News Cycle

Author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol Louis “Studs” Terkel died at his home on the North Side today. He was 96.

Terkel’s health took a turn for the worse when he suffered a fall in his home two weeks ago. He had been in declining health for a long time.

Here is a link to coverage in the Chicago Tribune.

Here is a link to his web site, which chronicles his life. The world is a poorer place without him tonight.

Studs Terkel, prize-winning author and radio broadcast personality was born Louis Terkel in New York on May 16, 1912. His father, Samuel, was a tailor and his mother, Anna (Finkel) was a seamstress. He had three brothers. The family moved to Chicago in 1922 and opened a rooming house at Ashland and Flournoy on the near West side. From 1926 to 1936 they ran another rooming house, the Wells-Grand Hotel at Wells Street and Grand Avenue. Terkel credits his knowledge of the world to the tenants who gathered in the lobby of the hotel and the people who congregated in nearby Bughouse Square, a meeting place for workers, labor organizers, dissidents, the unemployed, and religious fanatics of many persuasions. In 1939 he married Ida Goldberg and had one son.

Terkel attended University of Chicago and received a law degree in 1934. He chose not to pursue a career in law. After a brief stint with the civil service in Washington D.C., he returned to Chicago and worked with the WPA Writers Project in the radio division. One day he was asked to read a script and soon found himself in radio soap operas, in other stage performances, and on a WAIT news show. After a year in the Air Force, he returned to writing radio shows and ads. He was on a sports show on WBBM and then, in 1944, he landed his own show on WENR. This was called the Wax Museum show that allowed him to express his own personality and play recordings he liked from folk music, opera, jazz, or blues. A year later he had his own television show called Stud’s Place and started asking people the kind of questions that marked his later work as an interviewer.

In 1952 Terkel began working for WFMT, first with the “Studs Terkel Almanac” and the “Studs Terkel Show,” primarily to play music. The interviewing came along by accident. This later became the award-winning, “The Studs Terkel Program.” His first book, Giants of Jazz, was published in 1956. Ten years later his first book of oral history interviews, Division Street : America, came out. It was followed by a succession of oral history books on the 1930s Depression, World War Two, race relations, working, the American dream, and aging. His latest book, Will the Circle Be Unbroken : Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith, was published in 2001. Terkel continues to interview people, work on his books, and make public appearances. He is Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the Chicago Historical Society.

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters via a conference call today that Democrats are encouraged by results of massive get-out-the-vote efforts in early-voting states. The campaign’s inference is that victory is at hand.

Plouffe said the campaign is pleased that a large part of the early vote so far is coming from sporadic and new voters, most of whom they believe are voting for Obama.

“We’re out of the land of theory here in a lot of these states. You’re beginning to see how this election is likely to unfold,” he said. “The dye is being cast even as we speak.”

“We’re always looking for opportunities to expand the map, and these three states are close enough,” Plouffe said. “It’s enough in the realm of possibility that we want to put a little extra effort here at the end.”

The three states he was referring to are Arizona, North Dakota, and Georgia.

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign officials have told reporters from The Washington Times, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Post that they no longer can travel on the candidate’s plane as of Sunday.

All three newspapers have endorsed Sen. John McCain.

“We’re trying to reach as many swing voters that we can and unfortunately had to make some tough choices. but we are accommodating these folks in every way possible,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton told Politico’s Ben Smith. He said the move was to get reporters on the plane who can reach undecided voters in battleground states. New York and Texas are not battleground areas, but northern Virginia, where the Washington Times circulates, is.

Their seats are being used by correspondents from Ebony and Jet magazines.

In the past, McCain had barred liberal columnists Maureen Dowd of The New York Times and Joe Klein from Time magazine from his campaign plane. The difference is that McCain did not eject the reporters from those news organizations. Columnists are paid to express their opinions, and are generally managed outside the news department. They do not report the news. Reporters are bound ethically to report the news without opinions, and generally have no input into a news organization’s editorial page policy.

“This feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars covering Senator Obama’s campaign, traveling on his plane, and taking our turn in the reporter’s pool, only to have our seat given away to someone else in the last days of the campaign,” said Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon in his newspaper. “I hope the candidate that promises to unite America isn’t using a litmus test to determine who gets to cover his campaign.”

How low can you go?

Gov. Bill Richardson, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, said in a recently radio interview that when Obama becomes president, he would cut taxes for people earning less than $120,000 a year.

Obama’s official position is that the cutoff is at $250,000. But he once said on the stump that the figure is $200,000. Sen. Joe Biden then lowered the bar to $150,000.

Sen. Barack Obama, in responding to the spreading the wealth attacks from the McCain campaign, may have not chosen his words wisely while on the stump in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday.

The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich. I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go for it. That’s the America dream, that’s the American way, that’s terrific.

The point is, though, that — and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class — it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That’s what happened in the 1990s, that’s what we need to restore. And that’s what I’m gonna do as president of the United States of America.

John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.

Of course, the logic in that statement is that you’re selfish if you don’t want higher taxes, which would play into McCain’s argument.

Sen. Barack Obama, in responding to the spreading the wealth attacks from the McCain campaign, may have not chosen his words wisely while on the stump in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday.

The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich. I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go for it. That’s the America dream, that’s the American way, that’s terrific.

The point is, though, that — and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class — it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That’s what happened in the 1990s, that’s what we need to restore. And that’s what I’m gonna do as president of the United States of America.

John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.

Of course, the logic in that statement is that you’re selfish if you don’t want higher taxes, which would play into McCain’s argument. Selfish people are those who do not give because they decide not to. One is charitable out of their own free will. It’s dangerous territory when government decides for you whether you are too selfish.

Sen. Barack Obama had his infomerical, now Sen. John McCain is countering with a last-minute appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” The Associated Press reports this morning.

Aides to the Republican presidential candidate said Friday that McCain will make a detour from battleground states to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” the late-night show that has been a must-watch for many during the political season.

Hosting the show this Saturday is actor Ben Affleck, a supporter of Democratic candidate Barack Obama. The musical guest is singer David Cook.

When McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, appeared on the show Oct. 18, “Saturday Night Live” earned its best ratings in 14 years. Former star and head writer Tina Fey, a Palin lookalike, has been at the center of the show’s recent parodies of the campaign.

“SNL” regular Darrell Hammond impersonates McCain on the late-night show, now in its 34th season.

McCain last appeared on “Saturday Night Live” in May, after clinching the nomination and while the Democratic primary continued. The 72-year-old Arizona senator joked about his age, saying: “I ask you, what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old.”

Sen. Barack Obama had his infomerical, now Sen. John McCain is countering with a last-minute appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” The Associated Press reports this morning.

Aides to the Republican presidential candidate said Friday that McCain will make a detour from battleground states to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” the late-night show that has been a must-watch for many during the political season.

Hosting the show this Saturday is actor Ben Affleck, a supporter of Democratic candidate Barack Obama. The musical guest is singer David Cook.

When McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, appeared on the show Oct. 18, “Saturday Night Live” earned its best ratings in 14 years. Former star and head writer Tina Fey, a Palin lookalike, has been at the center of the show’s recent parodies of the campaign.

“SNL” regular Darrell Hammond impersonates McCain on the late-night show, now in its 34th season.

McCain last appeared on “Saturday Night Live” in May, after clinching the nomination and while the Democratic primary continued. The 72-year-old Arizona senator joked about his age, saying: “I ask you, what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old.”

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign officials have told reporters from The Washington Times, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Post that they no longer can travel on the candidate’s plane as of Sunday.

All three newspapers have endorsed Sen. John McCain.

“We’re trying to reach as many swing voters that we can and unfortunately had to make some tough choices. but we are accommodating these folks in every way possible,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton told Politico’s Ben Smith. He said the move was to get reporters on the plane who can reach undecided voters in battleground states. New York and Texas are not battleground areas, but northern Virginia, where the Washington Times circulates, is.

Their seats are being used by correspondents from Ebony and Jet magazines.

In the past, McCain had barred liberal columnists Maureen Dowd of The New York Times and Joe Klein from Time magazine from his campaign plane. The difference is that McCain did not eject the reporters from those news organizations. Columnists are paid to express their opinions, and are generally managed outside the news department. They do not report the news. Reporters are bound ethically to report the news without opinions, and generally have no input into a news organization’s editorial page policy.

“This feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars covering Senator Obama’s campaign, traveling on his plane, and taking our turn in the reporter’s pool, only to have our seat given away to someone else in the last days of the campaign,” said Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon in his newspaper. “I hope the candidate that promises to unite America isn’t using a litmus test to determine who gets to cover his campaign.”

Rasmussen Reports’ daily tracking poll showed a bounce for Sen. Barack Obama as the frontrunner extended his lead to five percentage points. The poll had shown some tightening in the race until this morning.

After showing the candidates just three points apart yesterday, the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll on Thursday returns to the range that has defined the race for over a month. It’s Obama by five, 51% to 46%.

This is the 35th straight day that Obama’s support has been between 50% and 52%. With the exception of yesterday, McCain’s support has stayed between 44% and 46% during that stretch.

Rasmussen also released a poll this morning that indicates that people now trust Sen. John McCain more than Obama on the issue of taxes and the economy.

After several weeks of John McCain’s campaign attacks on Barack Obama’s tax plan and idea of “spreading the wealth around”, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds voters trust McCain more than Obama on taxes, 47% to 45%.

Two weeks ago, Obama had a one point-advantage on the issue of taxes and a month ago, he had a three-point edge. The last time McCain had the advantage on this issue was September 14, just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers started the meltdown on Wall Street (see trends).

Men favor McCain by a 51% to 43% margin when it comes to taxes, while women still trust Obama more, 48% to 43%.