Shows

Ron Elving analyzes the state of the presidential race with less than eight weeks to go. Plus, could Minnesota, which hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, flip to Donald Trump this year? And we break down the battle for control of the Senate.

On this special episode, we look back at many great moments from the history of presidential and vice presidential debates, with commentary from several journalists and historians on how those moments may have helped pave the way for the winner to reach the White House.

The Republicans wrap up their convention, setting the 2020 election into full swing. We hear from a Republican who avoided Trump in 2016 explain why he’s supporting him this year. Plus, a look at QAnon conspiracy theorists winning Republican primaries for the House and Senate, and we preview a tight Massachusetts Senate primary between two Democrats with similar policy positions.

The Democrats hold a convention like no other. We review the moments that highlighted an emotional and historic week. Plus, unpacking President Trump’s attacks on the U.S. Postal Service. And we remember the 1956 Democratic convention, when Adlai Stevenson asked the delegates to decide who his running mate would be.

Far from the coronations they are today, political conventions used to be filled with moments that were contentious, memorable and historic. We journey through political history and revisit historic moments from national party conventions of the past, and consider how the role of conventions in the presidential race has evolved from then to today.

We review the latest scorecard of Joe Biden’s running mate hopefuls. Plus, a look ahead to next week’s Minnesota primary and a recap of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s first term in the House. And, author Bruce Watson, who has written a defining book about the Freedom Summer, remembers the horror, and the hope, of those days.

We discuss what President Trump might do if Joe Biden is declared the winner in November. Plus, in his new biography of Joe McCarthy, Larry Tye suggests eerie similarities to politics of the present day. And we remember Charles Evers, the brother of the late civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who died last week at the age of 97.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia recounts her long relationship with the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis. Plus, we set up the battle to win a Kansas Senate seat, and recall when the Georgia delegation was split between backers of segregationist Lester Maddox and civil rights activist Julian Bond at the Democratic convention of 1968.

We talk with former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder about his history-making political career. Plus, we examine the extent of voter suppression in this country. And famed TV newsman Marvin Kalb shares his thoughts on President Trump’s attacks on the press.

Will Sen. Susan Collins’ votes to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh and acquit President Trump come back to haunt her in November? Plus, a new book traces the acrimony and hyperpartisanship in our politics to Newt Gingrich. And Bob Shrum, a top aide to John Kerry, talks about the decision to pick John Edwards as Kerry’s running mate.