Latest / Pod Save America / “Doompolling!”

Transcript

“Doompolling!” · Pod Save America

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: On today's show, the great poll freakout of 2022 has begun.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Democrats debate their closing message. Congressman Tim Ryan stops by
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: to talk about his Ohio Senate race. And later, we
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: look back at some debate highlights of the last few
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: weeks in a new game where Dan and I will
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: be challenged to create some of our own. Exciting.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I had honestly forgotten we were doing that.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, me too. But first, in case you missed it,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Rachel Maddow recently joined me on offline to talk about
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: her fantastic new podcast called Ultra, which tells the story
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: of of an all-but-forgotten right-wing plot to overthrow American democracy
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: in 1940. Dan, have you listened to this podcast yet?
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: It's in my queue, John. It's in my queue.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I was talking about Ultra, not Offline. I mean, I
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: assume you listen to Offline the second it comes out
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: every Sunday.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I oftentimes do. I have to admit, I've been very busy.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I have neither listened to the Rachel Maddow episode of
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Offline or Ultra, but they are both on my list.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Good. Ultra is fantastic. You would love it.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: The NBA season has started. Fantasy basketball has started. My
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: podcasts are very busy, but I'm getting there.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: I thought especially about you and Tommy, who love historical fascism.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Usually it's books.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I think what you mean is we love learning. We
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: love learning. We love information delivered in something other than
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: 280 characters.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: That is true. Also, don't miss the newest episode of Hysteria.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Aaron and Alyssa were here. They were in Los Angeles,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: joined by mayoral candidate Karen Bast. along with the panelists
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: you know and love. They broke down all the latest
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: news and politics live from Sirius XM in Hollywood. You
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: can listen to new episodes of Hysteria every Thursday wherever
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. It was great to see Alyssa.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: She came to town. It was fun.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: It seemed exciting.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: It was very cool. All right, let's get to the news.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: We are a little less than three weeks out from
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Election Day, which means it's time for all of us
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to freak out about polls. And boy, did we get
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a doozy from the New York Times that changed the
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: narrative about the midterms in a way that only a
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Nate could do. Republicans now lead among likely voters on
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the generic ballot by 49 to 45, erasing the Democrats'
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: one-point lead from the Times September poll by making big
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: gains with independents and opening up a huge lead among
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: people who said the economy or inflation is their top issue,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: which was most people in the polls. The economy and
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: inflation were the top issues for Republicans, independents, and Democrats.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Republicans now have, as of today, a slight lead of
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: just 0.1% in the 538 polling average, down from a
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Democratic lead of 1.5% about a month ago. Dan, what
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: do you think? Should people cancel their New York Times subscriptions?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Should we unskew the poll? What's going on here? What
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: should we do?
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Both?
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: No.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I think....
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Is this poll right? Is any poll right? Who knows?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: It's an existential question. Only the election will tell us.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Let's put aside the margin here for a second.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Always put aside the margin. Always put aside the margin.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Are we going to do anything differently? Are we going
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: to stop canvassing?
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that. We'll get to that.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, we, not Democratic ad makers, like the people
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: trying to organize this election.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: What I think is interesting about this poll is I
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: do think the stuff underneath the margin tells a story
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: about how the political playing field has shifted since this
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: summer when Democrats had a pretty strong advantage in the
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Senate races and were doing much better in the House
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: races than I think people suspected. So in this poll,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: the number of voters who list the economy slash inflation
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: as their top issue has gone up eight points since
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: the previous poll. Republicans are winning those voters by like
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: 30 points.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Over the last month or so, the economy has become
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: a bigger issue in this race than it had been
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: over the summer. And that is not the product of
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: brilliant ads or Fox News. It is reality. Gas prices
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: went down for like 100 days. Then they started going
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: up again. They have since started to come down recently,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: but they did spike in September. Inflation remained stubbornly high.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I think there was a thought that it might be
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: starting to come down. It did not last month. And
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: This is the reality. And it's not just the New
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: York Times poll. In the Navigator poll, you had an
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: increase by 27 points of voters who said that they
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: were now paying more for gas than they were before
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: since the last poll a few weeks ago, and a
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: 14-point drop in the number of voters who said the
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: economy was getting better. So the economy has become more central.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: That is not good for Democrats, which leads us to
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: a conversation we'll probably have later in the pod about
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: what to do about it. But The playing field has shifted.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: It does not mean we're doomed. It does not mean
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: it's over. But we are operating in a slightly worse
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: political environment than we were a month and a half ago.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're in a particularly shitty economic spot because
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the Fed has begun to hike interest rates to try
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to tamp down inflation. That has not tamped down inflation yet.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: But now we have higher interest rates for people looking
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: to borrow money and take a mortgage out.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it's really, it's fucking beautiful. It's we,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you're supposed to either have inflation or you're supposed to
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: either have inflation fears or recession fears. And right now we.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Have both living through inflation and still, and the recession
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: fears loom. So that's what we got right now. There
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: was also, by the way, a Monmouth poll out this,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: just this morning, Thursday morning that shows Republicans up six
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: in the, in the generic ballot, 50 to 44. Again,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: If you want to put the margin aside, the overall
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: trend is what's important here. And the trend is, as
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: we could tell from the 538 polling average, moving towards
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the Republicans as we have a couple weeks. There was another,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: just in case you're not depressed enough, there was another
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: depressing follow-up story about this Times poll the next day
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: with the headline, voters see democracy in peril, but saving
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: it isn't a priority. The piece says that 71% of
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: all voters believe democracy is at risk. So it's like, oh,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that's great, right? But only 7% identified that as the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: most important problem facing the country. The poll also says
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that about 39% of registered voters are open to supporting
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: candidates who reject the 2020 election results. That includes 37%
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: of independent voters and even 12% of Democratic voters. What
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the hell do you think is going on there?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I didn't find that story depressing.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, you found that inspiring?
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: No.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I found it fucking clarifying.
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah, no.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I think it's really important, and it's a reminder that
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: we make politics way more complicated than we have to.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: So there are a couple of points to take away
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: from this thing. One is it's just yet another reminder,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: a point President Obama made to us last weekend, that
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: people's personal financial situation trumps everything else. And before everyone yells,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: greedy– about these people, that is bullshit. For rich people
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: who are freaking out about having to pay slightly higher taxes, yes,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: that's greed. For the average person just trying to make
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: it by to put food on the table, put some
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: money away so their kids can go to college, have
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: a vacation, any of those things, that's life. That's always
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: going to trump esoteric arguments about political systems in democracy.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: It just always will and probably always should. Now, we
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: can quibble correctly that many of these voters, as we
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: talked about in the Times poll, are picking the wrong
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: party to address that situation. But instead of yelling at
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: them and calling them stupid and greedy for that, let's
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: figure out why they feel that way and then try
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: to fix it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And many of these same voters, and I talked
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to them, I don't know how many times, people are
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: probably sick of hearing me talking about the wilderness focus groups,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: but just about every single voter I spoke to was
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: outraged about the Dobbs decision and And is worried that
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Republicans are going to move to ban abortion nationwide and
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: even more states than they already have. But what they
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: talk about constantly and what they like stay awake thinking
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: about is that they cannot afford to live on their own.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Like if you heard some of the people, especially in
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas, who were talking to me, the working class
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Latinos I talked to in Vegas, talking about like being
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: evicted out of their house and then having to like
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: pay for motel rooms for three months. At a couple
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: hundred dollars a month because they couldn't even find a
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: rental place that they could afford. And then they're living
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: in their cars. Like, it's fucking real for people. This
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: is not just like the Ohio family that complained about
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the extra gallon of the extra couple of dollars they
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: were paying for a gallon of milk. And then everyone
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: shit on them on fucking Twitter. Like, these are people
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: who are really struggling. And you're right. They are wrong.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: They are wrong that Republicans would give them a better
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: life than Democrats would. under Republican rule versus Democratic rule.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: They are 100% wrong about that. But it is on
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: us to persuade them of that. And if we don't
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: think it's on us, then we can all fucking just
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: quit now and sit home. That's fine too, if we
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: want to. But if we want to save democracy and
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: we want to make sure there aren't abortion bans and
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: we want to make sure that people are making more
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and can afford housing, then we have to persuade people.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: We have to do it. We cannot take a shortcut.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a couple more points on this poll. It's also
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: an argument that we should stop polling about democracy. It's
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: a word that is a Rorschach test for people. For
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: partisans on the left, the threats to democracy correctly represent
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: growing authoritarianism, voter suppression, everything Trump stands for. On the right,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: threats to democracy incorrectly are about stolen elections and voter fraud.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: And for a lot of people in the middle, it
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: is correctly, to an extent, about corruption in government. And
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: so we're asking a question that the answer tells us
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: nothing if it is brought. We don't really control what
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: pollsters ask, but we do control how we talk about it.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: And this is yet another reminder that all of us,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: and I don't even want to do a find through
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: my message box archives to the word democracy, but we
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: are talking about something using a word to describe a
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: a situation, a system, and a problem that does not
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: mean a lot to a lot of people. And we
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: have to get away from talking about democracy in and
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: of itself and talk more about how the specific threats
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: to democracy threaten the things that matter in people's lives.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: That includes abortion. That includes Social Security and Medicare. That
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: includes contraception, et cetera. And we are stuck in this
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: overly online resistance Twitter podcast lingua franca that doesn't matter
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: to voters. And it's a problem. And we should take that,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: like this poll should tell us that.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: And I think what's most frustrating about it is that
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you and I have known that people feel this way
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: about government for as long as we've been in politics.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: And our brains are broken.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: And just to drill down on the numbers that you mentioned,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: especially with the largest group of folks in the middle,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: So 71%, as we mentioned, said that democracy is under
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: threat in that poll. So 71% of people. But only
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: 17% of those voters talked about that threat in terms
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of Republicans, Trump, political violence, election denial, authoritarianism, all the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: stuff we talk about all the time. And as you said,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: most summarize the threat to democracy as government corruption, government
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: not working on behalf of ordinary people, too much greed, power,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and money in politics. 68% of all voters said 68%
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: said the government mainly works to benefit powerful elites rather
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: than ordinary people. That is the message for Democrats. That
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: is the fight that we have to wage. A government
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: that works on behalf of ordinary people. A government that
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: actually delivers in ways to improve people's lives, that protects
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: their freedoms, that makes sure that wealthy, powerful elites don't
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: get to run the government anymore. and that they actually
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: have to pay their taxes, and they actually have to
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: contribute to society, and they don't get to just tell
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: us what to do. Because if we don't make that case,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Republicans are going to keep making that case about elites,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: but their elites are going to be people in the media,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and people in academia, and liberals, and all this other bullshit.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: That's what they do. We have to have our elites
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: as villains, and it has to be the fucking super
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: fucking rich people that are friends with Republicans that are
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: gouging consumers and trying to run Congress.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: That finding is so important because it helps explain why
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: in 2008, Barack Obama beat every member of the Democratic
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: establishment to win the nomination, and why in 2016, Donald
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Trump beat every member of the Republican establishment to win
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: the nomination. And it also explains why every two years,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: we throw out our Congress.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, everyone thinks that Barack Obama won in
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: 2008 because of all the rhetoric about unity, and I
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: think that was important to some people, some voters, but
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: like we ran relentlessly against Washington corruption, special interest, money
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: in politics, constantly, constantly.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: And he was an outsider. Therefore he had credibility about
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: being able to do something about it. Just like Trump.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Different approach.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Different approach. A bit different.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: But yes. Um, All right, let's focus on what Democrats
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and the rest of us can actually control between now
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and Election Day. And let's start with the most powerful
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Democrat in the country, President Biden. This week, he did
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: two things worth noting. First, he gave a speech where
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: he promised that if Democrats win the House and add
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: two more Democratic senators, the first bill he'll sign in
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: January is legislation to protect abortion access nationwide. Then he
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: announced the release of 15 million barrels of oil from
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve in an attempt to lower
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: gas prices. which, as you mentioned, are now declining for
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the second week after rising for about a month. Let's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: start with Biden's speech on abortion. He said a version
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: of this before, though the promise that it will be
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: his very first bill that he signs in January is new.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Why do you think he did this now? And what
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: do you think about that strategy?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: It's pretty clear in looking at the polls that we've
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: just been talking about that over the summer, abortion was
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: a huge driving force in the political conversation and as
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: a motivating factor in people's votes. That has dropped just
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: as time has gone on since the Dobbs decision. And
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: this summer, in the wake of that decision, there's this
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: wave of Republican efforts to, particularly because it happened in
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: the middle Republican primary season, to push these even more
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: extreme policies. They have quickly realized that it's better to, uh,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: not talk about it in advance, just get in power
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: and then take away everyone's freedom. And so it has
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: dropped this issue. So we always, whenever we nerd out,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: we talk about issue salience and what is on people's minds.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: And Biden is trying to re-inject abortion back into the conversation.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: So in that sense, it is a good strategy. It
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: is important because the economy has risen here, which is
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: not an argument to stop talking about abortion. because you
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: don't just pick one issue. You talk about multiple issues,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: but getting abortion back in the conversations is important. And
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: this was a pretty clever way to do it by
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: coming by, you know, there's like a handful of like
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: news hooks that you have when you work in communications.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: And one of them is the first bill I will send.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: And they pulled that one out and it worked.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, I think there's going to be a
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: whole group of voters who are cross pressured in that
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: they are very much against the Republican position on abortion
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and But they are very pissed off with inflation and
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: think that by voting for Republicans that they can change that.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: And I think what Republicans are trying to tell those
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: voters is actually don't really worry about our position on abortion.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: It's not as extreme as you think. And also vote
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: for us because you're pissed about inflation. And I think
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: what Democrats clearly need to say is voting for Republicans
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: is not going to fix inflation. It's going to guarantee
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that there are abortion bans and inflation will continue to rise.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: And if you're afraid about abortion bans, vote for Democrats
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: because they will actually do more to fight inflation and
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: protect abortion access. Like that's sort of the message there.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: On the strategic petroleum reserve release, do you think that
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: can make a difference? And is there anything else Biden
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: can do on either gas prices or inflation between now
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: and election day?
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: It can make a difference. Is it going to make
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: a gigantic difference?
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: No.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Does it continue to help counteract the various market pressures
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: that come from the war in Ukraine? and the various
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: shenanigans the Saudis are pulling, yes, it is helpful. It's
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: a market signal. If it keeps it flat to where
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: it is now or prevents the gas prices to start
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: ticking back up, that is a good thing to do.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: The messaging is, as it always is with complicated government decisions,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: a little complex because at the same time, You're releasing
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: the SPRO, but you're also, which is the terrible government
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: term for Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I don't even know what
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: the O is, but whatever. You're releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: And you're also touting the fact that gas prices have
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: been going down for two weeks. Those are a little
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: bit at odds. But from a substantive perspective, this will
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: help a little bit, at least. It certainly can't hurt.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: All right. So that's Biden. Say you're running a Democratic
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: campaign right now. Uh, you've already canceled your New York
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: times subscription because of the poll and probably something that
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Maggie Haberman wrote. Um, but now, now you have to
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: figure out how to help your candidate actually win. You know,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the economy inflation are the most important issues for voters
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: right now. Uh, democracy and abortion have receded as issues.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe abortion has, I don't know if democracy was ever
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: a forefront for people, at least not in the way
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: that we talk about it. Um, What do you talk
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: about and run ads about and hopefully make news about
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: between now and Election Day? Is it more abortion, more economy,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: more Republican extremism, more legislative accomplishments? There was a new
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: story this week that Democrats aren't really running on the
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Inflation Reduction Act. What do you think about all this?
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, as per usual, this conversation about what
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the Democratic closing argument should be has devolved into a
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: series of straw men and false choices, where it's, are
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: we going to stop, never utter the word abortion again,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: and focus on the economy? Or if we just say
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: abortion a thousand times, we will win. No one thinks
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: that that's not how campaigns work. You have multiple issues
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: you talk about in a campaign, on the stump, in ads,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: in social media. And In the best campaigns, all of
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: those issues buttress the larger narrative. Democrats have spent the
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: last nine months or so focusing on Republican extremism. That
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: has worked for us because even if the polls are
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: closer now, they are still better than anyone thought they
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: would be a year ago, just given the state of
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: the economy, the historical headwinds that presidents face in their
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: first midterm, all of the above. So you don't want
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: to undo all of that work by just walking away
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: from your extremism message. But as we develop our closing argument,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I think we have to layer in a strong populist
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: attack on Republican economic policies that ties it to the
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: extremist narrative. And this is not– we're not going to
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: tout our accomplishments as good as they are because in
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: a time in which inflation is high, we will seem
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: out of touch with voters if we are talking about
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: a bill we pass that hasn't gone into effect or
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: stimulus checks that we sent over a year ago. That
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: is not enough. What we have to recognize is people's
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: votes on the economy are not about policies. If they were,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Democrats would always win. Because if you give people a
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: menu of policy positions, they pick almost every single Democratic
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: one over a Republican one. That is the paradox of
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: American politics. Voters like democratic policies on the economy, but
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: they trust Republicans more. And so what we have– the
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: way you address this, you have to erode trust in
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Republicans as people who will fight for you in this
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: time of inflation. And that is to go– the best
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: way to do that, and there's a whole bunch of
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: polling from folks like Stan Greenberg and Data for Progress
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: that show this, which is connect Republicans to greedy corporations
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: who are profiting off inflation. That is the Republicans' great–
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: that is their Achilles heel on the economy is that
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: voters associate them with people who fight for corporations and
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the wealthy. They also in this environment think wealthy, greedy
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: corporations are very much to blame for inflation. Marry those two.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Layer in some additional attacks on their proposals to cut
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Social Security and Medicare to pay for more tax cuts
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: for the wealthy and corporations. And you have the opportunity
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: to just– you just have to knock a few points
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: off that Republican advantage on the economy and we can
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: win these elections.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: I was talking to Faz Shakir about this for Wilderness,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders, former campaign manager. And he was making the
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: point that it's tough to tout the Inflation Reduction Act
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: when a lot of the provisions that help people with
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: costs don't go into effect for a couple of years.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: But he said, I do think that Democrats can gain
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: credibility for the fight that they picked there. And I
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: think if you frame it as like, Democrats took on
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: drug companies to get people cheaper prescriptions. And if you
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: give us a bigger majority, we will go after them again.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: We're picking a fight with big corporations. They're using inflation
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: as an excuse to gouge consumers. You give us a
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: bigger majority, we'll make them pay. And then do all
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the things that you just said, which is then erode
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Republican credibility on their ability to sort of take on
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: these special interests that are gouging consumers and use... sort
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of the fights that we've picked as Democrats over the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: last couple of years to give ourselves a little credibility that, hey,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: we're in there taking on these fights and we'll do
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: it again.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I think that's right. But I think there's just one
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: more like turn there, which is Republicans voted against all
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: those things.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: That's right.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Like who sided with, like there was a big fight
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: over the cost of prescription drugs. Who was on which side, right?
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Democrats on the side of seniors, Republicans side of big pharma.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: And you can go down the line on a bunch
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: of different issues like that. I think that's very helpful.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: And we live, operate in a era of negative partisanship.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: And so we are going to have more success framing
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the other side than our side. But you're right. You
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: and Faz are correct. You do have to give yourselves
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: a little credibility for those things by the things we've
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: done and the fights we've picked.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: There have also been a lot of viral debate moments
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: over the last week or so. How much do you
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: think these debates matter that are happening all over the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: place this month? And how do campaigns make them matter?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Well– I can't, I haven't looked at a lot of
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: state constitutions, but it is true that the candidate with
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: the most RTs wins, right? Like that's how it works.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: That is, yeah, no, that is, that is the way
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: that we run elections here.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, perfect. Well then we are golden. No, I think,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're just in this very interesting world of
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: national political hobbyism where more, I would bet more people
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: outside of the state of Texas watch the Beto O'Rourke,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Greg Abbott debates than people in Texas. I think that's
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: certainly true about the Tim Ryan debate. It will probably
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: be true about the Oz Fetterman debate. Having said that,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: these are incredibly close races. Everything matters. You don't get
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: that many opportunities to be in front of a group
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: of people to draw significant news coverage that might actually
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: break through in a campaign. And so a debate is
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: a moment. And I think this is why we have
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: these viral moments. And you know this because you were
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: always so involved in President Obama's debate prep, is particularly
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: in a Senate race or a governor's race, very few
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: people watch the debate live. Presidential race, a lot of
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: millions of people do watch it. But the moments carry on.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: So you're really focused more on delivering a handful of
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: moments that will extend beyond the debate, will get shared
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: on social, get press coverage, than some person who watches
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: it like a boxing match, the whole thing, scorecard, one
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: point for Oz, one point for Federer. That's not how
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: it works. It's what are people going to see from it,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: and it's going to be the things that travel afterwards.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: And so that's why We are like inundated with moments.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: We have debate strategies focused around moments because of low viewership.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: And we have an array of national partisans fascinated by
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: these races who watch them online, then sharing those moments.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: The people who are watching the entire debate tend to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: be people who have already made up their mind and are,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: as you said, political hobbyists like ourselves. And it's the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: moments that the casual observer of news and politics who
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: still may vote, that's what they're seeing. All right, so
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: if you don't love polls or you don't believe in
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the polls, we actually now are starting to have some
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: early vote numbers. So we can start reading those tea leaves.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: After only five days of early voting in Georgia, turnout
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: has already broken records. It's 85% higher than it was
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: at this time in 2018. And voters of color have
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: also increased their vote share since the last midterms, according
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to Target Smart and their modeling. What do you think
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: about that? Good sign or way too early to be
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: a good sign?
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: It's not a bad sign. I mean, that's actually important.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Does this mean that Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock are
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: going to win? No, it does not mean that. But
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: we want higher turnout and we want higher turnout among
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: voters of color in Georgia in particular. And so if
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: we are reaching those sorts of levels, that'd be great.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: There is a long way to go here. We have
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: to remember that early voters overwhelmingly Democratic now. And so
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: I think we would be deeply concerned if it was underperforming.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: So this is more like the dog that didn't bark yet.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: And I'm also– I was saying this because Elijah was
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: also hopeful about this.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: And I said– And you were just like, crush those hopes.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: Well, no.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: I was saying like before 2016, I feel like it
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: was like if there's high turnout, you think, okay, Democrats
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: are doing well. Now because– Republicans turn out so much
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and they've shattered turnout records on their side since 2016,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: sort of hard to tell where the vote is coming from.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I do think that if Target Smart's modeling is right
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: and it's a higher share of voters, if voters of
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: color have also increased their share, that's obviously a good sign.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: But just higher turnout in general, if you don't know
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: where or who it's coming from, it's sort of hard
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: to guess who that helps.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: It's going to be very different on a state-by-state basis.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Georgia is actually a state where I think higher turnout
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: will benefit Democrats. Wisconsin, not so much. Arizona, real open question. Texas,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: real open question. And what's interesting, you can take this
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: for what it's worth, but there's an Echelon Insights, which
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: is a Republican data firm. They do turnout demographic modeling.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: And one of their conclusions on 2020 was that higher
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: turnout is what made the race closer for Republicans than
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: anyone thought. And it was particularly because it was higher
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: turnout among Republican-leaning Latinos in particular. So these are not
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: people who switched from Clinton to Trump. They are Hispanic
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: voters who had not previously turned out, who turned out
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: in this election. And so it's a little, there is
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: no far and fast rule here.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: And if you don't want to believe Echelon Insights on
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: that point, equis. uh, research found this exact same thing, uh,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: from Carlos Odeo, who's been on this podcast many times. Um, okay.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: So still, I think Georgia, good news. Like let's try
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: to end like that as a positive sign. It should
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: be encouragement to get involved. So let's, let's try to let's,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: let's end this section at least on that point.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And not just like good news that you can
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: sit with, like you said, encouragement to get involved. Georgia
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: is one of the many States that has early vote
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: happening right now. Uh, which means that, You have the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: power to help a voter cast their ballot today. One
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: great way of doing it, as we've been saying, votesaveamerica.com
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: slash volunteer. We will give you plenty of things to
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: do if you sign up. Phone banks, text banks, all
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: kinds of stuff. And you can help voters in early
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: voting states make their plans to vote right now. Another
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: thing you can do is donate to our Every Last
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Vote Fund to help fund rides to the polls. So
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: in 2020, the Collective Education Fund was able to provide
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: over 100,000 free round-trip Lyft rides to get voters to
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the polls in states like Georgia that really made a difference.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: So you can go to votesaveamerica.com slash everylastvote where your
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: donation today can directly help a voter get to the polls.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And as you all know, every vote is going to
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: matter in this election, in the next couple weeks. If
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: you make calls, if you donate... If you help voters
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: make plans, if you can go to VoteSafeAmerica.com, you can
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: see what's on your ballot. You can help friends see
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: what's on their ballot, if they're confused, if they're scared.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: There's so much we can do. And I think as
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: we learned in 2020, as we learned in 2020, these
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: states are incredibly close. These races are going to be close.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Whether we win them or we lose them, it'll be... close.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: And that means that everything we do between now and
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks really, really matters. So votesaveamerica.com,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: get out there.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: I think the most important thing to take away from
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: this polling conversation is that we could win every one
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: of these key races or we could lose every one
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: of them. And what we do over the next three
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: weeks will determine that.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: That's right. That's right. All right. When we come back,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: we will talk to one of the candidates in a
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: very tight race, Tim Ryan. We'll talk to him about
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: the Ohio Senate race right after this. Joining us now
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: is the Democrat fighting to become Ohio's next senator. Tim Ryan,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: welcome to the pod.
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: Hey, thanks for having me.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: My wife is from Cincinnati. She and my in-laws are
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: very excited that you're on the pod today because they
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: have been telling me that you have a really great
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: chance to win long before it was cool to do so.
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: Very good. I'm no Joe Burrow, but I guess it's
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: settled for.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: Me, right?
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: Okay, that'll work.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: So I've heard a lot of takes about why a
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: state that voted for Barack Obama twice went on to
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: vote for Donald Trump twice by a fairly significant margin.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: What's yours?
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: Economics.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: I think people in Ohio consistently vote their pocketbook and
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: they vote for the candidate who they think is best
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: in it, increase their economic security, which is why Sherrod
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: Brown's been able to win here.
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: Three times.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: And that's why we're going to win, too, because we
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: have such an economic-focused campaign for working class people, not
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: just college-educated people. And that's really important here. That's why
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Trump won. He connected with those voters. That's why Barack
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: Obama won against McCain and then against Mitt Romney. And
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: you guys know better than anybody the ads you were running.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: Those are very economic centric ads.
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: And that's why I won. And that's again, that's why
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: we're going to do it, too.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: So you gave an interview with The Washington Post this
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: week where you criticized National Democrats for not doing more
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: to support your campaign. You said there's frustration among rank
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and file Democrats that the leadership doesn't quite understand where
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: we want this party to be. Where do you think
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the party should be?
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Laser-like focused on working class people who don't have a
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: college degree. I mean, we saw it again today in
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: the paper where there's a national Democratic consultant saying North
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: Carolina is a better state because there's more college educated people.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: I just think that's what absolutely pisses me off about
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: the Democratic Party nationally is that there's somehow a higher
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: priority for these college educated voters and a lack of
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: resolve to actually go to the working class communities like
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: we've done around Ohio and recognize that the Republicans haven't
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: done shit for them, like absolutely abandon them. They show
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: up at the local red party you know county party
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: dinner uh and speak at the you know that that
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: banquet that they have but they don't do anything for
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: them they don't do broadband they don't do infrastructure and
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: and so we got to show up there and make
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: the case and i just think giving up on a
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: place like ohio is not where we want to be
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: because we can win here and i think build you
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: know a robust uh party here.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Too let me let me just drill down on that
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: because i've been banging this drum for a while myself
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's, is it economic messaging? Are there
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: policies that you think the party should be pursuing that
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: we haven't, that you'll want to if you get into
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: the Senate? Is it about breaking through the media environment
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: because the media tends to not cover economic issues and
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: debates as much as they do cultural debates?
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, all of the above.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: The clickbait on economic issues aren't always as good as
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: some kind of conflict around a culture war issue.
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: And that's part of the problem, too.
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: But look, we're leaders. You're running for the United States Senate.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: You're running for a statewide office or a federal position.
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: You're a leader.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: You need to You need to show some leadership. And
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: that's what we're trying to do here. And I do
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: think it's a huge messaging issue. I still laugh at the,
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: you know, the old Jimmy Carter aide who said that,
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: you know, Democrats show up at a gunfight with a
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: 10-point policy plan. You know, I just think that accurately
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: describes sometimes how we talk about things and really resonate
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: and try to connect with working class people. And we're
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: trying to show the way here a little bit. And,
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: you know, again, just to read in the paper this morning, That,
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: you know, we're going all in on North Carolina because
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: they got more college educated folks.
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: Is just it just frosts me, man.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: And then it's part of the problem that we got
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: to overcome if we're going to be a really strong,
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: sustainable national party.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about your MAGA opponent from Silicon Valley, J.D. Vance.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: He said the other day that the reason the polls
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: are so close is because voters are wrongly identifying you
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: as a moderate diet version of Vance. What's your reaction
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: to that?
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: He's so frustrated.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: He wants me to be a socialist. He wants me
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: to do... I tell him, we don't do socialism in Youngstown, Ohio.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: That's just not how we roll.
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: And so.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: He's very frustrated by the fact that I did agree
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: with Trump, too, when he renegotiated NAFTA. I did agree
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: with Trump when he had a firmer stance on China.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't agree with necessarily how he implemented all of it,
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: but definitely agreed that we need to have a firmer stance.
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: Stance on that.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: I supported General Mattis to become Secretary of Mattis because
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: he's exactly the kind of guy we need to be
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: Secretary of Defense. So I have these issues and he's
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: just he's so frustrated by it. And, you know, so
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: but he has no agenda himself. He's got two donors.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: This is what's really resonating in Ohio. He has two donors.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: He's got Peter Thiel, who now wants to become a
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: citizen of Malta. He gave him $ 15 million. And Mitch McConnell,
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: who gave him $ 40 million to totally rescue his campaign.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: We have 350,000 donors. 95% of those contributions are under $ 100.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: And anybody who wants to go to timperoh.com to drop
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: us a few bucks to keep the fires burning here
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: would be very, very helpful.
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: But that's the big contrast here.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: And so he's trying to pigeonhole me into somebody that
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: I'm not. And Ohioans want an independent guy. And just say,
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: lastly and quickly, I've taken on my own party multiple times.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: And he got called an ass kisser by Donald Trump
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: on the stage and then gets back up on the
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: stage afterwards. He walks up to the microphone and he says,
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: aren't we having a great time here tonight? And I
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: just don't know anybody I grew up with. And I
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: don't know anybody I know that would like get insulted,
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: have their dignity stripped from them and then get back
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: up on stage to kiss his ass again right there afterwards.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: So that's what we're dealing with here.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Except Ted Cruz and actually most of the Republican Party.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: I would. There's been a few of them.
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: So Vance also said the other day at a stop
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: that if he's elected, he'll threaten to shut down the
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: government unless Biden finishes Trump's border wall. I know that
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: immigration policy is one area you've been critical of the
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Biden administration on. What would you push for if you're
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: in the Senate on immigration?
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think.
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: Again, JD has invested into dozens of companies that have.
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: Foreign workers there. So this is just another example of
• 37:23
  Speaker 5: how fraudulent the guy is. He also tries to have
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: a tough stance on China, and he's invested in a
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: couple of companies in China.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Again, across the board, fraudulence. But I think comprehensive plan,
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: like any pragmatic plan. Strategy would have a strong border.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: There's 8 billion people in the world. A lot of
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: them want to live in the United States. You've got
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: to have a strategy to know who's coming in and out.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: So you do need a strong border. You do need
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: more border patrol. I think we need to go all
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: in on technology. I started last year the Border Technology Caucus.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: to figure out how do we take the technology that
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: we have in this country and utilize it to try
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: to keep fentanyl out of here, to try to keep
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: heroin out and all these things that are destructive to
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: our society. And how do we have a big hearted
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: approach when it comes to refugees? Certainly don't want to
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: be separating kids from their babies. And how do we
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: have an orderly process to get people in? If you're
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: here undocumented, you pay a fine, pay some back taxes,
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: pass a background check, and then come into the United
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: States and help us build this great country up like
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: immigrants have always done. So I think that's a policy
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: that probably 80% of the people would think is a
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: pretty pragmatic idea.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. President Obama talked about that policy quite a few
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: times over the eight years he was in the White House.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: So you've also criticized Biden's decision to cancel student loan
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: debt because Ohio has a lot of people who didn't
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: go to college. I'm totally with you that those folks
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: deserve relief too. But I also think like Ohioans are
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: also more likely to have outstanding student loan debt than
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: people almost anywhere in the country. Nearly 90% of relief
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: dollars go to people earning less than $ 75, 000 a year.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: And almost half of all borrowers didn't finish college. So
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: they are some of those folks in Ohio who don't
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: have college degrees. Why do you think those folks don't
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: deserve relief?
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: I'm very sympathetic. We are still paying off my wife's
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: college loans. And I see what's going on with eight, nine, 10, 12,
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: and sometimes higher percent interest rates at its user.
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: It's wrong.
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: And I think there's a way to help those people too.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: I think if, the best step now is to allow
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: people to negotiate down the interest rate to 1% or
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: 2% with a significant amount of money back in their pockets,
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: or they can start paying the principal down. My big
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: issue really is that we don't do anything to solve
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: the problem. There's no There's no provisions in here to say, well,
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: we're going to do this this one time because we're
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: actually going to get college costs under control.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: When, in fact, there's nothing in here to do that.
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: So we're going to drop $ 300 billion on this, completely
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: eliminate the deficit reduction part of the Inflation Reduction Act,
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: and we're going to be back in the same spot
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: in a few more years. And again, going back to
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: the whole idea of like going all in with the
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: burdens of people who went to college versus the people who,
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: you know, bought a truck or, you know, tools or,
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: you know, whatever to go into the construction business or
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: the construction trades.
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: They need help, too.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: And I think we've got to start having policies that
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: are going to help people across the board.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: How do you bring the price of college down? How
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: do you how do you get to the source of
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: this problem?
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: Obviously, we'd have to look into it, but I think
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: something along the lines of, look, if you want federal
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: student loans and you want your students to be eligible
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: for that, you can't increase costs past the rate of inflation.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: put some mechanism in there that, of course, they're going
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: to want all these people to take out loans to
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: go to college, but you can't keep jacking up the price.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Some mechanism like that, and I'm sure we can sit
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: down with a lot of smart people who could help
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: us think through that, but there's got to be some
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: tie to this.
• 41:05
  Speaker 5: Or we're going to continue.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: Even when we increase Pell Grants, well, we increase Pell
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: Grants and colleges increase college tuition.
• 41:12
  Speaker 5: That's not a good use of taxpayer money.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: All right, you're in the homestretch here. What's your closing
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: message to the people of Ohio?
• 41:20
  Speaker 5: Vote for the Ohioan. I'm way more Ohioan than J.D. Vance.
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: You know, he's bought and paid for by Mitch McConnell
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: and billionaires before he even walks into the Senate.
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: And I'm not.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: I'm for the working class people. And the guy's super extreme. Like,
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: he raised money for the guys who stormed the Capitol
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: on January 6th. He's running around with Ron DeSantis who
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: wants to ban books. He's running around with Lindsey Graham
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: who wants a national abortion ban. He says rape is inconvenient. Like,
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: he's way out of the mainstream for Ohioans. People here
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: in Ohio are going to vote for the pragmatic, economic-focused
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: Ohio win. And we're asking people to help out. Go
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: to TimProH.com and send us a couple of bucks. We're
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: going to shock the world, man. We're going to win.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: And you heard it here first.
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: I like that. I like that attitude. Tim Ryan, thank
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: you so much for joining the pod. And good luck
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: in this last couple of weeks.
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: All right, before we go, we want to talk about
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: some of those extra special debate moments we were talking
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: about earlier from the last few weeks. And we're going
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: to do it with Crooked Media's comedy extraordinaire, Hallie Kiefer.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: Oh, hello. Thank you for having me.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. This is very exciting.
• 42:35
  Speaker 6: Thank you.
• 42:35
  Speaker 7: I am very nervous, but I feel like it's going
• 42:37
  Speaker 7: to go well. And if not, I'll be dragged into
• 42:39
  Speaker 7: an office and berated, I'm sure.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: Which is what usually happens to you.
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: Exactly. 100%. And I well deserve it. Yeah.
• 42:48
  Speaker 7: But yeah, the midterm elections, and especially the final candidate debates,
• 42:52
  Speaker 7: have been filled with so much negativity. But we here
• 42:54
  Speaker 7: at Crooked know how important it is to reach across
• 42:56
  Speaker 7: the aisle, even if the aisle is made of lava,
• 42:59
  Speaker 7: and the hand being offered across it is a snake
• 43:01
  Speaker 7: that has tried to seize voting machines before. Luckily, debate
• 43:06
  Speaker 7: moderators across the country never fail to remind us that
• 43:09
  Speaker 7: no matter how far apart we are, we can still
• 43:11
  Speaker 7: be little sweetie pies, which is why they are ending
• 43:14
  Speaker 7: debates by asking each candidate to say something nice about
• 43:17
  Speaker 7: their opponent, Let's take a listen.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: Other than thanking them for being willing to serve in office,
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: what is one nice thing you can say about your opponent?
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: I've thought about this question.
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: I think Tim Walz is an affable individual who has
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: a wonderful smile.
• 43:33
  Speaker 6: I think it's really cool that your daughter's on The Voice.
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: We should all be cheering for her.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: I like your suits. You look good in them. And
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: I think that's awesome.
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: And I hope that after the election we can come
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: to terms and maybe you could take me suit shopping.
• 43:47
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 43:47
  Speaker 5: Johnson.
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: I mean, likewise, I appreciate the fact that Lieutenant Governor
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: Barnes had loving parents, a school teacher, father at work,
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: third shift. So he had a good upbringing. I guess
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: what puzzles me about that is with that upbringing, why
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: is he turned against America? I mean, why does he
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: find the founding of America awful? Somehow, we did not.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: We said something admirable.
• 44:11
  Speaker 6: Powerful stuff.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Whose daughter's on The Voice?
• 44:15
  Speaker 6: That would be, so that is Dan McKee's daughter.
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 44:20
  Speaker 6: Was just on in September. I haven't seen it. Good
• 44:23
  Speaker 6: luck to her.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 44:25
  Speaker 6: Let us know how she did.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Very exciting.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Who's the person with the good suits?
• 44:29
  Speaker 7: That would be, I don't know. Tim Walz has the
• 44:32
  Speaker 7: wonderful smile. Dan McKee's daughter is on The Voice. That
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: would be J.B.
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: Pritzker.
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: From Illinois.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: He can afford them.
• 44:41
  Speaker 6: So that was Darren Bailey telling Pritzker that he had
• 44:43
  Speaker 6: good suits. Huh.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: I've seen a lot of J.B. Pritzker, and that's never
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: been my first take, but what do I know?
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: I think he was just probably looking around, and he
• 44:51
  Speaker 6: was like, that lamp is good, or something. He's just like,
• 44:54
  Speaker 6: what do you got on?
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: A suit?
• 44:55
  Speaker 6: It's that.
• 44:57
  Speaker 7: And in the spirit of that, of those kind words,
• 45:00
  Speaker 7: John and Dan, we're going to play a game. We're
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: going to play a clip of a heinous Republican candidate,
• 45:06
  Speaker 7: and I'm going to need you both to dig deep.
• 45:08
  Speaker 6: And say something nice about them. Are you ready?
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: This is so, yes. Let's do it.
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 45:13
  Speaker 7: First up, we have Arizona gubernatorial candidate Carrie Lake and
• 45:17
  Speaker 7: her thoughts on her own election.
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: Let's play the clip.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: Will you accept the results of your election in November?
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: I'm going to win the election and I will accept
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: that result.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: If you lose, will you accept that?
• 45:31
  Speaker 6: I'm going to win the election and I will accept
• 45:33
  Speaker 6: that result.
• 45:34
  Speaker 7: So again, that is Carrie Lake refusing to commit to
• 45:37
  Speaker 7: accept the result of the election unless she wins. Gentlemen,
• 45:41
  Speaker 7: won't you please each say something nice about Carrie Lake?
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: I would be happy to. I'm going to quote the
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Washington Post here, which wrote a lengthy profile on her.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Her sepia toned filters that she uses when she does interviews,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: I think are just fantastic. I think it's a nice light.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: It's a nice, it's, really softens everything up. Assumes for
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: the face. Yeah, I wish I could have some of
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: those here at Crooked Media.
• 46:07
  Speaker 6: I think we could look into that.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, thank you.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Just get them from the love it or leave it budget.
• 46:13
  Speaker 6: I mean, seriously. You just put some Vaseline on the camera.
• 46:15
  Speaker 6: We got plenty of it in the back.
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: So here's what I would say about former newscaster Carrie Lake.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: She reminds me of one of my favorite characters from
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: one of my favorite movies. Ron Burgundy from Anchorman.
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 46:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: I guess the other thing we could have said is
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: we really liked that she supported Barack Obama.
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: Oh, nice.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: That is true. She did support Barack Obama. That's a
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: great one.
• 46:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: Who knew she was one of the terrorists Barack Obama
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: was palling around with?
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: Oh, boy.
• 46:49
  Speaker 6: So quickly.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Dan really pulled a Ron Johnson on this one.
• 46:55
  Speaker 7: Speaking of, up next we have Rod Johnson pulling back
• 46:58
  Speaker 7: the veil on the government's nefarious, covert, anti-Ron Johnson agenda.
• 47:03
  Speaker 6: Let's roll the clip.
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: The FBI set me up with a corrupt, with a
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: I am, I'm sorry.
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: He is referring to corruption with the FBI, which I've
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: been trying to uncover and expose.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: So do we have time for, please, audience, please.
• 47:25
  Speaker 7: So again, there's Ron Johnson claiming the FBI set him up.
• 47:27
  Speaker 7: And then just, you know, in case you didn't see
• 47:29
  Speaker 7: the clip, The audience laughing uproariously at Ron Johnson on
• 47:33
  Speaker 7: the debate stage. John and Dan, I'd love to hear
• 47:36
  Speaker 7: something nice about Ron Johnson from both of you.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Dan, you kick this one off.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: Way to use your power as the host of the episode.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: I went first last time. Yeah, it's fair.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: I think it's a lot of people are intentionally funny
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: in that, but not as many people are unintentionally funny.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: And Ron Johnson is unintentional comedy.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't have let you go first. Yeah.
• 47:59
  Speaker 6: A laugh is a laugh.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? I was going to say
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: that my nice thing about Ron Johnson is that I'm
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: just grateful to him for all the content.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: It's really close to what Dan said.
• 48:08
  Speaker 6: That's true.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: And I have nothing else nice about him.
• 48:12
  Speaker 6: And that's fair. We'll take it.
• 48:15
  Speaker 7: Next up, of course, we have Marjorie Taylor Greene, her
• 48:17
  Speaker 7: debate against Marcus Flowers, during which she said all this.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: Did Joe Biden win the election, Congresswoman Greene?
• 48:24
  Speaker 6: Joe Biden is the president of the United States.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. But you pushed a big lie that said he
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: did not win the election. There was election fraud.
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: And you drove those people to the Capitol on January.
• 48:33
  Speaker 6: 6th with your lie. We're going to move on.
• 48:36
  Speaker 7: Josh Roe, it's your turn to ask a question to
• 48:39
  Speaker 7: Marjorie Taylor Greene.
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: We have FOIA evidence of proof of election fraud that
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: came out.
• 48:44
  Speaker 7: So again, that's Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that her husband...
• 48:47
  Speaker 7: has proof of election fraud. Let's hope she wins that
• 48:50
  Speaker 7: in the divorce. Well, gentlemen, I'd love to hear something
• 48:54
  Speaker 7: nice about Margie Taylor Greene from both of you. And
• 48:56
  Speaker 7: I think it's only fair, Fabbro, you have to go
• 48:57
  Speaker 7: first this time.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: I appreciate her commitment to exercise.
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: That's a good one. I was going to make a
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: CrossFit comment.
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: Oh, dear.
• 49:12
  Speaker 6: That's true.
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: Marjorie Taylor Greene. Vivid imagination.
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Vivid imagination.
• 49:21
  Speaker 6: Lake out of the mind. Yes.
• 49:22
  Speaker 7: And finally, this one is about Nevada GOP Senate candidate
• 49:26
  Speaker 7: and a former state attorney general, Adam Laxalt, who at
• 49:29
  Speaker 7: this moment has big Paul Gozer energy in the wake
• 49:31
  Speaker 7: of this announcement.
• 49:33
  Speaker 6: Let's play the clip.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: Now in his race to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Cortez Masto, today, 14 of Adam Laxalt's relatives came out
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: in support of his opponent.
• 49:45
  Speaker 7: So now keep in mind, 14 members of his own
• 49:48
  Speaker 7: family couldn't do what you're about to do. But Dan
• 49:51
  Speaker 7: and John, I ask you, please say something nice about him.
• 49:54
  Speaker 7: Someone has to. Dan, I'll let you start.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, that is a tough one. Adam Laxalt. What
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: is positive about Adam Laxalt? He walks for the beat
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: of his own drummer.
• 50:07
  Speaker 6: There we go.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: You went broad.
• 50:09
  Speaker 6: You had to go broad with it.
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: I have two things. I thought one Dan was going
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: to say, uh, he's a Georgetown alum.
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: That is not, I say this as a Georgetown alum.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: It's not really an entirely illustrious list of people.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: You, Bradley Cooper, Adam Laxall, all there at the same time.
• 50:27
  Speaker 6: The trifecta.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: Alan Iverson was there.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: Alan Iverson too.
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: Um, The other thing about Adam Laxalt, which is clear
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: from what you just said, is he has a really
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: smart family.
• 50:38
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, see, that is good.
• 50:40
  Speaker 6: Raised well. Well, gentlemen, you did a great job, so
• 50:43
  Speaker 6: thank you so much for playing this. You did a
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: great job.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: This is so fun. Oh, I hope things go well
• 50:47
  Speaker 6: in the midterms.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: Us too.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: You went around for the A block.
• 50:51
  Speaker 7: Listen, I can't wait to hear it again.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Boatsaveamerica.com. Hallie Kiefer, thanks for joining us and playing this game.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: Tim Ryan, good luck on the trail. Everyone, go to votesaveamerica.com,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: sign up, and do some calls this weekend. We'll see
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: you next week. Bye, everyone. Pod Save America is a
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: Crooked Media production. The executive producer is Michael Martinez. Our
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: senior producer is Andy Gardner-Bernstein. Our producers are Haley Muse
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: and Olivia Martinez. It's mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis sound engineered the show. Thanks
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: to Hallie Kiefer, Ari Schwartz, Sandy Gerard, Andy Taft, and
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Justine Howe for production support. And to our digital team,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford, Milo Kim, and Amelia Montu. Our
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: episodes are uploaded as videos at youtube.com slash podsaveamerica.