In a state where former president George W. Bush trounced Sen. John Kerry by 12 percentage points earlier in the decade, few predicted that North Carolina would be transformed into an electoral toss-up in the 2008 elections. Indeed, no Democratic presidential candidate had won the reliably conservative-leaning Tar Heel State since president Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in 1976 in the aftermath of Watergate scandal. And who could expect the state of ultraconservative Jesse Helms to go for the freshman Senator from Illinois, the first African-American major party contender for the presidency?

Barack Obama made his first appearance in North Carolina right here in Durham, alongside fellow Democrat Mayor Bill Bell. After he was able to wrest the North Carolina democratic primary from Hillary Clinton (by double digits), however, speculation began that the changing demographic landscape of the state –driven by an influx of new minority and young voters–as well as dissatisfaction with the economy might give Obama a fighting chance in the general election against Republican Sen. John McCain.

Battle lines were drawn. Both candidates, realizing the importance of the newly crowned swing state, flooded North Carolina with attention, pumping ample campaign funds into the fight and crisscrossing North Carolina until the eleventh hour to persuade last-minute voters. In Greensboro. In Greenville. In Wilmington. In Fayetteville (and again). In Concord. In Raleigh (twice). In Charlotte.

Dukies–as part of the much touted youth vote–got in on the action, canvassing and phone-banking for their preferred candidates and taking advantage of the newly installed early voting station in the Old Trinity room.

Come election day, Democrats swept all of North Carolina’s major races, as The Chronicle followed along at the official Democratic and Republican watch parties in Raleigh and on campus. Barack Obama easily crossed the 360 electoral vote threshold to clinch his historic bid for the White House. Perhaps even more surprisingly, newcomer Kay Hagan stole the Senate race from seasoned vet Elizabeth Dole while then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue became North Carolina’s first woman governor, defeating Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory.

North Carolinians, however, had to wait to hear of the fate of their own state. As of Nov. 5, the day after the election, election officials declared the race too close to call. But with 13,000 votes separating Obama from McCain and not enough provisional ballots to make up the difference, the Associated Press called North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes for Obama Nov. 6.

The final tally? 14,912 votes.

Although there are predictions abound of what will shape North Carolina politics in the decade to come, if election 2008 proved anything, it was this: nothing’s a sure thing.

The Democratic sweep of North Carolina was number 10 on our stories of the decade list. These are the issues and events that made headlines for weeks at a time over the last ten years, those that sparked the most debate on campus and beyond, and the ones that we believe will continue to shape our coverage in the years to come.

Priest told The Chronicle that reporting during Barack Obama’s presidency is not very different from reporting during George W. Bush’s time in office, and said that students interested in journalism should still go into the profession, despite a tough job market.

Excepts from Chaudhuri’s interview are below:

The Chronicle: What do you hope your listeners, particularly those aspiring to go into journalism, take from today’s lecture and the experiences you share?

Dana Priest: It’s a great field to go into even though there’s a lot of turmoil in the business model. I can’t think of a better way to spend your life if you’re interested in doing a lot of different things, in being your own boss in a lot of ways—effecting change really, which you can do with accountability and investigative reporting. I also hope they get the flavor for the excitement of it—the story behind the story of secret prisons, and Walter Reed and the important role journalism plays in our democracy.

TC: If you could take on another beat anywhere in the U.S., where would it be and what would you write about?

DP: I’m at the place where I’ve always wanted to be. If I had a second life, I would do more on the environment and really look into false claim of greenness, but also prove the scientific evidence for different changes in environmental things, the atmosphere, climate change. I’d go to places where there’s degradation and really describe that.

TC: Could you tell me a little about how working during the Obama administration differs from working during the Bush administration?

DP: It really does not differ at all…The same people are in charge of dealing with the press. They’re not more open…I’m not surprised by it. Administration to administration there aren’t big differences in the area of intelligence…Maybe [Obama] will try harder in the future.

TC: Your reports on the CIA secret prisons earned you a Pulitzer, but another consequence was that the CIA fired one of your alleged sources. Did this impact your views on publishing classified information?

DP: No. People who work in the government have to follow different rules than people who don’t. You certainly wouldn’t want to stop what you’re doing as a reporter because someone might decide to go after the people who might be helping you. After 9/11 we automatically went into the classified arena. You automatically get into really sensitive areas [with investigative reporting].

TC: How have you seen journalism evolve over the years and what do you think the future has in store for the profession?

DP: Right now, papers are dying left and right and they’re cutting back on investigative reporting. And if that trend does not stop we are going to be a different country…I still find young people have a lot of desire to get into the field…We haven’t yet figured out how to use the power of the internet to make investigative reporting more powerful and reach more people.

Rogerson was one of several professors, presidential speechwriters and authors to comment on President Barack Obama’s frequent media appearances. Posts addressed whether the president is in danger of being overexposed.

In his post, Rogerson noted that Obama is “doing his job.”

“He is out among the citizens—both virtually and physically—promoting his policy agenda, showing support for existing programs and asking us to think hard about political decisions that are being made,” Rogerson wrote.

Rogerson added that still, Obama may be overexposing himself, leading citizens to prioritize consuming other information available to them in the “maze of modern technology.”

He contrasted the surplus of information about Obama and his doings with the  author J.D. Salinger’s media shyness, noting it is “interesting” that Salinger’s reclusive behavior has made  him  more compelling to the public.

“The next time Salinger decides to say something in public, I suspect people will stop to listen,” Rogerson wrote.

Here’s Feaver’s take on the matter, as quoted in the Times:

“The problem is he’s asking for roughly the same things President Bush asked for and President Bush didn’t get them, not because he was a boorish diplomat or a cowboy,” said Peter D. Feaver, a former adviser to Mr. Bush now at Duke University. “If that were the case, bringing in the sophisticated, urbane President Obama would have solved the problem. President Bush didn’t get them because these countries had good reasons for not giving them.”

This year’s list is a frustrating mixture of self-congratulatory stunts—T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner writing each other’s profiles, Ashton Kutcher musing on the Twitter guys (he owes them for all that free publicity), Quincy Jones celebrating John Legend after the two just recently recorded a duet for Jones’ upcoming album—with a commendable lauding of some of the world’s giants. Inclusions like Captain Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger and Captain Richard Phillips raise the question of what actually comprises influence; yes, these two men are heroes, but beyond the scope of this year, will anyone recognize their names? And hasn’t Phillips only been famous for about a month? Do their respective influences extend to the average person, who will never fly a commercial airliner or be taken hostage by Somalian pirates? Plus, elementary-school current events summaries, like General Chuck Yeager’s 255-word recounting of Sullenberger’s story, do little to impress upon anyone this significance; far more successful is Sullenberger’s piece on Phillips, a nuanced and insightful tribute that makes both men look impressive.

Though if the list’s values are any indication, Yeager’s poor writing should be expected. This year’s Time 100 made the bold choice of including only a single writer of fiction, Jeff Kinney, famous for his Young Adult series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Of course, if you’re like me and aren’t familiar with Kinney, his books, or their influence, the heartbeat of a blurb written by an ACTUAL SIXTH GRADER! probably won’t teach you anything worthwhile. Let’s just say that Michiko Kakutani’s job is safe.

That leaves us without anyone involved in the art of words and sentences (not to discount Kinney, but his work isn’t about the craft). Now, there are two reasons I can think of for why the inclusion of even one significant novelist was neglected in favor of multiple representatives from film, music, theater, and basically every other cultural form.

• First, that it was some sort of meta-commentary by Time on the diminishing influence of creative writing as a cultural medium, a downfall that spiked in velocity this year with the death of John Updike and the continuing decrease in magnitude of the Great American Writer persona.
• Second, that Time couldn’t name any.

I hope that it was the first, but I’m not exactly brimming with confidence. Intentional or not, it was an oversight; to decline to even acknowledge the existence of one of art’s most enduring, evocative forms is delusional, and it’s not like there weren’t any choices. Philip Roth isn’t dead—in fact, he released a book this year, and he’s got two more ready for the next. Joseph O’Neill has influenced Obama with his latest novel, Netherland, although in Time’s defense, that story broke after the list’s publication. After all, it’s not like anyone had noticed O’Neill before Obama started reading him. Oh, and Toni Morrison received raves for her book A Mercy, providing a perfect excuse to spotlight one of America’s living legends whose masterwork Beloved is still widely read and studied.

Any one of these three demand inclusion on a list like this, and the overall absence of a fiction writer is egregious and unfortunate. You can’t tell me that this group doesn’t merit a representative, especially considering that we still educate our children and teenagers on a steady diet of novels. Maybe Time would prefer that we do let television raise the next generation.