Pro Politics with Zac McCrary Taegan Goddard, Founder of Political Wire, on the Intersection of Politics, Tech, & Media
Taegan Goddard is the founder and editor of Political Wire, one of the most widely-read political news sites over the last 25+ years. He created Political Wire in the late 1990s after stints as a Senate staffer on Capitol Hill and several years in state government in his home state of Connecticut. In this conversation, he talks his own development as a rabid political junkie, setting out early goals in the public and private sector, both encouraging and disheartening stints in government, why he decided against running for office, and starting Political Wire initially as a hobby - which has now grown into a site that is a regular stop for 10+ million readers a month. To become a paid subscriber to Political Wire to see additional content and no ads, click here.
IN THIS EPISODE
Growing up as a young political junkie in Hartford, CT...
Taegan runs across an early version of the internet in the 1980s...
The British politician who had an important important on the structure of Taegan's life...
Important lessons working for the Senate Banking Chair, Michigan Democrat Don Riegle, on Capitol Hill...
Highs and lows of working for Governor Lowell Weicker and others in CT state government...
Why time working in state government made Taegan forgo an early desire to run for office himself...
The core lesson of his book for elected officials, You Won, Now What?, that stands the test of time...
The origin story of the Political Wire news website, which goes back 3+ decades...
When Taegan realized Political Wire had found an audience and developed staying power...
How Taegan has maintained and grown his audience in the tumultuous space of internet political sites...
Taegan's sense of how important and history-making our current era of politics is...
Taegan's most effective work tool & favorite non-political website...
AND Spiro Agnew, David Bradley, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton's best friend, Congressional Quarterly, Charlie Cook, Al D'Amato, dark horse campaigns, the Federal Reserve Board, Joe Ganim, Newt Gingrich, Michael Heseltine, the Keating 5, John Kerry, Merck, nattering nabobs, The New Republic, Ross Perot, reader freakouts, Robert Redford, Chris Riback, Joe Rogan, Stu Rothenberg, John Rowland, William Safire, Ben Thompson, Chuck Todd, Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal, yellow legal pads...& more!