We Are All Abigael Evans
On the way to the grocery store in Fort Collins, Colo, Tuesday, 4-year-old Abigael Evans started to cry over the sounds of NPR on the radio. Her mother asked her what was wrong.
Articles from Contributor
What Happened at the Last Presidential Debate
Twenty-four debates ago, the nation began a democratic journey, a live-television experiment in primetime controlled chaos, filled with flubs, one-liners, crosstalk and body shots. Now it is all coming to an end.
The Hope And Change Of An Obama Impersonator
Barack Obama is traveling to New York City on Thursday. He won’t meet Louis Ortiz. But thanks to the New York Times, you can.
Women Voters Won the Second Presidential Debate
Both candidates lurched onto the campaign trail Wednesday with new appeals to shore up support among a key demographic that may decide the outcome in key swing states.
What Happened at the Second Presidential Debate
0 minutes. Both men mean business. They are out with smiles, mouthed “Thank You’s” and a perfunctory handshake. The American people have been subjected to political debates for more than a year. But this one is bigger than …
Will Obama Bounce Back or Fall Below His Floor?
In early June, shortly after President Obama stumbled in a press conference by saying, “the private sector is doing fine,” his senior White House and campaign aides began an e-mail chain among one another. It listed all the other …
What Happened at the Vice-Presidential Debate
2 minutes. They lock eyes from across the room, and neither man can look away. Big flag pin and little flag pin. Bulky suit and fitted suit. Lots of hair and little hair. A match is made, a connection struck. Their whitened …
Polling Passions: How to Deal with Campaign Vertigo
Throughout much of September, polls showed the incumbent President with a clear lead, sometimes as much as eight points nationally. Then he lost the first debate, and things began to change. First, the national polls showed a …
¿Cómo Se Dice ‘Vote For Me’ To Spanish Speakers?
Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have new television spots up today designed to appeal to Spanish-speaking voters. But only one candidate endeavors to speak to those voters in their native language.
The Red and Blue Fantasies Behind the Big Bird War
There is a reason conservatives dream of cutting funding for Big Bird, but it has nothing to do with Sesame Street or the best friend of Mr. Snuffleupagus. Behind the big yellow fowl is a fantasy: the idea that the federal budget …
AFP Brings Poetry To Political Boob Tube
Politicians are supposed to campaign in poetry and govern in prose. But political advertising this cycle has been, for the most part, a bunch of PowerPoint presentations overlaid on file photo montages. Grainy shot, voice over, bucolic shot, newspaper quote, statistic, out. They are, for the most part, ugly, predictable and boring. (They …
Fact Checking And the False Equivalence Dilemma
Last week I wrote a cover story for TIME about the factual deceptions of both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Many readers, particularly Obama supporters, were outraged that the story did not clearly state that one of the …
Blue Truth, Red Truth
Both candidates say White House hopefuls should talk straight with voters. Here’s why neither man is ready to take his own advice