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Related Pieces
Piece Description
The idea that just about everyone is connected by no more than six degrees of separation led to a Broadway play, a movie and the Hollywood game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". Commentator Chris Tucker explains how the "six degrees" game also plays out in political campaigns.
Broadcast History
Aired October 31, 2008 during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on KERA 90.1 FM.
Transcript
To get elected, presidential candidates must assemble vast coalitions of millions of voters who may differ on many things from morals to accents to shopping habits, favorite TV shows, church attendance, and more. In fact, they may have robust disagreements on almost everything but the necessity of electing their chosen leader.
Historically, this has long been true. Franklin Roosevelt built winning coalitions that included hard-line segregationists and impoverished African-Americans, big-city Jewish voters and Western ranchers. Ronald Reagan?s army contained born-again evangelicals and many whose only religion was a vigorous, unfettered capitalism.
Today, both the Obama and McCain coalitions are filled with disparate and sometimes contradictory elements: churchgoers, atheists, hunters, housewives, rich, poor, pro-immigration, anti-immigration and so on.
Now we?ve h...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
Suggested Intro: The idea that just about everyone is connected by no more than six degrees of separation led to a Broadway play, a movie and the Hollywood game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". Commentator Chris Tucker says the "six degrees" game also plays out in political campaigns.
Tag: Chris Tucker is a Dallas writer and literary consultant.
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