Latest / Pod Save America / On The Ground in Iowa (coming 11/19)

Transcript

On The Ground in Iowa (coming 11/19) · Pod Save America

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: They said this day would never come. On January 3rd, 2008,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I was standing with my buddies on the campaign and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a crowd of cheering Democrats in Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines, Iowa,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: watching my boss, Barack Obama, speak after he won the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Iowa caucuses. This country was too divided. But on this
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: January night, you have done what the cynics said we
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: couldn't do. If Obama doesn't win that night, he would
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: not have become president. My name is Tommy Vitor. I
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: worked for Barack Obama for nine years. I was in
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the White House on his national security team. I was
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: in the Senate office for a couple of years. But
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the best job I've ever had was when I spent
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: a year in Iowa as Barack Obama's spokesman. I spent
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: hundreds of hours with Obama as he traveled across Iowa,
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  Speaker 1: delivering speeches, meeting with journalists, and answering tough questions from
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  Speaker 1: voters in living rooms and backyards and farms and packed arenas.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I have never worked harder and never had more fun.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: This November, we'll launch a special series on the Iowa caucuses,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and you can find it right here in the Pod
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Save America feed. We're going to talk about how they work,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: what it takes to win in Iowa, and we're going
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  Speaker 1: to ask the question, is this really the best way
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to figure out who can beat Donald Trump in 2020?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I think caucuses are... You know, one of the worst
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  Speaker 1: ideas anyone ever came up with.
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  Speaker 2: Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because they're not democratic, they're gamed.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: When you have a state like this where the demographics
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: are so skewed, they don't really tell you anything. You know,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I've seen better organized riots.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: In this five-part series, we're going to take you to Iowa.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: We're going to hang out with candidates at the Iowa
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: State Fair. Hey Pete, how are you? Good to see you.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: The fundamental question is, is this a good way to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: pick a president? And I know there's no better time
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to ask you that than when you're literally chewing a
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: pork chop while surrounded by 400 of our closest friends.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: We're going to meet with the mythical undecided voter.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I am undecided, but I have it narrowed down.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I've already heard Amy and Kamala and Elizabeth. And you'll
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: get to know the young field staffers who are the
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: heart and the soul of every presidential campaign.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: There was a guy who I'd been trying to get
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  Speaker 2: in touch with. I finally found him and I was like, hey,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: do you have time.
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  Speaker 1: To meet up with me?
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  Speaker 2: And he said, well, I don't really feel like it.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I feel like playing frisbee golf or mountain biking when
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I have some off time. So now I've played frisbee
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: golf with him twice.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: The conventional wisdom is that there are three tickets out
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of Iowa, which means there will be a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: of folks whose run ends there on caucus night. Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: Howard Dean. Politics today is pretty ugly, but democracy looks
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: best when you are on the ground up close. So
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  Speaker 1: join me in Iowa this November on the Pod Save
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: America feed.