Aired August 18, 2003

Discussion Questions

The power is finally back on in the Northeast as politicians amp up the issue just ahead of an election year. Examine the ideologies behind "power politics."

1. What is energy reform? What recent incident has prompted many Americans to demand their representatives address energy reform?

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2. What do you think President George W. Bush means by calling the incident a "wake-up call"?

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3. Who is Bill Richardson? What does he say regarding the nation's electricity delivery systems?

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4. Who is Spencer Abraham? What does he say about Republican efforts to pass energy legislation? How do Democrats respond?

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5. On what aspects of the president's energy legislation do both Democrats and Republicans agree? Why do you think there is still disagreement on how to approach this issue?

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6. What is an ideology? How do you think ideology might be impacting efforts to create energy reform?

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Keywords

• blackout

• power grid system

• Bill Richardson

• Spencer Abraham

• Republicans

• Democrats

• ideology

• energy reform

Related Sites

CNN.com: Power on, blackout investigations off and running (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/17/power.outage/index.html)

CNN.com: Blackout trail leads to Ohio (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/16/power.outage/index.html)