(Note: The painting to the left is called ‘Unafraid And Unashamed’ by Julian Raven)
Politicon, the conference billed as the Comic-Con of politics, held its convention in Pasadena over the weekend. This is the second year of Politicon, which brings notable political players from the left and right and in between to discuss and battle over national politics.
The big event the first day was a debate between conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter and liberal CNN analyst and former White House aide, Van Jones. The attraction of this debate compelled organizers to move around panels shifting a Hillary Clinton panel to a smaller room, allowing for the larger room to host the Coulter-Jones debate.
Senator Barbara Boxer represented California with an appearance. In addition, nationally known Republican strategist Mike Murphy, a resident of the Golden State, contributed to two panels. Murphy, the only Republican on the Hillary Panel, answered a question about coming Clinton-Trump debates by cautioning that everyone was assuming Trump would be in the debate. Murphy suggested Trump might not be the Republican nominee either by an uprising of delegates or Trump exiting the race on his own.
The two-year old Politicon appeared in Los Angeles prior to this year’s stop in Pasadena. Why California? A spokesman said the founders of the event are California residents and that it was important to be close to the entertainment capitol. However, he said future events could take place in other parts of the country.
Politicon covered all perspectives, as some of the artwork lining the exhibit hall attached here will testify.