Reporting on the mood-of-the-country from a bicycle

Hey, Senators McCain and Obama!

If you want to learn the mood of the electorate as we roll toward the presidential election, you should check out Tim Foley's blog, ElectionCyclist.com.

Tim, at left next to a Maryland cornfield, is definitely the hardest working political journalist out there doing “mood-of-the-country” coverage. He conducts and posts daily voter interviews for his blog, then climbs on his bike and rides 50 to 100 miles to his next interview.

The master's candidate at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism is on a 50-day bike tour from New York City to New Orleans. He departed on Sept. 14 and plans to roll into the Big Easy shortly before the election.

Non-partisan

Tim wants to profile the voters and learn what issues are most important to them. He writes:

“ElectionCycle.com has no political agenda, and will remain non-partisan and unbiased. We are here to facilitate the expression of voter concerns, not advocate for a candidate. To accomplish these goals, ElectionCycle.com’s multimedia platform will engage visitors of all ages, backgrounds and political affiliations in the discussion about our next President and his responsibility to address our issues.”

This attempt to get into the minds of voters got its start in the runup to the 1972 election, when political reporters like Haynes Johnson and David Broder of the Washington Post wracked up frequent flier miles on airlines to criss-cross the country to learn what issues mattered most to people.

For an outdoors enthusiast like Tim, the bicycle seems like a better choice.

Interviews

So he pedals from town to town, interviewing retirees, veterans, college students, businessmen, what-have-you. His first interview was a World War II veteran in Huntington Valley, PA, who is concerned about his government income.

His most recently interviewed a print shop owner in Asheville, NC, who is angry about the bailout and would like to see the tax burden on small business owners alleviated.

I certainly appreciate Tim's efforts to get out the stories on these people.  He's doing a better job at explaining the upcoming election from the voter's point of view than all the flabby spinmeisters who make the rounds to the nightly “news” shows.

Road

In addition to his political interviews, he writes about his experiences on the road. For instance, when his brother Bo joined him for a few days, they got a police escort into a small town.

Tim is bicycling down the eastern seaboard, with a detour into Tennessee. He's definitely not avoiding the mountains and has been grounded for a few days by poor weather.

Bicycling.com recently did a short piece on Tim at “Bike the Vote.”