Earlier this week, I was afforded a rare opportunity to speak with veteran journalist and former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather while he was in Columbia for a live broadcast of his five-part “Rather Reports” series on politics. He was incredibly courteous and in the above interview you can tell that he is passionate about his current project.

During the brief interview, which was framed in a luxurious hallway in the Drayton Hall building on the University of South Carolina campus, we discussed the Rather Reports series, the influence of “new media” and the Internet in politics, and electronic voting machines (Note: I had to crank the audio a little bit because we don’t have a decent microphone — if that’s a problem, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I’ll let you know where you can send your donation).

I want to thank the entire Rather Reports team for all of their assistance and for affording us such a wonderful interview.