- November 17th, 2006, 3:02 am
#41939
LU debate coach to work with McCain committeehttp://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 6213&path=
Ron Brown
rbrown@newsadvance.com
November 16, 2006
Brett O’Donnell, who guided Liberty University’s debate team to a consensus No. 1 national ranking earlier this year, is taking a leave of absence to become an adviser to presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain.
O’Donnell, who has coached LU’s debate team for 17 years, will serve as communications strategist for an exploratory committee assessing the viability of a McCain candidacy in 2008.
McCain, an Arizona Republi-can, on Thursday launched a presidential exploratory committee for a White House run. He has set up a campaign Web site at www.exploremccain.com.
O’Donnell is expected to start work with the campaign on Jan. 8.
“We’re very excited about that,” said John Weaver, McCain’s chief strategist. “We’re very fortunate to have him and his expertise and character with us. He has an innate ability to communicate and he certainly understands that role in a campaign.”
McCain, considered the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, was making several major speeches Thursday and was not available for comment, Weaver said.
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, LU’s co-founder and chancellor, said O’Donnell’s appointment is not necessarily a signal as to whom Falwell will support.
Falwell said he can back most of the prospective Republican candidates with the exception of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is pro-choice and pro-same-sex marriage.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and U.S. Sens. Bill Frist (Tennessee) and Sam Brownback (Kansas) have all been listed as potential GOP candidates, among others.
“I want to support the candidate that opposes (Sen.) Hillary (Clinton),” Falwell said. “Most of our Republican candidates are going to be pro-life and pro-family. It is doubtful that I will get involved until much later.”
Support from conservative evangelical Christians was critical to the election of President Bush in 2000 and 2004.
McCain first approached O’Donnell in May when McCain was LU’s graduation speaker.
“The senator was part of the pitch,” O’Donnell said.
Mark McKennon, a media adviser to Bush, recommended O’Donnell to McCain and his staff.
“He thought the work I did for the president was very good,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell helped prep President Bush for his debates with Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 campaign.
Bush ultimately was re-elected president.
O’Donnell said he will play an even greater role in the McCain campaign.
He will advise McCain on media interviews, help shape policy statements and prepare the senator for candidate forums and debates.
While he will work with McCain for the next year or two, O’Donnell is not severing LU ties.
“I’m taking a temporary leave of absence,” he said. “This was an extremely difficult decision for me. Being the director of debate at Liberty has been a special opportunity for me. Through the hard work of lots of students and coaches, we’ve built a nationally prominent debate program.”
Michael Hall, his assistant, will serve as the debate director in his absence.
“He was on the very first team I coached at Liberty,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell said regardless of the outcome of the McCain campaign, he would one day like to return to Liberty, where he did his undergraduate work.
“I credit Liberty with developing much of who I am as a person,” he said. “When I was a student at Liberty, I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to work with a president and another potential president.
“I relish the chance to give back to the university in any way I can.”
O’Donnell said Falwell didn’t set a time limit on how long his leave of absence could last.
“He basically said he would take me back whenever I decided to come back,” O’Donnell said. “He’s been very gracious in working with me with this opportunity.”
As LU’s director of debate, O’Donnell focused on providing students with skills in oral and written argument, critical thinking and persuasion.
His teams have won 18 national championships in intercollegiate debate over the last 13 seasons.
“No American university has been blessed with such a brilliant debate coach as Brett O’Donnell,” Falwell said. “Eighteen national championships speak for themselves. This has never happened before anywhere. My prayers go with him.”
- By Dalegarz1