Pitt American Experience Program to Present Debate Featuring Pennsylvania's Auditor General Robert Casey Jr. and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter

PITTSBURGH—The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter will be featured in an American Experience Discussion at 8:30 p.m. June 30, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Honors College in Benedum Hall's Benedum Auditorium, O'Hara Street, Oakland.

The topic of the by-invitation-only debate is "Should you vote for President Bush, Senator Kerry, or neither?" Acting as the discussion's designated interrogator, David M. Shribman, executive editor and vice president of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, will question the participants.

At the Post-Gazette since Feb. 3, 2003, Shribman came to Pittsburgh from The Boston Globe, where he was assistant managing editor, columnist, and Washington bureau chief. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1995 for his coverage of Washington and the American political scene.

Media availability for this event will at 8 p.m. on the first floor of the University Club, 123 University Place.

Elected auditor general in 1996, Casey took office in 1997. He is the eldest son of Ellen and Robert P. Casey, the late Pennsylvania governor. Robert Casey Jr., who was born and raised in Scranton, graduated from The College of the Holy Cross. He taught fifth grade in North Philadelphia as part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. In 1988, he earned the J.D. degree from The Catholic University of America, but postponed a legal career to help run his father's reelection campaign. From 1991 until he was elected auditor general, Casey practiced law. He is married to Terese (Foppiano) Casey, whom he met while in college. They are raising their four daughters within a few miles of where Casey grew up.

A U.S. Senator since 1980, Specter is Pennsylvania's first four-term senator. He was born to immigrant parents in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up in a small Western Kansas town. A former Philadelphia district attorney, Specter now chairs the appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Service, and Education. He also is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is in line to chair that panel in 2005. A stateside Air Force officer in the Korean War, Specter became chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee in 1997, a position he still holds. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Joan, a former four-term city councilwoman. They have two sons and four grandchildren.

For more information on the American Experience program, visit www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/ae/.

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6/25/04/tmw