STAFF REPORT

Stuart Stevens, a Mississippi native who served as Mitt Romney’s chief advisor during the 2012 presidential campaign, will address students tonight at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at 6 p.m.

Stevens is expected to speak on the state of American politics and the challenges of the 2012 campaign alongside addressing the future of the Republican Party and previous experience in the George W. Bush campaigns of 2000 and 2004.

Senior public policy major Evan Kirkham served in the financial organization of the Romney campaign and believes that the event presents a unique opportunity to learn from reflections offered by Stevens concerning the 2012 campaign.

“Working on the Romney campaign was an incredibly unique, unpredictable and rewarding experience,” Kirkham said. “I learned that the mission of a campaign is not just to rack up votes, but to activate voters.”

Kirkham believes that his experience working on the Romney campaign was worth the time invested.

“American voter turnout represents an alarmingly low percent of the population and if you consider how many of those citizens afford additional time, it is easy to see how scarce activism is,” Kirkham said. “The motto for any campaign team should be ‘win the day.’”

Amy Mark, associate professor and head of instruction for the J.D. Williams Library, said the event should be an eye-opener for students of all political backgrounds.

“Students can learn about the complexities of how the media represents candidates,” Mark said. “People need to see that campaign advisors are politicians, too, and learn to watch and comprehend how these advisors portray their candidate’s narration on American democracy.”