On March 28th, Wolf Blitzer visited Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, offering his thoughts on presidential debates. His hour and a half long speech guided the audience through a narrative of various presidential debates.
Blitzer offered his thoughts on various debate situations. What did he have to say about Newt Gingrich’s attack on him during a 2012 election season debate? I’ll let you listen for yourself.
Click the audio above to hear a selected clip from Blitzer’s dissuasion.
What does it take to make a story come alive?
To answer this question, forget what you learned in high school. In fact, many of you can forget what you learned in college.
Traditionally, when we think of writing we think “topic sentence” followed by facts to prove an argument. But in order to make every story seem interesting, this structure needs to go.
Instead, Ira Glass, radio host and producer of “This American Life,” insists that stories take on the structure of an anecdote.
By explaining a story as a sequence of events (“this happened, followed by this”) listeners and viewers are more likely to stay engaged. This type of structure creates “bait” and raises questions like, “What comes next?”
It is important that actions are followed up with a “moment of reflection,” explaining what the story is getting at.
Finding the right story to tell is key
We live in a world where each person has his or her own unique story to tell. Some are more interesting than others, and some are so compelling that many storytellers think, “There is no way I can’t turn this into an exceptional broadcast.”
The reality is stories that seem promising may fall flat of expectations.
“If something isn’t good you need to kill it. You need to be ruthless and dismiss the boring stuff,” said Glass.
Failure is normal
Though it may be easy to get discouraged, Glass believes that failure is simply part of the process.
“Failure is a big part of success,” said Glass. “If you’re not failing all the time you’re not creating a situation where you can get super lucky.”
Glass believes that the solution to failure is simple; the more material a storyteller collects, the better the chances are of finding a gem.
“Most everyone who does interesting creative work will go through a phase of years where you have good taste but it falls shot of what you want it to be,” said Glass. “This is normal and the best thing you can do is to do a huge volume of work.”
The Political Notebook, a blog written by journalist Torie Rose DeGhett, is a daily destination for all things international. DeGhett has created a “collage” style blog that features everything from “Q & A” to videos and still shots.
PolitiSane does just what it promises to do- puts the “sanity back in politics.” The author breaks down the most pressing issues in politics. As you could imagine, election 2012 has monopolized many of the more recent posts, breaking down the primaries into palpable, bite-sized bits of information.
Not all things political are serious and boring (the economy? deficit? snooze fest!). In fact, many of the things that politicians say are quite funny. Officials Say The Darndest Things has taken the time to compile all of the funny, strange, and downright ridiculous things that politicians have said.
Cheat Sheet is a blog created by The Daily Beast. It evolved from the site’s original “cheat sheet,” which is a page on their site dedicated to the day’s must read stories. Cheat Sheet not only gives fantastic (and often entertaining) political coverage but also great pop culture coverage as well. It’s the perfect mix of business and pleasure reading.
The Atlantic offers up riveting analysis of political trends and multimedia that truly describes what is going on in the world. Curated by Jared Keller and Chris Heller, The Atlantic blog includes plenty of chats to help break down important issues and data.
Consider the $ource is not your traditional political blog. This blog focuses on money matters and the ways in which finances influence election 2012. Bar charts seem to dominate each post, but they are actually an incredibly helpful tool in understanding complex fiscal policy.
Wonklife is the everyman’s guide to politics. Ezra Klein writes about a variety of political topics, from explaining why Mitt Romney makes so many promises to featuring a hilarious “who should I vote for on Super Tuesday?” flowchart from The Washington Post*.
*Klein currently writes for the Post.
Think Progress has some of the best graphics I have seen on a political blog. With flowcharts, visuals, and a side bar dedicated to “stuff we like” (as featured above), Think Progress does a great job of finding the funny in progressive politics.
RH Reality Check is dedicated solely to one of the hottest issues in election 2012: reproductive health. RH Reality Check.org is an online community that strives to create a place where everyone can get all the latest information on RH issues.
Letters to my Country is a blog run by a law student who writes about politics and culture- sometimes together, sometimes separately. Either way, the blog is a great, easy to understand and follow read.
The issues that Americans are most concerned with were scarcely mentioned by candidates during the Feb. 22 Arizona Republican debate.
According to a Sept. 2011 Pew Poll, Americans are most concerned with six critical areas; jobs, the budget deficit, health care, social security, immigration, and abortion, in decreasing order of concern (see chart below).
In total, there were 16,007 words spoken by the candidates during the debate. Only 39 words of the 16,007 were one of the six most important issues.
The voters vs. the politician
The majority of Americans will be thinking about jobs and the deficit as they head to the polls during the 2012 election season. Based upon the Arizona debate, it does not seems as though the candidates and Americans are thinking about the same things.
The number one issue- jobs- was mentioned a total of seven times throughout the debate.
If we take a calculator to this equation, the math does not seem to add up. The most important issue to 39 percent of Americans is jobs, but the actual word “jobs” was used less than 1 percent of the time.
The issues that Americans are less concerned with did not fare much better. “Deficit” was mentioned 13 times, “health care” five, and “immigration” six times. Social security and abortion were said four times each (see chat below).
Each issue accounted for less than one percent of the candidate’s response time.
So what did the candidates discuss?
Instead of focusing on the issues that Americans find to be of high importance, candidates showcased their desire to take up residence in the White House.
Together, hopefuls uttered the word “President” almost 70 times. In fact, “President” was one of the words that was used most frequently across the board during the debate.
Although candidates were able to showcase their own personal goal, they did not seem to remember who they will be leading once they become President.
Out of almost 16,007 words, Americans were only mentioned two times.
Back to the future
Instead of looking toward the future (“future” was only mentioned eight times), candidates focused on President Obama’s mistakes, mentioning “Obama” 38 times.
“If we’re going to have a debate about who the extremist is on these issues, it is President Obama who, as a state senator, voted to protect doctors who killed babies who survived the abortion,” said Gingrich.
Candidates followed Gingrich’s lead and continually pointed out what Obama did wrong during his time as president instead of discussing what they will do in 2012. It seemed as if candidates were already prepping for the race against Obama instead of showcasing their policies to beat out the other republican candidates, which of course was the reason for holding a primary season debate.
Debating tit for tat
Candidates choose to avoid straight talk about the issues and instead attacked one and other. The exchanges between candidates, specifically Rick Santorum (R-Kan.) and Mitt Romney (R-Ma.), seemed to be senseless banter.
Santorum: Wait a second. You’re entitled to your opinions, Mitt. You’re not entitled to-
Romney: I’ve heard that line before. I’ve heard that before, yes.
Santorum: —misrepresent the facts, and you’re misrepresenting the facts. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
It seems as though the Republican debate was a synopsis of the past with a very small glimpse into the future. But the question still remains, what would America be like if any of the Republican candidates were to become President?
Although some Americans believe the future looks bleak with Obama in power, is it uncertain what kind of future Republican voters see.
Candidates seem to be incapable of clearly expressing their solutions to the issues Americans are most concerned with. The Arizona debate illustrates the lack of substance and focus that the candidates have put forth thus far.
When the clock struck midnight the morning of Feb. 12 in Cedarhurst, no horse-drawn carriages turned into pumpkins.
Instead, shoppers frantically tried to wrap up their purchases in order to scoop up amazing discounts at The Village of Cedarhurst’s “Midnight Madness Sale.”
Hundreds of shoppers arrived later in the day on Feb. 11, ready to hunt for the best deals. Luckily, no one had to search too long. The 55 participating shops offered merchandise at a 20 to 80 percent discount.
Shoppers search for the best deals inside Zoe & Co. (LIR Photo by Stephanie Vacchio)
Improving business one event at a time
The idea for a February shopping event began after Cedarhurst’s Business Improvement District (BID) had sponsored its first “midnight madness” sale on Dec. 17, 2011.
The Cedarhurst BID, formed in 1993, looks to improve and help local businesses through a variety of projects. Year-round shopping events—such as “midnight madness”—are a large part of what the BID organizes.
The overwhelming success of the December sale sparked a merchant interest in planning a similar event sometime in the future.
“February is typically the time when merchants are trying to unload their winter merchandise, and we’re able to give great discounts,” said BID Executive Director Teri Schure on the timing of the sale.
A shopper’s dream
Shoppers’ favorite stops included Debbie’s Closet, Zoe & Co., 100% Kids, Cover Girl Clothing, Banim, Oh! Nuts, and Dimples—all of which are located along Cedarhurst’s main strip on Central Avenue.
“The sale is basically to get new customers—the customer that can’t shop on Saturdays—and to show some of our spring merchandise off,” said Courtney Lovett of Zoe & Co., which offered discounts of up to 50 percent.
Helping to build a sense of community
In addition to providing great shopping deals, the sale serves as a community-building event.
“The sale brings everybody out,” said Nita Klinkowitz, the owner of Banim. “People are friendly; they meet each other. It’s just a very cheerful time to be out. Even if people aren’t shopping, just the energy on the street is fabulous.”
After making their rounds, many shoppers enjoyed a meal at one of the participating restaurants such as Mother Kelly’s or Crawford’s Coffee Bar & Café.
Thinking toward the future
Bob Block, a member of the BID since its inception, said he believes that the BID has built up great momentum from the events that the organization has been involved with over the last few months.
The great success of the winter “midnight madness” events will likely lead to a similar sale in the spring, before the Village’s highly anticipated annual “Sidewalk Sale,” which is scheduled this summer from Aug. 1-3.
