He said proudly that when members of Edwards’ campaign team met with the Dems last week, they didn’t have to alter any aspect of their plan.

“Even after they’d committed to coming, if we didn’t have our act together we’d still be in danger of having our event not come through,” Hanzich said.

Brittani S. Head ’06, of Students for Edwards, credits the Dems for organizing the event, but says her group worked on encouraging Edwards’ supporters to come.

She said the group has about 25 members now but expects to recruit more after his visit.

“It’s a great opportunity that all these candidates are coming, regardless of who your candidate is,” she says

Hanzich says Kirkland House Masters Tom and Verena Conley were very supportive of the event, and provided the walkie-talkies that the Dems used to coordinate their activities.

The “Conversations with Candidates” speaker series is an outgrowth of other events that have taken place at Kirkland over the past several years.

Peter Emerson, in his second year as a residential scholar in the House, has helped to attract speakers including Glenn Close and Gary Hart.

Emerson lived with Matthews when both worked on a congressional campaign in the 1970s. When the Hardball host planned to bring his show to Harvard, Emerson says he worked with the Dems to plan the candidates’ visits to Kirkland in conjunction with the television show.

“Peter, who has organized campaigns, had the idea of getting all the Democratic candidates to come from across the street, where they have official functions, to talk to students,” Tom Conley says.

Since last spring, Emerson and the Conleys have been meeting to plan this year’s events.

Sloan J. Eddleston ’04 and Adam Kalamachi ’05, chairs of the Kirkland House speaker series, served as liaisons between the House and the Dems and say they spent 10-15 hours in meetings over the past several weeks.

“It’s great for students who want to get involved and who are interested in politics to have some experience...and a taste of what’s to come later,” Verena Conley says.

Setting the Stage

Meanwhile, across the street, the IOP’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum was turned into a television studio yesterday afternoon as about 20 members of the MSNBC production team checked lighting and sound and readied their cameras for the live broadcast.