JOHNSTON, IOWA — We’re back in the press filing center for the Democratic debate here later today. Getting all set up to meet Rose and Pearl, the two beautiful horses that got us to the debate site here yesterday by a 19th century-like buggy. Why? Here’s the answer. Stay tuned for updates from here all day. Videos to follow in the days ahead.

In the meantime check out this cool look at the unusually high voter participation in the state to our north - Minnesota - produced by friend of Why Tuesday? MTV News.

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JOHNSTON, IOWA — We’re inside the debate. Check out the picture at right to see how we got here.

Why did we do it? To illustrate the antiquated reason, an 1845 federal law, that determines why Americans choose the President of the United States the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, a day smack in the middle of the workweek. (more…)

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JOHNSTON, IOWA — Just got off the air with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer who is in New York. Team Why Tuesday? is getting ready for the Republican Debate, to take place at the studios of Iowa Public TV here. Over at WNYC there’s a fantastic thread going on about whether or not we should have an Election Day holiday.

If you’re new here, check out our Candidate Challenge, subscribe to our videos on YouTube, and become a Why Tuesday? Correspondent!

UPDATE: Listen to the segment by clicking play below.

Posted in Election Reform, Iowa, WT? in the news | 1 Comment »

NEW YORK CITY — If the weather cooperates, our flights take off on time, and if Des Moines airport stays open long enough for us to touch down, Barnett, Tom and I will meet in Iowa sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We’re going to the Des Moines Register Republican and Democratic debates Wednesday and Thursday. They’re the final debates before the January 3rd Iowa Caucus.

In addition to looking for the few remaining presidential candidates who haven’t yet responded to the Why Tuesday? Candidate Challenge, we’ll also be arriving at the debate in style. What am I talking about? Come back tomorrow to see.

* 1:41AM CST: We made it! Check back later today for dispatches from the Des Moines Reigster Debate. It is indeed as icy as it looks in the above photo.

Posted in Election Reform, Election 2008, Iowa | Comments Off

Iowa’s governor wants to take a good hard look at having residents of his state, from where I just returned, vote exclusively by mail. According to an article in the Gazette, Governor Chet Culver, who was previously Iowa’s Secretary of State, thinks voting by mail might increase turnout and save the state money.

“It’s important to have a discussion about it,” said Culver according to the Gazette. “The reality is that every county in the state is trying to find a way to have a verified paper trail. This would be a good way to do it — or invest millions of dollars in more (voting) machines.”

Photo of Iowa map courtesy of sugarcoma on flickr.

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Welcome to those of you that are joining us by way of the Fairfield, Iowa radio program Speaking Freely with Dennis Raimondi. A special thanks to Dennis for having myself, our founder Bill Wachtel and advisory board member John Bonifaz on the program yesterday. Here are a couple of links we discussed on the show: the Why Tuesday? Candidate Challenge, and how to become a Why Tuesday? correspondent.

If you missed the program, it’s archived on KRUU’s website, and available to listen to by clicking here. Thanks to Barb Fix in the station office for getting the audio online and passing it along.

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