Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Jon Decker-WOR White House And Washington Correspondent

Transcript

Jon Decker-WOR White House And Washington Correspondent · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: Well, we have primary elections starting today in several states.
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  Speaker 1: One of the big ones is Alaska because Dan Sullivan
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  Speaker 1: is running. John Decker w R. White House and Washington Correspondent,
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  Speaker 1: how about this with iHeart sending him to Alaska. That's
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  Speaker 1: that's damn impressive.
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  Speaker 2: Cruise to Fairbatch and you know everybody goes up there
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  Speaker 2: on a couch.
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  Speaker 3: Don't want to drive to Alaska.
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  Speaker 1: I've been on two cruises to Alaska and through radio stations.
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  Speaker 1: I've gone on two cruises and took my family. I
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  Speaker 1: want to go back. It's gorgeous. Oh, it was some
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  Speaker 1: of the best trips I ever had, were going up
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  Speaker 1: to Alaska. But it is primary day. It's also in Florida,
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  Speaker 1: and it's also in Idaho. The big race in Alaska
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to be talking to John Dekker about
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  Speaker 1: is Dan Sullivan. All of the sudden, Alaska seems like
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  Speaker 1: it might be in play, which is bad news for
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  Speaker 1: the Republicans because they normally get it. I know, when
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  Speaker 1: you think about Alaska, you probably think about Lisa Murkowski
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  Speaker 1: because she's been there longer and she's been in the news.
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  Speaker 1: But Dan Sullivan's the new guy, and he's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: up for reelection for the first time. Everybody thought it
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  Speaker 1: was going to be easy. Apparently it may not be
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  Speaker 1: as easy Curtis.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And they have those jungle primaries over there, in
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  Speaker 2: which you can have like a dozen you gonna have
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  Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen people. And the big issue there that keeps
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  Speaker 2: that state afloat and keeps people really attuned to their
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  Speaker 2: politics is the rebate check they get from the oil
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  Speaker 2: and natural gas resources that are sold from Alaska that
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  Speaker 2: every citizen of Alaska is capable of receiving. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you don't really see that anywhere else. You know, Jersey,
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  Speaker 2: you have a rebate on your property tax. But that's
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  Speaker 2: your money to begin with. You know, whoever is the
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  Speaker 2: governor acts like it's they're giving you money. They signed
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  Speaker 2: the check. One, it's really your money to begin with.
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  Speaker 2: In Alaska, it really is. It's a percentage of the
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  Speaker 2: sales of natural gas and petroleum products that then can
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  Speaker 2: come right back into your pocket. And boy, if you're
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  Speaker 2: running for office, stats like running in Iowa, you better
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  Speaker 2: be promoting ethanol, you better be drinking ethanol, you better
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  Speaker 2: be promoting maintaining that rebate, because that's what Alaskans are
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  Speaker 2: depending on because their price is so much higher because
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  Speaker 2: of the difficulty in transporting products there and getting products
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  Speaker 2: into Alaska and trucking them over a lot of that
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  Speaker 2: huge land mass in order to get him into stores
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  Speaker 2: and get him into your home.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what this is. The other election that
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  Speaker 1: everything's going to be looking at today in the primaries
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  Speaker 1: is Florida, because remember they redistricted, Yes, and there are
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  Speaker 1: several Democratic Congressmen who are vulnerable, some whose name if
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  Speaker 1: you follow politics, whose name you would know, including Jared Moskowitz.
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  Speaker 1: He is now vulnerable because his district has been redistrict.
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  Speaker 1: And the always popular be Wasserman Schultz. And I said
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  Speaker 1: that kiddingly because she has been vilified. If you noticed,
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  Speaker 1: the Democratic Party has even pushed her to the side. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: they rarely see her anymore, but they those two are
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  Speaker 1: in trouble. They're also looking at governor and senator in
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  Speaker 1: the state of Florida, and the other one is Wyoming,
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  Speaker 1: and then Idaho, and so they don't get as much coverage.
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  Speaker 1: Florida is going to be one to look at because
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  Speaker 1: there's going to be several Republican seats picked up in Florida.
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  Speaker 1: If the Republicans hold on to the House, it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be because of Florida.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so, just like the last time.
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  Speaker 2: Remember when Sheelden was running for governor against HKL. The
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  Speaker 2: thing he brought to the table was all those new
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  Speaker 2: Republicans who got elected into Congress who gave the Republicans
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  Speaker 2: the Speaker of the House, without which they wouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: had it. You know, you had Lawler in Rockland County,
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  Speaker 2: you had others who were there on Long Island and
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  Speaker 2: the mid Hutchon Valley way out which the Republicans would
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  Speaker 2: not be in the majority, and obviously Johnson would not
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  Speaker 2: be the Speaker of the House.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're nearing the end of primary season. It's
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  Speaker 1: all going to get really serious come September. But right
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  Speaker 1: now we do have we're getting on the phone at
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  Speaker 1: the second John Decker wor White House and Washington Correspondent.
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  Speaker 1: He is the host of the podcast The White House
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  Speaker 1: Briefing Room with John Decker that can be found on
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  Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app. And a lot of the attention in
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  Speaker 1: this primary is on the Republicans running because and listen,
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump and the Republicans are saying this was a
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  Speaker 1: dirty trick because well, I'll let John Decker explain it himself.
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  Speaker 1: John Decker, wor White House and Washington Correspondent. Now in Alaska,
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  Speaker 1: we were just talking about the primary a little bit, John,
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  Speaker 1: and I was getting to the point where the man
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  Speaker 1: running against Dan Sullivan and the Republican primary the incumbent senator.
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  Speaker 1: It's a pretty fascinating race for the the reason of
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  Speaker 1: the other guy's name.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's Dan Sullivan.
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  Speaker 4: So a constituent of Senator Dan Sullivan has entered the race.
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  Speaker 4: His name is Dan Sullivan. He is on the ballot.
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  Speaker 4: All that you need to run for the US Senate
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  Speaker 4: in Alaska is one hundred dollars and you enter the
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  Speaker 4: Senate race. Listen to this. You don't even need to
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  Speaker 4: be a resident of the state of Alaska. The rule
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  Speaker 4: is is that if you win your primary, win the election,
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  Speaker 4: you just have to move to Alaska to represent the state.
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  Speaker 4: Pretty remarkable the five people running actually in this race
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  Speaker 4: who are not even residents of Alaska. As for Dan Sullivan,
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  Speaker 4: who's not a US Senator, he is a resident. He's
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  Speaker 4: never run for office before, and it's really gotten under
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  Speaker 4: the skin of the Senator named Dan Sullivan.
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  Speaker 2: So let me ask you this with all of that
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  Speaker 2: going on, because I know that at Alaska leads in
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  Speaker 2: this area of these jungle primaries where multiple candidates can
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  Speaker 2: jump on, how does the person going to file their ballot,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's a mail in ballot, because some in Alaska,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they can't get to their polling locations because
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  Speaker 2: where they are.
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  Speaker 3: If they go to the polling location.
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  Speaker 2: How do they differentiate is it a nonpartisan election or
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  Speaker 2: do they actually put D or R next to them
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  Speaker 2: or unaffiliated.
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  Speaker 4: It's a non partisan election. And the way this primary
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  Speaker 4: works is the top four finishers, the top four vote getters,
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  Speaker 4: they move on to the general elections. So it could be,
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  Speaker 4: you know, to Republicans to Democrats. The Democrat who is
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  Speaker 4: the leading front runner to make it to the general
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  Speaker 4: election is a former congresswoman representing all of Alaska. Her
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  Speaker 4: name is Mary Poltola, and she has one statewide twice before.
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  Speaker 4: There are some polls that actually have her up by
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  Speaker 4: a few points over Senator Dan Sullivan. So a lot
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  Speaker 4: of money, a lot of money is pouring into this race.
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  Speaker 4: I was at an event with Senator Dan Sullivan last
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  Speaker 4: Night interviewed the Senator. I've interviewed him before, and he
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  Speaker 4: recognizes that this is a tough environment for a Republican
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  Speaker 4: incumbent because, as you know, with midterm elections, the party
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  Speaker 4: in power typically faces some headwinds, and he's facing some headwinds.
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  Speaker 4: Even though President Trump won this state by thirteen points
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  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 3: Over Kamala Harris.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's considered a Republican stronghold.
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  Speaker 3: You're right.
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  Speaker 1: The political climate right now is helping the Democrats more
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  Speaker 1: than it's helping the Republicans, and that is normally the case.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever's not out of the White House has a better
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  Speaker 1: chance in the mid terms. But there are other factors
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  Speaker 1: going on there, including the way that the elections are held.
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  Speaker 1: As you explained a second ago, there's a strategy behind that.
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  Speaker 4: Well, there is a strategy so that I'll explained way
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  Speaker 4: that the primary works. Top four vote getters move on
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  Speaker 4: to the general. The general works differently, and you're familiar
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  Speaker 4: with that because of New York City. It's ranked choice voting,
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  Speaker 4: so you're familiar because that's the way your mayor was chosen.
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  Speaker 4: That's the way the next Senator of Alaska will be chosen.
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  Speaker 4: So that's something that Senator Sullivan and others are well
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  Speaker 4: aware of. They just first want to make it to
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  Speaker 4: the next round, to the general election, and then they'll
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  Speaker 4: focus on the fact that it's ranked choice voting and
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  Speaker 4: figure out how it is that they can get elected
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  Speaker 4: to be Alaska's next senator for the next six years.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm confused here. As you had mentioned, John Dekker,
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  Speaker 2: we had ranked choice voting in the Democratic primary because
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  Speaker 2: of all the candidates that Johan won against Cuomo, and
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  Speaker 2: rank choice voting helped propel him to victory. But we
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  Speaker 2: don't have ranked choice voting in the general. So you're
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  Speaker 2: saying that they have ranked choice voting both in the primary,
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  Speaker 2: this jungle primary and then eventually the general election.
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  Speaker 4: No, the ranked choice is just for the general and
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  Speaker 4: for the primary, it's simply the top four vote getters.
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  Speaker 4: So you're going to vote for one candidate, You're going
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  Speaker 4: to vote for your choice, so you want to be
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  Speaker 4: the next US Senator, and the top four vote getters
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  Speaker 4: today primary day then move on to the general election,
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  Speaker 4: and that, Curtis is where it's ranked choice.
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  Speaker 1: And that's where the strategy comes in because both parties
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  Speaker 1: try to get another person on the ballot that's going
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  Speaker 1: to take votes away from the opposing party.
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  Speaker 3: Am I correct?
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  Speaker 4: That is correct, That's exactly right. So you know, first
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  Speaker 4: make it test this first round, and I think that
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  Speaker 4: the two people that I mentioned in particular will make
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  Speaker 4: it to the general election. Mary Poltola, the former congresswoman
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  Speaker 4: a Democrat, as well as Senator Dan Sullivan. President Trump
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  Speaker 4: put out a social media post over the weekend regarding
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  Speaker 4: this race and giving a strong endorsement to Senator Dan Sullivan.
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  Speaker 4: No surprise, Sullivan is a one supporter of Donald Trump,
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  Speaker 4: has supported all of his initiatives in Congress, so no
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  Speaker 4: support that the President is backing the senator.
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  Speaker 2: Very quickly, John, If you look East's North Korea, they
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  Speaker 2: are The President seemed to be hinting yesterday at the
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  Speaker 2: White House that he'd like to have another meeting with
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  Speaker 2: the leader there. You were around when they were first
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  Speaker 2: getting together. What was that like, Well.
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  Speaker 3: That's right.
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  Speaker 4: I was at the very first meeting that took place
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  Speaker 4: in Singapore in the president's first term. And of course
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  Speaker 4: the President also met with Kim Junglund two other times,
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  Speaker 4: once I believe in Oslo and another time at the
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  Speaker 4: DMZ really remarkable. Nothing became of those meetings, however, you know,
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  Speaker 4: no commitments that were adhere to by Kim jungun, just
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  Speaker 4: great photo ops. So I don't know why the President
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  Speaker 4: is now focused on North Korea and trying to essentially
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  Speaker 4: give them a lifeline. They do unlike Iran, they do
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  Speaker 4: have a working nuclear weapons program, and there's nothing that
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  Speaker 4: we can do to reverse that.
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  Speaker 2: In any way, I do appreciate it, John Deca, enjoy
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  Speaker 2: yourself there in Alaska. I know you're there for the
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  Speaker 2: election tonight, and we'll be hearing more from you real soon.
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  Speaker 4: I am in Alaska. I'm in Anchorage, Alaska, by the way,
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  Speaker 4: four hours behind where you are. So getting up a
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  Speaker 4: little early for you, Curtis and Larry, and happy to
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  Speaker 4: do so. Can I tell you a really quick story
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  Speaker 4: that I think is pretty interesting historically If you didn't,
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  Speaker 4: if you have a moment, sure, So, this whole Dan
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  Speaker 4: Sullivan thing reminded me of something that happened earlier in history.
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  Speaker 4: It's before my time, but it's historically a really interesting story.
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  Speaker 4: When John F. Kennedy, the future president, was in his
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  Speaker 4: first congressional race in Massachusetts. He's twenty nine years old,
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  Speaker 4: relative unknown. And there's someone else in the race who
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  Speaker 4: the Kennedy family was very concerned about. His name Joe Russo.
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  Speaker 4: He was a city councilman in Boston. So what the
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  Speaker 4: Kennedy family did was something very similar to what we
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  Speaker 4: see happening here in Alaska. They went through the voter
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  Speaker 4: roles and they looked for another individual named Joe Russo,
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  Speaker 4: and they got this Joe Russo to enter the race,
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  Speaker 4: Joe Russo being a plumber in Boston. And so there
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  Speaker 4: were two Joe Russo's on the ballot when John Kennedy
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  Speaker 4: had his first congressional race and a forced John Kennedy
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  Speaker 4: easily wins that race. Maybe the voters of Boston were confused,
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  Speaker 4: and of course John Kennedy ultimately goes on to be
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  Speaker 4: the next a future president of the United States.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, do appreciate that, John Love Song