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Labor Day has come and gone, and now we’re in the homestretch of the campaign. Neal Conan returns for his monthly visit with an update on Clinton v. Trump, weighing in on his immigration speech and a look at the upcoming debates. There’s no debate in Arizona: John McCain is in the fight of his life. Dan Nowicki of the Arizona Republic …
September begins with a look back on some favorite interviews from the Political Junkie archives. We start this week with a chat with Barry Goldwater Jr., son of the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, a candidate who — like Donald Trump — had serious problems uniting his party in advance of the election. Uniting behind a …
Tom Lutz, author of “Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears” explores the history of shedding tears in politics, starting with perhaps the most famous incident of all, Ed Muskie breaking down during the 1972 campaign in New Hampshire. Regardless of whether Hillary Clinton makes it to the White House later this year, Jay Newton-Small, a correspondent for Time magazine …
Last month, Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential nominee of a major party in history. Debbie Walsh of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University reflects on both Clinton’s accomplishment and the women who preceded her. Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution has a new book about famous political families. It’s …
Republicans, who fear that controversial comments made by Donald Trump will benefit his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, are now concerned that a Trump defeat could cost the GOP its majority in the Senate. Greg Giroux of Bloomberg sizes up the vulnerable Senate seats for 2016. And if the Clinton-Kaine ticket is elected this year, then a new senator will …
Were this a normal political year, the presidential candidates would be out trying to unite their party and hope to woo voters from their opponent. But Donald Trump continues to keep up his feuds, not only with the Muslim family of a slain U.S. soldier but many of his fellow Republicans as well. Neal Conan is with us this …
The Democrats made history in Philadelphia, nominating Hillary Clinton for president … the first woman to head up a major-party ticket. It was a week of tears and joy, but also of conflict and recrimination. And we were there to record the moment. The week started disastrously for the party. With the hacking of Democratic National Committee …
Read moreEpisode #138: Bumps And All, the Democrats Make History
Donald Trump, defying expectations, finished off his miraculous climb to the Republican presidential nomination this week in Cleveland. We were there to witness it all, interviewing party leaders, pundits and delegates, on and off the convention floor. With more than 700 delegates voting for someone other than Trump, there was no disguising the fact that …
Presidential nominating conventions may be scripted and not newsworthy, but there have been enough dramatic happenings that call for a “Great Moments in Convention History” special program. We hear from Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution, who attended the 1952 convention in Chicago as Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) lashed out at former presidential nominee Thomas Dewey for …
Last week’s Politicon conference in Pasadena, California gave us the opportunity to hear from two Republicans making the case “for” and “against” Donald Trump. GOP strategist Mike Murphy insists there’s a chance, albeit slim, that the convention will back the effort to free the delegates to vote their conscience. The opposing view came from Michael Steele, the former RNC …