Yesterday, my brother and I did a couple spots on MSNBC to celebrate our nation’s independence. Here they are, hope you enjoy.

(more…)

In case you missed it last week, my brother and I did MSNBC, discussing the online fights taking place between supporters of Sens. Clinton and Obama and what that will mean for the general election. We hope to be doing a lot more television and radio in the coming months. Stay tuned.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for our email list and join our rapidly expanding Facebook group.

Peter on MSNBC:

Matthew on MSNBC:

Friends,

What a year it’s been! As the fall turns to winter (except that it’s still 70 degrees?!?!) and the madness that was Election 2006 subsides, we here at DoubleSpeak wanted to take a minute to thank you for your support, hard-work and dedication over the past year. There is no doubt that 2006 is a year none of us will ever forget.

After traveling to over 20 states in 50 days, we were all in need of some time to reconnect with family and tend to our “day jobs.” While we miss living out of a 1999 Toyota Sienna minivan, it is very good to be home.

We are incredibly proud of what DoubleSpeak accomplished in such a short amount of time. Thousands of activists downloaded the show, we appeared on numerous radio stations across the country talking progressive politics and grassroots activism, and we interviewed dozens of high-profile candidates for office all over the country. And, while doing our part to help America we had the time of our lives traveling as brothers-in-arms to help secure a sweeping Democratic victory.

While things have been slow on the website since the Election, we plan to hit the ground running in 2007 with a new look, new features, and video! We will continue to bring you quality interviews with decision makers and party leaders both inside and outside of Washington, D.C. Of course, we’ll also begin our coverage of the 2008 election, which is already heating up!

We had a fantastic year. We owe all of our listeners a debt of gratitude. Thank you for taking the time to listen and to share your ideas and your pennies as we look forward to continuing this journey with you in the New Year.

Finally, we want to dedicate the work we’ve done over the past year to our good friend Mike W. who is serving in Iraq. Mike is doing a hell of a job out there and we hope to have him back on American soil soon. We love and miss you, buddy.

See you down the road a bit,

Matthew Slutsky, Host
Peter Slutsky, Host
Joshua Skaroff, Producer

We are working hard to get some press about our trip across America. If you know any reporters who you think would be interested in covering our story - a story of triumphant in the face of adversity, shoot us an email. In the meantime, check out this morning’s hit in the New York Jewish Week.

Political Podcasting, On The Road
Twins take up their parents’ minivan and the progressive cause in run-up to midterm elections.
Liel Leibovitz

The road trip is an old American tradition. The political road trip, for aspiring new media journalists, however, may be something new: It may have started four months ago, when Peter and Matthew Slutsky, 25, two Philadelphia-born twins, said goodbye to friends, family and employers and got in a minivan headed for the great open.

It was, in part, an odyssey born of frustration. After working on Democratic campaigns — most recently John Kerry’s — the Slutskys decided to switch sides.

“We decided we were more interested in taking the media angle,” said Peter Slutsky. “And so, we developed a podcast,” a self-produced radio show of sorts available for download over the Internet (www.doublespeakshow.com). It gets a few thousand hits a day, which is considered a respectable number.

The podcast’s first interviewees were politicians in the Washington, D.C. area, where the two were living. But a few months into serving as the hosts of their own program, they realized the only way to get to the truly interesting candidates in the districts that really mattered was to literally take their show on the road.

“So we took a leave of absence from our jobs,” said Peter, “and we bought a minivan from our parents.” (The twins are brothers of Jewish Week staff writer Carolyn Slutsky.)

Together with their childhood friend, Josh Skaroff, they’ve covered more than 20 states in the last several months, interviewing nearly every major candidate on the ballot in next week’s midterm elections. “We had incredible access,” said Peter, “and it shows that campaigns are looking at people like us, because we’re a new way to get the message out. It’s very successful.”

Read the rest here…

My favorite line:

The trip, of course, wasn’t all politics. There were hoagies and muffins and all other manner of fast food inevitable when on the road. There was breathtaking scenery, distracting even the very purpose-driven team. And there was also a buffalo that almost ended up as road kill. But overall, Peter said, there was a sense of hope.

It’s all about hoagies and hope!