Pro Politics with Zac McCrary Lis Smith & The Love of Politics
Lis Smith is an operative's operative...with nearly 20 years of races under her belt of wins and losses and lessons learned along the way. Her new book ANY GIVEN TUESDAY is now out about her career in politics, while also finding herself in the headlines from time to time...including a deep dive into the unlikely ascent of Pete Buttigieg's 2020 Presidential Campaign. This is a really fun conversation with one of the most dynamic thinkers in today's politics.
IN THIS EPISODE
The moment Lis fell in love with politics…
The common threads of the candidates Lis wants to work with…
What makes Claire McCaskill a talented communicator…
Lis’s take on how Democrats should navigate Fox News…
Lis’s early campaign stint seeing old-school politics in Kentucky…
Lis defines “strategic cuss words”…
Lis squares off against Chris Christie in his first race…
Lis breaks down her role running Rapid Response for the 2012 Obama Re-election…
The political importance of “parasocial relationships”?
Why an operative has to be willing to disagree with their client…
Why some personally charismatic candidates have trouble communicating publicly…
Lis’s very first impressions of Pete Buttigieg…
Memorable responses when people heard Lis was working for the Buttigieg Presidential…
The common thread between John McCain’s 2000 presidential and Buttigieg 2020…
The origin of what came to be known as the Pete Buttigieg "uniform"…
Lis’s favorite memory from the Pete 2020 experience…
Lessons Lis learned in her stint working for Andrew Cuomo…
Her approach to building and nurturing talented teams and operatives…
Lis’s advice on underappreciated Guns N’ Roses songs…
AND David Axelrod, bangers, the bee’s knees, Paul Begala, Richard Ben Cramer, Chuck Berry, Blueberry Hill, Jerry Brown, George Bush, can-do mayors, Tucker Carlson, Hillary Clinton, Coal Miner’s Daughter, Jon Corzine, Stephanie Cutter, Tom Daschle, defense contractors, Diet Dr. Pepper, John Edwards, Albert Einstein, evil twins, Greek tragedies, Sean Hannity, Kamala Harris, Eric Holder, ill-fitting suits, Laura Ingraham, it factors, Bob Kerrey, John Kerry, Ben LaBolt, Chris Maher, Terry McAuliffe, Mallory McMorrow, mill towns, Tim Miller, Martin O’Malley, John Mulaney, normal person language, Michelle Obama, Jen O’Malley Dillon, pantsuits, the Pete Diaspora, Prince Charming, the Prince of Darkness, Jen Psaki, rage juice, Red Bull, Kid Rock, Mitt Romney, Axl Rose, Bernie Sanders, Mike Schmuhl, sequin shirts, Nina Smith, Julianna Smoot, George Stephanopoulos, the Straight Talk Express, Ted Strickland, summer doldrums, Greg Stumbo, TJ Maxx, Donald Trump, Twitter, visual brands, the War Room, water coolers, Glen Youngkin…& more!