NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@alpha.nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

3/20/2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - One of the nation's most respected political consultants, Ray Strother, will lecture at Northwestern State University Monday, April 2 at 2 p.m. in Room 142 of Kyser Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. The lecture is part of the Department of Journalism's "NewsMakers and Shakers" Series.

A Northwestern alumnus, Strother is head of Strother Duffy Strother, his political consulting agency in Washington D.C. with branch offices in Atlanta and Austin. His agency has run presidential, U.S. Senate and House campaigns as well as gubernatorial campaigns. Strother is one of the most sought after political consultants in the country.

A frequent speaker at Harvard, Strother has also taught at the University of Bologna.
Strother is a frequent commentator on network television and has written for Newsweek, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and scores of other publications. He was described in "Campaigns and Elections" magazine as the "Poet of Democracy." His novel, "Cottonwood," was published by E. P. Dutton in 1991. A book by Strother on political consulting is scheduled to be published in August. The title of Strother's talk at NSU, "How a Redneck Helped Invent Political Consulting" will be the subtitle of his new book.

Strother attended Northwestern in 1958-1959. He then transferred to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where he received a bachelor's degree in journalism.

He began his career as a reporter and photographer with the Associated Press while in undergraduate school at LSU. While earning his master's in journalism from LSU, Strother focused on propaganda and its use in politics. In Strother's l965 Master's thesis on the political candidate and the advertising organization, he predicted that future political campaigns would be dominated by media and not organizations.

Strother is a member of the LSU Journalism Hall of Fame. He is the current president of the American Association of Political Consultants. In 1999, Strother was made a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. He was named a "Living Legend in Georgia" for his work in the campaign of Gov. Roy Barnes.

Strother and his wife Sandy live in Washington D.C. and Montana.

For more information on the lecture contact NSU Assistant Professor of Journalism Mary Brocato at (318) 357-4433.

Main Menu