Alyssa Jung-Editor
Chloe Jordan
Mitchell Epstein
Barbara Baez
Reggy Rivers

SUPER TUESDAY-Reporter's Journal

Many people seem to be coming to vote straight from work. The skies are dark and full of clouds, but no rain fell. More and more people started coming to vote shortly after I (MITCHELL) arrived. Every person that I approached was willing to answer questions and provided substantial, detailed responses. One woman even approached me and asked me what I was doing outside the middle school. I told her why I was there and she volunteered to answer my questions. The people that I interviewed felt satisfied about taking part in the election and the candidates they voted for.

Weather conditions made for a very hurried and unwelcoming day of voting. Trying to get quotes was difficult at the polls because people seem really inclusive about their personal voting decisions and opinions. Younger people were much more willing to voice their opinion and tell me (CHLOE) who they voted for and support. From some of the conversations that were overheard and expressed it seems that a lot of people are misinformed on how Super Tuesday works because some people thought this was only an election for democrats.

Despite the foggy and wet weather, heaps of people could be seen inside waiting for the polls. People were walking to their respective locations with smiles. Those surrounding me (REGGY) were on their cell phones calling their loved ones to tell them where they were and what had just occurred for them. My focal points for the assignment and interviews worked out pretty okay. I made some mistakes; however I can improve the minor fall backs, i.e. nervousness, stuttering, etc.

On Super Tuesday I (BARBARA) went to the poll at New Paltz High School. I staked out a spot inside the school by the doors to catch voters on their way out. The first couple of people that I approached were in a rush and could not speak to me, a little discouraging. The area was a little busy and hectic because the high school kids had just ended their school day, so this might have made people more anxious to get out of the school. I finally got a couple of people to speak to me about the elections once some of the High school kids cleared out of the area I was in. At first most of the people I interviewed seemed hesitant to speak, but they all eventually opened up about their opinions on the candidates, the issues etc. It was interesting to find out that all but two of the people I spoke to voted Democrat. They all had very strong opinions about which candidate in the Democratic party they saw more fit to handle the job as president. I went into the polls expecting to just get a general idea of what voters were feeling about the elections, and I came out with the conclusion that many people have solid opinions about who should be running the country. These opinions on who would be best for the job, I found, were rooted in the issues that matter most to people and how each candidate is addressing these issues.

I (ALYSSA) went to the MPR on campus to catch voters. It was raining out and I hate rain so I didn’t want to walk to the middle school or the high school. At the time that I went the majority of people were students. The ones I interviewed didn’t want to tell me who they were voting for but they didn’t mind talking to me about the election or the candidates in general. I asked them questions about what they thought about this 2008 Election thus far and which issues were important to them. Most of the interviewees were forthcoming with their responses and gave me some good information. I was hoping people would be more specific about who they were voting for and why, especially because it was the youth population and there is such conversation and debate about which candidate is most supported by the youth of America. All of the students I interviewed were Democrats and willing to give me that information. The polling location wasn’t swarming with voters but it wasn’t empty. I walked by it a couple hours later and it was busier. I was comfortable with the actual interviewing and I think this was because we did so much interview practice in J1. The only thing that made this assignment difficult was the fact that I had that situation I told you about. It put a damper on my entire day and honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was talk to people about the election and see all the people that WERE ABLE to vote. Other than this setback, the experience was positive and effective.

Since we weren’t conducting the interviews as a group and we didn’t come up with a standard set of questions we were going to ask people, this wasn’t the best indication of how we would have worked in a group. The group work that we did engage in was positive and effective. We came up with a general idea of what we wanted to ask people about beforehand and I think most of us asked similar questions and got great responses. Most of the quotes were structured correctly and didn’t need too much ‘editing.’ I decided to edit and compile each group member’s individual ‘reporters journal’ into one big reporters journal because I felt it was important to let their individual voices speak. I didn’t want to speak generally for everybody so I think this was a good choice and I think it works well.

News Story Ideas:

-A story about the importance of pulling the troops out of Iraq and an evaluation of which candidate would be best fit to accomplish this.

-Exploring what is more important to people in this election (thus far or based on the results of Super Tuesday). Experience and change (Clinton) or a more youthful outlook on change (Obama).

-Many people expressed distrust and frustration with the Bush Administration, so a story about what the public dislikes about his administration, what mistakes/negative things have occurred during his administration, what the next President will have to do to clean up his mess, etc.

-Each interviewee brought up a good point about how youth are either negatively portrayed in the media or they’re not as favored as grown adults. A good story venture would be about youth and their interpretations of the world they live in.