Today's program is made all of stories from the New Hampshire primary. Voters want to find a candidate who inspires them. Candidates want to inspire. So where's the system failing? Why do most of us feel like the system doesn't produce anyone inspiring? We hear stories that answer why. We hear from voters who've found candidates they love. And we hear what those voters are seeing that the rest of us aren't.
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Prologue
Three days into the beginning of the new millenium, Kahari Mosley and Garcia Suzinko left home to do something they'd never done before: They took a twelve-hour bus ride to New Hampshire to volunteer for a Presidential campaign. What they saw...and what moved them to volunteer in the first place. (6 minutes)
Act One
Eliminate The Middleman
Here in America, here's how we interact with our political candidates: We dispatch middlemen to the scene, they listen to what the candidates say, they research the candidates' backgrounds, and they tell us what they think is most important. Those middlemen, of course, are journalists. Sarah Vowell tells a fable about the difference between the way the middlemen see the world and the way non-journalists see it. (23 minutes)
Act Two
The Mask Behind The Mask
Usually it's difficult to get to know the front-runner in a Presidential race. With the most to lose, front-runners are the least spontaneous candidates. They stay on message. In debates, George W. Bush often gives the same few answers to all sorts of different questions. Sarah Koenig has been covering the Bush campaign for months for the Concord Monitor, a New Hampshire newspaper. She tells a story of trying to get to know the "real" George W. Bush. (14 minutes)
Song:
“No One Will Ever Know” by Hank Williams, Sr.
Act Three
Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Mosh Pit
Alex Blumberg tells the story of citizens who feel perfectly connected to their candidate of choice. Citizens who feel inspired by him. Some will even say he's as inspiring as "pulling a misty flip." (11 minutes)
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Act Two
Brent Runyon tells the story of the day in eighth grade that he set himself on fire...and what led to that.
Act Two: Television Man
Campaign diarist Michael Lewis, on his transformation into a television reporter, and on an inspiring moment in American politics between two supposed political enemies from the 1960's.
Act Four
Glen Fitzgerald, a Chicago missionary who works with gang members, talks about his concept of forgiveness, and how important it is to being Christian.
Staff Recommendations
The Giant Pool of Money
The surprisingly entertaining story of how the U.S. got itself into a housing crisis.
Act V
A group of inmates at a high-security prison stage a production of the last act of Hamlet.