EVALUATION FOR A DVC ON THE U.S. NATIONAL

UNCLAS OTTAWA 001217 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN, IIP/G/WHA - CBARONE, INFO WHA/PDA - LHARRIS E.O.: 12958 N/A TAGS: OPRC OIIP CA OBSP SUBJECT: EVALUATION FOR A DVC ON THE U.S. NATIONAL ELECTION (10 NOVEMBER 2004) TRACKERS 22495 & 22496 ¶1. DESCRIPTION: Anne E. Stone, President, the Stone Group (Political Consultants) and Craig Charney, President, Charney Research gave a one hour, one country (Embassy and four constituent posts) DVC on the subject: "U.S. National Election: the results are in - A look back at the campaign and a look forward at U.S. foreign policy." ¶2. DATE, FISCAL YEAR, AND QUARTER: November 10, FY 2005; First Quarter. ¶3. JUSTIFICATION/OBJECTIVE: Canadians are very keen followers of the U.S. elections due to the close relationship between the two countries. Many Issues common to both countries will be affected by the results of the election. In 2000, PA Canada organized some very successful election programming, and Posts would like to take advantage of the interest in the 2004 national election to do the same. ¶4. MPP THEME: Mutual Understanding (MU); public diplomacy (PD). AUDIENCE REACHED: The DVC was well- attended at all Posts, and guests included a cross- section of federal and provincial government officials, academics, think tank representatives, and members of the media. The speakers were praised for their opening and closing statements together with their responses which were informative, useful and concise. All audiences appreciated the candor with which Ms. Stone and Mr. Charney talked about the campaign and the voter turnout. The information on the U.S. electoral process was very useful to quite a few members of the audience as it differs considerable from that in Canada. ¶5. QUALITY OF U.S. SUPPORT: Excellent. John Jasik, as usual, filled the moderator's role very competently, a task that is crucial to the smooth running of the program. ¶6. TECHNICAL EVALUATION: Excellent. Post expresses its appreciation to IIP for its assistance in the realization of this program. DICKSON