Why is this election important? AC360° producer Chuck Hadad took a cross-country road trip to find out.

Chuck Hadad
AC360° Producer

My boss pulled me into his office one afternoon in late May and dropped a bombshell: “We want you to do a short documentary about the election. Come back to us with an idea and as long as we’re on board, we want you to go for it.” It would be my first shot at being on-air and I was thrilled.

I came back a week later with an idea that was as ambitious as perhaps it was foolish. This was my official pitch:

Although I’m not a veteran political pundit, I’ve voted in 3 elections and been a part of covering as many in my career here at CNN. I grew up in a family highly attuned to politics which lead to our own lively round table discussions at dinner growing up (especially the last election when my Mom voted for Bush, my Dad for Kerry).

I’m old enough to remember Reagan’s reelection, the Iran-Contra scandal, the end of the Cold War, Bush 1, the recession, the surprise victory of the Governor from Arkansas, the triumphs, defeats and controversies of the entire Clinton presidency and everything in between.

With that knowledge both on the job and leading up to it, this Presidential election just seems bigger, the stakes higher, the difference between one man or the other massive and the emotion for the entire country at a fevered pitch. For lack of a better word, this election just feels more important than any one in my lifetime. While the candidates go into general election mode, they no doubt have their talking points on why they’re the best to lead. But I’m not interested in their rhetoric which gets blasted around the world on many platforms on a daily basis.

Keep reading

_____________________________________________________________________________

AC360's ongoing report on culprits of the collapse. CNN's Joe Johns reports on Lehman Brothers' Richard Fuld.

When assessing Richard Fuld, former CEO of the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers, one Wall Street watcher put it bluntly: “Either he should have known that the company was in difficult circumstances or if he did know and didn’t tell, it creates another problem. On the one hand he is either a liar or else on the other hand, he is stupid.” That from Sean Egan of Egan-Jones Ratings, who evaluates companies like Lehman for investors.

Fuld was at the helm of Lehman Brothers as it raked in record profits during the housing bubble and then last month filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Lehman’s startling demise helped touch off a panic in the financial industry that is still rocking the markets and the economy today.

A 158-year-old firm like Lehman going under sure sent a signal that no one was untouchable. The government mulled over stepping in to save the company but ultimately decided Lehman was too flawed to rescue.

The attacks on Fuld are, like our national debt, growing by the second. In a scathing Congressional question and answer session last week, Fuld denied the charge that he purposely misled the public about Lehman’s problems.

Keep reading

The National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, is shrouded in smog on opening day of the 2008 Olympics.

Chuck Hadad
AC360° Producer

It’s a historic event taking place on an international stage that’s been seven years and $40 billion in the making. Opening ceremonies last week of the 2008 Olympic Summer Games were lauded as the most spectacular in history, with pyrotechnics blasting from the top of Beijing, China’s National Stadium and a synchronized fireworks display firing off across the capital.

What has been mostly absent from Beijing, however, are protests. Although a unified China is the image that country’s government is eager to portray, many human rights groups allege that China has orchestrated a massive cover-up.

Beyond human rights, questions remain about whether China has kept its promises to the world to improve in two other major areas of reform: freedom of the press and pollution cleanup.

Read more

Watch Samuel Snow, a former imprisoned U.S. Army officer who received $725 after an unfair trial. CNN's David Mattingly interviewed Mr. Snow last year. Here is his report.

Samuel Snow was one of two surviving World War Two veterans of one of the biggest military trials of the war. He had been wrongly convicted and imprisoned for a crime that over sixty years later, he said he didn’t commit. When I met him late last year, the Army had recently overturned his conviction and awarded him the wages he’d lost while behind bars for 15 months: $725.

At the time, our story focused on the rather small sum awarded Snow that didn’t factor in interest or inflation, not to mention the myriad of benefits denied to him for receiving a dishonorable discharge like those provided by the GI Bill.
Snow was one of 28 black soldiers convicted of rioting one night at Seattle’s Fort Lawton that left an Italian POW hanged to death. Two of the 28 were also convicted of man-slaughter and sentenced to 15 years. Last October, the Army determined they didn’t get a fair trial and over-turned all convictions and sent Samuel his check.

Keep reading

Introducing the iReport Film Festival!

We want YOU to make a short film for iReport Film Festival: Campaign 2008!, an online festival of short films from the campaign trail.

Put your creativity to the test and give us a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes whether you are organizing in your community or following the campaign… Learn more

________________________________________________________________

Chuck Hadad
AC360° producer
 
My boss pulled me into his office one afternoon in late May and dropped a bombshell: “We want you to do a short documentary about the election. Come back to us with an idea and as long as we’re on board, we want you to go for it.”

I was thrilled with the assignment but also overwhelmed with the endless possibilities. It was like when your 9th grade English teacher told you to write an essay on “anything you want”. You loved the freedom but at the same time were crushed with the limitless options.

“This is going to be part of an iReport film festival and your film will be a model for people to get an idea of what we’re looking for,” he said. Now the pressure was really on. America was counting on me.

I came back a week later with an idea that was as ambitious as perhaps it was foolish. I wanted to know what the country thought about the election and I planned to find out by driving across the country asking as many different people as possible. In talking to individuals, I hoped to discover some universal truth. Keep reading