Election Day 2008
The Daily Tar Heel’s Election Coverage

Reflection on election coverage

0

The Daily Tar Heel has spent more than a year covering the political campaigns of presidential hopefuls. On Tuesday night, all of that hard work came to a peak. With the help of about 100 student journalists, The Daily Tar Heel was able to continuously inform its readers throughout the day and night with more than 160 blog posts, multimedia projects and stories published on its Web site.

Posted by Nicole Norfleet on November 7th, 2008 :: Filed under Congressional Race, Election Day, Gubernatorial Race, Presidential Race, Senate Race
Tags :: , , , ,

Students respond after winner is announced

0
8:12 a.m.
Audio by Matthew Sampson; Edited by Rachel Will

“Obviously, I think the American people voted for the only candidate that will implement any kind of change. As trite as it may sound, McCain was going to implement four years of the same policy of the past four years. It really seemed that Obama reached across the aisle like I kinda want them to during the campaign though he was the more liberal-leaning senator. I mean I’m a liberal at heart, but I know you have to be able to reach across the aisle, and I think he gave a lot of political favor by doing that. I just hope he follows through with his promise and gets something done like he’s planning on doing.”

-Rob Matsick, sophomore, history major

“OK…our president is black. It’s time for change. It does have a lot to do with him being black, but it’s gonna be a change, because it was bad. But I’m so excited I don’t know what to say.”

-Tyshia Hedgspeth, first-year, exercise and sports science

“But change is gonna take time, it’s not just gonna happen tomorrow. We’re gonna get there.”

-Jessica Shipp, first-year, exercise and sports science

“I am ecstatic with most of everyone else in this room [the Union]. It’s kinda surreal, looking up and seeing ‘Breaking News.’ It’s a really great time to be young in this country, to be part of this.”

-Jill Dwiggins, junior, English major

“I think the general reaction in this room was pretty favorable. There was a lot of screaming and yelping. I think we scared off any non-Obama supporters pretty early.”

- Andrew Ashley, sophomore, comparative literature and classics major

“It’s kinda like winning the UNC-Duke game. That’s the way I would think of it. It’s a great feeling because we finally got Bush out and it’s actually great to see that we finally got a Black president in the White House. Even though he hasn’t done anything yet, I’m really excited to see what he’s going to do.”

- Joey Warner, junior at the Art Institute from Alamance, Cluck-U employee

“We can close off Franklin Street, and we can change the world for better with Obama.”

- Alex Hunt, sophomore, journalism major

By Staff Writers Matthew Sampson and Scott Powers

Posted by Nicole Norfleet on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Election Day, Overheard at the Polls, Overheard on Campus, Presidential Race
Tags :: , , , , ,

Obama supporters celebrate the win

0

8:04 a.m.

Video by Matthew Sampson, Rachel Will, Zach Toal, Nicole Norfleet

Barack Obama won the race to be president of the United States of America on Tuesday night. Students at UNC-Chapel Hill rush Franklin Street and talk about the election results.

Posted by Nicole Norfleet on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Election Day, Presidential Race
Tags :: , , , , , ,

Republicans and Libertarians speak up about losses

0

7:58 a.m.

Video by Rachel Scall; Edited by Nicole Norfleet

Students at UNC-CH share their views about election results.

Posted by Nicole Norfleet on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Election Day, Presidential Race
Tags :: , , , ,

Cat’s Cradle Election Night Party and Dance Night

0

7:55 a.m.

Video by Linnie Green; Edited by Alyssa Griffith

Students and local residents party at Cat’s Cradle with DJ Forge and 9th Wonder and countdown to the final poll results.

Posted by Nicole Norfleet on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Election Day, Presidential Race
Tags :: , , ,

Overheard on Campus and at the Polls

0

7:49 a.m.

ON CAMPUS

“I think out opinion is really diluted by the fact we live in Chapel Hill”

— Monica Matta, junior, health policy and management

“I’m really eager to see it (the election) be over because it’s stressful, but I’m excited to see what happens.”

— Caroline Johnson, first-year, undecided

“Recently I’ve really been avoiding the TV… Avoiding the nasty ads going back and forth, but I feel like that’s across all the members.”

— Christina Roa, sophomore, linguistics on Dole-Hagan race

“Honestly, at this point, I’m sick of all the races.”

— Rosie Bucherati, sophomore, business

“If McCain wins there will be a lot of unrest. Things will be uneasy, and there will probably be a whole other Gore v. Bush Supreme Court case. Hopefully not though.

— Danielle Bringard, first-year, political sciences and dramatic art

“I’m not happy enough with either of the options to want one to win.”

— Ross Twele, first-year graduate student, history

“I went this morning. It was very quick. It felt really good to be participating even though I know my vote individually won’t make a difference. I hope with the rest of the student body’s it will.”

— Lessie Scott, sophomore, international studies

“I’m against people voting who don’t know anything about the issues. I have a lot of friends like that. I based my decision on what’s been happening in the past eight years. Without that I think it would have been a more difficult decision, but it was easy for me.”

— Laura Koehler, sophomore, pre-med and psychology

“I’m not sure he is going to win, but if he wins the state, he will win the race.”

— Crystal Gray, sophomore, on Obama

FROM THE POLLS

“I’m sure that in the state of North Carolina there’s going to be lots of people who think they voted for the president, but didn’t.”

— Laurence Kirsch, a Chapel Hill resident and volunteer for the Democratic Party of Orange County

“The extreme view that I’ve encountered is just people who don’t know anything, and I think that’s extreme because I feel like we’re all educated people here. Even if you’re not into politics, just to have heard of the people — to have heard of the third party, to know who’s running for senate—I mean, it’s Nov. 4 and we’ve been hearing about this for two years. I just feel like that’s an extreme position, not to know anything at all.”

— Bolou Adeyeye, sophomore, Obama campaign volunteer driving people to the polls

“As a public service. I believe in the system — it’s the democracy in action.”

— John Silvasi, 60-year-old pollworker in Chapel Hill

Compiled by Staff Writers Elisabeth Gilbert, Chris Kennedy, Meera Jagannathan, Danielle Adams, Hillary Owens, Roxanne Hernandez, Alli Yingling, Leah Hughes, Jessica Bodford

Posted by Nicole Norfleet on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Congressional Race, Election Day, Gubernatorial Race, Overheard at the Polls, Overheard on Campus, Presidential Race, Senate Race, Uncategorized
Tags :: , , , ,

Facing the elements: Photographers brave Greensboro

0
Kay Hagan greets the press in Greensboro after defeating Elizabeth Dole.
Kay Hagan greets the press in Greensboro after defeating Elizabeth Dole.

Moving from poll site to poll site, people kept saying, “It rains every election day.” They didn’t provide any data or proof to back up this statement, but this year they were correct. It rained. All-Day-Long. Through the wet and cold trudged voters, candidates and media—mainly photographers looking for that perfect moment between a candidate and a potential supporter. Too bad a lot of voters opted to vote two weeks ago and were not inconvenienced by Election Day lines at the polls. Looking closely at Kay Hagan film clips throughout the day, one would notice the same drenched photographers in each shot. Apparently, a photographer has to go to the “deep, dark depths of Greensboro” to get a “sweet” shot of Kay Hagan at a precinct.

Tired of the drenched soles, the three musketeers regrouped over food and planned for the big event—the Hagan after party. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw. TVs blaring, different stations beckoned photojournalists from all over to capture the reactions of onlookers. Even though we did not the feel the need to join the race, we could not escape the peer pressure to join The New York Times and the Associated Press in capturing reactions to history being made. I doubt anyone could blame us, though, because the party became one waiting game for the opening act to get on with the show.

Many said in interviews that they supported Hagan because they supported the Democratic ticket. As soon as Hagan finished her acceptance speech, the Obama mania resumed. The heightened stakes rewarded our future portfolios with great reactions, but why could it not have been for Hagan? These people were not crying for NC’s new senator even though we wanted to after such a long day.

Whether Obama supporters never care about our Hagan coverage, the team walked away understanding that Election Day is unpredictable no matter how many events are covered, how many poll sites are visited or how many people are interviewed.

-Evelyn Greene, Hannah Sharpe and Ryan Jones

Posted by Emma Patti on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Senate Race

The view from Franklin Street

0

1:45 a.m.

Shouts of “Obama! Obama!” rang out among those rushing Franklin Street.

The intersection between of Franklin and South Columbia streets was packed with people screaming; one guy even ran around waving the American flag. In the midst of the crowd, people had their camera’s out snapping photos. 

Many students said it a historical event and one they will never forget. When it came time to hear Obama’s speech, people began to run to find the nearest television.

But one person held a giant jukebox over his head turned to the station airing the speech. This allowed students to at least hear the speech, and even caused a few people to tear up.

By Staff Writer Hillary Rose Owens

Posted by Andrew Dunn on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Overheard on Campus, Presidential Race
Tags :: ,

Dalton says N.C. is still a two-party state

0

1:40 a.m.

Despite Democrat victories in the governor, lieutentant governor and U.S. Senate races, 

Lt. Gov.-elect Walter Dalton said North Carolina’s Democratic party will still need to reach out to Republicans in the coming year.

“I think the vote totals were very close, so I think this is still a two-party state,” Dalton told The News and Observer. “We’ve got to bring people together.”

Posted by Andrew Dunn on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Gubernatorial Race, Senate Race
Tags :: ,

N.C. goes for Obama

0

1:30 a.m.

Though the results are still unofficial, the State Board of Elections has declared all 100 counties’ votes counted. The results:

Barack Obama: 2,108,777 votes — 49.67 percent
John McCain: 2,097,531 votes — 49.40 percent

It’s the first time North Carolina has voted for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Click to enlarge:

Posted by Andrew Dunn on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Election Day, Presidential Race
Tags :: ,