Hitting the Campaign Trail

Election-year specials focus on small-town politics

Bill's Run: A Political Journey in Rural Kansas

In Burdick, Kansas, politics are about as personal as you can get, with allegiances based as much (or more) on a candidate's reputation for paying his bills on time, or the kindness of his family, as they are on the issues he champions. When filmmaker Richard Kassebaum decided to follow his rancher-lawyer brother Bill's campaign for state senate, he knew it would make for an intriguing case analysis of democracy in America's heartland. One of P.O.V.'s 2004 Election Issue Specials, "Bill's Run" tracks the moderate republican, who sees education as the key to rural revival, along the circuit of county fairs, community picnics and door-to-door canvassing as he slowly unites the once-skeptical constituency around his education platform -- even it means raising taxes. Sunday, July 4 at 11 p.m.

Online Extra: Bill's Run filmmaker Richard Kassebaum writes about revisiting Kansas, and his family's political legacy.

Movie: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury and Lawrence Harvey star in this critically acclaimed political thriller about a Korean War veteran who is convinced that he and his platoon were brainwashed during the war. Captain Bennett Marco's (Sinatra) suspicions of corruption are piqued when the mother (Lansbury) of Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Harvey) -- who is to receive the Medal of Honor for saving his platoon from Communist captors -- turns his honor into a political rally for her senator husband. Believing there is more to Shaw's "heroic" actions than what everyone sees, Marco unlocks a stunning, multi-national conspiracy involving thought-control and political assassination. Be sure to watch this classic before heading to theaters this summer for a remake starring Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. Saturday, July 24 at 9:50 p.m.

Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style

If it's not big, it's not from Texas…something that is especially true of the Lone Star State's approach to politics. Continuing P.O.V.'s series of 2004 Election Issue Specials, this documentary from filmmaker Paul Stekler takes a behind-the-scenes look at a pair of Texas elections in 2002 -- one for state representative in a district that includes Lyndon Johnson's hometown, and a polarizing race for governor -- in a quest to identify the type of politics that launched George W. Bush to national office. Along the way, prominent Texans, including former Governor Ann Richards, writer Molly Ivins and Bush strategist Karl Rove, discuss the state's evolving political landscape, and explain how politics in Texas may have served as the blueprint for Washington, D.C.

Sunday, July 25 at 10:30 p.m.

Online Extra: As Paul Stekler explains in this essay, politics was his first love. But getting to document the process through filmmaking, as he did for Last Man Standing, is a definite perk.

Democratic Convention Coverage: A NewsHour Special Report

Jim Lehrer and his team of top-notch correspondents will broadcast live from the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston, Mass., where Sen. John Kerry (pictured) is expected to accept the party’s presidential nomination. The first political convention ever held in New England’s largest city, this year’s gathering is expected to bring together 4,319 delegates representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and Democrats living abroad, in addition to more than 30,000 guests and members of the media. The NewsHour team will begin live coverage at 8 p.m. on all four nights, bringing audiences intelligent, up-to-the-minute reports and analysis on each evening’s critical events. Photo: Sharon Farmer, John Kerry's staff. Monday, July 26 to Thursday, July 29 at 8 p.m.

-- Edited by Anna Christopher for Applause Online