republicans Win the Senate in 2014?," February 20, 2013
- ↑ The New York Times, "Can Republicans Win the Senate in 2014?," February 20, 2013
- ↑ The New York Times, "Can Republicans Win the Senate in 2014?," February 20, 2013
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecast: GOP Is Slight Favorite in Race for Senate Control," March 23, 2014
- ↑ Fiscal Times "7 Senate Seats Most at Risk—Hint: They're All Blue" Accessed February 15, 2013
- ↑ 24.00 24.01 24.02 24.03 24.04 24.05 24.06 24.07 24.08 24.09 24.10 24.11 24.12 24.13 24.14 24.15 24.16 24.17 24.18 24.19 24.20 24.21 24.22 24.23 24.24 24.25 24.26 24.27 Washington Post, "The Fix's top 10 Senate races of 2014," accessed August 9, 2013
- ↑ Reuters, "U.S. Senate Republicans start closing ranks on spending bill," accessed September 24, 2013
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Izaak Walton League of America, "What is a Farm Bill?", accessed September 17, 2013
- ↑ National Farmers Union, "2013 Farm Bill", accessed September 17, 2013
- ↑ New York Times, "Fraud Used to Frame Farm Bill Debate", accessed September 17, 2013
- ↑ National Journal, "Fight Over Food Stamps Dominates Farm Bill", accessed September 19, 2013
- ↑ University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, "2013 Farm Bill Update - July 2013", accessed September 17, 2013
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Miami Herald, "Timeline of key events in Syrian uprising," September 4, 2013
- ↑ U.S. News and World Reports, "John Kerry, Chuck Hagel Pitch Syrian Strike to Congress," September 3, 2013
- ↑ Huffington Post, "House Syria Hearing: John Kerry, Chuck Hagel Going Before Foreign Affairs Committee," September 4, 2013
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 ABC News "Who Are the Gang Of 8 in Senate Immigration Debate?" Accessed May 7, 2013
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Washington Post "Gang of Eight immigration plan: Reality-based legislating" Accessed May 7, 2013
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 NY Times "Immigration Overhaul Passes in Senate" Accessed June 27, 2013
- ↑ CNN "Senate passes sweeping immigration bill" Accessed June 27, 2013
- ↑ Politico "Behind closed doors, Boehner pushes immigration action" Accessed July 10, 2013
- ↑ Politico "Harry Reid needles John Boehner over Hastert rule" Accessed July 8, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named
- ↑ The Hill, "Senate Democrats see farm bill, rural voters as key to 2014 election," Accessed June 6, 2013
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 Open Secrets "Agribusiness and the Farm Bill: Wayward Dems Benefit from Contributions" Accessed July 19, 2013
- ↑ USA Today, "House passes farm bill; strips out food-stamp program," accessed July 15, 2013
- ↑ Senate.gov "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 1st Session," accessed July 15, 2013
- ↑ The Hill, "Senate Conservatives Fund targets Isakson with latest 'defund ObamaCare' ad," August 22, 2013
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 Washington Post "House GOP passes education bill to reverse No Child Left Behind" Accessed July 19, 2013
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 47.4 Yahoo News "House passes bill to replace education law" Accessed July 19, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named


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UNION CITY - A woman was fatally injured in a crash that occurred Wednesday afternoon marking the first fatality of the year in Darke County.
At approximately 1:20 p.m. Darke County deputies along with Union City Fire and Rescue and Ft. Recovery Fire Department responded to the 12,800 block of Oswalt-Good Road on a report of the serious one-vehicle accident into a guardrail.
The preliminary investigation revealed Rayne B. Honeycutt, 27, of Union City, Ind. was driving a black 1995 Suzuki Sidekick along with front passenger Christin M. Deaton, 25, of Union City, Ind. The vehicle was traveling southbound on Oswalt-Good Road, just north of Ellis Road, when it veered off the right side of the roadway striking a guardrail end. The guardrail impaled the passenger side windshield striking Deaton, whom succumbed to her injuries at the scene. Honeycutt was not injured.
Accident reconstruction team members and the Darke County Coroner's Office were called to the scene.
The accident remains under investigation by the Darke County Sheriff's Office.


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January 23, 2013
Vol. 28 , No. 07
An Evening with the Author
When The Corrections was published in the fall of 2001, Jonathan Franzen was probably better known for his nonfiction than for the two novels he had already published. In an essay he wrote for Harper's in 1996, The Corrections was an enormous international bestseller, with translations in 35 languages, American hardcover sales of nearly one million copies and nominations for nearly every major book prize in the country – Franzen was awarded the National Book Award for this novel. As if sales and critical acclaim weren't enough to boost his profile, the author found himself in a public relations imbroglio over his conflicted reaction to his book's endorsement by Oprah's Book Club.
Jonathan Franzen's first novel, The Twenty-Seventh City (1988), was a reimagination of his hometown, St. Louis, through the eyes of conspirators and terrorists from southern Asia. His second novel, Strong Motion (1992), was a thriller-cum-love-story set in the student slums of Boston. Both books displayed Franzen's ability to connect the personal and the political, the emotional and the social, in compelling and richly textured narratives.
After graduating from Swarthmore College in 1981 he studied in Berlin as a Fulbright scholar and later worked in a seismology lab at Harvard. Franzen is also the author of a bestselling collection of essays, How to Be Alone (2003) and the memoir The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History (2007). He recently published a new English translation of the play Spring Awakening (2007) by Frank Wedekind. He has written the New York chapter of Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey's 2008 collection State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, inspired by the state guides written for the WPA in the 1930s. His short stories and his essays, including political journalism, have most recently appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Essays, The New York Times, and The Guardian. A new collection of his non-fiction, Farther Away: Essays, appeared in April 2012.
Franzen's most recent novel is Freedom, (Farrar, Straus & Giroux -2010). In August 2010, he was featured on the cover of TIME magazine -- only the second time in the last decade that a living writer has been on the cover of this national magazine. Writing in the New York Times Book Review, the review's editor, Sam Tanenhaus, declared Franzen's Freedom, "a masterpiece of American fiction," and the book debuted at # 1 on the Times bestseller list. In September Freedom was chosen as Oprah's 64th Book Club pick, and Franzen and Oprah made up with each other on air in December. Freedom won the 2011 John Gardner Prize for fiction and the Heartland Prize. It was also chosen as one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2010 and as a finalist for National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Jonathan Franzen comes to Claremont as part of the President's Distinguished Speaker Series, funded by CMC President Pamela Brooks Gann.
Publishing Academic Research in the Humanities
LUNCHEON 11:30 a.m.; LECTURE 12:00 p.m.; PARENTS DINING ROOM
Is there a crisis in academic publishing, particularly in the humanities but also the social sciences? Is the scholarly monograph in jeopardy? What kind of research is valued in scholarly publishing? These are the questions that Ray Ryan will attempt to address from his wide experience as an editor at Cambridge University Press.
Ray Ryan is the Senior Commissioning Editor for English and American Literature at Cambridge University Press. He is the author of Ireland and Scotland: Literature and Culture, State and Nation, 1966-2000 (Oxford 2002), editor of Writing in the Irish Republic: Literature, Culture, Politics (2002), (Macmillan), and with Liam Mcilvanney, co-editor of Ireland and Scotland: Culture and Society (Fourcourts, 2005), and The Good of the Novel (Faber 2011), which has received a great deal of attention in the United States and Europe: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/10/the-good-of-the-critic.html
He also founded and edited Bullán: an Irish studies Journal, for ten years and received his doctorate from Oxford University.
Dr. Ryan's visit is sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies.
Can Social Business Save the World?
Fighting poverty in the Philippines by providing all off-grid villages with sustainable access to solar energy and water purification through an empowerment oriented approach that leverages both market and philanthropic forces are the mission and focus of Jim Ayala's social businesses and philanthropic initiatives. Over 20 million Filipinos live in off-grid households and tens of millions more cope with poor and unreliable power connections. Without sustainable access to energy, these individuals face substantial odds in their progress out of poverty. Further, more than 17 million Filipinos drink unsafe water.
Recently awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur and Social Entrepreneur of the Year—Philippines 2012, Jim has worked on economic development in emerging markets for 28 years in various roles as a social entrepreneur, CEO of a publicly listed company, management consultant, and board member of a number of NGOs. He believes that business and investment capital can help solve urgent social problems, and that working with multiple stakeholders to commercialize social innovations can foster development at the base of the economic pyramid.
Jim earned his M.B.A. with honors in 1988 from Harvard Business School and his B.A. magna cum laude in Economics in 1984 from Princeton University where he currently serves as a Trustee. He began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he worked for 19 years across 29 countries on energy infrastructure and deregulation, industry development, emerging market entry and social responsibility. Later, as President and CEO of Ayala Land (ALI), he oversaw the launch of two new cities (Bonifacio Global City and Nuvali), the expansion of residential portfolios, the development of business process outsourcing campuses, and the opening of new lifestyle shopping complexes. Under his watch ALI increased revenues by 130%, achieved consecutive years of record profits, and invested close to $2 billion in project capital expenditures. As Senior Managing Director of the Ayala Corporation and Trustee of the Ayala Foundation, Jim championed a reorientation towards sustainable development.
Throughout his career, Jim has played leadership roles in a number of civic organizations. Currently, he is Southeast Asia Chairman for the Economic Development Net6work (EDN) of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), a Trustee of the World Wildlife Fund of the Philippines, the Philippines Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation, and as noted above a Trustee, Princeton University.
Jim is passionate about eco-tourism, and enjoys beach cleanups, mangrove planting, trekking, caving, rappelling, and other forms of adventure travel. He is married and has three children, one of whom, Gabby, is a freshman at CMC. This lecture is the first in the Kravis Leadership Institute's Social Innovation Distinguished Speakers Series.
"No one gave African Slaves in the United States their freedom. African American Soldiers in the Union Armed Forces fought and died for the liberty of themselves, their families, their friends, and their country."
Battle Hymn of a Freedman: African-American Soldiers in the Civil War
C. ANTHONY BUSH '76, composer/author, drums
DAVID MURRAY, tenor saxophone
SAMUEL REECE '74, narrator
GREGORY COOKE, director, actor
SISSEL BAKKEN, mezzo-soprano
THORTON HUDSON, JR., piano
TIM BUSH, bass
BOBBY BRADFORD, trumpet
VON BUSH, singer
YARTUMO GBORKORQUELLIE, singer
BOBBIE KYLES-COLES, actor
ANDREW ROBINSON, singer
RICHARD COON, actor
The Origins of Battle Hymn of a Freedman
By C. Anthony Bush, Ph.D.
As a child my father often told me about his family's survival of the Great Depression in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Father took pride in the fact that his grandfather's pension from the U.S. Civil War provided resources for his grandmother, his mother, and his mother's children to live a good life even in the misery of the Depression. Great Grandfather Franklin was, however, never discussed even though he was the source of silent pride. My father, who was born in 1925, lived with Great Grandfather Franklin until Great Grandfather died. The family practiced oral history. But, my aunt and my father never discussed details of Richard Franklin's life. Great Grandfather Franklin was a source of pride, but a complete mystery. What I did know and what I could feel was the preacher, and the determination, the discipline, and a martial spirit in all his descendants. I did not pry. I let my Grandfather and Great Grandfather rest.
This rest came to an end with the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of African American Men, I was determined to bring their memories to life in me. What kind of men were my paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfathers? In 1996 this question took me to Pine Bluff, Arkansas which was the place of my father's birth. Because I wanted knowledge of my African roots, I began investigating Great Grandfather Richard Franklin who had also lived in Pine Bluff. Still silence and mystery surrounded Richard Franklin.
In the summer of 2011, the fog surrounding Richard Franklin began to clear. In preparation for a family reunion a cousin had the U.S. Civil War Pension Application of Richard Franklin. The application revealed that Richard Franklin was not my Great Grandfather's real name. Richard Franklin was really Frank Wells, who had been a boy soldier during the United States Civil War. Frank Wells was 11 years old when he joined the 2nd Regiment, Light Artillery, Company H, United States Colored Troops. He was a powder boy, and he had been wounded in the U.S. Civil War. After the war and in an act of self-defense, Frank Wells had mortally wounded his white assailant. After fleeing Louisiana, Frank Wells changed his name. The family fell silent for reasons of self-preservation. We were unable to celebrate a man, at the time of the Civil War a boy, who fought to liberate Black People from the bonds of Chattel Slavery!
I felt a powerful need to tell the story of Frank Wells and African American Soldiers in the Civil Wars. I put lyrics to previously written songs and wrote a few new songs. I wrote Frank's story. After researching history, African American Heroes of the Civil War were incorporated into the Musical/Jazzical "Battle Hymn of a Freedman" (2011). This work celebrates African American Soldiers' fight for liberty and celebrates their Christian Faith. The play gives African American Soldiers voices, songs, motives, and emotions as they fought at Fort Pillow, Tennessee; New Market Heights, Virginia; and Richmond, Virginia. The play rests on the silent pride that Frank Wells instilled in his family. This pride was from certain knowledge that "no one gave African Slaves in the United States their freedom. African American Soldiers in the Union Armed Forces fought and died for the liberty of themselves, their families, their friends, and their country."
January 1, 2013 was the 150th Anniversary of the Effective Date of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln published the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, without identifying States in rebellion. Because of the Dred Scott Decision and the success of Confederate Armies, the Emancipation Proclamation resulted in no one being freed, but 220,000 African American Soldiers were recruited. The War was settled through arms, and tens of thousands African Americans died in the War. I am grateful to Claremont McKenna College for celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Students will hear songs, words, and voices of United States Colored Troops in musical Battle Hymn of a Freedman. Grammy Winner and Tenor Saxophonist Dr. David Murray will perform in the play and CMC alumnus Samuel Reece '74 will narrate.
Citizenship and Nationality: How Immigration Rules Relate to Different Conceptions of Nationality around the World
Foreign immigration is a contentious issue around the world. One way of casting light on why it is more contentious in some countries than in others is to show how immigrant flows connect to various approaches that define nationality and citizenship in both source and destination countries. Professor John Agnew's Athenaeum lecture lays out a framework for understanding immigration "management" and illustrates it with case studies from Italy, South Korea, Mexico and the United States.
John Agnew is Distinguished Professor of Geography and professor of Italian at UCLA, where he received the 2007 Award in Distinguished Teaching. He taught at Syracuse University for 20 years before going to UCLA in 1996.
Agnew's research concerns political geography, international political economy, and European urbanization, with a special emphasis on Italy. He is the coeditor of The Sage Handbook of Geographical Knowledge (2010); Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Human Geography (2003); Landscapes, Identities, and Development (2011); and Contemporary Foundations of Space and Place (2002); and the author or coauthor of Globalization and Sovereignty (Outstanding Academic Title, Choice) (2009); Berlusconi's Italy: Mapping Contemporary Italian Politics (2008); Hegemony: The New Shape of Global Power (Outstanding Academic Title, Choice) (2005); The Geography of the World Economy (1989); and Making Political Geography (2002). He is past president of the Association of American Geographers, recipient of the association's Distinguished Scholarship Award, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest academic honor society. It has chapters at 280 institutions and more than half a million members throughout the country. Its mission is to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.
Rethinking the World Water Problem
LUNCHEON 11:30 a.m.; LECTURE 12:00 p.m.
Access to potable water is frequently said to be the defining world crisis of the twenty-first century. The argument is usually framed in terms of either direct environmental constraints or various totalistic views of how "the political" determines outcomes. There is little or no scope for the agency of practical politics. Many commentators tend to be dismissive of the possibilities of democratic politics to ever resolve "crises" such as those of water provision, in part because of views of scientific expertise that devalue popular participation in decisions about "technical" matters such as water quality and distribution. Such dismissal also has much to do with a more generalized denigration of politics. Politics (the art of political deliberation, negotiation, and compromise) needs defending against its critics and many of its practitioners. Showing how politics is at work around the world in managing water problems and identifying the challenges that water problems pose for politics provides a retort to those who can only envisage inevitable destruction or a totalistic political panacea as the outcomes of "the crisis of the century."
See previous article, Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.
An Evening with Joyce Carol Oates
The author of hundreds of short stories and over 80 novels and essay and poetry collections, Joyce Carol Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978, and a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Among her numerous awards, Oates is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, the PEN/Malamud Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Short Story, the Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in Literature, the Chicago Tribune LiteraryPrize for Lifetime Achievement, the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement, the O. Henry Prize for Continued Achievement in the Short Story, and the National Book Award. Oates was recently honored with the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. Her most recent books are Mudwoman: A Novel (2012); A Widow's Story: A Memoir (2011); and The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares (2011).
This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to host one of the most distinguished writers of our time, Joyce Carol Oates. Her visit to campus is made possible through the generous support of the President's Distinguished Speaker Series.
The Strangeness of Greco-Roman Thinking about Foreign Affairs—A Guide to the Eccentric Behavior of Modern States?
Jon Lendon earned a B.A. and Ph.D from Yale University, and is currently Professor of History at the University of Virginia. At Yale he was trained to work ambidextrously in Greek and Roman History by the Greek historian and leading public intellectual Donald Kagan (On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace [Anchor, 1996]) and the distinguished Roman historian Ramsay MacMullen. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles, including Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World (1997); Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity (2005); "Xenophon and the Alternative to Realist Foreign Policy: Cyropaedia 3.1.14-31" (2006); and Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins (2010).
A Canadian citizen, Lendon was born in Lebanon and grew up in Japan: his Japanese upbringing has made him especially sensitive to issues of status, manners, and honor in history, an awareness that strongly influenced Song of Wrath. From the same upbringing comes his sense of the weight of the past upon traditional societies, which is the inspiration for his Soldiers and Ghosts.
As an undergraduate in Yale College, he won prizes both for the highest academic standing in the humanities and the best senior thesis; as a graduate student he won the prize for the best dissertation. He has been a John M. Olin Fellow in History, a Junior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies (Harvard University), and held Humboldt and Henkel Fellowships at Heidelberg. In 2002 he received the UVA All-University Outstanding Teaching Award. Author of many articles and reviews on Greek and Roman History, he has given over eighty scholarly papers in the U.S. and internationally. http://www.lmqlit.com/author-display.php?art=J.E.+Lendon.
On Thursday, February 7th, Professor Lendon will deliver the Spring 2013 Harry Carroll Memorial Lecture at Pomona College. Entitled "Monumental Fountains and Rhetorical Education in the Roman Empire", this lecture begins at 4:15 p.m. in Pearsons Hall 101.
Same Sex Marriage and the Constitution
LUNCHEON 11:30 a.m.; LECTURE 12:00 p.m.
The framers of the American Constitution established a republican form of government and their work guarantees that form to the several states. That form assumes that legislatures will make the laws. And while the federal executive is given a share in lawmaking, judges are limited to the judicial power. However important courts are, their task is to interpret the law, not to make it. It is in the nature of the rule of law that such a distinction is easy to state but difficult to apply. The same-sex marriage controversy presents an instructive and important illustration of the difficulty in reconciling judicial review with republican government. To explore that subject, Professor Dry will consider (1) the arguments for and against same-sex marriage from a legislative prospective and (2) the level of scrutiny that courts should apply to traditional marriage laws.
Murray Dry is the Charles Dana Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College. He assisted his former teacher Herbert J. Storing, editor of The Complete Anti-Federalist (1985), in seeing the work through the (U of Chicago) press. He is the author of Civil Peace and the Quest for Truth: The First Amendment Freedoms in Political Philosophy and American Constitutionalism (2004) and he has written dozens of scholarly articles and essays on American constitutionalism. He is currently completing a book on Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution. He earned his A.B. A.M and Ph.D degrees at the University of Chicago.
America in the Pacific, From Polk's War to Obama's 'Pivot'
In 2011, President Barack Obama announced a new American foreign policy of a "pivot to Asia." This new strategy involves redirecting the focus of American foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific region. Despite this new direction for the government, U.S. involvement in Asian-Pacific affairs has spanned over two centuries. Over this time, the U.S. has not only influenced the make-up and direction of that region, but U.S. interactions with Asian-Pacific countries has also dramatically helped to shape America's industrial, technological, military and global rise to power. Drawing stories from his book Dominion from Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power (2009), which was selected as one of the Atlantic's 25 Best Books of the Year (2009), Professor Cumings will speak on these historical ties between the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region and the present course of these ties under the Obama administration in his Athenaeum lecture.
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History and the College and chairperson of the Department of History at the University of Chicago. His research and teaching focus on modern Korean history, 20th century international history, U.S.-East Asian relations, East Asian political economy, and American foreign relations. Author of ten books, his first book, The Origins of the Korean War (1981), won the John King Fairbank Book Award of the American Historical Association, and the second volume (2004) of this study won the Quincy Wright Book Award of the International Studies Association. He is the editor of the modern volume of the Cambridge History of Korea (forthcoming), and is a frequent contributor to The London Review of Books, The Nation, Current History, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Le Monde Diplomatique.
Professor Cumings was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999, and is the recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation, NEH, the MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study at Stanford, and the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council. He was also the principal historical consultant for the Thames Television/PBS 6-hour documentary, Korea: The Unknown War (1988). In 2003 he won the University's award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, and in 2007 he won the Kim Dae Jung Prize for Scholarly Contributions to Democracy, Human Rights and Peace. He is working on a book on the Northeast Asian political economy.
Bruce Cumings' visit to campus is jointly sponsored by the department of history at CMC and the Athenaeum.
No Stop Signs, No Directions-- Where's the Roadmap from Here?
LUNCHEON 11:30 a.m.; LECTURE 12:00 p.m.
A business owner for three decades, Betsy is President of Berkhemer Clayton Inc., retained executive search firm headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, specializing in senior level management searches in corporate communications, brand marketing and finance. Corporate clients include GAP, Mattel, KIA Motors, Ingram Micro, Disney, Toyota, Edison, SoCal Gas Company, The Irvine Company. University clients include USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, Cal-State Northridge, Caltech and University of Michigan. Non-profit clients: City of Hope, American Lung Association of California, Kaiser Permanente, L.A. CARE and Girl Scouts of LA and of Orange County.
Past statewide California president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-CA), Betsy co-hosts a business radio show with Renee Fraser every Sunday on KFWB Newstalk Radio 980-AM, also online at www.kfwb.com and at www.UnfinishedBusinessTips.com.
Betsy is Southern California chair of Women Corporate Directors, a membership group of executive women who currently serve on Fortune 1000 boards of directors. She also serves on the boards of NAWBO-California; Southern California Leadership Network (SCLN); and on California Utilities Diversity Council.
An author, her latest book will be released this fall (in press): The Board Game: Pathways and Strategies for Women to Get On Boards.
Before establishing Berkhemer Clayton, Betsy launched, built, and then sold one of the largest public relations agencies in Los Angeles. A graduate of UCLA, she began her career as a journalist and spent her early career with Disney Studios and NBC.
The Women and Leadership Alliance welcomes you to join us for an afternoon workshop following Betsy Berkhemer-Credaire's talk. The workshop is designed to support students during their time of preparation for post-graduation opportunities and employment, allowing students to connect with successful women leaders representing various fields of endeavor such as law, non-profit, entrepreneurship, consulting, entertainment, education, government service, marketing and social media, and medicine. Over 15 professionals will be in attendance from the various sectors, and eager to speak with students. For more information about the event, please contact Marisa Walter at email@example.com. Students may sign up for the workshop via CMConnect, 7-College Events, Career Service Events. Space is limited.
Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
Claremont McKenna College
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-8244
Fax: (909) 621-8579
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Campus Location
385 E. Eighth Street
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