NPR News To Offer Nine Consecutive Hours Of Live Election Coverage, November 7

Coverage Begins 8:00pm (ET); Also Streamed Live at www.npr.org

Robert Siegel, Linda Wertheimer, Don Gonyea and Andrea Seabrook Anchor;

30 Reporters to Cover Key Races and Issues In 26 Locations Nationally


Washington, D.C.; October 25, 2006 – NPR News will offer nine consecutive hours of live on-air election coverage on Tuesday, November 7, including two anchor teams and 30 reporters around the country. This coverage represents NPR’s biggest commitment of resources to a mid-term election night and is the first since the recent completion of its multi-year news division expansion of staff, bureaus and beats.

NPR’s coverage begins at 8:00PM (ET) with All Things Considered host Robert Siegel and Senior National Correspondent Linda Wertheimer as anchors. This marks Wertheimer’s 17th consecutive assignment as election night anchor; she has held this role continuously since 1974. At 1:00AM (ET), NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea and Capitol Hill reporter Andrea Seabrook will assume the anchor desk until the start of the first national feed of Morning Edition at 5:00AM (ET). All will anchor from NPR News headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In addition, NPR’s special election night coverage will be streamed live at www.NPR.org, along with hourly news audio updates. NPR.org will maintain a real-time road map with state-by-state results and summaries of the balance of power in Congress as assessed by NPR’s election editors. NPR.org will also give users access to the official NPR News Election Night Briefing Book, the extensive research and reference material prepared by the NPR Reference Library.

State-by-state projections and analysis will be provided throughout the night by NPR’s political experts from Washington. NPR Washington Editor Ron Elving will analyze the impact of the War in Iraq on this election cycle and Political Editor Ken Rudin will focus on the tighter congressional races and how their results will affect the overall make-up of the House. National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson will offer analysis of the Senate and its competitive races. Reporters Ari Shapiro and David Schaper will cover Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and the woman who would replace him, Democrat majority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), should the Democrats win back the House. Correspondent Pam Fessler, who broke news on voting troubles in Georgia and elsewhere in 2004, will continue her coverage of voting irregularities. Senior Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg will look at the races tarnished by scandal, including those affected by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Florida Congressman Mark Foley.

NPR News journalists reporting on the ground across the U.S. that evening include:

Audie Cornish in Memphis and Scott Horsley in Chattanooga, covering the Senate race between Congressman Harold Ford (D) and Robert Corker (R)

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon reporting from Nashville

Howard Berkes reporting from Madison, IN

From Columbus, OH, Luke Burbank and Cheryl Corley reporting on the Senate race between Senator Mike DeWine (R) and Sherrod Brown (D)

Michel Martin in Boston to cover the Massachusetts gubernatorial race

Margot Adler in New York to cover the Senate race there between Hillary Clinton (D) and John Spencer (R)

Frank Langfitt and Wade Goodwyn will be working from St. Louis, MO, to report on the Senate race between Jim Talent (R) and Clare McCaskill (D)

Brian Naylor will be based in Hartford, CT, and following the race between Senator Joseph Lieberman and Democrat Ned Lamont

Guy Raz, in East Brunswick and Nancy Solomon in Bridgewater will cover the New Jersey Senate race between incumbent Robert Menendez (D) and Thomas Kean, Jr. (R)

Adam Hochberg will be in Richmond and Mike Pesca in Arlington to report on the Virginia Senate race between George Allen (R) and James Webb (D)

In the weeks leading up to election day, NPR News has been providing comprehensive coverage and analysis across all news programs and NPR.org of the more competitive races with “Election 2006: What Matters Most,” an ongoing focus on the issues most important to American voters, including the economy, the War in Iraq, terrorism and national security, immigration, gay marriage and stem cell research.

Contact Information

Emily Lenzner

Director of Media Relations

NPR

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