"America Speaks" Captures Days Leading Up to Election
Remember the historic 2008 election with this multimedia tour of the country.
Nov. 7, 2008 — -- In the run-up to the historic 2008 presidential election, ABC News and USA Today embarked on a "50 States in 50 Days" tour of the country to hear what everyday Americans had to say about their lives, the direction of the country and the candidates.
As part of ABC News' networkwide coverage, "Good Morning America" took a weeklong "Whistle-stop Train Tour" of several states to hear people's stories. We wanted to hear about your struggles, your triumphs and the issues you face every day and find out what you expected from the presidential candidates.
ABC News, along with USA Today, created a multimedia tour of the nation called "America Speaks," a book and DVD set that captures the voices we heard on the road and our impressions as we made that amazing journey.
"America Speaks" includes essays by Charles Gibson, Robin Roberts, our reporters on the campaign trail and more. Plus the DVD has footage from the tour. "America Speaks" will be available beginning next week at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Borders Books, Waldenbooks and on Amazon.com
To pre-buy the "America Speaks" book and DVD, go to www.triumphbooks.com/AmericaSpeaks.
Click here to read Robin Roberts' full essay, along with photos, from the book.
Excerpt from Robin's essay:
I'll tell you the truth -- when the idea of doing "Good Morning America" for an entire week from a moving train first came up, my response was "what?" quickly followed by "how?"
I knew the "why." Our audience told us why, in e-mails, letters, postings on our Shout Out message board. They were hurting and, in this all important election year, they needed our help in being heard. They were relying on us to listen and get them answers. That profound trust galvanized us and we all were eager to get going.
There were a few things we had to learn first. How do you pack for a train trip? No ball gowns, granted, but will it be cold, hot or somewhere in-between? Would Diane Sawyer be able to get all the Diet Coke and Red Bull she needs to keep going? (Yes.) Would Sam Champion -- in the gulf to cover Hurricane Ike -- make it back for part of the trip? (Yes, thank goodness.) Will Chris Cuomo even fit in his sleeping berth? (No.) And would I be able to walk on a moving train? (Yes, thanks to our train attendant Sweet Lou Drummeter, who taught the whole GMA crew the "duck walk.")
And what would we do between stops? It turned out that spontaneous dance parties were popular (alas, the duck walk didn't help me here) and Sam and Chris had marathon Monopoly games, which they played by rules that the Parker Bros. would have frowned upon, but left the rest of us rolling in the aisles.
Sweet Lou called "All aboard" on Sept. 14, 2008 as "GMA's Whistle-Stop Tour '08" pulled out of the station in Worcester, Mass. Our first broadcast was from Stockbridge, Mass., a beautiful, historic town nestled in the Berkshires. This is where Norman Rockwell painted our vision of the American dream, where small towns thrived and parents saw to it that their children's future was secure. We visited Joe's Diner in the nearby town of Lee, said by many to be the inspiration for Rockwell's famous painting of a boy and a policeman sitting at the counter. It's called "The Runaway," and we recreated that moment with a local policeman and a little boy from town.
As we traveled west from Massachusetts to Niagara Falls, southwest along Lake Erie to Pennsylvania and Ohio, and then south to Maryland and West Virginia, finally pulling into Union Station in Washington, D.C., we saw two Americas from our train windows: the beautiful, ever-changing landscape, and the harsh reality facing the people living in towns along the tracks.
We saw the leaves turning in Massachusetts, a double rainbow over Niagara Falls, corn as far as the eye can see in Ohio, the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia and the Capitol Dome, a beacon in the night sky.
Just as breathtaking -- the landscape of faces greeting us along the way. Cheerleaders, youth groups, families, senior citizens -- sharing their smiles and their spirit. Their energy kept us going. They wanted us to love their hometowns as much as they do (and we did).
But another America greeted us, too. The America facing hard times. As the train rumbled on the track, the rumbling of trouble from Wall Street had begun. A crisis that was already part of the lives of the people we were about to meet.
Click here to read Robin Roberts' full essay, along with photos, from the book.
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