Coverage of the 2012 Primary Election
On March 20, 2012, Illinois Public Media aired live coverage of the 2012 primary election hosted by News and Public Affairs Director, Craig Cohen.
The three-hour broadcast included the latest results and analysis in the GOP Presidential primary, the Democratic and Republican 13th Congressional district primaries, plus races for state legislative seats, the Champaign County Board, Auditor, and Circuit Clerk, and municipal electric aggregation referenda in Champaign-Urbana.
Throughout the evening, Craig was joined by Robert Rich (Director, Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, Kent Redfield (Political Science Professor, University of Illinois at Springfield), and John Jackson (Visiting Professor, Paul Simon Policy Institute at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale).
The Election Night special was produced by Sean Powers, with assistance from Kimberlie Kranich, Celeste Quinn, Jeff Bossert, Pam Dempsey, Jill Disis, Azra Halilović, Mary Barrineau, Jack Brighton, Carina Lee, and Dan Davis. There was additional reporting from Illinois Public Radio's Willis Kern, Charlie Schlenker and Brian Mackey. The technical director was Jason Croft.
HOUR 1 +NPR News in Washington, DC +Panel discussion on the various races, campaign contributions, and the redistricting of legislative and congressional district maps +Interview with Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten at the Brookens Administrative Center about voter turnout +Update from Illinois Public Radio in Springfield +Panel discussion about the Presidential candidates
HOUR 2 +NPR News in Washington, DC +Conversation with Tom Kacich, editorial page editor of the Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette. Kacich talked about races for circuit clerk, auditor, and county board in Champaign County +Illinois Public Media's Jeff Bossert reports on the municipal electric aggregation referenda +Update from Illinois Public Radio in Springfield +Panel discussion about the 13th Congressional race, including reports from Illinois Public Media's Sean Powers and Illinois Public Radio's Willis Kern
HOUR 3 +NPR News in Washington, DC +Panel discussion about races during the night +Update from Illinois Public Radio in Springfield +Illinois Public Media's Jeff Bossert reports from the Brookens Administrative Center about results from the county races +Illinois Public Radio's Brian Mackey reports from Springfield about how Congressional races across the state are shaping out +Illinois Public Radio's Charlie Schlenker reports from the Double Tree Hotel in Bloomington on the 53rd Senate race between Sen. Shane Cultra (R-Onarga) and State Rep. Jason Barickman (R-Champaign)