September 17, 2001

Contact:

Sarah Ray

802-443-5794

sray@middlebury.edu

Posted: September 17, 2001

MIDDLEBURY,

VT - Rick Ridder, an international political consultant

and a member of the Middlebury College class of 1976, will

give a lecture titled “Ballot Box Wars and Warriors: An

Insider’s Guide to Political Campaigning” on Tuesday, Sept.

25, at 4:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Robert A.

Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route

125). The event is free and open to the public.

Ridder is

president and co-founder of Ridder/Braden, a Denver,

Colo.-based consulting firm that specializes in

organizational and developmental assistance for political

candidates and nonprofit organizations. Founded in 1985 by

Rick Ridder and Joannie Braden, the firm has been involved

in national and international politics at all levels. Its

clients include numerous nonprofit organizations, law firms

and corporations.

Ridder

possesses extensive experience from both the campaign trail

and his role as a consultant. He served as a senior

consultant for the 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign, national

field director for two other presidential campaigns, and

staff member for two additional presidential bids. As a

consultant to numerous United States Senate and House,

gubernatorial, and state and local campaigns, Ridder often

guides campaign staffs as they conduct daily operations.

He has

worked abroad in Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Spain,

Sweden and Venezuela as well as other countries. Ridder is a

frequent speaker at training programs and conferences, both

national and international, and has provided election

commentary for all three major U.S. television networks and

the British Broadcasting Corp. He is also the immediate past

president of the International Association of Political

Consultants.

Prior to

becoming a political consultant, Ridder was an independent

radio and television producer whose programming aired on

major networks. He holds a master’s degree in broadcasting

from Boston University, and a bachelor’s in political

science from Middlebury.

More

information about Rick Ridder and Ridder/Braden is available

at the firm’s Web site at http://ridder-braden.com/. For

more information about the lecture, contact David Rosenberg

of the Middlebury College political science department at

802-443-5612.