In partnership with the Boston University journalism program, we’ve been airing student radio stories about the primary. Kathryn Eident met with a family in Dover and prepared this voter profile.
Track 1: Fade in: party sound “hi….how ya doin?” Fade down to background (10 sec)
Track 2: (Narrator) It’s a Saturday afternoon in Dover, and Dean and Margaret Trefethen are having a family party.
Track 3: Fade up to full: “Who wants a hotdog?...” Fade down to ambient sound
Dean and Margaret have their grill fired up and their lobster pot boiling. In between cooking and greeting guests, Dean, Margaret and their daughter, Robin, stand around the kitchen island talking about the upcoming primary.
Ax 1: Honestly I’m not excited about anyone who’s running. There isn’t anyone running that I would feel comfortable voting for at this point. (6:50) [7 sec]
Track 4: That’s Robin Trefethen. Robin is a 23 year old college grad who recently moved back to her hometown.
If Election Day were tomorrow, Robin would stay home.
Ax 2: I wouldn’t vote. Nope.
Track 6: Robin doesn’t believe that the candidates will stay true to their campaign promises because they come into the race with their own agendas. She thinks some of their solutions are too similar and says there isn’t enough room on the platform for someone with different ideas. Her father, Dean, agrees.
Ax 3: I don’t have faith in the two party system right now—I think it’s broke.…I don’t see any of the candidates as being the end-all-be-all, and having the best interests of the people of the country at heart…I think that someone who is moderate and who is not connected with various special interest groups probably can’t get elected. (28:04) [25 sec]
Track 7: Dean is a 53 year old City Councilman and design engineer. A self described moderate and registered as undeclared, Dean actively follows local and national politics. He and his wife, Margaret, a 46 year old accountant, voted for George Bush in the last election. But as their daughter Robin talks about Bush’s failings, they nod in agreement.
Ax 6: to this day I still don’t understand why we’re fighting in Iraq when people from Afghanistan attacked us. …Health care’s a mess, insurance is a mess, immigration is a mess, and that’s stuff that’s going on where we live in our homes and no one is taking care of that right now—it needs to be taken care of. (5:27)
Dean, Margaret and Robin all supported the decision to enter Iraq. Four years later, the Trefethens have their doubts. They want the troops to come home, but don’t think a strict timeline is the answer. Now they are looking at what solutions candidates on both sides of the spectrum have to offer. Dean says it’s difficult to sort through the many candidates to see who will have the best solutions.
Ax 4: On the Republican side, I’m leaning towards McCain… but I’m not sure he’s going to be able to pull it off….On the Democratic side…the only one that I even think I would consider is Richardson…. He at least has a different point of view…but I don’t know much about him.
Track 10: Richardson also stands out for Dean, because as the governor of a border state,
Richardson has worked on immigration, a subject that ranks high on the list of domestic issues the Trefethens expect the next president to deal with.
Ax 7: (Dean) The real answer to immigration is to try and make things better in Mexico so there’s not that need for them to cross the border illegally and get here. …that’s one of the reasons I’m looking at Richardson, because he’s dealing with it on a daily basis. (21:05)
Ax 8: (Margaret) The term illegal immigrant is exactly what it states: illegal…we have too many other issues with our regular United States citizens…we can’t fix everybody’s problems. (17:15)
Track 11: The Trefethens also are looking for progress on healthcare. Margaret is a breast cancer survivor, and says that beating cancer and staying healthy is possible because she is fortunate enough to have health insurance.
Ax 9: (Margaret)…There are a lot of people out there who could not afford the treatments…this is everyday people …That’s a big problem for our country…we need to take care of our own. (18:40).
Ax 10: (Dean) I don’t want to give up my private healthcare...but…we need to do something to make it available for the people who can’t get it otherwise. (21:30)
SFX: fade up party noises
fade down to ambient
Track 12: At the end of the day, the Trefethens are more likely to vote Republican, though they don’t think the party has all the answers. They say, the Democrats are just too extreme for their tastes. And with Election Day less than a year away, no candidate truly stands out as ready to face the issues that count the most for the Trefethen family. For NHPR News, I’m Kathryn Eident
