Volume 6, No. 10, November 14, 2008 Senator Barack Obama Wins Presidency Illinois Senator Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, winning 364 electoral votes and 53% of the popular vote. Senator John McCain of Arizona won 163 electoral votes and 46% of the vote. 66,361,433 votes were cast for Senator Obama and 58,024,608 were cast for Senator McCain. The Blue State-Red State count was 28- 22. In addition to gaining the White House, Democrats in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House picked up additional seats. U.S. Senate Democrats have picked up six seats in the Senate with the possibility of three more, depending on the outcome of contested races. Currently, there are 57 Democratic seats, including two Independents, Senators Bernie Sanders (VT) and Joe Lieberman (CT), who both caucus with the Democrats. Republicans now hold 40 Senate seats. Before the election, Democrats held 51 seats, including the two Independent Senators, and Republicans held 49 seats. The three undecided elections that will determine whether the Democrats have a filibuster-proof (60 votes) Senate are in Minnesota, Georgia, and Alaska. In Minnesota, Republican Senator Norm Coleman and challenger Democrat Al Franken await the outcome of a vote recount. In Georgia, a runoff is scheduled between Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and challenger Democrat Jim Martin on December 2. In Alaska, convicted felon and incumbent Republican Senator Ted Stevens narrowly trails challenger Democrat Mark Begich. ADEA Members Encouraged to Complete Survey on Health Care Reform Now On ADEA Website With the historic presidential election now over, President-Elect Barack Obama’s administration and the 111th Congress will turn their attention to the many challenges facing our nation, one of which is health care reform. To that end, at the recommendation of the ADEA Legislative Advisory Committee (LAC), the ADEA Board of Directors in June 2008 unanimously approved as “interim ad hoc policy” a statement with regard to the Association’s perspective on the issue and our role in the national debate. ADEA members are encouraged to spend three to five minutes completing the Health Care Reform Survey, which is linked to on ADEA’s home page. Members have until December 31, 2008, to register their reactions to the policy statement. Participants in two recently concluded ADEA meetings, the 50th Annual ADEA Deans’ Conference and the ADEA Fall 2008 Meetings, were surveyed. Since November 1, when the survey was first posted on our website, more than 140 members have responded. Your opinions are of great value to the ADEA Board of Directors. For that reason, the Board is open to members’ feedback via the survey. The health care policy statement will be presented as a resolution to the ADEA House of Delegates when it meets in Phoenix in March 2009. ADEA members may access the survey and policy statement at the following web locations. The ADEA Health Care Reform Survey http://www5.adea.org/cgi-bin/rws4.pl?FORM=HealthReformSurveyFall2008 The ADEA Health Care Reform Statement and Principles http://www.adea.org/policy_advocacy/federal_legislative_regulatory_resources/Documents/BOD%20Appro ved%20Principles%20and%20Statement%20June%202008.pdf If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Dr. Ifie Okwuje at 202-289-7201 or [email protected]. New Senate Democrats • Mark Udall (CO) won the seat of retiring Republican Senator Wayne Allard. • Jeanne Shaheen (NH) defeated incumbent Republican Senator John Sununu. • Kay Hagan (NC) bested incumbent Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. • Tom Udall (NM) won the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pete Domenici. • Mark Warner (VA) won the seat of retiring Republican Senator John Warner. • Jeff Merkley (OR) defeated incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith. New Senate Republicans • Jim Risch (ID) won the seat of retiring Republican Senator Larry Craig. • Mike Johanns (NE) won the seat of retiring Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. U.S. House of Representatives Democrats have increased their majority in the House of Representatives from 233 to 256. There are five seats that are currently undecided. Republicans now have 174 seats and face a possible loss of 28 seats. The new House of Representatives members are: Alabama Louisiana New York (cont’d.) Bobby Bright (D), 2nd Bill Cassidy (R), 6th Chris Lee (R), 26th Parker Griffith (D), 5th Eric Massa (D), 29th Maine Arizona Chellie Pingree (D), 1st North Carolina Ann Kirkpatrick (D), 1st Larry Kissell (D), 8th Michigan California Mark Schauer (D), 7th Ohio Duncan D. Hunter (R), 52nd Gary Peters (D), 9th Steve Driehaus (D), 1st Steve Austria (R), 7th Colorado Minnesota Marcia Fudge (D), 11th Jared Polis (D), 2nd Erik Paulsen (R), 3rd John Bocciere (D), 16th Betsy Markey (D), 4th Mike Coffman (D), 6th Mississippi Oregon Gregg Harper (R), 3rd Kurt Shrader (D), 5th Connecticut Jim Hines (D), 4th Missouri Pennsylvania Blaine Luetkemeyer (R), 9th Kathy Dahlkemper (D), 3rd Florida Glenn Thompson (R), 5th Alan Grayson (D), 8th Nevada Bill Posey (R), 15th Dina Titus (D), 3rd Tennessee Tom Rooney (R), 16th Phil Roe (R), 1st Suzanne Kosmas (D), 24th New Jersey John Adler (D), 3rd Texas Idaho Leonard lance (R), 7th Pete Olson (R), 22nd Walt Minnick (D), 1st New Mexico Utah Illinois Martin Heinrich (D), 1st Jason Chaffertz (R), 3rd Debbie Halvorson (D), 11th Harry Teague (D), 2nd Aaron Schock (R), 18th Ben Ray Lujan (D), 3rd Virginia nd Glenn Nye (D), 2 th Kansas New York Gerry Connolly (D), 11 nd th Lynn Jenkins (R), 2 Michael McMahon (D), 13 st Paul Tonko (D), 21 Wyoming th Kentucky Dan Maffei (D), 25 Cynthia Lummis (R), At-Large nd Brett Guthrie (R), 2 ADEA Washington Update Volume 6, No. 10, November 14, 2008 Page 2 The five House races that have yet to be called are: 1. Alaska (At-Large): incumbent Republican Don Young and challenger Democrat Ethan Berkowitz 2. California (04): candidate Republican Tom McClintock and candidate Democrat Charlie Brown 3. Ohio (15): candidate Republican Steve Stivers and candidate Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy 4. Virginia (05): incumbent Republican Virgil Goode and challenger Democratic Tom Perriello 5. Washington (08): incumbent Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Darcy Burner See Special Issue of ADEA Washington Update (emailed November 14, 2008) For a Summary of State Election Results Deadline Approaching for Legislative Fellowship Applications The ADEA/Sunstar Americas, Inc./Harry W. Bruce, Jr. Legislative Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for faculty and administrators at ADEA member institutions to enhance their professional development while spending a total of three months at the ADEA office in Washington, DC, at a mutually agreeable time while Congress is in session. Sunstar Americas, Inc. provides a generous stipend of $15,000 to help cover travel and expenses for the in- residence portion of the fellowship. The fellow’s institution continues to provide salary support for the duration of the experience. ADEA is flexible in the arrangement of time away from a fellow’s institution. Past fellows have returned to their institutions with a new sense of the educational and political environment and provide valuable leadership to their administrations. The application deadline is December 17, 2008. Faculty and administrators interested in applying may speak with the current fellow, Dr. Janet Leigh, by emailing [email protected] or contact Jack Bresch at [email protected] or 202-289-7201. Application: www.adea.org/professional_development/adea_scholarships_awards_fellowships/Documents/ ADEA%20AWARDS%20APPLICATIONS%20EDUCATORS%2008.pdf Program description: www.adea.org/professional_development/adea_scholarships_awards_fellowships/ Documents/BruceFellow09.pdf Dr. Raynard Kington Tapped As Acting Director of NIH Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt named Dr. Raynard Kington, the Principal Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as Acting NIH Director, effective October 31, when Dr. Elias Zerhouni departed. Dr. Kington has a long history with the NIH. He was appointed Deputy Director of NIH on February 9, 2003. In that role he shared in the leadership of the NIH and was part of the team that oversaw the policy direction and coordination of 27 Institutes and Centers at the NIH. Dr. Kington has also served as Associate Director of NIH for behavioral and social sciences research and Acting Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Prior to his tenure at NIH, Dr. Kington was director of the Division of Health Examination Statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He also served as a senior scientist in the health program at the RAND Corporation, where he was co-director of the Drew/RAND Center on Health and Aging, a National Institute on Aging Exploratory Minority Aging Center. Dr. Kington received a B.S. and an M.D. at the University of Michigan. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Michael Reese Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Kington was also a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. with a concentration in Health Policy and Economics at the ADEA Washington Update Volume 6, No. 10, November 14, 2008 Page 3 Wharton School. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Tabak Appointed Principal Acting Deputy Director of NIH Director of National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., has been chosen to be the new Principal Acting Deputy Director for the NIH, effective November 13, 2008. While Acting as Principal Deputy Director of NIH, Dr. Tabak will also continue his role as the NIDCR Director. Dr. Tabak was the Senior Associate Dean for Research and a professor of dentistry, biochemistry, and biophysics in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester in New York before assuming his role at the NIH in September 2000.