Who had Bush v. Gore in a Teen People debate on their Y2K bingo card?

Padraic Maroney is a writer and marketing professional from upstate New York. After moving to Philadelphia as a teenager, he created content for The Bucks County Courier Times’ 'Reality' section, written by local teens. This led to an opportunity as a Teen People Trendspotter, as well as an internship in New York.

Twenty years later, Padraic has published an unauthorized, behind-the-scenes tale of the making of the Scream franchise, and is now preparing another book on the Saw series from the early-mid 2000s.

He began by telling me about Teen People magazine’s unsuccessful attempt to get George W. Bush and Al Gore together, on stage, in a Teen People-sponsored debate on youth issues, during Election 2000. Could that debate have changed the course of history?? Probably not, but we’ll never know, will we? Here’s Padraic’s story.

Podcast notes:

Padraic’s book, 'It All Began With a Scream': https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58866004-it-all-began-with-a-scream

Padraic's Twitter: [at] padraicjacob

Find me on Twitter and Instagram at teenpeoplepod, and have a listen to my interviews with Zena Burns and Kelly McWilliams in season one of Teen People podcast.

Credits:

President Clinton's Remarks Regarding Columbine HS Shooting (1999) courtesy; William J. Clinton Presidential LibraryIntro music: © Anna SoperOutro music: Fighter [No Vocals] - punk rock by ohhgeeeznotagain on Pixabay

Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.