Liberal talkers gearing up for Election coverage

It all comes down to today.

Finally, after an election season of negative advertising, silly games, sometimes violent confrontations, moronic pundits and nonstop coverage by the entire media, Election Day 2006 is finally upon us. And there will be no shortage of play-by-play on any media outlet (though I'm still not sure what Cartoon Network has planned). Sure, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, Comedy Central and many others will be covering the event, but there's also a lot going on via that old fashioned device known as 'the radio'.

Perhaps the most ambitious coverage is an independent effort by syndicated radio host Peter B. Collins and investigative journalist and election integrity advocate Brad Friedman, co-founder of VelvetRevolution.us. The two are teaming up for a coast-to-coast Election Night Marathon Broadcast that is being offered live over multiple broadcast stations and streaming internet outlets. Online news site Raw Story is also a co-sponsor of the event

This coverage will be unique in that it will focus both on continuing, growing election problems around the country, as well as the "horse race." A major focus will be on issues of election integrity and electronic voting systems

Everything will kick off at 6PM ET (3PM PT), with the start of Collins' show and continue until 4AM ET (1AM PT) or as long as events on the ground warrant. The broadcast will be offered for free to any interested radio networks, commercial and non-commercial broadcast stations, and internet networks. Thom Hartmann, Greg Palast, Mark Crispin Miller, Bev Harris, Bob Fitrakis and others will participate in the broadcast.

You can hear the Election Night Integrity Radio Marathon on stations such as KRXA (540 AM) in Monterey, KGOE (1480AM) in Eureka, KSAC (1240AM) in Sacramento, KUDO (1080AM) in Anchorage, and community station WBCR (97.7FM) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

WhiteRoseSociety.org, KPFTX.org and HeadOnRadioNetwork.com will also stream the show.

Palast and Friedman will also check in with Nova M's Mike Malloy, who will be doing his weeknight show starting at 9PM.

Meanwhile, Air America Radio will feature a special called "Send Out The Clowns", hosted by Rachel Maddow and David Bender, and featuring reports from Al Franken, Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder, with commentary from MSNBC's Tucker Carlson, humorist Andy Borowitz and others. Some local affiliates may be doing thier own programming, particularly Clear Channel's KQKE in San Francisco, which will be pooling resources with the company's other news/talk stations in Northern California (KNEW in San Francisco and KFBK in Sacramento) for their own bipartisan coverage.

Sirius subscribers have several choices, including "Ejection 2006" on Sirius Left (Ch. 143), which will be hosted by morning host Alex Bennett. This will start at 9PM ET. Other Sirius Left hosts such as Lynn Samuels and Bill Press will participate, as will various listeners and bloggers.

Sirius OutQ (Ch. 106), which bills itself as "America’s Gay Radio Station" presents 'Correction 2006', featuring hosts John McMullen and OutQ News Director Tim Curran, starting at 10PM ET. Emphasis will be primarily on important elections and ballot initiatives affecting the LGBT community, races with key LGBT candidates, and insight into the US House and Senate races. Michelangelo Signorile, actor and women’s rights activist Nancy Lee Grahn, and national LGBT spokespeople including Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Kate Kendell from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Patrick Sammon from the National Log Cabin Republicans will also contribute, along with stringers nationwide.

Public radio is always one of the top radio sources covering elections, with a detailed, nonpartisan hard-news take on the races. This year will be no exception. NPR’s election night special will begin at 8PM ET and continue through the night. The hosts of "Election 2006" are Robert Siegel and Linda Wertheimer until 1AM ET. NPR White House Correspondent Don Gonyea and Capitol Hill Reporter Andrea Seabrook take over at 1AM ET. NPR reporters and producers will be deployed around the country to cover key races. Local NPR affiliates, regional public radio networks and other non-commercial radio stations will likely be doing localized programming.