Partisans agree on political films
TCM poll reveals similar favorites
By Catherine Poley
CNN
(CNN) -- This election's hot-button issues such as Iraq and taxes are driving political parties further apart.
But a recent poll on Turner Classic Movies' Web site shows there is at least one issue parties can agree on -- political movies.
As part of its "Party Politics and the Movies" series airing through October, Turner Classic Movies (like CNN, a division of Time Warner) asked viewers to declare their party affiliation and vote for their favorite political film.
The majority -- Republican, Democrat and Independents alike -- voted "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" their favorite. And they put "The Manchurian Candidate" in their top five. (Click here to see the top five by political party.)
Turner Classic Movies is showing four prominent politicians' movie picks every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. The politicians chose a movie that resonated with them personally and, in some cases, affected their political beliefs.
Sen. John Edwards' choice, "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," kicks off the series Thursday.
The vice-presidential candidate says he chose Stanley Kubrick's 1964 black comedy about nuclear war because of its message that "putting this kind of power into the hands of human beings -- no matter who they are -- is an extraordinary thing."
Subsequent Thursdays feature Sen. John McCain's pick "Paths of Glory," Sen. Joseph Biden's pick "Dead Poets Society" and Sen. Orrin Hatch's pick "To Kill A Mockingbird."
