Monday, November 3, 2008

• Muslim Youth Get Out The Vote
• Working for McCain But Hoping for Obama
• A Visit to Obama's Primary School in Indonesia
• Nicaraguans Weigh In on U.S. Presidential Election
• Congo Refugees Struggle to Stay Alive
• Studs Terkel 1912 - 1998

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Muslim Youth Get Out The Vote

John McCain and Barack Obama are making a mad dash to tomorrow's historic finish. Obama is in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia today, in his last attempt to sway undecided voters in these battleground states. McCain, meanwhile is campaigning in seven states, all in one day: Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico and Nevada before arriving in his home state of Arizona. FSRN is broadcasting from Chicago today, where Obama will host a massive Election Rally tomorrow at Grant Park. As many as a million people will be descending on the Windy City for tomorrow's event.

Meanwhile, like in many cities and towns across the country on Election Day eve, massive get out the vote efforts are underway. Under Karl Rove in the 2000 and 2004 election, the 72-hour strategy successfully turned out hundreds of thousands of Republican voters – a tactic McCain's campaign hopes to replicate. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is using its own grassroots organizing strategies hoping to turn out even bigger crowds. And independent groups have their own voter mobilization efforts. In Chicago, the Muslim and Arab community has set lofty goals for voter outreach. Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell is here in Chicago and with the story.

Working for McCain But Hoping for Obama

The McCain campaign has employed a consulting group tied to some questionable voter registration tactics and has used paid temp workers to register voters. Since the campaign makes the workers sign confidentiality agreements, and instructs them to say they are volunteers, you might never know that some of these McCain "volunteers" are actually Obama supporters, trying to survive an economic pinch. David Maxon has the story.

A Visit to Obama's Primary School in Indonesia

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, and a place where the image of the U.S. has been badly tarnished by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Indonesians are keenly interested in the outcome of our presidential election, and they have a soft spot for Democrat Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood there. Rebecca Henschke takes us on a tour of the Jakarta school that's extremely proud to have Senator Obama as one of its ex-students.

Nicaraguans Weigh In on U.S. Presidential Election

From Indonesia we go to Latin America – where many have also been closely watching this election. To find out what an Obama or McCain presidency might mean to Latin America's 580 million strong population, we sent Nan McCurdy to speak to some economists and policy-makers in Nicaragua.

Congo Refugees Struggle to Stay Alive

More than two hundred and fifty thousand people have been displaced in Congo's eastern province over the last three months. Civilians are the ones most affected in a violent on-going crisis in this mineral-rich country. Since the bloody civil war that involved half a dozen African countries and cost more than two million lives ended in 2003 – rape, pillage and massive displacement have continued to plague the lives of everyday people. Stephanie Kale visited a refugee camp north of Goma, to find out how people are dealing with the most recent violent outbreak.

Studs Terkel 1912 - 1998

Author, activist, radio host and oral historian Studs Terkel died on Friday at the age of 96. Our producer Catherine Komp spoke with Studs Terkel at his home in Chicago in December, 2003 today we hear parts of that interview.