Page 4 -Thursday, April 15,2004
Champ Champion wins NCPSA Paper competition
LAURA PHILLIPS
Staff Writer
Dar] “Champ” Champion Jr.,
a senior political science major at
Methodist, recently won the 2004
Troutman-Rainey Undergraduate
Paper Competition.
Champion’s paper entitled
“Factors that Affect the Election
of Female State Legislators”
revealed that women are just as
likely as men to win elections but
that few women run for office.
Because of the lack of
female candidates, Champion
conducted a study that answered
the question, “What types of
states are more likely to have a
higher proportion of female
legislators?”
His study identified three
different conditions in a state that
discourage female candidates
from .seeking legislation. These
set-backs included: a large num
ber of residents who identify with
a particular religion, a large
Baptist population and a large
frequency of women married.
Champion’s study also
unveiled the fact that there are
powerful societal factors such as
education that can play a role in
the percentage of female legisla
tion. His paper proved that states
that had a large percentage of
females with a college education,
tended to have more female
legislators.
Champion, who was
unaware about the competition,
w'as entered in by Dr. Ziegler.
Dr. Ziegler, who is the associate
professor of political science and
the head of the Department of
Government Studies, stated,
“Champ’s paper is one of the best
student papers 1 have ever read.
His paper was well organized and
he did an excellent job on linking
theory with statistics to prove his
f)oints.”
Ziegler believes that
Champion’s paper had the quality
and workmanship of that of
graduate level paper, which is the
main reason why he decided to
enter Champion’s paper into the
Troutrnan-Rainey Competition.
Sponsored by the North
Carolina Political Science .Asso
ciation, the Troutman-Rainey
Competition is held every year
The winner of the competition
receives a $100 reward and
honorable mention at the annual
North Carolina Political Science
Association Banquet.
As for Champion and his
plans after May graduation, he
will attend law school. After
applying to five different law
schools and accepted by each,
Champion decided to take a merit
scholarship at Georgia's Mercer
University Law School, where he
will be attending this fall. It
seems as though; life must be
good in the life of a “Champion.”
Rice speaks to Sept. 11 commission
LORENA NAVA
Contributing Story/U-Wire
(U-WIRE) SAN DIEGO —
National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice testified Thurs
day before the .special commission
investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.
She defended the Bush
administration’s handling of the
attacks during her questioning by
the 10-member panel. Rice’s
testimony revealed the name of the
president’s daily briefing report —
or PDB — during her time before
the commission. The Aug. 6 PDB
was titled “Bin Laden Determined
to Attack Inside the United States,”
Rice said. According to a U.S.
intelligence
official inter
viewed by The
Los Angeles
Times, the
actual title was
“Bin Laden
Determined to
Strike in U.S.”
In an interview
with National Public Radio, com
mission member Richard Ben-
Veniste, a Democrat and former
Watergate prosecutor, .said only
two members of the panel were
able to view the document prior to
Rice’s testimony. After the hearing’s
conclusion, Commission Chairman
Thomas Kean, the former Republi
can New Jersey governor, said he
hoped the White Hou.se would
declassify the Aug. 6 PDB for
further review by the commission.
By Thursday evening, the White
House reported it planned to make
the PDB public within the near
future. During her tw'o hours before
the commission. Rice also answered
questions based on statements
made by Richard Clarke, former
czar of counterterrorism for the
White House who previously
testified before the group. Rice
supported the Bush administration
and specified the nature of the
intelligence received in 2001. ’’The
threat reporting that we received in
the spring and summer of 2001 was
not specific as to time, nor place,
nor manner of attack,” she said.
“Almost all of the reports focused
on al Qaeda activities outside of the
United States. Most often, though,
the threat reporting was frustratingly
vague.” Rice refuted statements
made by Clarke, asserting he asked
to speak with the president on
terrorist threats. Rice said “not once
during this period” did Clarke ask
for time with the president. While
many of the Republican members of
the group had been mostly support
ive of Rice’s presence, former
Illinois governor James Thompson
asked why no action was taken
after the October 2000 bombing of
the USS Cole near Yemen. Rice
responded by saying the Bush
administration didn’t want to handle
attacks on a case-by-case basis
and instead opted for a more
strategic plan. In response, Thomp
son asked how many attacks would
warrant an act of war. Rice then
stated the president was “tired of
swatting flies” and sought to create
a broad plan. Former Sen. Bob
Kerrey (D-Neb.) then asked Rice
when the president had ever “.swat
ted a fly when it came to al Qaeda”
and asked why the government
hadn’t responded to the USS Cole
attack. According to the Chicago
Tribune, the audience applauded
Kerrey when he criticized military
operations in Iraq. He then pressed
Rice about the use of force in Iraq,
but not in retaliation against the
Cole attacks. Rice responded with
a statement of her own. ”rm aware,
Mr. Kerrey, of a speech that you
gave at that time that said that
perhaps the best thing that we could
do to respond to the Cole and to
the memories was to do something
about the threat of Saddam
Hussein,” Rice said to audience
applause.