On Nov. 4, Americans chose their president. Now, they’ll look at the consequences.

After a landmark election, our new president confronts financial catastrophe, an unpopular war, a deepening energy crisis, legions of uninsured and mounting job losses.

The course of the election and how the president will face the many difficulties ahead are the focus of “Election 2008: Post Mortem ‘ Preview,” a forum featuring Steve Hurst, international political reporter with The Associated Press, a panel of Kentucky politicians and an economist.

“It is important for residents to come together in the aftermath of a partisan political season and examine where we as a region go from here with the welcoming of a new administration,” said Blair Schroeder, the chairman of the steering committee for the Northern Kentucky Forum. The Forum is sponsoring the event.

“Our event will be just a week after election day,” Mark Neikirk, director of the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement, said. “Our panelists will bring their reflections and insights to the discussion, but the audience will be invited to join the conversation throughout the evening.”

Hurst will open the forum with his assessment of the 2008 election, which he reported on extensively, according to a press release. He will then share his views on the president’s challenges ahead from perspectives gained over 30 years of reporting as a foreign war and political correspondent for NBC, CNN and the AP.

Hurst previously served as the AP Baghdad bureau chief and has won awards for his reporting on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the Soviet coup in 1991 and Russia’s 1993 parliament uprising, according to the AP.

After the opening, listeners can share their thoughts and concerns in a Q-and-A session with Hurst.

The discussion will also contain a wide spectrum of views as Hurst is joined by Kentucky State Auditor Crit Luallen, a democrat; Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a republican; and Dr. Martin Giesbrecht, professor emeritus of economics at Northern Kentucky University.

The panel will be moderated by Terry Grundy, Director of Community Impact at the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

It will take place at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Otto Budig theater