| Colorado roads/Scenery | Radio montage/Music | 00:00 |
| Corcoran driving in Colorado |
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| CORCORAN: Escape from the political blizzard of the Conventions – and a very different America emerges. | 00:24 |
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| Colorado’s Garden of the Gods – a century ago this landscape was the inspiration for the composer of “America the Beautiful”, the unofficial national hymn. | 00:37 |
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| Music | 00:48 |
| Corcoran driving, Colorado Springs | CORCORAN: This is Colorado Springs – a city dominated by Evangelical Christians and the US military. Both groups are staunch Republicans, and proud of it. But now, growing numbers are thinking of committing political sacrilege – by switching their votes to the Democrats and Obama. | 00:56 |
| Churches in Colorado Springs | For Evangelical Christians Colorado Springs is closest thing to heaven on earth. They’ve been flocking here since the 1980’s – attracted by tax breaks and cheap land, transforming this place into America’s evangelical capital. More than 300 churches and prayer halls now dot the landscape. | 01:17 |
| Holt delivering sermon | HOLT: Barack Obama will not bring Camelot, John McCain will not bring Camelot. President Bush didn’t bring Camelot, but Jesus Christ said the kingdom of God is at hand. I’m looking forward to Camelot – but it ain’t here! | 01:45 |
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| CORCORAN: Pastor Steve Holt started his Mountain Springs Church a decade ago in his living room. He now has a congregation of three and a half thousand. | 02:12 |
| Congregation sing | Singing | 02:26 |
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| CORCORAN: This city takes politics seriously – two thirds of the population are registered Republicans. Among evangelicals the figure is even higher, but in this election that doesn’t guarantee their vote for the Grand Old Party. HOLT: I will say that it’s the first time | 02:35 |
| Holt. Super: | in my 10 years, 12 years living here, that I have heard Christians who are interested in the candidate who’s not a Republican in some larger numbers that I actually expected. CORCORAN: Why is that? HOLT: I think that Barack Obama is a very good communicator. He’s an excellent communicator. He has had a personal – it seems like from what he’s said – he’s had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He’s had some kind of a conversion experience early on. So he talks about that. | 02:56 |
| Congregation sing | Singing | 03:30 |
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| CORCORAN: Sensing a political opportunity, the Democrats are out to seize the Christian votes. | 03:39 |
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| Singing | 03:43 |
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| CORCORAN: On the back foot, John McCain is working hard to shore up support on issues that matter for Evangelicals: opposing gay marriage and abortion. | 03:50 |
| McCain off monitor | MCCAIN: As President of the United States I will be a pro life President – my Presidency will have pro life policies and that’s my commitment, that’s my commitment to you. | 04:01 |
| Colorado Springs | CORCORAN: But Pastor Holt says many Evangelicals feel disillusioned by decades of broken Republican promises. | 04:14 |
| Mountain Springs Church | HOLT: Abortion has not become illegal. Most of the moral issues that we have said we believe strongly in have crumbled. | 04:24 |
| Holt. Super: | So I think there is, honestly, a real sense of disharmony with voting one party ticket among evangelicals, because we have not seen results from that. | 04:36 |
| Churchgoers after service | CORCORAN: Do people in your congregation believe that John McCain is a good Christian? HOLT: Now, that’s a great question, because | 04:54 |
| Holt | John McCain has never clearly articulated his position as far as his faith – in any deep way. I haven’t heard it at least. So I’m not familiar with where he is spiritually. I mean, I don’t know where John McCain is at. CORCORAN: Is that going to cost him votes? HOLT: Absolutely… absolutely. | 05:06 |
| Fly over | Music | 05:28 |
| Military parade | CORCORAN: Across town, another congregation gathers under the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. The 10th Cavalry is going back to war. | 05:36 |
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| Bugle Music | 05:45 |
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| CORCORAN: This is their farewell parade. They’ll soon leave the horses and old uniforms at home before joining 3,000 other soldiers shipping out for a third tour of Iraq. They’re headed to an area south of Baghdad – and expect casualties. | 05:53 |
| Colonel addresses cavalry | COLONEL: Some have called them the next greatest generation. I would say they are right. You see, anyone who joined the army after September 11, 2001 knew they were going to combat – can you image making that courageous decision at the age of 18? If you maintain your character and moral courage… | 06:18 |
| Families at parade | CORCORAN: In the stands are the families who will be left behind for more than a year. There’s very little visible emotion. Over the years, many have been through this farewell routine before. | 06:40 |
| Greg and Liz | For Major Greg Jacobsen and his wife Liz this is the second tour in 18 months. | 07:04 |
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| CORCORAN: So he was gone for a year? Back for 18 months, and now he’s going for another year? LIZ: Yeah. CORCORAN: How does that make you feel? LIZ: I’m actually glad – he was supposed to go back sooner – so we’ve had an extra six months – so I’m grateful for that. | 07:11 |
| Soldiers and families at picnic | CORCORAN: Another goodbye ritual is the pre-departure picnic. It’s the last family outing for the Jacobsen’s and their two young daughters, Alex and Samantha. But even for the Jacobsens – Republicans who believe in the US effort in Iraq – the strain of the war is becoming unbearable. | 07:29 |
| Greg and Liz. Super: | GREG: I think we’re all a little weary of war, especially the guys that have been in more than me – you know – three, four times. It’s taken a great toll on our force and the families. LIZ: The families. GREG: We’re all tired of deploying over and over again. | 07:50 |
| Colonel addresses troops | CORCORAN: The Republicans have always counted on the military vote. In the US it’s a sizable constituency. Here at Fort Carson there are twenty thousand troops plus their families. But the war is destabilising those old political certainties. | 08:12 |
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| GREG: Some of the younger soldiers , their initial impression is hey, | 08:30 |
| Greg and Liz | I’ve been to war twice already, I don’t want to go again. Obama says we won’t have to – you know if he’s elected – he’ll bring us all home –and those – you know they don’t have the wisdom of age or experience to understand the ramifications of bringing us all home and what that would mean in the long term. But so I hear a lot of them saying – Obama’s my man. | 08:34 |
| Troops on parade | Singing: Star Spangled Banner | 08:53 |
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| CORCORAN: The US has tentative plans to pull its combat troops out of Iraq by 2011. But three years is a long time in politics and war. | 08:58 |
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| Many of these soldiers say they’ll break ranks and turn against the Republicans. | 09:12 |
| Traffic/Colorado Springs | Music | 09:21 |
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| CORCORAN: In this city with a population of 650 thousand, more than a hundred thousand are veterans. Many served in the post 9/11 military. | 08:30 |
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| Music | 09:41 |
| Veterans at park drop in centre | CORCORAN: In a park near Fort Carson, a group of young veterans establishes a drop-in centre for serving soldiers who oppose the war. | 09:51 |
| Kyle | Private Kyle Briggs is about to go to Iraq for the first time. CORCORAN: There’s 3,000 people shipping out to Iraq – what’s the feeling among the troops - how are they going to vote? KYLE: I think a lot of people are going to vote – Democratic –people feel like we’ve already had two terms of a Republican that hasn’t done a lot for us – we’ve kind of been given a loop – we’ve kind of been lied to. | 10:00 |
| Kyle’s mother | CORCORAN: Kyle Briggs is here with his mother Jane, offering moral support. While he’s willing to go to Iraq – he won’t vote for the Government that’s sending him there. | 10:21 |
| Kyle. Super: | KYLE: I’m going to vote for Barack Obama – I agree with a lot of things he has to say, but traditionally, there has never been a perfect candidate for the President of the United States – it’s always the lesser of two evils. Traditionally I would be a Republican -- my whole family’s Republican – my mom’s Republican – but she’s going to vote for Obama too. | 10:31 |
| Vets’ barbecue at drop in centre | CORCORAN: And there’s another burning issue that’s causing soldiers to abandon the Republicans. | 10:48 |
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| It’s a controversial policy called Stop Loss. Too many soldiers are quitting, so the military is forcing them to stay in the ranks beyond their agreed enlistment period. ANDREW: I’m stationed at Fort Carson – | 10:54 |
| Andrew | supposed to be out of the Army next Wednesday, but I’ve been stop lossed – which is the Army’s way of a back door draft – keeping you in after you’ve served your contract. | 11:08 |
| Andrew at drop in centre | CORCORAN: Private Andrew Johnson – just returned from Iraq - is one of 160 thousand troops who’ve been stop lossed since 2001. | 11:17 |
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| ANDREW: I mean I feel a little betrayed – I lived up to my obligatio. Just because they can’t get more people to sign up to go over to a war that really doesn’t make any sense – they are going to keep the guys who signed up willingly and did their time | 11:30 |
| Andrew. Super: | I was explaining to them that I was willing to go AWOL rather than deploy again, and I was advised not to do that. I was sent to a psychiatrist and now I’m getting out on a medical discharge. CORCORAN: On psychiatric grounds? ANDREW: Yes. Yes. | 11:41 |
| Rick talking to Kyle and mother | CORCORAN: Former Marine Corps Captain Rick Duncan heads up the Colorado Veterans Alliance. He offers counselling to the young soldiers who find themselves trapped by the war and the stop loss ruling. RICK: It has a horrible effect on morale – it has a horrible effect on military families. | 11:58 |
| Rick. Super: | A service member who is stop lossed has a 75% greater chance of divorce, has a 50% higher chance of suicide, has much increased chances of addiction, alcoholism, gambling, drugs – getting in trouble with the law – it is a horrible, horrible policy. | 12:20 |
| Photos. Rick in uniform | Music | 12:40 |
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| CORCORAN: Rick Duncan was a pin up boy for the Bush Administration’s War on Terror. | 12:43 |
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| A third generation Marine – and registered Republican – Captain Duncan was working in Washington at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. | 12:50 |
| Pentagon photos. September 11 | RICK: The defining day was September 11. We were on the opposite side of the Pentagon when the plane hit. I don’t have nightmares about it any more, but I did for a while. That is | 13:01 |
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| the defining moment of my life – and it’s… it was horrific and I’ll never forget it. | 13:15 |
| Photos. Rick on tour of duty | CORCORAN: Rick Duncan immediately volunteered for combat, and served two tours in Iraq. But on the third deployment his luck ran out when his armoured vehicle ran over a massive bomb. | 13:29 |
| Rick. Super: | RICK: It took a thirty five ton Marine Corps “Trak” and flipped it up into the air like a kid’s toy. CORCORAN: With you inside? RICK: Yeah. And there were 8 people inside. And four of them died that day. And it left me pretty messed up with a partial cranial replacement, a fake hip, finger blown off, I’ve got partial fake ribs, and a couple of other pieces of metal left in me which we call internal body bling (laughs). So that’s kind of funny. | 13:49 |
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| CORCORAN: Laughter is his way of coping with post traumatic stress and brain damage he’ll have to live with for the rest of his life. | 14:23 |
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| Rick Duncan is convinced the Bush Administration is fighting the wrong war in Iraq – and sees nothing changing with McCain. | 14:31 |
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| RICK: John McCain’s OK with all of that. He says we need to stay there until we achieve victory – but what is victory? | 14:38 |
| Colorado scenery | Five thousand American service members dead, 20 thousand grievously injured, hundreds of amputations, hundreds of double amputations. By some economists estimates this war will cost us three trillion dollars. | 14:50 |
| Rick | I’m not going to vote for McCain. CORCORAN: Even though you are a Republican? RICK: Exactly. | 15:07 |
| Eagle flies/ Colorado Springs | Music | 15:18 |
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| CORCORAN: Despite the shifting sentiments of evangelicals and veterans, Colorado Springs is likely to remain a firm Republican stronghold. But the same can’t be said for the rest of the state which is shaping up to be a key battleground in this election. In 2004, Colorado voted for George Bush, but since then there’s been a huge influx of Democrat-leaning migrants to these housing estates. | 15:32 |
| Lamborn at office opening | Colorado Springs Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn is doing everything he can to hold back the tide. Today he’s opening a new office for a defence contractor. LAMBORN: The number of Christian conservatives who are | 16:01 |
| Lamborn. Super: | supporting Obama has got to be very small – 10 to 15% at the most. | 16:17 |
| Lamborn at office opening | CORCORAN: He knows only too well the concerns of Evangelicals and veterans - but is convinced the majority remain true believers. LAMBORN: They are coming around very strongly to John McCain –more than I thought would be the case. | 16:25 |
| Lamborn. Super: | So even though he wasn’t the first or the second, or third choice of many of us he is now definitely the first choice – by making a comparison. CORCORAN: By default? LAMBORN: By default, yeah. He looks very good by comparison to Barack Obama – from a conservative standpoint. CORCORAN: It’s hardly a ringing endorsement from the city’s leading Republican. | 16:37 |
| McCain on monitor introduces Palin | JOHN MCCAIN: I’m about to introduce to you, the next Vice President of the United States… CORCORAN: Sensing his weaknesses, John McCain has stunned the political establishment, by appointing a virtual unknown as his running mate. | 17:02 |
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| JOHN MCCAIN: Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska! | 17:15 |
| Palin walks out | CORCORAN: With less than two years as Governor Sarah Palin is a political novice, but it’s her conservative credentials that matter – she’s a devout Christian and mother of five. | 17:23 |
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| PUNDIT: …anti abortion, anti gay marriage. Just had a child a few months ago with Down Syndrome, so she is a hero with what the Republicans call the pro life community. They believe she will play very well out here in the Mountain west – in the Rocky Mountains. | 17:36 |
| Palin gives speech | SARAH PALIN SPEECH: On September 11 last year, our son enlisted in the United States Army. And on September 11 Track will deploy to Iraq in the service of his country – and Todd and I are so proud of him and of all the fine men and women serving this country in uniform… | 17:49 |
| Colorado mountain scenery | Music | 18:16 |
| Holt at family at BBQ in woods | CORCORAN: And these are the people the Republicans must convince. Pastor Steve Holt says his life is built around faith, family and a love of the Colorado outdoors. | 18:24 |
| Liz and Steve Holt | HOLT: This is my wife Liz, and we met in China – first date in Hong Kong – we fell in love in LA got married in Tokyo and the first two of our seven kids were made in Japan! CORCORAN: What were you doing in China? HOLT: We were smuggling bibles…(laughter) | 18:46 |
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| Music | 19:05 |
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| CORCORAN: John McCain may have his ideal running mate – but Americans elect a President, not the Vice President. And Evangelical Christians now face a crisis of faith; vote for a Republican they don’t trust or a Democrat who supports the issues they firmly oppose. Either way the old certainties are gone. | 19:09 |
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| HOLT: The political landscape the way it is, is changing faster than I think most of the parties even know. Democrat and Republican. | 19:36 |
| Holt | I don’t know that you can take anything for granted any more. | 19:47 |
| Sunset over scenery | Music | 19:52 |
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| Reporter: Mark Corcoran Camera: David Martin Editor: Simon Brynjolffssen Producer: Michael Maher
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