Episode Seven: Election Day
Hey, we had an election. I spent the day in Salt Lake City, Utah, talking with everyone I could find. By the end of the night, the streets were quiet.
This is what democracy looks like.
Episode Six: Everything Is Political
Around election time even food gets political. I’m in Chattanooga, Tennessee and I talked briefly with Ashley Hudson.
Looking, Very Closely, for Voter Fraud
Question I had while reading this today: Is stopping a single case of voter fraud worth the cost of disenfranchising a single legitimate voter?
“True the Vote’s plan is to scrutinize the validity of voter registration rolls and voters who appear at the polls. Among those in their cross hairs: noncitizens who are registered to vote, those without proper identification, others who may be registered twice, and dead people.”
Source: The New York Times
Episode Five: Conventions (Blue)
MarDee Xifaras talks about being a delegate at the Democratic National Convention and working on campaigns at the grass roots level.
Music by Plusplus and The Taxpayers.
Episode Four: Conventions (Red)
Michael Christensen talks about why his views are conservative and why his support is behind Mitt Romney for President.
Music by The Womb.
Master Character Narratives in Campaign 2012
Pew identified the “dominant or master narratives” about each candidate and found that 72% of media coverage about Barack Obama has been negative and 71% for Mitt Romney. Okay…stats, stats, stats, blah, blah, blah. Who controls the narrative and does it matter?:
“Journalists themselves now play a smaller role in shaping these media narratives than they once did. Journalists are the source for about half as much of the statements about the candidates as was the case 12 years go. The campaigns, by contrast, have come to play an ever larger role in shaping these narratives. The candidates and their partisan allies are the source for nearly a third more of the personal narrative about the candidates than in 2000.”
Source: journalism.org
Episode Three: Live Free Or Die
This week on Red State Blue State, I talk with Granite Staters Seth Chapman and Peter Rowell about growing up in New Hampshire, meeting Presidential candidates, and their thoughts on the upcoming election.
Music by Broke For Free
Episode Two: Veterans
This week on Red State Blue State I talk with producer Bianca Giaever about her project War Invoice. This episode features “The Unlikely Veteran”, a story about veteran Stephen Covell, produced by Bianca Giaever and Danny Loehr.
Music by Gillicuddy.
Episode Two: Extras
Behind the scenes of episode two. Here is the full chart from the Gallup Poll on confidence in institutions: 
-For more audio stories, pictures, blog updates from the War Invoice project, check out their website at warinvoice.org. -Articles about the growing gap between military and civilians:
- Survey Shows Growing Gap Between Civilians, Military, Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service “Our work is appreciated, of that I am certain,” he told members of the 2011 graduating class. “But I fear [civilians] do not know us. I fear they do not comprehend the full weight of the burden we carry or the price we pay when we return from battle.” -Retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen
- Gap Grows Between Military, Civilians On War, Tom Bowman, NPR (All Things Considered) “Just one-half of 1 percent of the American population has served on active duty during the last decade. That compares to the 9 percent who wore the uniform during World War II. … The civilians polled acknowledge that soldiers and their families make a lot of sacrifices. But only one-quarter see that as unfair. A large majority of civilians see it as ‘just being part of the military.’”
- As Fewer Americans Serve, Growing Gap Is Found Between Civilians and Military, Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times “The result is a military far less connected to the rest of society, a condition that some academics have said might not bode well for the future of military-civilian relations (the military is run by civilians). Others have warned that less connection between the military and the rest of society could lead to less-informed decisions about whether to go to war, because conflicts and the people who fight them are not part of most people’s everyday lives.”
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