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Politics Panel - The 2020 Presidential Election, One Year Out

What does the political landscape look like? What have journalists learned and what might they do differently this time around?

Moderator: Russ Mitchell, 3News

Panelists:

Tom Beres, Political Commentator/Analyst

David B. Cohen, Professor of Political Science, University of Akron

Sabrina Eaton, Political Reporter, cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer

Karen Kasler, The Statehouse News Bureau Chief

Date: Oct. 29, 2019

Time: 11:30 registration, Lunch noon with program to follow

Location: Cibreo Privato (entrance on E. 14th St.)

1501 East 14th Street

Cost: Press Club members $30, Non-members $35, Tables of 8 $280

Click here to register online

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Moderator: Russ Mitchell, 3News

Russ Mitchell, former anchor of the CBS Evening News weekend editions and The Early Show on Saturday, and national correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, the CBS Evening News, and The Early Show joined the staff of 3News as Managing Editor Evening News and lead anchor of the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on January 16, 2012.

Mitchell was born in St. Louis and accepted his first television job at age 17 as a nighttime switchboard operator at KTVI-TV. He graduated from the University of Missouri, and began his professional career at KMBC in Kansas City. Larger markets and bigger stations soon followed, then a move to New York as the co-anchor of the overnight CBS News broadcast, Up to the Minute. In 1993 he was named a correspondent for Eye-to-Eye with Connie Chung. In 1995, Mitchell was assigned to the CBS Washington bureau. In July of 1997, Mitchell was named co-anchor of CBS News Saturday Morning and traveled extensively as a reporter for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and 48 Hours. He covered the war in Bosnia, went to the Democratic Republic of Congo and interviewed then President Laurent Kabila, reported from Cuba, India, Indonesia and The Marshall Islands.

Mr. Mitchell was on the anchor desk with Dan Rather on September 11, 2001 and reported from Ground Zero and other parts of Manhattan on the days and weeks that followed. Most recently, he anchored the live CBS Special Report coverage of the capture and death of Osama Bin Laden on May 1, 2011.

Russ has been honored with multiple local and national Emmys Awards. He has received the National Association of Black Journalists Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for his coverage of the Elian Gonzales story, the New York Association of Black Journalists Award for Best Documentary, and the Press Club of St. Louis 18th Annual Media Person of the Year Award.

Perhaps not as well-known, but equally important to Mitchell is the 2007 Missouri Honor Medal. He received it for Distinguished Service in Journalism from The University of Missouri School of Journalism, his alma mater. He also returns there every summer to help with a journalism workshop for high school students, a workshop he attended in 1977.

Tom Beres, Political Commentator/Analyst

Tom Beres is a longtime observer of Greater Cleveland and Ohio politics.

He reported for WKYC for 37 years, 18 as Senior Political Correspondent.

Tom was the longtime host of the political and civic discussion program, Between the Lines.

He moderated debates for U.S. Senate, Congress and Cleveland Mayor.

Tom won 5 Emmy awards, is in the Press Club Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

He remains active in civic affairs.

David B. Cohen, Professor of Political Science, University of Akron

David B. Cohen is a professor of political science and Assistant Director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron where he has taught since 2000. Professor Cohen earned a B.A. in political science and international relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A. in political science at the University of Tennessee, and a Ph.D. in political science at the University of South Carolina. Among others, he teaches courses on the American presidency, Congress, and homeland security. He is currently co-authoring a manuscript to be published by University Press of Kansas titled The President’s Chief of Staff: Evolution of a White House Institution. He has published numerous scholarly articles on the American presidency as well as in the area of homeland security. In addition to his academic pursuits, Professor Cohen is a frequent media contributor and guest speaker on national and Ohio politics, and has been a member of the Akron Press Club Board of Trustees since 2007.

Sabrina Eaton, Political Reporter, cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer

Sabrina Eaton is currently the one-woman Washington D.C. bureau for cleveland.com, where she covers everything in Washington that affects Ohio, from Congress to the Supreme Court to the Trump administration. In addition to writing, she shoots photos and videos. She was hired at The Plain Dealer in 1990 to cover Lake and Geauga counties. She transferred to its D.C. office in 1994.

Karen Kasler, The Statehouse News Bureau Chief

Karen Kasler is a lifelong Ohioan. She grew up in Lancaster, attended Otterbein College in Westerville, and found her professional break at WCBE-FM, Columbus. Karen was selected as a Fellow in the Kiplinger Master's Degree Program for Mid-Career Journalists at Ohio State University in 1994. She worked at WTVN-AM and WBNS-TV, both in Columbus - then followed eight years as afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor for WTAM-AM, Cleveland. Karen followed the demolition and rebuilding of Cleveland Browns Stadium, produced award-winning series on identity theft and the Y2K panic, covered the Republican National Convention in 2000 and the blackout of 2003, and reported annually from the Cleveland National Air Show each year, often going upside down in an aerobatic plane to do it. In 1999, she was a media witness to the execution of Wilford Berry, the first execution since Ohio re-instated capital punishment. Karen frequently reported for ABC Radio News, and in 2002 co-produced an award-winning nationally-distributed documentary on the one-year anniversary of September 11, featuring her interview with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from the West Wing of the White House.

Since returning to Columbus in 2004, Karen has covered major elections and the controversies surrounding them. She was a moderator for the gubernatorial debate in 2018 and US Senate debates in 2016, 2012, 2010 and 2006. She's also led debates on statewide issues such as drug sentencing, marijuana legalization, redistricting and the collective bargaining law known as Senate Bill 5. Each year she anchors the Bureau's live coverage of the Governor's State of the State, and has led coverage of the inaugurations of the last three governors.

She's produced features for NPR and "Marketplace", and has been interviewed by NPR, the BBC, NBC and stations around the country. She's a regular panelist on ideastream's "The Sound of Ideas", a frequent guest on WOSU-TV’s “Columbus on the Record” and has appeared on WBNS-TV's "Face the State".

Karen has been honored by the Association of Capitol Editors and Reporters, the Cleveland Press Club/Society of Professional Journalists and holds a National Headliner Award. She's won several awards from the Ohio AP, and is a four-time winner of the AP's Best Broadcast Writing award. She's a three-time Emmy nominee for "The State of Ohio". She's a past president of the Ohio Associated Press and has served on the Board of Directors for the Central Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. Karen is also a former adjunct professor at Capital University in Columbus.