Coming Up: The Inside Scoop on NPR's Dem Debate

Tune in Wednesday so you can hear my chat with NPR's Michele Norris, host of All Things Considered.

Today, she also hosted the NPR Democratic Debate in Iowa. You can find a full audio stream here, but Michele and I talked about what happens behind the scenes; how Iowans think about politics; and why having a radio-only debate changed the nature of the interactions between the candidates (including the fact, she says, that they don't have to laugh at each others' bad jokes).

So, until you take a listen to Michele's and my conversation, check out the audio (above). And here's a little bit of how Sen. Hillary Clinton reacted to a question by co-moderator Steve Inskeep.

Sen. Hillary Clinton on Illegal Immigration:

"[W]hat we're looking at here is 12 to 14 million people. They live in our neighborhoods. They take care of our elderly parents. They probably made the beds in the hotels that some of us stayed in last night. They are embedded in our society.

If we want to listen to the demagogues and the calls for us to begin to try to round up people and turn every American into a suspicious vigilante, I think we will do graver harm to the fabric of our nation than any kind of, you know, person by person reporting of someone who might be here illegally. I reject that. I think again you have to look at the failure of the federal government and the failure of our political system to make a change in how we should be enforcing our immigration laws. And that's what I will try to do."

Farai Chideya

Tags: Election 2008 | Hillary Clinton | NPR | immigration

6:42 PM ET | 12- 4-2007 | permalink

comments | | e-mail