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Political pundit, media innovator to speak at St. Olaf

By Becca Heistad '09
October 17, 2008

Arianna Huffington, a political pundit, social commentator and media innovator, will visit St. Olaf Monday, Oct. 27 to discuss modern politics and the upcoming presidential election.

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Huffington
Her speech, titled "On the Road to the Election," will begin at 7 p.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel. The presentation, sponsored by the Political Action Committee, is free and open to the public.

Huffington is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a news site and blog that has transformed from its beginnings in 2005 as a mouthpiece for liberal celebrities into a top destination for informed discussion of American politics, business and entertainment.

The HuffPost, as it is known in the online community, is currently one of the most frequented websites in the blogosphere. In February the site drew 3.7 million unique visitors, according to Neilsen Online. Its nearly 2,000 high-profile bloggers include such names as John Cusack, Nora Ephron, Al Franken, John Kerry and Bill Maher.

Huffington is the best-selling author of 12 books on subjects ranging from feminism to Picasso to political reform. She also writes a nationally syndicated column and co-hosts public radio's political roundtable program "Left, Right & Center." In addition, Huffington is a frequent guest on politically oriented television programs such as "The O'Reilly Factor," "Nightline," "Crossfire" and "Hardball."

In 2006 Huffington was named to the "Time 100," Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people. She called Time's recognition "a tribute to the influence of the blogosphere, which has leveled the playing field between the media haves and the media have-only-a-laptop-and-an-Internet-connection crowd ... it has become a vital source of news and opinion, forever altering and democratizing the way we gather, process and share information."

From right to left
Originally from Greece, Huffington moved to England at age 16. She attended Cambridge University and served as president of the renowned debating society, the Cambridge Union. She graduated in 1972 with a master's degree in economics.

She became a registered Republican after moving to the United States in 1980, but during the Balkans conflict of the 1990s her politics began moving noticeably to the left. Huffington ran against Arnold Schwarzenegger as an independent candidate in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election, earning 0.6 percent of the vote. Huffington garnered attention from the political blogosphere after launching a satirical web animation for her campaign titled "The Hybrid Versus the Hummer," which featured a drag race between her economical Prius and Schwarzenegger's gas-guzzling Hummer.

Huffington is now closely associated with the Democratic Party and describes herself as a "former right-winger who has devolved into a compassionate and progressive populist."

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.