New Voters in the New West

In the fall of 2008, both major parties saw the same opportunity in New Mexico: a wave of first-time voters who could decide a presidential race. New Voters in the New West followed the ground game as it unfolded, from college campuses to the state's large Hispanic communities, where organizers worked to reach people casting a ballot for the first time. In one border town along the U.S. and Mexico border, the reporting followed the Obama campaign as it opened a field office where no campaign had ever set up before.

The story captured a swing state in motion, showing how national campaigns translate into local outreach and how the promise of new voters reshapes the map. The judges of the Walter Cronkite Award recognized the field coverage for its portrait of that competition, awarding it for excellence in television political journalism.