U.S. Elections and Democratic Governance - NIS and Balkan Journalists from Countries With Muslim Populations

November 27-December 6, 2004, Washington, D.C., Ohio, Nevada
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer: Brian Guss
Telephone: 202-504-6314; Email: gussbh@state.gov

Seven journalists from Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan were immersed for two weeks in dissecting the results and implications of the U.S. Presidential and Congressional elections, and the role of religion and family values in those elections.

The Washington program included briefings by Michael Franc at the Heritage Foundation; Bill Frenzel of the Brookings Institution; Josh Earnest of the DNC, and Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute.  At Meridian House, Dr. Erich Langerbacher briefed the journalists on the U.S. Federal System; Tom Neal of the Congressional Research Service explained the Electoral College; and Ann Stone discussed "Women in Politics."  The group toured the U.S. capitol and its press gallery, where they were briefed by gallery superintendent Jerry Gallegos, and me with Senator Harry Reid's foreign policy aide Rich Verma.

In Ohio, a pivotal state in the 2004 election, they visited Washington Courthouse, in Fayette County, south of Route 40, where they spoke with the ministers and congregants of two evangelical churches, not only about their political preferences and choices in the recent election, but also about charitable work in Haiti and Africa.  The journalists toured the Ohio Statehouse and took a hard look at the Ohio elections from different perspectives in meetings with the senior editor of the Columbus Dispatch and top officials of the Ohio Secretary of State's office.  They also attended Friday Salat services in a mosque outside Columbus, and interviewed many of the congregants afterwards.  In Cleveland, they toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, participated in a rousing early Sunday morning gospel service at Mount Sinai Baptist Church, where they were welcomed by activist Pastor C. Jay Mattews and learned about the importance of the African-American Church in the political as well as religious life of the community.  They attended the Browns-Patriots football game at Browns stadium, which they viewed from the Press Box, as guests of the team.  They later toured the heavily Eastern and Central European Western Market, strolled the city's Cultural Gardens, with spaces dedicated to many nationalities, and met with Cleveland business and political leaders.

In Reno, Nevada, the journalists learned about Public Access TV at the Media Center, looked back at the election through the eyes of the local NBC TV affiliate, and the Managing Editor and Political Correspondent of the Las Vegas "Review-Journal," met with members of the journalism Faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the City Editor of the Reno Gazette Journal.  In addition, they toured the Payute Indian Reservation at Pyramid Lake and the Tribal hatchery that largely funds the reservation; the local Democratic Party Chairman; and visited the state Capitol at Carson City where Deputy Secretary of State Rhonda Moore, welcomed them, set up a voting machine; took each of them through the process, including the state's certification procedures.  The journalists ended their reporting tour in Las Vegas, where they were briefed on political, cultural, and economic development history of the city by UNLV History Professor Hal Rothman; were briefed at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste Info Center, by Communications Director Alan Benson; and also attended the National Rodeo Finals, where they were able to visit the locker/training rooms, interview contestants, and interact with many of its Resistol-hatted cowboy-booted fans.