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From debate questions to man-on-the-street interviews, from town halls to video kiosks, stations are finding increasingly innovative ways to let the voters speak.
 
 Voters Voice: Lancaster
New Hampshire Public Television  Durham, New Hampshire
clip run time » 4:40
In the Voters Voice series on New Hampshire Public Television, reporter Chip Neal travels around the state, taking the political temperature of different regions and detailing the issues that are important there. In the template used for each piece, there is a balance between three informed citizens (one newspaper editor and two current or former local politicians, one Democrat and one Republican) and a cluster of brief P.O.S. opinions.
Road Trip 2002
WISC  Madison, Wisconsin
clip run time » 6:16
Reporter Colin Benedict must like the fresh air. He undertook an epic five-week road trip around Wisconsin. The station conducted a poll to determine the 15 issues most on the minds of voters. Benedict traveled three days a week to different parts of the state, each day focusing on one of those 15 issues. The format is an interesting one: for the 6 oclock news, the story unfolds using interviews with people in a particular town. At 10 oclock, Benedict returns to recap the earlier piece, then rolls in clips of the three major gubernatorial candidates explaining how they would address that issue (in this example, employment in Janesville).
[ more Road Trip 2002 stories ]
Where In Wisconsin?: Doyle
WISC Madison, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Television Madison, Wisconsin
WISC: Doyle run time » 4:09
WPT: Doyle run time » 7:39
Eight candidates for governor, eight trips around the state of Wisconsin. The idea, part of an ongoing We The People partnership between the CBS affiliate, the statewide public television and radio stations, and a newspaper in the capital city, was to let the voters, not the candidates set the agenda. Each of the candidates in the Wisconsin primary (two Republicans, including the incumbent, a Green, a Libertarian, and four Democrats) spent a day traveling with a news crew to talk to voters. They all went to different places, a combination of factories, schools, churches, and other gathering places. Citizens were told that a candidate would be visiting, but not necessarily which one. This unscripted tour of the state was shared by the two stations they were able to cut the footage as they chose, and put together different but complimentary looks at the journey each week. Ample cross-promotion helped popularize the series, and the newspaper followed with a story in each Sunday edition. In these clips, WISC and WPT highlight Jim Doyle, who won the Democratic primary.
Where In Wisconsin? Gubernatorial Reports:
How We Did What We Did, and Lessons Learned
contributed by Kathy Bissen, Wisconsin Public Television
 Timing is everything (or much of the thing). Getting a candidate to give us a full day was probably only possible because we did this 4 months before the primary, 6 months before the general.
 Partnerships help. Its difficult for candidates to decline a combined request from statewide radio, statewide TV, the major state newspaper and the #1 commercial TV station in the capital city.
 Partnerships (can) hurt. We all have different priorities and sometimes they arent in sync (i.e., importance of geographic diversity, endorsements and/or other involvement with candidates by some partners, timing of reports, etc.). Part of this can be the too many cooks syndrome.
 Criteria. Just like debate inclusion criteria - but this is particularly tricky this early in the campaign.
 Equivalency (not the same as equality per 9th grade algebra). Each candidate was told s/hed be going to two counties. Those counties were selected considering the following:
· One county leaned Democratic and one leaned Republican in past elections;
· Local television market in the area;
· Geographic diversity so we covered much of the state by end of project;
· No candidate could go to his or her home county or one he or she had a significant tie to;
· Urban/rural mix;
· Similar specific locations such as school, factory, senior center, business, etc.
 Ducks. These little fellows need to be in a row before contacting candidates.
· How do we select who is going to which part of the state? (random drawing)
· How do we select the specific locations we visit during the day? (Group criteria setting followed by two people doing scouts and choosing. Important to have a TV person help choose. We had some good places that were bad TV ( i.e., dark restaurant, nursing home where we cant shoot faces, etc.)
· In what order do the candidates participate and who decides? (Candidates were told that whomever responded to our invitation first would have first choice of dates.)
 More ducks.
· Where do we meet the candidate if s/he doesnt know where were going? (Our convoy organized in a parking lot in a city within reasonable distance of our first destination.)
· How far in advance do we give the candidate that information? (They knew the counties weeks in advance. They were told the first location when they got to the parking lot, and found out each subsequent location at the completion of the previous location.)
· How do we prevent a candidate from having local volunteers stack a location? (This could have happened in the hour or more drive between stops. We had a reporter ride with the candidate.)
 Five is the magic number. Five stops per day seemed to work. Six was too much considering geographic logistics. Four was too few due to high probability one or two would be duds.
 Have a plan and be willing to ditch it. Be willing to jettison a location if its a bust and go somewhere else. Let all locations that are expecting us know we will be there if time permits so we have the freedom to be spontaneous.
 Let (a few) citizens in on the secret and ask them to keep it. Not telling citizens which candidate would be showing up didnt really work. Usually theyll keep the secret.
Route 02
Maine Public Broadcasting Bangor, Maine
clip run time » 5:54
Maine Public Television wanted to produce a political feature that expressed the opinions of citizens throughout the state. They landed upon the idea of driving around Maine in a pickup truck, on the symbolic Route 02 for this election year. On the way they talked with people about their concerns and hopes for the coming election, and what they expect of their political leadership. In this clip, Don Carrigan talks with two folks from the town of Dexter, after the eponymous shoe company closed and left many unemployed.
[ more Route 02 stories ]
Tips and Lessons from Route 02
contributed by Don Carrigan, Maine PBS
Have a clear idea what your story is. If you go fishing, you dont always catch anything. Your interview subjects will be better able to react if you are clear about what youre after.
Do your research. Know as much as you can about the place or issue before you get there. Have the statistics, the background, but be alert to new information or new angles.
People dont always connect elections and candidates to their own real-life problems. Its easy to see particular problems and issues, but not connect them to making decisions as a voter. You may need to lead people there. What do you expect government to do to help this problem? Will this issue be on your mind at election time?
Many people dont distinguish between local, state and federal government. Be aware of this as you focus your story. But also remember that many issues have aspects that touch all levels of government, just in different ways.
Be willing to ask real people hard questions. Not confrontational, but be willing to push people to think a bit about the issues, and about what they expect of government. Their answers may surprise you.
Find strong characters to tell your story. This is something we all know, but too often forget. Find interesting, real people. Avoid officials when you can. When you cant, find ways to make them look and sound less official.
Keep your camera active. Let your camera move during the interviews, try different angles and approaches. This requires the videographer to listen to what people are saying. And look for unusual ways to see the place youre covering.
Dont be reluctant to re-ask. Ask questions more than once if you havent gotten a good answer. Ask the same question in different places.
Learn a little history. Even if you dont use it, theres a good chance it will help your story telling.
Enjoy the chance to tell the story. Viewers really like to see officials put on the spot. But they also like to hear real people share their stories and their opinions. Enjoy the opportunity to do both.
 Have a MacGyver handy. It always helps to have an inventive videographer. If you have one, treasure him or her. If you dont, encourage it.
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