National Radio Project

MAKING CONTACT - a weekly international radio program

ElectionWatch '04

in-depth analysis of election-year issues

ElectionWatch '04 was the first Making Contact program of each month, leading up to and beyond the November elections. ElectionWatch '04 promoted fully informed participation in the democratic process. Each program focused on a single issue, some that the candidates were addressing and some that they were not. ElectionWatch '04 clarified the connections between the main topic and related issues - links that are often missing from conventional news sources.

Download Election Watch '04 Promos:   :30 with :10 end bed for station ID - or - :60 with :10 end bed for station ID

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44-04 The Final Choice
A look at an international mission to observe the U.S. elections, the impacts of a decade-long Republican-controlled Congress and an effort in the hip hop movement to persuade young voters to go to the polls. View full description

41-04 Swinging the States
Electoral votes and swing states. We'll hear from individuals in Florida and Pennsylvania, and a swing state strategy some Green voters are choosing. View full description

36-04 Working Hard for Change
Economic anxieties driving voters - such as access to health insurance, affordable childcare, and livable wages. View full description

32-04 Systems Failure
Disenfranchisement of African Americans in Florida, the debate over electronic voting machines and Electoral College reform in the state of Colorado. View full description

28-04 All the News That's Fit to Buy
How media companies have failed the public interest by influencing the political process. Also, media critic and author Robert McChesney, talks about how the media's complicity with the government impacts the health of democracy in the United States. View full description

27-04 Progressive Strategies
What some activists say the progressive movement needs to become in order to win the November elections, including Reverend James Forbes, senior minister of the Riverside Church in New York City; political commentator Jim Hightower, and author and activist Arianna Huffington at the Take Back America conference in June 2004. View full description

23-04 War on Terror
How communities most impacted by Bush's war on terror will vote in the upcoming 2004 elections. Also, how the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq are playing a role in the election year. View full description

19-04 Hip Hop and Elections
Grassroots activists within the hip hop community using hip hop to organize around the November elections and beyond. View full description

15-04 Taxonomics: Federal Tax Cuts and the Budget Deficit
How President Bush's tax cuts impact the economy, state budgets, and small businesses. View full description

10-04 Home Economics: Women and Voting
Presidential candidates realize they need to address the issues that women care about such as healthcare, jobs, and the economy- but do women themselves feel spoken to? On this edition of Making Contact's ElectionWatch'04- a monthly special from the National Radio Project— we explore the pre-election concerns of a variety of women, including women in labor unions, Latina immigrants and unmarried women as powerful voting blocs. View full description

06-04 Youth Vote: Mobilizing from the Grassroots
A roundtable discussion with young activists and grass-roots organizers about youth voting behavior and efforts to mobilize young people around the 2004 presidential elections. View full description

02-04 Pushing Medicare: The Health Industry and Public Subsidies for Prescription Drugs
A look at Medicare and prescription drugs. View full description

49-03 The Texas Two-Step: Bush, Corporate Cash, and Environmental Rollbacks
The oil, gas, mining, and electric utilities industries' influence on the Bush Administration's environmental policies and what the effects have been on our tax dollars and communities located near industrial facilities. Also, campaign finance reform and how limitations on soft money contributions may affect the 2004 presidential race. View full description

45-03 Participation and the Common Good
Tenants rights activists in the San Francisco area who are fighting for affordable housing; a predominantly low-income, African American neighborhood in Denver, Colorado's community court that aims to turn juvenile offenders into active and engaged community members; and a Westminster, Vermont school where students engage in democracy to shape school policy. Produced as part of the Public Radio Collaborative series called "Whose Democracy is It?" View full description