Glen Bolger - Glen Bolger is one of the Republican Party's leading political strategists and pollsters. He is a partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, a national political and public affairs survey research firm whose clients include leading political figures, Fortune 500 companies, and major associations. Public Opinion Strategies has 18 U.S. Senators, eight governors, and more than 50 Members of Congress as clients.
Roll Call newspaper, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, noted Glen "has quickly emerged as the pollster of choice for House and Senate Republicans."
In the 2006 elections, Glen handled the polling for two winning Senate campaigns, including Bob Corker of Tennessee, three winning Governor's races, and five new Republican Members of Congress.
In 2004, Glen handled the polling for six winning Senators, including John Thune of South Dakota, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Jim Bunning of Kentucky. Glen also polled for 27 members of Congress, including four freshmen. Overall, Glen polls for eleven U.S. Senators and five Governors.
For its work in the 2002 elections, Public Opinion Strategies won the "Pollster of the Year" Campaign Excellence Award from the American Association of Political Consultants.
Roll Call has noted for three election cycles that Glen was one of the "Money 20" - consultants in both parties who make a difference.
In state legislative races, Glen has polled for successful Republican legislative candidates in Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Washington State.
Glen's corporate polling experience includes crisis management polling for some of the top issues in recent years, as well as image and message work for major clients such as Wal-Mart, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Tyson Foods, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads, Intuit (the makers of Quicken), and numerous other Fortune 500 companies.
Prior to co-founding Public Opinion Strategies, Glen was the Director of Survey Research & Analysis for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the political arm of the House Republican Caucus. Glen is a graduate from The American University in Washington, D.C. Glen and his wife Carol have three daughters.
Mark Mellman - Mark Mellman is the CEO of The Mellman Group, a polling and consulting firm whose clients include leading political figures, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the nation's most important public interest groups. Mellman has helped guide the campaigns of some sixteen U.S. Senators, eight Governors and over two dozen Members of Congress, as well as numerous state and local officials.
The Mellman Group counts among its clients the Majority Leaders of both the U.S. House and Senate (Leader Harry Reid, Leader Steny Hoyer). The firm has picked up a Republican seat every election cycle for the 25 years Mellman has been in business and is the only major Democratic polling firm never to have lost an incum-bent re-election for Senate or Governor. In addition to Leader Reid, Senate clients includes Maria Cantwell, Dan Akaka, Barbara Boxer, Carl Levin, and Frank Lautenberg. Gubernatorial clients include Jon Corzine, Jennifer Granholm and Jim Doyle.
As a consultant to the Democratic Congressional Leadership, Mellman plays a central role in developing Democratic strategies on a variety of issues. Newsweek credits his work on the environment with helping “turn Bill Clinton green.” The Economist has recognized him as the advisor who was the brains behind the Democrats’ successful “Mediscare” strategy. The firm’s string of upset victories has led the Boston Globe to call The Mellman Group Washington’s “hottest” political consulting firm, and the New Republic describes Mellman as “a leading Democratic technologist.” Capitol Hill’s newspaper, Roll Call, named Mellman one of the most influential people in Washington when it comes to electing candidates to Congress. The Mellman Group was also the only Democratic firm to handle two of the Washington Post’s ten best incumbent campaigns. In 2006, the National Journal named Mellman its “Top Insider” for providing the most accurate predictions of the 2006 election cycle.
The firm also has a track record of success in numerous initiative campaigns, helping to defeat both California Proposition 226 (the anti-labor union dues initiative) and Proposition 38, the California School Voucher initiative and Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposals in 2005 as well as pass tobacco control initiatives, tax and bond in some 15 states. In the international sphere, Mellman has worked with a wide range of political and corporate clients in countries around the globe, including Great Britain, Israel, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and the Republic of Georgia, as well as the successful election of President Cesar Gaviria in Columbia.
The U.S. Departments of Justice (under President Bush), State and Labor have all turned to The Mellman Group for critical studies, as has the World Bank. In addition, Mellman works with some of the nation’s most important public interest organizations ranging from the American Cancer Society to the AFL-CIO, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National Environmental Trust, and the League of Women Voters.
Mellman’s corporate clients include Intuit (the makers of Quicken), SBC, Janus Mutual Funds, and United Airlines. His groundbreaking research has helped define how nonprofits and businesses can use the Internet for online communications, organizing, and fundraising.
Mellman received his undergraduate degree from Princeton, and graduate degrees from Yale University, where he taught in the Political Science department. He has served as a consultant on politics to CBS News, a presidential debate analyst for PBS, and on the faculty of The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
James A. Thurber - James A. Thurber is Distinguished Professor of Government and Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. Dr. Thurber has been on the faculty at American University since 1974 and was honored as the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year in 1996. He is author and co-author of numerous books and more than seventy-five articles and chapters on Congress, congressional-presidential relations, congressional budgeting, congressional reform, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns and elections. Dr. Thurber is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies announces results from a national public opinion survey on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and prescription drug safety. The poll was conducted by The Mellman Group (D) and Public Opinion Strategies (R) from September 4-6, 2007.
Findings include public views on: the overall public satisfaction with the U.S. health care system; confidence in the safety of prescription drugs medicines in the United States; trust in the FDA to evaluate and monitor the safety risks associated with prescription medicines; balancing speedy approvals of new medicines versus ensuring patient health and safety; public knowledge of, and support for, the FDA Revitalization Act (FDARA); and safety of U.S.-made prescription medicines versus products made in foreign countries (China, India, Europe, Canada).
The survey results are being announced as part of A Dialogue on Prescription Drug Safety: Seeking Common Ground, a program presented by American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and FORA.tv to examine efforts by public policymakers to enhance America's prescription drug safety systems and reform the FDA.
