visuals: multiexposure/montage style of vox pops/atlas pages showing the locations/local b-roll John Dealey (towson md): To all publicly elected officials, [begin audio fadeout] you are supposed to be representing the interests of the people. Voice over: Congressional campaigns across the country are making final pushes before the upcoming midterm elections. Meanwhile, polls continue to show that Americans are dissatisfied with their elected officials. The reasons are great and varied, and a drive from Washington, DC to St. Louis, Missouri provided plenty of insight into just how dissatisfied people are, and why. TEXT ON SCREEN: TOWSON, MD, (50 miles NORTH OF washington, dc) Median household income: $74,287 Birthplace of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Spiro Agnew Skip Counselman: What I am frustrated w is that we’re not getting economic action in the country, bc we can’t seem to agree in Congress, we cant compromise TEXT ON SCREEN: UNIONTOWN, PA Median household income: $29,951 SERVED AS A STOP ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Lee Bullied (uniontown, pa): The coal miners are going to be out of work and out of jobs, I mean there’s nothing left in this area, there’s no industry, there’s nowhere to work. TEXT ON SCREEN: WHEELING, WV Median household income: $35,245 WHEELING SUSPENSION BRIDGE WAS AT ONE POINT THE WORLDS LARGEST 1849-1851 Danny Swan(wheeling, wv): I mean what could be more on your mind than violence overseas, warfare, international involvement. TEXT ON SCREEN: COLUMBUS, OH, Median household income: $43,992 NAMED AFTER CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Is Said(columbus, oh): We spent $7B in Iraq, and our streets and our bridges are falling down. TEXT ON SCREEN: INDIANAPOLIS, IN, Median household income: $42,144 SECOND ONLY TO WASHINGTON, DC FOR NUMBER OF WAR MONUMENTS WITHIN CITY LIMITS Jerry Angel: (indianapolis):I would like to just see the government gone, almost, but that’s never going to happen. [laughs] TEXT ON SCREEN: TERRE HAUTE, IN, Median household income: $31,943 POLLS PREDICTED ALL BUT 2 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS SINCE 1894 ADAM FREEMAN (Terre Haute): I know we focus a lot on terrorism and all that, and overseas in a lot of other countries, but I feel like we have a lot of problems that really need to be taken care of. TEXT ON SCREEN: SPRINGFIELD, IL, Median household income: $49,627 HOME (BUT NOT BIRTHPLACE) OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN Denise Carter (IL): My life would be easier if I could just have more money to stretch from payday to payday. I live from paycheck to paycheck. Here I am, I’m 52 yrs old, and I can’t even buy a home. TEXT ON SCREEN: ST LOUIS, MO, Median household income: $34,384 HOME TO THE FIRST AMERICAN OLYMPIAD IN 1904 Jill Carnaghi(st louis): I think we’re in such a volatile point in time that we’re not even listening. Lee Bullied: We the people are not informed enough to choose the right leaders to send to Congress or the Senate, and that upsets me because American people as a whole should consider when they go to vote who they’re voting for and what their policies are. And it’s very hard, because they lie. Voice over: With just over a month till the polls open, 87% of voters say they want new representation in congress. President Obama hasn’t escaped criticism either. While his current approval rating is higher than congress, that’s not saying much. This election is as much a mandate on Obama as it is on Congress. Danny Swan: I think he’s a play actor. Gary Denton: a lot of my friends and stuff, started kind of nicknamed him King Obama because he thinks he can just go in and sign whatever he wants. It’s not the way it’s supposed to be in this country. Timothy Gonzalez: I think it’s about time to start following the Constitution, and let Congress be the ones who make law and pass law, and that you don’t circumvent what their legal and constitutional authority is. Heather Lopez: I think a monkey could do better. Daffy Duck could do better. An average housewife without a high school education could do better. Denise Carter: If it was, for instance, a Caucasian man or anybody else, if they took their time and thought things through, they would have none of the problems that he’s having, just because: the color of his skin. [points to her own skin] David Loutzenheiser: I think he’s caught between a rock and a hard place honestly. You have a Congress that’s not working and you have some v difficult international issues. Sydney DeBerry: I think he’s doing a pretty good job. Before he got here we had eight years of failed blah blah blah, so trying to get things back on track in eight years for the entire country is a big thing. Elizabeth Vdovjak: I’m really happy with most of the things our president’s done. I’m not happy with the Congress. Voice over: The president’s approval rating hovers around 40%, while barely 13% approve of the job congress is doing. Danny Swan: Is Congress doing a job? [laughs] Derrick Terrell: Oh absolute triple F. Can I give them a triple F. Is there anything else than an F? Elizabeth Vdovjak: They’ve done nothing, they’ve passed nothing. They spend a lot of money suing ppl, doing investigations, but they don’t seem to want to spend any money on the people who need that support. Paul Covert: They’re just cowards. Nobody’s willing to stand up and say this is what I’m willing to do. Danny Swan: I want to see our political leaders standing out here with us, finding out why is it that our tomato crop failed this year? What can they do help us? Why is it that the local print shop had to lay off 12 people this year? All these little things are just things that affect individual dreams and lives. Audrey Black: I want to see every police dept in this country thoroughly examined. Jerry Angel: I know it’s hard out here for a guy like me, who works every single day hard at a construction job, to make $40,000 a year, while somebody in Congress can make $200,000 a year, and not really do nothing compared to what I do. I feel like I build the communities every day out here and they’re sitting on their butts getting nothing done, really, and they’re taken care of a lot better than the average citizen. Voice over: Despite deep dissatisfaction, polls show that more than 330 incumbents are expected to be reelected. And so - here is some advice collected from americans to their elected officials: Christian Sweatman: I would say to Congress and all politicians, just be responsible, just get your job done. That’s all we can ask for, that’s all we do as normal citizens, we just try to go out every day and work the best we can and as hard as we can. Derrick Terrell: I say that you guys are up there to compromise, sure, debate but compromise. Every issue has an answer. You give up a little here, a little there — nobody can have it their own way. Paul Covert: Erase all the Democrats and Republicans in front of everybody’s name. You get a ticket, they shouldn’t be able to run on Democrat or Republican. It should just be, here’s their principles, here’s their platform and that’s what they should run on. Paul Schimmele: I would just say: play nice together.