Sunday Soapbox
 
 
April 27, 2008

SOAPBOX Interview: Chuck Olsen of 'The UpTake'

A feature you will see regularly on this blog is the "Soapbox Interview." We will introduce you to interesting political voices on the Internet. Today we bring you Chuck Olsen of The UpTake. He's citizen journalism personified.

Continue reading "SOAPBOX Interview: Chuck Olsen of 'The UpTake'" »

 

Daniel Schorr pines for a National Primary

We heard from many listeners today about Daniel Schorr's commentary -- like many Americans, he's getting a little exhausted from this crazy season of primaries and caucuses. Here's what he had to say on today's show...

Continue reading "Daniel Schorr pines for a National Primary" »

 

Primary Politics with NPR's Don Gonyea

In South Bend, Indiana yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton challenged her Democratic opponent Senator Barack Obama to join her in a one-on-one "Lincoln-Douglas-style" debate, "I think that would be good for the Democratic Party," Clinton said. Senator Obama declined the offer, saying in a statement "Over the next 10 days, we believe it's important to talk directly to the voters of Indiana and North Carolina." NPR's Don Gonyea joined Liane Hansen to talk about primary politics AND last night's White House Correspondents' dinner.

Continue reading "Primary Politics with NPR's Don Gonyea" »

 

Senator Bill Nelson hopes to change the way we vote

Jacob Soboroff, Field Vlogger
Earlier this week on Sunday Soapbox we raised the issue of America's extremely low voter participation. Last week my Why Tuesday? colleagues and I visited with Senator Bill Nelson (D-FLA) in his Washington, D.C. office to discuss his sweeping plan to change the way and day we vote, and why he chose now to introduce his plan. Watch the video for his answers.

Continue reading "Senator Bill Nelson hopes to change the way we vote" »

 
April 24, 2008

Why do we vote on Tuesdays?

SUNDAY SOAPBOX welcomes Citizen Journalist and Field Vlogger Jacob Soboroff. Over the course of the next few months, Jacob will be vlogging on stories that focus on the state of the voting system, voter participation and how and why or why not people are participating! Click on his vlog for more!

Continue reading "Why do we vote on Tuesdays?" »

 

Checking the Accuracy of Political Campaign Ads

Coming up on Weekend Edition Sunday, we're working on several political stories including talking to Bill Adair, Washington Bureau Chief for the St. Petersburg Times and Editor of PolitiFact.com. PolitiFact checks on the accuracy of political campaign ads.

Continue reading "Checking the Accuracy of Political Campaign Ads" »

 

The Twittering Class and the Primaries

Joshua Levy, Associate Editor, techPresident.com
While many political junkies are used to following election results on the TV, with news anchors reporting the news -- if there is any -- in a more or less orderly fashion, many online politics hounds need a quicker fix.

Continue reading "The Twittering Class and the Primaries" »

 
April 23, 2008

Race has become the Democratic Party's Achilles heel

Faye Anderson, Citizen Journalist
As expected, Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary. In her victory speech, she said: "It's a long road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and it runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania." Demographics foretold Clinton's destiny. Barack Obama won Philadelphia, Harrisburg and a handful of rural counties with sizable black populations. But Clinton took the rest of the state.

Continue reading "Race has become the Democratic Party's Achilles heel" »

 
April 20, 2008

Looking ahead to the Pennsylvania Primary

Thanks for all your comments -- this is an exciting beginning. I'm posting now a conversation our Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving had with Host Liane Hansen this morning. They discussed the upcoming Pennsylvania primary:

Continue reading "Looking ahead to the Pennsylvania Primary" »

 

Introducing our Election Bloggers

Weekend Edition Sunday's Host Liane Hansen introduces our Election bloggers to you. Mindy Finn served most recently as Director of e-strategy for Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign. Joshua Levy is the Associate Editor of Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident, two websites that cover how technology is changing politics, and Faye Anderson is a citizen journalist, blogger and new media consultant.

Continue reading "Introducing our Election Bloggers" »

 

Keys to the Keystone State

Faye Anderson, citizen journalist
The Pennsylvania primary is only a few days away. The road to the Democratic nomination runs through a state that is described as "Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in the middle."

Continue reading "Keys to the Keystone State" »

 

Pennsylvania Turnpike Blues

Pennsylvania Turnpike Blues... Tell me which exit shall I choose?

The lyrics seem tailor-made for the dilemma facing Keystone State voters this week -- Singer Kate McGarrigle alerted us to this song, "Pennsylvania Turnpike Blues." It was actually written way back in 1971 by one Alex Shoumatoff. If that name rings a bell, you may know his work better as a journalist for Vanity Fair. He's posted the full back story on the song, a video featuring vintage PA postcards, and thoughts about the song's current significance on the Vanity Fair website.

--Ned Wharton

 
April 19, 2008

"I Believe in Smaller Government" -- first-time voter

Good morning. Looking ahead to tomorrow, here are some of the political stories we are putting together for Weekend Edition Sunday:

** An essay from first-time voter Meghan Scheidemann, a student at Saint Joseph University in Philadelphia. Meghan talks about what's it like to be a first-time voter when the candidate you support isn't the one receiving most of the attention. Here is an excerpt from her radio essay that will air tomorrow on Weekend Edition Sunday:

Continue reading ""I Believe in Smaller Government" -- first-time voter" »

 
April 18, 2008

Launching Sunday Soapbox

A couple months ago, our social networking guru, Andy Carvin, and I set out to create a new weekend political blog as a way to interact not only with our radio listeners but with YOU on the Web. So we created Sunday Soapbox. It's the Web companion to Weekend Edition Sunday's (WESUN) political coverage. WESUN is a two-hour Sunday morning news magazine hosted by Liane Hansen.

Continue reading "Launching Sunday Soapbox" »

 

Mac-Mentum

Mindy Finn, Political Strategist
Despite Pennsylvania going from red to purple to blue in the last decade, John McCain has the momentum in the state as the Democratic candidates prepare to go head-to-head in next week's primary. Why does McCain lead, and will his lead last?

Continue reading "Mac-Mentum" »

 

Online Trends vs. Offline Polls

Joshua Levy, Associate Editor, techPresident.com
Everybody's talking about polls. This week new polls are putting Barack Obama up to ten points ahead of Hillary Clinton among Democrats. But online search trends show a different picture.

Continue reading "Online Trends vs. Offline Polls " »

 
April 14, 2008

Frequently Asked Questions About Sunday Soapbox

What is Sunday Soapbox?

Sunday Soapbox is a Web companion to Weekend Edition Sunday's (WESUN) political coverage. WESUN is a two-hour Sunday morning news magazine hosted by Liane Hansen. Given that we are in an election season, Sunday Soapbox focuses on issues, the candidates and the role of the Web in the 2008 election. From YouTube to Facebook, blogging to text messaging, we'll talk about how campaigns and voters are embracing new technologies, and how the Web has forever changed the way citizens engage in politics. Political podcasters and bloggers Faye Anderson, Mindy Finn, Micah Sifry and Jacob Soboroff lead our discussions. You will also see WESUN staff members Davar Ardalan, Jenni Bergal, Liane Hansen and Laura Krantz blogging as well.

What is Weekend Edition Sunday?

Weekend Edition Sunday features in-depth news, culture and arts interviews and features. Liane has hosted the radio show for 19 years and has interviewed everyone from weapons inspector David Kay to musician Gary Louris. Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr and Puzzlemaster Will Shortz have been with the program for more than 20 years. Weekend Edition Sunday is heard on nearly 600 NPR stations across the United States, and around the globe on NPR Worldwide.

Who does the podcasts and blogging?

Currently, Faye Anderson, Mindy Finn, Micah Sifry and Jacob Soboroff. WESUN Staffers Davar Ardalan, Jenni Bergal, Liane Hansen and Laura Krantz also will blog.

How often do you post new entries to the podcast and blog?

We post at least once a day, Wednesday through Sunday and our podcasters blog regularly and post their podcasts several times a month.

Are the podcasts available in the NPR Podcast Directory or on iTunes?

No. At the moment Sunday Soapbox podcasts are only available for download directly from the blog.

Who can comment?
Anyone.

Do I need to sign up to be eligible to post comments?
Not at the moment.

Can I only comment about the blog?

Comments should be on topic for each blog or podcast post.

Do you have rules about what can or cannot be said in the comments?

Yes, we do. Please see our guidelines for commenting.

What if I have a question or comment about Weekend Edition Sunday, but it's something not related to Sunday Soapbox?

For WESUN questions not related to the topics discussed on this blog, please use NPR's "Contact Us" form and select Weekend Edition Sunday.

Will blog comments be read on the air?
It's possible — all public comments are fair game for air. If you'd like your comment to be kept private, send it to us via the "Contact Us" form and specify it's not for air.

Can I link to Sunday Soapbox?
Absolutely!

Will you link to my blog?
Probably not, unless it's related to something we're doing on the show.

 

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First things first: If you can't be polite, don't say it. Of course, we don't want to stifle discussion of controversial issues. Some topics require blunt talk, and we're not always going to agree with each other. Nonetheless, please try to disagree without being disagreeable. Focus your remarks on positions, not personalities. No name-calling, slander, comments about someone's mother, comparisons to notorious dictators — you get the idea. And under no circumstances should you post anything that could be taken as threatening, harassing, sexist or racist.

Don't use obscenities — even if the word in question is often used in conversation. We're not going to list the words we object to; you know what they are. Remember, this is a public forum and we want everyone to feel comfortable participating.

Anything you post should be your own work. You're welcome to link to relevant content and to quote from other people's work with attribution. But that doesn't mean you can copy-and-paste wholesale.

Please stay on topic. Think of it this way — if you hosted a book club meeting at your house, you wouldn't want someone to show up and insist on discussing reality TV shows.

Rambling is the kiss of death. We don't want to place a word count on how long your comments should be, but anything beyond a few paragraphs had better be very, very interesting to the larger community. We reserve the right to edit for brevity as well as clarity.

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Election Bloggers

Faye Anderson.

Faye Anderson

Citizen Journalist, Policy Consultant

 
Mindy Finn.

Mindy Finn

Political Strategist

 
Micah Sifry.

Micah Sifry

Editor of the Personal Democracy Forum

 
Jacob Soboroff.

Jacob Soboroff

Citizen Journalist, Field Vlogger

 
 
 

WESUN Bloggers

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen

Host, WESUN

 
Davar Ardalan

Davar Ardalan

Supervising Senior Producer, WESUN

 
Jenni Bergal

Jenni Bergal

Supervising Senior Editor, WESUN

 
Laura Krantz

Laura Krantz

Assistant Editor, WESUN

 
 
 

About 'Sunday Soapbox'

Are you passionate about politics? If so, Sunday Soapbox is for you. Political podcasters and bloggers Faye Anderson, Mindy Finn, Micah Sifry and Jacob Soboroff lead our Election 2008 political discussion with you on the Web. How is politics playing out where you live? What issues matter to you in your community?

To learn more about this blog, please read our show's Frequently Asked Questions and the discussion rules.

 
 

Contact Us

Please use our contact form if you have private comments or messages you'd like to share with the Sunday Soapbox team.

 
 
 
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