Last Night in Studio 3A

Voters cast their ballots in the presidential primary in Butler, PA, yesterday.

Source: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

 

Late last night, Neal hosted a live Election News Special. It was my first time working such a show, and I gotta say, it felt like we were at radio camp and this was the culminating project at the end of the summer. We had to constantly think on our feet in order to deal with last minute guest cancellations and the candidates' unpredictable speaking schedules. Adrenaline was high. At one point, I literally hugged the wall in the screening room out of nervousness as Neal vamped up to the start of Clinton's victory speech. Live radio is all about timing, and I thought he was going to talk over her since he was watching the feed on TV, which is on a delay. But, my worries were quickly put to rest -- Neal's a pro, and his timing was perfect. It was an amazing experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Our post-primary analysis included input from pollsters, strategists, NPR's political editor Ken Rudin, and Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), who talked about why he's still an undecided superdelegate. Best of all, we heard from you, the listeners. One caller, Liz, said she drove all the way from Brooklyn to Philadelphia to help campaign for Clinton. She described the atmosphere there as "electric" and "thrilling." When people from the street honked and yelled out, "Go Obama!" her group of Clinton supporters yelled back, "No, Chelsea's mama!" Another caller, Sky, an Obama supporter, went door to door in Allentown, PA, encouraging people to vote. He said most of the working class people he talked to were very excited about Obama. So tell us, if you were in Pennsylvania yesterday, what was the atmosphere like, and how busy were the polls?

Ashley Grashaw

Tags: Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | NPR's special coverage | PA primary