As Hampton Roads votes, the world is watching

Hampton Roads has been no stranger to media coverage recently, with frequent visits from all the major presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Today, the national and international media will be spread out across the state to watch Virginia prove its battleground status.

Catherine Tardrew, whose title is “grand reporter” with Paris-based le Parisien, has been criss-crossing the country for the past month covering the presidential election. She arrived in Norfolk last week because her editor wanted her to watch the election results in a “purple” state, she said Monday.

Her purpose has been to explain the American election process, which she described as “fascinating, really.” She’ll spend today visiting the polls and going to election parties with some Norfolk families.

Joe Johns, a senior correspondent on “Anderson Cooper 360°” on CNN, covers government accountability. He said his job today would be as election observer for CNN in Norfolk.

“They drop us in at one place or another to just watch the procedures, rules and plans,” Johns said. “On Election Day and thereafter, we watch to see how that plan was executed.”

Four years ago, he said, he was watching the election for CNN in Cleveland. Despite the rain, there were long lines while precincts still had voting machines in the boxes. He covered Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones’ demands that those machines be unpacked and used.

“So, that’s my frame of reference,” Johns said.

“The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” plans to check in with PBS and NPR reporters in battleground states throughout the 7 p.m. hour, said “NewsHour” reporter Samara Thery. Norfolk reporter Cathy Lewis will appear on the show.

The international Arabic news agency Al Jazeera English will broadcast from three locations in Hampton.

“They literally walked in the door and asked if we’d ever heard of them,” said Anne Doop, owner of The Phoebus Coffee House. “It was just surreal.”

The agency will begin its live coverage to day at 5 p.m. and continue until 5 a.m. Wednesday. Additionally, the 15-person cast and crew will report from Six Little Bar Bistro and Spoonio’s Hair Salon, Doop said.

“They were really looking for a Main Street USA,” Doop said. “They drove down our main street and saw our main drag looks like a 1950s-era Main Street.”

Although she said she’s gotten negative comments from people angered by her hosting the news agency, she said she’s also gotten phone calls from people trying to make reservations.

Lauren King, (757) 446-2309, lauren.king@pilotonline.com