Counting down
- 15 Oct 08, 04:30 PM
For the entire year since our BBC World News America program was launched, we've been covering the American Presidential campaign.
The first actual votes were cast just after New Year 2008...I'll never forget our desperate search for propane gas heaters to keep Matt Frei from freezing to death in the sub-zero temperatures as he presented the program from the grounds of the state capitol in Des Moines, Iowa.
Winter gave way to spring and then summer, and as you might have seen in Katty Kay's excellent report from New Hampshire this week, the autumn leaves are now turning. All along the way, we've tried to cover the campaign with accent and attitude, focusing less on the polls and the 'horserace' than on the ever-more-serious issues facing America and its citizens.
The stakes for this election have always seemed incredibly high; both in America and around the world, people have long sensed that this is an historic 'inflection point' for America. But a year ago, many of us thought that the election might turn on the war in Iraq.
Over many months, the condition of the economy steadily crept to the fore, as it almost always does in American elections. But who could have predicted that the final weeks of the campaign would be conducted in the midst of a full-blown global financial crisis?
Both the McCain and Obama campaigns have struggled to keep pace with events, and to formulate serious responses to incredible fiscal and economic challenges. So have the news media...we've done our very best to make sense of confusing and frightening times.
As we count down to 4 November, we'll continue to bring a unique BBC perspective to both the political and economic stories in America. After election day, we'll be taking a serious look at the challenges and opportunities facing the winner. And then, on Inauguration Day, 20 January, we'll probably have propane heaters set up again, this time in Washington, to keep Matt from freezing as he tells the story of the 44th American President's procession to the White House.
Rome Hartman is executive producer of BBC World News America
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