‘Potomac Watch’ Columnist To Share Beltway Insights

Paul Gigot, the author of the popular and influential “Potomac Watch” column in The Wall Street Journal, will give a public lecture at UW–Madison Nov. 17.

Gigot will speak on “The Clinton Age” at 5:30 p.m. in the Morgridge Auditorium in Grainger Hall. Gigot’s appearance is sponsored by the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs, the School of Business and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Besides his weekly column on Washington politics, the Wisconsin native is a member of the Journal’s editorial board and appears weekly as a political analyst for the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS.

“Gigot’s visit is a great opportunity for students, faculty and the Madison community to have access to someone with his insights. He has one of the sharpest minds around on issues of politics and public policy,” said Donald F. Kettl, director of the La Follette Institute. “You can always count on Gigot to make you think hard and deep about policy, programs and politics.”

Gigot was raised in Green Bay and attended Dartmouth College. He worked for two magazines, the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong and National Review in New York, before joining the Chicago bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1980. In 1982 he moved to Hong Kong as the roving Asia correspondent. In 1984, he was named the first editorial page editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, also based in Hong Kong, contributing editorials and commentary to U.S. and Asian editions.