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WARD CONNERLY, author of the autobiography, Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences, is founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute – a national, not-for-profit organization aimed at educating the public about the need to move beyond race and, specifically, racial and gender preferences. Mr. Connerly has gained national attention and respect as an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, sex, or ethnic background.

As a member of the University of California Board of Regents, Mr. Connerly focused the attention of the nation on the University's race-based system of preferences in its admissions policy. On July 20, 1995, following Mr. Connerly's lead, a majority of the Regents voted to end the University's use of race as a means for admissions. He was appointed to a 12-year term as UC Regent in March 1993.

In 1995, Mr. Connerly accepted chairmanship of the California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209) campaign. Under his leadership, the campaign successfully obtained more than 1 million signatures and qualified for the November 1996 ballot. California voters passed Proposition 209 by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin.

Mr. Connerly also led the efforts to pass initiatives in the States of Washington and Michigan. Patterned after California's Proposition 209, these initiatives likewise required equal treatment under the law for all residents in public education, public employment and public contracting. Similar efforts are currently underway in Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona and Nebraska, a campaign known as Super Tuesday 2008.

Mr. Connerly has been profiled on 60 Minutes , the cover of Parade magazine, the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , Newsweek magazine, and virtually every major news magazine in America. He has also appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Crossfire, Hannity & Colmes, Meet the Press, Dateline, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and C-SPAN.

Mr. Connerly is President and Chief Executive Officer of Connerly & Associates, Inc., a Sacramento-based association management and land development consulting firm founded in 1973. He is the recipient of the 2005 “Bradley Prize” for his defense of freedom and democracy from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the 2001 “Black Student Association Award” from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, the “Ronald Reagan Award for Leadership from the California Republican Party” in 1998 and other awards and recognitions too numerous to mention.

Matt Blunt, Missouri's 54th governor was elected on November 2, 2004, carrying 101 of Missouri's 114 counties.

Governor Blunt was born November 20, 1970 in Springfield, Missouri. He attended public schools in Strafford, and graduated from Jefferson City High School prior to entering the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Prior to his election as governor, Matt Blunt served as an active duty Naval Officer, as a member of the Missouri General Assembly (District 139) and as Missouri's 37th Secretary of State.

Governor Blunt graduated from the Naval Academy in May 1993 with a bachelor of science degree in history. He went on to serve as an Engineering Officer aboard the USS JACK WILLIAMS (FFG-24) and as the Navigator and Administrative Officer on the USS PETERSON (DD-969).

Governor Blunt's active duty service included participation in Operation Support Democracy, involving the United Nations blockade of Haiti, missions to interdict drug traffic off the South American coast, and on duties involved in the interdiction of Cuban migrants in 1994.

During his Naval career, Governor Blunt received numerous commendations, including four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals.

Governor Blunt is the only statewide official in Missouri history called to active military duty in wartime, serving for six months in Operation Enduring Freedom, America's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He is currently serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves.

Governor Blunt campaigned on a platform pledging to make education the state's top policy priority, to reform the state's social welfare programs, to address Missouri's health care crisis, to improve Missouri's entrepreneurial climate and to protect working families by holding the line on job-killing taxes.

The Governor made good on several of those promises within his first 100 days in office.

Missouri has now enacted meaningful litigation reform to address a health care crisis that was driving doctors out of the state at the expense of patients in need of care and significant regulatory reforms that will lower costs for small business owners in our state, giving them the freedom to do what they do best, create jobs and stimulate the state's economy.

Governor Blunt also submitted a balanced budget to the Missouri General Assembly that contains a significant increase in funding for public schools without an increase in existing taxes or the imposition of new taxes on Missouri’s working families.

Governor Blunt married Melanie Anderson Blunt in March 1997. The couple recently welcomed their first child, William Branch Blunt, who was born on March 9, 2005. The Blunts attend a Baptist church near their home. Governor Blunt is a member of the American Legion and the Missouri Farm Bureau.

Judge Robert G. Ulrich was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals in March 1990 by Governor John Ashcroft; he was retained in the 1990 and 2002 general elections. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Ulrich served in the Reagan Administration as United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. He chaired the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys for three years, and also served on the Sentencing Guidelines Education Committee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

A Missouri native, Judge Ulrich took his B.A. from William Jewell College (majoring in history), and his J.D. from UMKC. He holds an LL.M. from UMKC, and a second LL.M. from the University of Virginia. Judge Ulrich is a past president of the UMKC Alumni Association, and sits on the UMKC Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Missouri Bar Association, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys, and the Association of Judicial Administration. Judge Ulrich is a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

President Bush nominated Duane Benton to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on February 12, 2004; he was confirmed by a voice vote of the United States Senate on July 8. He was appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to the Budget Committee of the United States Judicial Conference. Judge Benton served on the Missouri Supreme Court from 1991 until 2004, and as Chief Justice from 1997 to 1999.

Judge Benton is a 1972 graduate of Northwestern University and a 1975 graduate of Yale Law School, where he was managing editor of the Yale Law Journal. From 1975 to 1979 Judge Benton served as a judge advocate in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, he earned a master's degree in business administration and accountancy from Memphis State University, becoming a CPA in Missouri in 1983. Judge Benton also has an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Prior to joining the Missouri Supreme Court, Judge Benton served as Missouri's Director of Revenue from 1989 to 1991. From 1983 to 1989, he was engaged in private practice. A Vietnam veteran, Judge Benton retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve at the rank of Captain, after 30 years of active and reserve service. He is also an adjunct professor at Westminster College and the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.

Judge Dean Whipple began his career of public service in 1967 as Laclede County Prosecuting Attorney. In 1974, Judge Whipple was elected as Circuit Judge for Missouri's 26th Judicial Circuit; he was re-elected in 1980 and 1986.

Acting on the recommendations of Senators Danforth and Bond, in May 1987 President Reagan nominated Judge Whipple to serve as United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. Judge Whipple was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9, 1987, and entered duty on December 29. Judge Whipple served as Chief Judge from January 2000 until January 2007.

A native of Lebanon, Missouri, Judge Whipple earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Drury University, where he majored in Business Administration and Economics. Judge Whipple earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, and is a member of the Missouri and Kansas City Bar Associations.

Judge Bowman was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit by President Reagan on July 19, 1983 and entered on duty August 1, 1983. A former Fulbright scholar, he was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1933. He grew up in New Market and Timberville, Virginia, graduated from New Market High School, and in 1955 received a B.A. in English from Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, Virginia. In 1958, he received his J.D. from New York University, where he was a Root-Tilden scholar and served as managing editor of the law review.

Prior to his appointment to the Eighth Circuit, he was dean and professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law from July 1979 to July 1983. He was a visiting professor at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1978-79, dean and professor at Wake Forest University School of Law from 1970 to 1978, and a member of the faculty at the University of Georgia School of Law from 1964 to 1970. From 1958 to 1964, with time out for military service and his Fulbright year at the London School of Economics, he was associated with the New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Judge Bowman completed the graduate program for judges at the University of Virginia School of Law and received his LL.M. from the University of Virginia in 1986. Bridgewater College awarded him an honorary LL.D. in 1988. His service to the federal judiciary includes tours of duty on the Criminal Law Committee, the Federal-State Jurisdiction Committee, the Board of Directors of the Federal Judicial Center, and as chief judge of his court. After twenty years of service as an active judge, he took senior status in August 2003. He holds the rank of Colonel in the Army Reserve, and is a member of the bars of Missouri and New York.

Senator Matt Bartle was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri. He graduated magna cum laude in 1987 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. While at Mizzou, he was a member of The Mystical Seven, Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board. In 1990, Senator Bartle graduated cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois. He served as an editor on the Northwestern Law Review. Upon graduation from law school, he completed a one-year judicial clerkship for the Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Senator Bartle began his legal career with Bryan Cave LLP. In 1998, he joined Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw & Eisenbrandt, LLP.

Senator Bartle was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1998 and again in 2000. He served on both the House Judiciary and Criminal Law Committees. In 2002, the people of the 8th Senatorial District, which includes all of Eastern Jackson County, elected him as state senator. Senator Bartle is chairman of the Senate Judiciary, Civil and Criminal Law Committee. He also serves on the Transportation, Education and Commerce Committees.

During his tenure in the Missouri General Assembly, Senator Bartle has been a leader on issues related to civil and criminal law, economic development, and on the functioning of Missouri’s judicial system in general. Working with judges from all levels, Senator Bartle chaired the Joint Interim Committee on Judicial Resources which made recommendations on reallocating judicial resources in the state. Senator Bartle has been the lead sponsor of major reforms in Missouri law including the 2004 Missouri Securities Act, Quality Jobs Act, Missouri’s DNA Database and the Internet Sex Offender Registry.