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Saturday Morning News

Choose or Lose Brings MTV to Philadelphia

Aired July 29, 2000 - 8:36 a.m. ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to Philadelphia.

Now, what do young people think about politics and what's going on here in Philadelphia? Four MTV reporters have been out on the road since January trying to find out and to encourage young people to let their voices be heard. They call their effort Choose or Lose.

Joining us from New York to talk about youth voting are those four MTV street team members, Gideon Yago, Jason Bellini, Erica Terry and Julia Mejia. Thanks for coming in and talking to us this morning, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Well, good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Thank you.

HARRIS: Look, first question is why aren't you here?

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: We're coming.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Well, we're all coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: We're on our way.

GIDEON YAGO, MTV STREET TEAM: Later today and tomorrow we're going to start coming down to Philly to see what's going on.

HARRIS: All right. So are you riding with, are you following anybody particularly down here?

YAGO: I think I'm the first of us who's going to be hitting the ground there and I'm going to check out what's going on with the protests that are scheduled to start tomorrow morning.

HARRIS: Oh, yeah? What do you expect?

YAGO: I don't know. From what I've heard so far, a lot of people are just, are really filtering in as we speak and it remains to be seen. I don't know. I don't know. It remains to be seen. HARRIS: OK. Well, let's begin with you, Erica. Let's talk about what you've been doing and what you've been seeing for the past few months. What have you noticed about the way people are responding to these candidates? Do you think kids in the MTV generation, as they are called, do you think they're getting it? Are they getting the fire at all, or what?

ERICA TERRY, MTV STREET TEAM: I don't know how much fire they're getting but I definitely think that they are aware that this election is going on. I mean we just spent nine days out on the road driving across country for an upcoming show that is airing tomorrow, actually, called Why Care, just talking to young people, finding out exactly from them what they care about and if they're even involved in the political scene.

I think the most important thing for them is having these candidates address them specifically. I think a lot of young people across-the-board, regardless of what side of the spectrum they fall on in terms of the issues feel like the number one thing is that the candidates are not speaking to them enough.

HARRIS: Is that right? Is that how all of you all see it? Are you seeing the same sort of results?

JASON BELLINI, MTV STREET TEAM: Well, that's what we've been hearing from young people all over the country when we've been talking to them is that they want the candidates to be addressing the issues that they care about and they say that that's what will get them more interested in politics.

And I think the politicians themselves need to wake up because there are going to be 14 million new voters between the ages of 18 and 21 voting for the first time, or hopefully who will be voting for the first time, and they have the real potential, these young voters, to influence the race.

And if politicians start speaking to them, then that could be to their benefit and it would certainly be good for the youth of America to get out there and participate.

HARRIS: Well, with that in mind, Julia, is there anything about, you know, either of those candidates which makes you think that one will be the first one to make that turn?

JULIA MEJIA, MTV STREET TEAM: Well, actually, I think that all of the candidates need to not, I mean we talk about talking to young people, they need to talk to young people in a language that they're going to be able to understand, like really break down what are the issues that they're trying to bring to the platform here.

HARRIS: Well, like you want them to break down, you want them to rap?

MEJIA: Yeah, exactly. No, no, no. I don't think they necessarily have to rap, but, you know what I mean? They're going to have to talk to young people in a way that they're going to be able to understand. You can't like go to your little, you know, political corn talking about, you know, Social Security and not help young people understand how Social Security is going to affect them. You know, I think that's really all in how you say it.

HARRIS: Yeah. But it wouldn't hurt to have Eminem in the cabinet, huh?

MEJIA: Well, maybe, you know? No, absolutely not. I think that young people really want to be heard and I think that what the elected officials need to start doing, both presidential candidates, is paying attention to the issues that are affecting young people.

HARRIS: You know -- yeah, go ahead.

BELLINI: I was just going to say, I don't think the candidates necessarily have to have a separate youth agenda because a lot of the issues that our parents care about are the same issues that we care about. We just want the candidates to speak to us rather than at us or about us.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Right.

BELLINI: And to come to college campuses, talk to young people, engage us. I think that's what would motivate a lot of the young people who aren't interested in politics yet to get involved.

HARRIS: All right, now which...

TERRY: But...

HARRIS: Go ahead.

TERRY: I'm sorry.

HARRIS: Sorry. Go ahead.

TERRY: Is it your show or ours?

HARRIS: Hey, look, I'm here to listen. That's what I'm here for. You're the one that came in to talk so you talk.

TERRY: All right. I mean the one thing sort of caveat to that that I'd like to make is just that, you know, we are a really media savvy generation. I mean we are aware when we are being pandered to, when we're being spun.

HARRIS: That's a good point.

TERRY: And I think that the important thing for these candidates to note is that if they're going to come to our college campuses and talk to us, we also want them to bring those issues to the, you know, to the greater American public. You know, I mean what better way to show us as a generation that whatever, you know, whether it's the cost of a college education, the solvency of Social Security, really matters than to talk about it in a way that's meaningful to us when you're speaking on the morning talk shows, when you're on a forum like CNN. Don't just do it when you're at MTV. Don't just do it when you're on a college campus. Really prove to us that these issues matter and that you want all Americans to be paying attention to that.

HARRIS: Well, you know, I had a conversation just last night with some other people about this same sort of thing and it's just a fact of life and a fact of politics that you don't only see or hear from a candidate only every four years on some of these issues that really matter to you.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Definitely.

HARRIS: And that's pretty much the way everybody feels like, right?

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Um-hmm.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Well...

YAGO: Yeah, I mean on, when we were doing a lot of the groundwork for our show that's airing on Sunday, we got a chance to talk to a ton of kids and ask them if they knew who their representatives were, if they knew who their Congressperson was. And so many kids, so many kids didn't know that and just really had a lot to say, a lot to complain about that their politicians never engage them.

HARRIS: That didn't surprise you, though, did it?

YAGO: Come again?

HARRIS: But that didn't surprise you, did it?

YAGO: A little bit.

HARRIS: Yeah?

YAGO: A little bit. I mean it would be nice to see, you know, especially entrenched candidates, you know, Congresspeople who've worked in a district for year after year after year know the people in their community and know what the problems are that are facing the kids in their community, as well. There are so many of us that are going to be just, I think we're the largest voting bracket since the baby boomers to potentially go to the polls in this election and wouldn't it be nice to see a candidate come out and speak to us and try and get us involved and be aware of what our issues are rather than just ignore us entirely or speak to us with spin?

(CROSSTALK)

MEJIA: I think that also, Leon.

HARRIS: Go ahead. Sorry, go ahead.

MEJIA: I know we're taking over so...

(CROSSTALK) MEJIA: ... it's kind of like through with that. I think that it's also our responsibility to get involved in the political process. I mean we talk about having the candidates come talk to us but then when are we going to become actively involved? I mean we see the issues that are affecting our neighborhoods but yet who are we addressing them to? You know what I mean? I think it's really our responsibility to start becoming more involved in this political process because we're going to get left behind if we don't.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: The process works both ways.

MEJIA: Exactly.

HARRIS: It works...

MEJIA: It's a two way street.

HARRIS: It works both ways. We're going to leave it...

BELLINI: When we were...

HARRIS: Folks, I'm sorry. We're going to have to leave it at that.

MEJIA: Oh, you're going to have us back again, right, Leon?

HARRIS: It looks like you guys are going to get this show off to a pretty good start. This is going to be pretty good. I may have to watch another network for once.

YAGO: Well, you can check out our Web site, too, Leon.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Yes.

MEJIA: Chooseorlose.com.

HARRIS: There you go.

MEJIA: And it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 10. The Y Generation is coming out so make sure you watch out for us.

HARRIS: All right, go for it. Go for it. Hey, you might even see George W. Rap when he gets here. We'll check that one out, too.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: Oh, we'll see.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Gideon, Jason, Erica and Julia, thank you very much for your time this morning. Good luck, gang.

UNIDENTIFIED TEAM MEMBER: All right, take care.

HARRIS: See you later on. All right, that's it from now from New York and from Philadelphia. Let's go back to Atlanta. Miles O'Brien and Kyra Phillips standing by. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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