It was an extreme honor to spend the year reporting the fascinating work done by Tennessee's youth over this past election cycle. I would like to thank MTV, the Knight Foundation, and all of the people who allowed me access to their work and lives over the past year. Here are some of the highlights.

Before I am accused (falsely) of biased reporting, let me say I was not expecting to report such a contrasting picture of Nashville's dueling campaigns.  At roughly 2:30 PM I visited the McCain headquarters in Nashville only to find four or five senior citizen ladies volunteering.  They told me they might be closing shop soon.  There was no phone banking at that time and no other activity.  Perhaps it had been crowded earlier in the day and I missed all the energy.  At 4 PM I visited Nashville's Obama headquarters and the contrast could not have been more stark.  I found a very large room packed full of hundreds of volunteers phone banking, driving people to the (not very crowded) polls, and organizing neighborhood canvassing.  The headquarters is situated in a strip mall with a large parking lot, and there was not a space to be found.  Cars and trucks were passing by honking their horns...

Here's a quick update with anecdotal information from Nashville polling centers.  Within the past thrity minutes, I cruised by five polling stations.  There were no lines to speak of at four of them.  They were pretty dead.  One station, where Vanderbilt students vote (as well as non-students in the neighborhood), had a substantial line outside the door.  It is the one polling center that has remained busy throughout the day.  I spoke with my father who lives in suburban Hendersonville, about twenty-fives north of Nashville.  He informed me that the two polls he drove by in the morning, just as polls were opening, had been very, very busy.  He also said the same polls remained busy at 5:30 PM.  Lastly, I spoke with a volunteer at the Obama campaign headquarters who had been driving voters to the poll since 10 AM.  She told me that she saw no lines extending outside the building on any of...

What a difference a few hours make.  After a large rush in the morning, Nashville's polling centers are dead.  I could find no lines at any of them over the past two hours.  I spoke with Steve Turner, a local community organizer and voter drive organizer.  He told me he had stocked up on bottled water and food and planned to spend the day traveling to polling stations and providing refreshments for the long lines.  So far, the lines haven't formed.  I spoke with him in the early afternoon and he said that he has changed plans and is canvassing in neighborhoods instead to drive turnout to the polls.

McCain Headquarters in Nashville

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Young Nashville voters after voting for the first time:

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It's finally here!  Election Day 2008.  I've spent the morning floating between a few polling places here in Nashville.  My first stop was Eakins Elementary School, situated between Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities.  It is the primary polling center for Vanderbilt University and Vandy students were out in full force, as were the locals in the neighborhood.  I spoke with James Pierces, age 23, as he stood in line.  It was 8 AM here and James, a recent Belmont University graduate, told me he had been in line for about an hour, from about the times the polls opened at 7 AM.  This polling center has designated machines for certain areas in the precinct, and he said he was informed that one of the machines designated for his area had been down for a short time but was now up and running.

Voter James Pierces, Age 23

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The polls are now open in Nashville.  The weather is beautiful and is supposed to stay that way all day.  A big turnout is expected.  I will be twittering all day, blogging, uploading photos, and uploading video.  Stay tuned, and go vote if you haven't already!

As I write this, we are exactly one week away from Election Day.  In many ways, it seems like only yesterday I was turning in my first piece for this ambitious experiment, MTV’s Street Team ’08.  As this project wraps up and the election draws near, a few things have been rolling around my mind as I watch my state gear up for the big day.  As suggested by this post’s title, my thoughts vary widely in tone.  I’ll start off with the good news before getting to the bad and, unfortunately, this week’s ugly development here in Tennessee. 

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With the election coming to a close, health care remains a central issue on voters' minds. Thankfully for the uninsured, some people aren't waiting on Washington to repair a broken system. Meet Dr. Ted Hill, a doctor in Tennessee, who felt a spiritual calling to leave his successful private practice to open a health care center strictly for the working uninsured in his community.

Thousands of journalists including myself spent the evening in Nashville, Tennessee covering the second Presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. More than anything else, I was struck by the sheer magnitude of the media spectacle and wondered what value it really holds for American news consumers.