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Rock the Vote: Tuning in Democrats

Aired January 27, 2004 - 11:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Forget policy, positions, platforms. You might learn a lot about a candidate by checking his iPod play list. OK, his cassette deck.
David Segal is style and music critic for "The Washington Post." He's been checking out the tunes of the Democratic presidential candidates.

Hi there, David.

DAVID SEGAL, "WASHINGTON POST" STYLE AND MUSIC CRITIC: How are you?

LIN: I'm doing just fine. How did you get this idea for this story, to find out what they dance to and what they listen to?

SEGAL: You know, during the political season, when "The Washington Post" is thoroughly obsessed with politics, I have very little to do with politics. And this was the only hook that I could come up with so that I could write about this topic.

LIN: All right. You had four categories for each of the Democratic candidates: favorite album, favorite concert, favorite artist, favorite dance tune.

SEGAL: Right.

LIN: And a lot of them chose the Beatles. I don't know if they were going with a classic safe road or what. But John Kerry claims that he just loves "Abbey Road."

SEGAL: Yes, he claims he loves "Abbey Road," which is entirely plausible. It's a great album.

The weirder one is Wes Clark, who says that he loves "Yellow Submarine," which is probably the worst Beatles album ever made. And, in fact, it isn't really a Beatles album at all. About half of it is given over to George Martin's score for the movie, "Yellow Submarine." So, that was a very peculiar choice.

LIN: All right. And even stranger that he actually believed for his favorite dance tune that he could actually dance to Journey's, "Don't Stop Believing."

SEGAL: Yes, I'd like to see a film of that. I'm not really sure how you would dance to "Don't Stop Believing." It's kind of not a song that you slow dance to or fast dance to. You just kind of sway to it and hope that nobody's watching. And I don't know how he would do that.

LIN: All right. And these Beatles selections, I'm wondering if -- OK, you've a military commander, the former, you know, supreme NATO commander, who likes "Yellow Submarine." You've got John Kerry on "Abbey Road," and you've got Dennis Kucinich, whose favorite album is the Beatles "White Album." So, what does that tell you about these guys?

SEGAL: The Beatles are huge. I mean, it's a perfectly reasonable choice. The great thing about Kucinich's choice is how varied they were. He put in the "White Album." He also put in Liza Minnelli. He put in Willie Nelson, and he put in this pretty obscure alternative folk singer named Ani DiFranco, who actually campaigned for him for a while. He had the eclectic group. He also had a couple classical choices in there, too. So, he was all over the place.

LIN: And he's a romantic. He likes to dance to "As Time Goes By."

SEGAL: "As Time Goes By." But the biggest romantic by far is Joe Lieberman, who put down that his favorite song to dance to is anything with his wife, Hadassah, and that he loved Frank Sinatra. So, he was sort of the most sentimental seeming of all of the candidates.

Although he also threw in something really interesting, which is that he attended Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Review" in 1975, which was a really curious choice. It was an unusual concert, and I couldn't really picture Joe Lieberman there. But he said it was his favorite show.

LIN: So, what does it tell you when John Edwards says for favorite dance tune that he's not a big dancer?

SEGAL: Well, all of Edwards' choices were really disappointing and bland. I was kind of hoping that he would give me more. At some point, a campaign aide said to me, he really likes disco, that he met his wife while at a disco, and that -- I was from that expecting some really interesting, quirky choices. And, in fact, I just got like pretty bland, down-the-middle stuff. His favorite album is Bruce Springsteen's "The River," which is a great album. But there was just kind of no personality.

And also, he's from North Carolina, so I thought maybe he'd have some blues or some country or something kind of fun or unusual in there. But Edwards was -- it was a really -- it was disappointing. He really didn't give me much.

LIN: All right. And John Mellencamp?

SEGAL: John Mellencamp, yes. John Mellencamp is king of Bruce Springsteen-like, so that wasn't a good choice either.

LIN: Yes. And not John Cougar Mellencamp, but John Mellencamp.

SEGAL: Yes, John Cougar -- well, he used to be John Cougar Mellencamp, but he changed his name.

LIN: Yes, there you go. All right. I like Al Sharpton. I like the fact that he think he's going to be dancing to Wham.

SEGAL: I made that up. That's...

LIN: Oh, you did.

SEGAL: He's not, in fact, dancing to Wham. Al Sharpton only answered two of my questions, so I just made up answers to the other two. I put in that his favorite song to dance to is Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," and that his favorite concert was a Huey Lewis and The News concert, which is not true. He sent me only one or two replies. One is James Brown is his favorite artist, which makes sense because he was the road manager for James Brown. And because of that fact, I thought I'd get a bunch of great answers from him, but I only got two.

LIN: Yes.

SEGAL: So, I just winged the other two for him.

LIN: All right. Was it pretty easy to get these answers from the candidates?

SEGAL: No. Well, Kucinich was really quick. Clark was really quick. And, like I said, Sharpton gave me half of his answers. And Dean never replied at all, which was disappointing as well, but he's actually said a few times in some other places what music he listens to. So, I was able to glean a few things from that. He really is into classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Dylan, and his kids introduced him to Wyclef Jean and Outkast. So, he claims he liked those, too.

LIN: OK. We'll see how that might influence the vote, which is going on as we speak in New Hampshire. Thank you very much, David Segal.

SEGAL: You're welcome.

LIN: And continue the great campaign coverage, OK?

SEGAL: Thanks. >

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired January 27, 2004 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Forget policy, positions, platforms. You might learn a lot about a candidate by checking his iPod play list. OK, his cassette deck.
David Segal is style and music critic for "The Washington Post." He's been checking out the tunes of the Democratic presidential candidates.

Hi there, David.

DAVID SEGAL, "WASHINGTON POST" STYLE AND MUSIC CRITIC: How are you?

LIN: I'm doing just fine. How did you get this idea for this story, to find out what they dance to and what they listen to?

SEGAL: You know, during the political season, when "The Washington Post" is thoroughly obsessed with politics, I have very little to do with politics. And this was the only hook that I could come up with so that I could write about this topic.

LIN: All right. You had four categories for each of the Democratic candidates: favorite album, favorite concert, favorite artist, favorite dance tune.

SEGAL: Right.

LIN: And a lot of them chose the Beatles. I don't know if they were going with a classic safe road or what. But John Kerry claims that he just loves "Abbey Road."

SEGAL: Yes, he claims he loves "Abbey Road," which is entirely plausible. It's a great album.

The weirder one is Wes Clark, who says that he loves "Yellow Submarine," which is probably the worst Beatles album ever made. And, in fact, it isn't really a Beatles album at all. About half of it is given over to George Martin's score for the movie, "Yellow Submarine." So, that was a very peculiar choice.

LIN: All right. And even stranger that he actually believed for his favorite dance tune that he could actually dance to Journey's, "Don't Stop Believing."

SEGAL: Yes, I'd like to see a film of that. I'm not really sure how you would dance to "Don't Stop Believing." It's kind of not a song that you slow dance to or fast dance to. You just kind of sway to it and hope that nobody's watching. And I don't know how he would do that.

LIN: All right. And these Beatles selections, I'm wondering if -- OK, you've a military commander, the former, you know, supreme NATO commander, who likes "Yellow Submarine." You've got John Kerry on "Abbey Road," and you've got Dennis Kucinich, whose favorite album is the Beatles "White Album." So, what does that tell you about these guys?

SEGAL: The Beatles are huge. I mean, it's a perfectly reasonable choice. The great thing about Kucinich's choice is how varied they were. He put in the "White Album." He also put in Liza Minnelli. He put in Willie Nelson, and he put in this pretty obscure alternative folk singer named Ani DiFranco, who actually campaigned for him for a while. He had the eclectic group. He also had a couple classical choices in there, too. So, he was all over the place.

LIN: And he's a romantic. He likes to dance to "As Time Goes By."

SEGAL: "As Time Goes By." But the biggest romantic by far is Joe Lieberman, who put down that his favorite song to dance to is anything with his wife, Hadassah, and that he loved Frank Sinatra. So, he was sort of the most sentimental seeming of all of the candidates.

Although he also threw in something really interesting, which is that he attended Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Review" in 1975, which was a really curious choice. It was an unusual concert, and I couldn't really picture Joe Lieberman there. But he said it was his favorite show.

LIN: So, what does it tell you when John Edwards says for favorite dance tune that he's not a big dancer?

SEGAL: Well, all of Edwards' choices were really disappointing and bland. I was kind of hoping that he would give me more. At some point, a campaign aide said to me, he really likes disco, that he met his wife while at a disco, and that -- I was from that expecting some really interesting, quirky choices. And, in fact, I just got like pretty bland, down-the-middle stuff. His favorite album is Bruce Springsteen's "The River," which is a great album. But there was just kind of no personality.

And also, he's from North Carolina, so I thought maybe he'd have some blues or some country or something kind of fun or unusual in there. But Edwards was -- it was a really -- it was disappointing. He really didn't give me much.

LIN: All right. And John Mellencamp?

SEGAL: John Mellencamp, yes. John Mellencamp is king of Bruce Springsteen-like, so that wasn't a good choice either.

LIN: Yes. And not John Cougar Mellencamp, but John Mellencamp.

SEGAL: Yes, John Cougar -- well, he used to be John Cougar Mellencamp, but he changed his name.

LIN: Yes, there you go. All right. I like Al Sharpton. I like the fact that he think he's going to be dancing to Wham.

SEGAL: I made that up. That's...

LIN: Oh, you did.

SEGAL: He's not, in fact, dancing to Wham. Al Sharpton only answered two of my questions, so I just made up answers to the other two. I put in that his favorite song to dance to is Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," and that his favorite concert was a Huey Lewis and The News concert, which is not true. He sent me only one or two replies. One is James Brown is his favorite artist, which makes sense because he was the road manager for James Brown. And because of that fact, I thought I'd get a bunch of great answers from him, but I only got two.

LIN: Yes.

SEGAL: So, I just winged the other two for him.

LIN: All right. Was it pretty easy to get these answers from the candidates?

SEGAL: No. Well, Kucinich was really quick. Clark was really quick. And, like I said, Sharpton gave me half of his answers. And Dean never replied at all, which was disappointing as well, but he's actually said a few times in some other places what music he listens to. So, I was able to glean a few things from that. He really is into classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Dylan, and his kids introduced him to Wyclef Jean and Outkast. So, he claims he liked those, too.

LIN: OK. We'll see how that might influence the vote, which is going on as we speak in New Hampshire. Thank you very much, David Segal.

SEGAL: You're welcome.

LIN: And continue the great campaign coverage, OK?

SEGAL: Thanks. >

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.