Taking America's Pulse
Tim Foley (Col ‘03) pedals the East to learn what’s on people’s minds
What takes two wheels, 12 states, 50 days and a gazillion questions?
 That would be Tim Foley’s election express.
Foley (Col ’03, Educ ’05) left New York City last month on a bicycle jaunt that, if all goes according to plan, will land him in New Orleans several days before the Nov. 4 presidential election. Along the way, he is talking with regular folks about what’s on their minds and filing stories for a Web site that is being managed by a fellow U.Va. grad, Ryan Stewart (Engr ’04).
Several factors spurred Foley to saddle up and put some mettle in his pedal.
“I was fed up with the level of discourse, both with the candidates and among the people who were discussing it,” he says. “I wanted to find a way to discuss it in a way that was more constructive, and this seemed like a good avenue to do it.”
He also is satisfying a thesis requirement for a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
A two-time ACC champion wrestler while at U.Va. and a self-described Barry Goldwater conservative, Foley followed his political bent by working as an intern with former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert and on the U.S. Senate campaign of Florida’s Mel Martinez.
The idea for the cycling trip bubbled up on the Fourth of July while Foley was talking with friends. “I decided that instead of going into public relations or mainstream media I was going to take a chance on something else. I thought this was a great marriage of my skills,” he says.
So he took a ferry from Manhattan to Rumson, N.J., on Sept. 14 and biked 75 miles on a 95-degree day he won’t soon forget. “The first day was brutal. I’m still trying to recover from the sunburn I got.”
 He’ll also long remember his first interview, with a World War II veteran who depends solely on Social Security checks for his income. “I get $1,800 every month in Social Security, and that’s a nice chunk of change, but it’s not enough to completely support me and my wife,” says Michael J. Downes of Pennsylvania in Foley’s story on www.electioncycle.com.
By the time Foley stopped in Charlottesville for a few days in late September (he received an award from U.Va.’s Center for Politics for his trip), he had documented a gallery of memorable characters and met some “kooky birds” who didn’t make the blog.
His route takes him through several swing states—Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina—and provides him with a pair of bookends. “I thought New York City and New Orleans were significant to the Bush administration because of 9/11 and Katrina, so it’s kind of tidy in that sense.”
Not so tidy are some of the themes he’s discovering. “The big revelation is that there are no simple answers,” he says. “People are much more willing to discuss their biases than I thought they would be.”
His own bias? Foley keeps it to himself during interviews. “I don’t disclose it largely because I don’t know who I’m going to vote for,” he says and laughs.
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