Let’s Find Common Ground

The world is struggling with a devastating global health emergency, but pressure is building to end lockdowns and ease other restrictions. What are the best ways to restart the U.S. economy without risking public health? We discuss how to find common ground while navigating this challenge. Guests: Jared Bernstein, former economic advisor to Vice President Biden in the Obama Administration and Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 

As the tone of public discourse becomes increasingly angry and divisive, Common Ground Committee offers a healing path to reaching agreement and moving forward. We talk with top leaders in public policy, finance, academe and more to encourage the seeking and finding of points of agreement, and to demonstrate how combating incivility can lead us forward.

Co-Directors of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the presidential election. Bob Shrum, the former senior strategist for Al Gore, John Kerry, and a host of Democratic senators and governors, and Mike Murphy, the former senior strategist for John McCain and Mitt Romney and a political analyst for NBC News, discuss the latest on changing voter attitudes toward the Trump administration, voting while sheltering in place and the dilemmas and opportunities of the Biden and Sanders campaigns.

Center Director Bob Shrum moderates a discussion exploring how the primary campaigns and developments in Washington are shaping the general election landscape. The panelists include: Rob Collins - Republican strategist; Former Executive Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee Christian Grose - Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, USC Dornsife; Academic Director, USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy Betsy Fischer Martin - Emmy-winning journalist; Former TV news executive; Executive Director, Women and Politics Institute, American University Mike Murphy - Co-Director, Center for the Political Future; political analyst for NBC News; former Senior Strategist for John McCain

Fifteen states, including California for the first time, cast their votes for the 2020 primaries on Super Tuesday, March 3. A round table of experts weighed in on the results in real-time and offered predictions on what to look for next. The panelists include: Christina Bellantoni - Director, USC Annenberg Media Center Bill Carrick - Strategist for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and President Bill Clinton Jeff Greenfield - Politics and Media Analyst; Spring '20 CPF Fellow David Hill - Pollster and Strategist; Spring '20 CPF Fellow Bob Shrum - Director, Center for the Political Future Ernest Wilson - Professor of Communication and Political Science; Former USC Annenberg Dean; Founder, Center for Third Space Thinking

Center Co-Director Mike Murphy is joined by U.S. Representative Will Hurd, R-Texas. He is the only black Republican in the U.S. House, representing Texas' 23rd district that spans San Antonio to El Paso. In his three terms, he has broken from his party by supporting universal background checks for gun sales and the LGBT Equality Act, as well as opposing Trump's border wall. Rep. Hurd served as an undercover officer in the CIA in the Middle East and South Asia for nearly a decade. He shares his insights on the country's pressing national security issues, public service, and the future of the Republican party.

Center for the Political Future Executive Director Kamy Akhavan moderates a panel on the roots and rise of tribalism on American life, past and present, its impact on the state of politics and governance in America, and the role of political leaders in worsening the trend or reversing it. The panelists include: Ron Christie - Former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney Stevan Hobfoll - Author, “Tribalism: The Evolutionary Origins of Fear Politics” Jonas Kaplan - USC Dornsife Assistant Research Professor of Psychology; Co-Director, Dornsife Neuroimaging Center Alison Renteln - USC Dornsife Professor of Political Science, Anthropology, Philosophy, Public Policy and Law

Center Director Bob Shrum is joined by John Della Volpe, Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics to discuss the impact of millennial voters on the 2020 election. In partnership with the Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy.

Center Director Bob Shrum is joined by former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. After the release of his book, "Trump: The Blue Collar President," he has again made headlines withdrawing his support of President Trump. Scaramucci shares where he stands now on Trump's re-election, the Democratic field, and the state of the Republican party.

At the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, veteran strategists Bob Shrum and Mike Murphy regularly talk with top operatives on both sides of the 2020 contest and the journalists who are covering it. The conversations get behind the curtain -- because what seems to be happening in the campaign is often different than what really is. What are the calculations in the war rooms of 2020? How is the media covering the race, and how is the coverage shaping the outcome? Hear from those who’ve known success and setbacks in presidential races. And laugh, too, at their stories of the inside maneuvers and blunders that shape the outcome. Every exchange is guided by standards central to the Center’s mission: Respect each other and respect the truth. Opponents are adversaries, not enemies. And if you lose, don’t burn down the stadium. Election R&D will be there from the primary debates to election day, and then to a post-election, in depth analysis of the driving forces that led to victory and defeat.