Welcome to another issue of our weekly bulletin! Find out who our upcoming speakers are, what we covered during the last weekly meeting, and learn more about our Member of the Week.
Do Running Mates Matter?: The Influence of Vice Presidential Candidates in Presidential Elections, Dr. Kyle Kopko, Director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania General Assembly
The American vice presidency, as the saying goes, “is not worth a bucket of warm spit.” Yet vice presidential candidates, many people believe, can make all the difference in winning—or losing—a presidential election. Is that true, though? Did Sarah Palin, for example, sink John McCain’s campaign in 2008? Did Joe Biden help Barack Obama win? Do running mates actually matter? In the first book to put this question to a rigorous test, Christopher J. Devine and Kyle C. Kopko draw upon an unprecedented range of empirical data to reveal how, and how much, running mates influence voting in presidential elections.
Building on their previous work in The VP Advantage and evidence from over 200 statistical models spanning the 1952 to 2016 presidential elections, the authors analyze three pathways by which running mates might influence vote choice. First, of course, they test for direct effects, or whether evaluations of the running mate influence vote choice among voters in general. Next, they test for targeted effects—if, that is, running mates win votes among key subsets of voters who share their gender, religion, ideology, or geographic identity. Finally, the authors examine indirect effects—that is, whether running mates shape perceptions of the presidential candidate who selected them, which in turn influence vote choice. Here, in this last category, is where we see running mates most clearly influencing presidential voting—especially when it comes to their qualifications for holding office and taking over as president, if necessary. Picking a running mate from a key voting bloc probably won’t make a difference, the authors conclude. But picking an experienced, well-qualified running mate will make the presidential candidate look better to voters—--and win some votes.
With its wealth of data and expert analysis, this finely crafted study, the most comprehensive to date, finally provides clear answers to one of the most enduring questions in presidential politics: can the running mate make a difference in this election?
Dr. Kyle C. Kopko earned his Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University in 2010, with concentrations in American politics, judicial politics, and public law. From 2010 to 2020, Dr. Kopko served as a political science professor at Elizabethtown College. During his time at Elizabethtown College, he earned the rank of a tenured Associate Professor of Political Science and served in a variety of academic and administrative roles. Dr. Kopko's administrative experience includes serving as Director of the Pre-Law Program, Director of the Honors Program, Assistant Dean, and Associate Dean. He is also a past-president of the Northeast Association of Pre-Law Advisors and a former member of the Finance Committee of the National Collegiate Honors Council. Dr. Kopko also participated in the Senior Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Council on Independent Colleges and American Academic Leadership Institute.
In 2020, Dr. Kopko was appointed Director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania,* a legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In this capacity, Dr. Kopko oversees the Center's operations, including research and grant programs that examine a wide range of policy issues that affect rural Pennsylvanians.
Dr. Kopko has spoken on a wide range of policy and political topics. He has taught courses on American national government, Pennsylvania politics, and constitutional law.
In another Rotary Club of Lancaster First, Sarah Popovich & Matt Werner were inducted virtually at today’s Zoom Meeting.
Sarah Popovich
Sarah Popovich is very excited to make history in the Lancaster chapter by being one of the first members inducted virtually!
She is a single mom to two school-aged girls, Emma and Lyza. She loves spending time with them doing a myriad of things, like watching movies, riding bikes, or playing at the pool, or seeing a live theater show, but her favorite activity with them is painting or doing papercrafts. Aside from the craft time with the kids, Sarah also pursues artistic endeavors of her own including clay projects, refurbishing furniture, painting, and tye-dye. Sarah also loves to read, mostly non-fiction- like biographies and books on personal growth, business development, and the spiritual aspects of being human. Sarah loves movies- especially superhero movies! Her favorite character of all time is Wonder Woman, but she’s well versed in all the nerdy genres including Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, and DC. Additionally, she loves a good Broadway musical, a Disney movie, and any sort of live theater production.
Her life goal is to be successful by building good personal habits and keeping a sharp focus on what’s important to her. Her mission in life is to be successful and then turn around and help those coming up behind her. She expresses this through her involvement in the community. She volunteers at the Domestic Violence Services shelter regularly. She is in the process of becoming a SCORE mentor, to help entrepreneurs and new business owners be successful. She loves her involvement with the Polka Dot Powerhouse which seeks to empower and connect the dots among female business owners. And, when school was still in session, she loved helping with the Junior Achievement League of South Central PA, teaching kids and young adults how to manage finances, start a fictitious business, and be money smart. Money is an integral part of Sarah’s life as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and she believes everyone should have an experienced, knowledgeable voice in their corner no matter how much or how little money you might have.
Overall, Sarah loves helping people. She firmly believes in self-care (helping herself first) so that she can be the best version of herself for others. She may not be a full-blown extrovert, but she loves people and she’s excited to add The Rotary Club to her network and get to know each of the members.
Sarah’s contact info is as follows:
The preferred method of communication would be email or text!
Matt Werner is a Lancaster native, growing up in Leola and graduating from Conestoga Valley High School. He played football for the Buckskins, and volunteered for Conestoga Valley Youth Athletics. Matt attended Shippensburg University, where he obtained a Bachelor’s of Science in Criminal Justice.
While attending college, Matt dedicated his time to volunteering for Magnolia’s of Chambersburg, an assisted living and senior care facility. After college, Matt joined the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department, providing public safety for the transportation industry within the Nation’s Capital Region. He served as an Explosive Detection Canine Handler, working alongside his Canine partner “Russell,” a male Weimaraner. Matt and Russell trained together at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Aside from providing explosive detection for the Capital Region, Matt and Russell were able to provide public safety for large gatherings and sporting events. For instance, the two traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to participate in the security operations for Super Bowl 52.
During his tenure as a Police Officer, Matt was an ambassador for youth mentorship programs, the Special Olympics, career fairs, and the Scouts of America. At the end of 2019, Canine Russell retired from the Department of Homeland Security as an Explosive Detection Canine. Matt made the decision to leave the Police Department and return to the Lancaster area to pursue a different career path, and be closer to his immediate family. Matt started his career as the Director of Business Development for CGA Companies (CGA Architects, CGA Construction, and LCS Millwork) in December 2019.
He is excited to reconnect with the Lancaster community, and views his new membership with the Rotary as a perfect opportunity to provide service to the community he now calls his own again.
Your Dues Invoice for July to December 2020 has been emailed to you. Should you choose to pay online, the instructions follow:
Go to lancasterrotary.org, then in the upper left corner is Menu, click on that. Then Click on Membership. Membership Quicklinks is in the lower right corner, click on Member Resources. Pay Member Dues appears in the lower right corner. Click on Add to Cart, a screen will appear where you can pay. As indicated on your Dues Invoice, please do not pre-pay your lunches until we begin our physical meetings.
You can also send your payment via US Mail to Rotary Club of Lancaster, P O Box 1387, Lancaster, PA 17608.
A Concern from Joe Rogevich: It is with great sadness that I am reporting the unexpected passing of my brother Edward. He was a vibrant and apparently healthy man and loved by everyone who knew him. He will be missed.
A Joy From Stephen Gunzenhauser: We are very excited. The Endless Mountain Virtual Music Festival videos were launched July 1st. There were over 1,000 hits from all over the world- including Bulgaria, France and Israel. There are 25 videos featuring all kinds of music that would have been presented during the 2020 “live” Festival. The videos include Emerging Hollywood Composers, Blues Guitar, Celtic music, stride piano, and, of course, classical music.
All Rotarians – especially committee chairs – are encouraged to help keep our new Club Calendar full and updated with the great things that our Club is doing in the community. Please submit any items you would like added to Kathy by e-mailing her atRotaryClubofLancaster@gmail.com. Examples include the schedule of McCaskey Mentoring Sessions, Committee Meetings, Power Packs or Salvation Army Bell Ringing. If it’s happening, let’s get it on the Calendar for all to see! Your help will keep us all updated with what’s going on within the Club AND will showcase our very active Club to the Lancaster Community and to prospective members. The Club Calendar is available atwww.LancasterRotary.org
