I will be traveling with a digital SLR, a tape recorder, and a notebook to record my encounters with the people I meet as I bicycle across the South. I will have little money and will rely largely on the goodwill of the people I meet in my travels. Through it all, I will be displaying a sign asking anyone, everyone, "Whom should I vote for…and why?"
A kid on his bicycle in search of his political identity, getting by on the kindness of the people he meets, working his way through daily physical hardship, with no money, just so he can make it to where he's mailed his absentee ballot in time to vote about the country he's been crossing for a month...I feel that it's a compelling American story.
This blog is meant for anyone who wishes to follow the progress of this project and might want to share their own opinions regarding our country and its future. If you're interested in my travels, check out my website. If you're a local newspaper or a radio host, come meet me along the way or send me an email. More than at any other time in my life, I am interested in hearing what others have to say and in passing it on!
I will soon post a detailed itinerary of the trip here on my blog. In brief, I will be traveling for one month, 3,400 miles, from Maryland to Pittsburgh, from Pittsburgh diagonally across the country to San Diego, and then finally from San Diego north to San Francisco. At the end of my trip I will write an article about what I have learned, for whom I've decided to vote, and explain my decision; I will also be keeping recordings of my conversations and taking pictures of the more memorable people with whom I speak.
I thank you for your attention and for passing the link to this site (http://earningtheright.
All questions and suggestions may be sent to earningtheright@gmail.com.
10 comments:
Finishing in San Francisco? Have you made up your mind already?
Seriously though, San Francisco voted for John Kerry at a rate of 83.4% in 2004. I believe that is the most extreme figure for a Democrat of all counties in the U.S. with the exception of DC.
Anyway, good luck.
With all due respect to Mr. Peterson, I'd put my money on Flint, Michigan being higher. I wouldn't be surprised if SF wasn't in the top five. There's a lot more rich, non-unionized folks San Francisco than in a lot of other counties in America.
Well... is it fair if you don't visit all fifty states to get a true perspective on who to vote for? Mind you, Eric, I am not telling you to bike to every state just wondering why you choose the route that you did? Was there a specific aim or just out of convenience?
Good luck Eric! This is a crazy adventure, but for some reason I'm not surprised at all. I'll be looking forward to reading about it. It's been getting colder here in Wisconsin so make sure to skip that in October ;)
Not even close, bisgopharius. Genesee County, home of Flint, Michigan, went 60% for Kerry in '04. You would be surprised how many Republican votes there are in Democratic strongholds and vice-versa. Hell, I live in one of the most liberal places in the country, Santa Fe, and it's only like 75%. San Francisco's 83.4% beats out even The Bronx and Manhattan.
"You- what do you do?! Do you want to be on run crew?"
I'll watch for the itinerary. Where in MD are you starting? Let's have a beer.
-Ellen
John (and this is Jacob Thomas by the way, if you didn't recognize my ancient livejournal account), back in 2005 the Bay Area Center for Voting Research ranked all the cities in America with populations over 100,000 by how democratically they tended to vote.
Flint came in tenth, not as high as I'd thought, but SF was only 9th (Santa Fe was too small to make the list). The top three were Detroit, Gary, and Berkeley.
None of these can hold a candle to some of the rural parts of my home state of West Virginia though. In McDowell county alone 94% of voters are registered democratic or at least were for the most recent figures I can find.
John, Jacob, you guys leave the most boring comments on a message board I've ever seen. This is top-of-the-line BS that you too are shoveling... who has a pissing contest over demographics?
Well it doesn't matter anyways, because he's voting absentee in San Francisco. Meaning he is voting in Maryland.
I just thought it was funny that Eric is ending in San Francisco. I mean, if a media outlet sent some roving reporter to do this, he would surely finish up in some historically divided locale. This way is cool too.
I think demographics are really interesting. And I didn't think it was a pissing contest.
Go McPalin!
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