Dobson Story Came Out of the Blue

Political correspondent Dan Gilgoff's story on USNews.com today about evangelist James Dobson's take on the 2008 elections had a strange genesis. Gilgoff had sought an interview with Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, for over a year and a half for a book Gilgoff was writing on the Christian Right, The Jesus Machine, which was published this month. Dobson only agreed to answer written questions--and then abruptly called Gilgoff on Tuesday to offer his thoughts.

"After being declined interview requests for more than a year and a half, I was obviously shocked to get a phone call from Dobson out of the blue yesterday," Gilgoff says. "But I was gratified to learn that he thinks my book gives him a fair shake. I set out to write a book free of bias, which is difficult to do on a subject as radioactive as the Christian Right."

See below for audio from Gilgoff on what he learned while writing the book. More information on The Jesus Machine is available here.