Mark Harris, co-founder of ColdSpark strategies, was the General Consultant for the successful Dave McCormick 2024 Pennsylvania Senate race - arguably the lone true upset of the '24 Senate cycle. In this conversation, Mark talks his roots in PA politics - including running for office himself, ousting a sitting legislator in a GOP primary, and multiple stints helping elect and re-elect GOP Senator Pat Toomey. Then Mark goes deep on his role helping elect Dave McCormick to the US Senate - starting with McCormick's ill-fated '22 race...getting back on the horse in '24...clearing the GOP field...challenging a proven Pennsylvania political institution...and ultimately winning a close race many pundits expected to break toward the Democratic incumbent.IN THIS EPISODEMark's roots in Pittsburgh & why he ran for office when he was 22...Why running Pat Toomey's 2010 Senate race was Mark's "dream job"...Mark's front row seat to the tumultuous period of PA politics around veteran Senator Arlen Specter's 2009 switch from Republican to Democrat...Mark weighs in on how PA politics has transformed over the past 20 years...Mark's insight on how Pat Toomey won two tough Senate races, despite a non-traditional background for PA politics...How Mark and his firm initially connected with Dave McCormick in his first Senate race in 2022...How Mark was viewing the '24 race against Bob Casey over a year out...How the McCormick campaign navigated a Trump endorsement and cleared the GOP primary field...Mark's best practices on how GOP candidates should pursue a Trump endorsement...The headwinds of running against Senator Bob Casey...The appealing personal bio that McCormick brought to the race....How late focus groups changed the McCormick closing message...How the McCormick ad campaign departed from the traditional GOP playbook...The voter subgroups the McCormick campaign identified as the most important...How the McCormick campaign appealed to "soft pro choice voters" and Black and Latino men...Why the McCormick team was one of the only GOP campaigns that preferred Dems nominate Harris instead of Biden...Why the abortion issue didn't sink McCormick in a 60% pro-choice state...How Mark was interpreting results coming in on Election Night...Mark's thoughts on Democratic erosion in the Dem base in Philadelphia...The approach Mark brings to races as a General Consultant...Mark's views of the potential of PA Dems Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman as national candidates...Mark's travel tips for spending a couple of days in and around Pittsburgh...AND Lou Barletta, James Blair, Bob Brady, Bridgewater Associates, George W. Bush, Herman Cain, Susan Collins, Mike Devanney, flippant poll questions, gold watches, Orrin Hatch, Chris LaCivita, Rush Limbaugh, Katie McGinty, Zell Miller, midnight pay raises, Tim Murphy, muscle atrophy, Dr. Oz, Nancy Pelosi, Primanti Brothers, Andy Reilly, Ed Rendell, Tom Ridge, Rick Santorum, Joe Sestak, shadow primaries, Matt Smith, Tom Smith, Arlen Specter, Brad Todd, West Point, Susie Wiles...& more!

Senior Strategist Morgan Jackson & Campaign Manager Jeff Allen helped guide Democrat Josh Stein to a historic win in the 2024 open-seat North Carolina Governor's Race over GOP lighting rod Mark Robinson. In this conversation, they both discuss how Stein went from trailing in many of the early polls to winning on Election Day by a historic 15-point margin. They talk the initial phase of the race with Robinson leading the polls, the Stein strategy to define Robinson early, the power of using Robinson's own words against him, the infamous "Nude Africa" scandal, the impact of storms and massive damage in Western NC, what is replicable for other campaigns from Josh Stein's victory, & much more digging into the signature gubernatorial race of the 2024 election.IN THIS EPISODEThe political origin stories of both Morgan and Jeff...How NC politics has completely transformed over the past 20 years...The early machinations that led to a Josh Stein vs. Mark Robinson '24 campaign...What led to Jeff managing the '24 Stein campaign...The potential political strengths of Mark Robinson...The initial core strategy and approach of the Stein campaign...The story behind the impactful first TV ad showing voters Mark Robinson in his own words... (link to ad)The Stein strategy to prioritize communications to Black voters...The story & fallout of the "Nude Africa" disclosures that forced national GOP donors to cut Robinson loose...The impact of the Hurricane Helene storms that hit Western NC...How the big Stein margin helped NC Dems win other races downballot...Their expectations heading into Election Day and reactions from the 15-point Stein victory...Both Jeff and Morgan share some of their favorite spots around The Tarheel State...AND...Roy Cooper, crazy uncles, the DCCC, Scott Falmlen, Pete Giangreco, Bill Graham, Bill Hefner, Jesse Helms, Jim Hunt, I-95, Jesse-crats, Mt. Rushmore, Pat McCrory, Myspace, Trey Nix, Barack Obama, Stephanie Pigues, RLG Media, shithouse rats, storm machines, Thom Tillis, Trump-proofing, visceral reactions, Mark Warner, water jets, Kathleen Williams & more!

Rebecca Katz, the Founder of New Deal Strategies, is a prominent consultant behind wins for Democratic Senators like John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego. In this engaging conversation, she discusses pivotal campaign strategies and the importance of grassroots movements. Rebecca shares insights from her early days on Capitol Hill, including a humorous job interview with Harry Reid. She emphasizes the necessity of authenticity in politics and highlights lessons learned from past campaigns that can inform future Democratic successes.

Nathan Gonzales is the Editor and Publisher of Inside Elections, one of the foundations of American political analysis, and a frequent presence talking and writing about politics on TV and in print. In this conversation, recorded two weeks after Election Day 2024, Nathan weighs in on the headlines from the '24 campaign, surprises and lessons learned, goes deep on the Presidential, Senate, and House races, looks ahead to the 2026 midterms, & much more.IN THIS EPISODENathan's big picture headlines coming out of Election 2024...Was 2024 simply an anti-inflation, anti-status quo election?The role of "collective amnesia" in the 2024 elections...Do Democrats have a "woke" problem?Why cultural attacks on Democrats packed more punch in 2024 than in other recent elections?Why the "fascism" critique of Trump may have fallen flat?A savvy tactic from the Trump campaign that surprised Nathan...Surprises in the exit polls...Nathan's initial read on the likelihood of a whole-scale partisan "realignment"...The story of the 2024 Senate races...Nathan's take on the split Senate verdicts in AZ, MI, NV, and WI...The one Senate race that was the most frustrating for Republicans...Was the AZ Senate race a missed opportunity for Republicans?Why PA was the one swing state Senate race that flipped from Blue to Red...The two Senate races the party senate committees viewed dramatically differently...Nathan's initial early analysis on the 2026 Senate map, including thoughts on the Senate retirement watch...Headlines from the 2024 House elections...Early handicapping the 2026 House races...Will court cases or redistricting impact the 2026 House playing field?The one House race Nathan was most interested in following...Stories about Tucker Carlson, Robert Novak, the Capital Gang and more from Nathan's first job in politics as a CNN assistant producer in the early 2000s...& more!

[Originally released 11/22]Maggie Haberman is, of course, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who's covered the political rise of Donald Trump for the New York Times...and her book, CONFIDENCE MAN: The Making of Donald Trump & The Breaking of America became an immediate best seller. In this conversation, Maggie dives into all things Trump...from his formative influences in the New York City of the 70s and 80s, to his political ascent, time in the White House, her take on the likelihood of another Trump run, what a Trump White House restoration would look like...and much more from perhaps the most authoritative voice on the Trump political phenomenon. IN THIS EPISODE…Maggie breaks down the influences that explain Trump’s political persona…The member of Congress with whom has had a decades-long feud…Maggie talks Trump’s ethos of “hate as a civic good”…Why Trump never wanted to be Mayor of New York City…Maggie talks the rise of Trump as a credible candidate in 2015…How Trump leveraged Twitter so successfully…Maggie on the connection between Trump and the National Enquirer…How Trump has recently lost allies among the conservative media…Why Trump as the “deal maker” fell flat in the White House…Maggie’s thoughts on Trump’s various legal entanglements, old and new…How Maggie thinks about the challenge of covering candidates who lie…Maggie’s instincts on a Trump 2024 campaign…The faces Maggie would expect to see around Trump in a second term…What it’s like to have 1-on-1 conversations with Trump…What’s surprised Maggie most about Trump’s behavior over the past year…The status of Trump relationships with names like Giuliani, McConnell, Bannon, Roger Stone...Some of Maggies favorite books and authors covering NYC politics...AND avenging angels, Bill Barr, Wayne Barrett, birtherism, Mike Bloomberg, E. Jean Carroll, catch-and-kill, the Central Park Jogger, Hillary Clinton, Michael Cohen, Roy Cohn, James Comey, conspiracy theories, convention speeches, covfefe, Andrew Cuomo, Mario Cuomo, Ron DeSantis, the Dobbs decisions, Meade Esposito,  the favor economy, Fox News, Stanley Friedman, Ric Grenell, Sean Hannity, instinctive racial paranoia, Andrew Kirtzman, Ed Koch, Jared Kushner, the Lavender Scare, Rush Limbaugh, low-interest federal loans, Donald Manes, John McCain, McCarthy acolytes, Mark Meadows, Andrew Meier, Robert Morgenthau, Rupert Murdoch, Muslim bans, Jack Newfield, NewsMax, Richard Nixon, OAN, George Pataki, Kash Patel, David Pecker, permanent enemies, Jeanine Pirro, Vladimir Putin, John Ratcliffe, rejecting objective reality, Seth Rich, rubber chicken dinners, Eric Schneiderman, Doug Schoen, Time Magazine, transactional media, Allen Weisselberg, white noise…. & more!

Patrick Ruffini, a prominent pollster at Echelon Strategies and author of "Party of the People," delves into the Republican Party's demographic transformation. He highlights the unexpected gains among blue-collar voters and the increasingly diverse coalition that includes Latino, Black, and AAPI communities. Discussing the impact of educational attainment on voting patterns, he reflects on how flawed exit polls have reshaped party strategies. Ruffini also explores the balance between economic and cultural priorities that could redefine American politics.

With just hours until polling places open for the November 5th presidential election, this week's guest is analyst Amy Walter to provide her insights and instincts heading into Election Day. The editor and publisher of The Cook Report with Amy Walter, Amy has been a constant presence writing and thinking about US elections for nearly three decades. In this conversation, she goes deep on her thoughts on the presidential race, her take on both the Senate and House, and narratives she expects to emerge post-election. This is a smart and expansive preview from a top analyst on the eve of an incredibly competitive and consequential election.  IN THIS EPISODEAmy starts with her initial table-setter on expectations in the presidential race...What is Donald Trump's ceiling of support? Rationales for both a Harris win and a Trump win...Is this the closest presidential race 3-4 days out that Amy has covered?Amy's theory that, for many voters, the presidential election boils down to "controlling risk"...Why are we in an era of consistently 50-50 races?Which candidate is more likely to over-perform the polls?The one Rust Belt and one Sun Belt state Amy feels will be the most predictive of the overall result?Why early vote analysis is like shaking gift boxes before Christmas?What is different in Trump's 2024 campaign compared to '16 and '20?Amy's take on the truncated Harris campaign and its closing message?How both Democrats and Republicans would respond to a presidential loss?Amy's range of expectations for the Senate and the race that would be most predictive of which side is having a good night...How the NRSC has tried to avoid mistakes from the '22 cycle...How the issue of abortion could be a stumbling block for a good Republican night in the Senate?Amy's take on late-breaking Senate races in Texas and Nebraska...Amy returns to her roots as a "House homer" to gauge the state of play in the House...Amy's prediction of when the news desks will call the race and declare a President-Election...& more!

This is a different type of episode this week as I have borrowed the audio from a panel I was part of last Thursday (10/24/24) to discuss the upcoming 2024 elections. This panel is hosted by the government affairs firm Husch Blackwell Strategies, and the video link can be accessed here. Moderating the discussion is Husch Blackwell CEO Andy Blunt and I'm also joined by election analyst Jim Ellis - whose background includes working for the GOP House leadership and, for decades, has been an analyst and advisor to corporations and trade associations.The discussion was recorded last Thursday and covers a lot of ground...the current state of the presidential race, the different electoral college paths available to both candidates, what can be gleaned from the early vote, what to expect in the House and Senate races, recent polling trends, late-breaking surprise races, the prediction markets, and much more.

Forrest Claypool has one of the most impressive and varied resumes in politics...early campaign and operative work with David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, two-time Chief of Staff to the mayor of Chicago, opposing Barack Obama in mock debates in his 2004 Senate race, running the Chicago Park District, Chicago Transit Authority, and Chicago Board of Education, elected to the Cook County Board, intense races against the Chicago machine, and now author of the new book - The Daley Show - about the 20+ year tenure of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. In this conversation, Forrest talks his path from small town Southern, IL to breaking into politics to his time running major city departments to being an integral part of the Chicago machine before running against the machine a few years later and deep into the last 40+ years of Chicago politics through the impact of the mayoralty of Richard M. Daley. IN THIS EPISODE...Forrest's roots in Southern Illinois and the state politics of his youth in the 60s and 70s...Forrest connects with David Axelrod at the start of the Axelrod rise as a national media consultant...The x-factor that made Axelrod such an effective political consultant...One of Forrest's favorite races he worked on as a political consultant...Forrest plays the role of Alan Keyes in Barack Obama's 2004 debate prep...Forrest's initial impressions of the 1990s Barack Obama who started making the rounds in Chicago politics...Forrest remembers the Rahm Emanuel he first worked with in the mid-1980s...Of the numerous positions he held around Chicago and Cook County politics, which did Forrest find most exciting...Why Forrest turned down an almost sure-thing, safe seat in Congress...What he learned when he ran for Cook County office himself...The Forrest Claypool 101 on effectively running organizations...His evolution as a foot soldier of the Daley machine to a prominent machine critic and opponent...What made Forrest write his new book, The Daley Show, about the 20+ year mayoralty of Richard M. Daley...How the original Mayor Daley, Richard J. Daley, dominated Chicago politics for decades...The story of Richard M. Daley in the political wilderness after the death of his father, and how he rose to the mayor's office via an "outside game"...Details on how the Chicago mob controlled an entire city ward into the 1980s and 90s...The importance of "abandoned cars" in running a city...The most important accomplishment of the Mayor Richard M. Daley era...The biggest "missed opportunity" from Daley's time as Mayor...The "most brilliant ploy" Forrest saw from Mayor Daley during the 1990s wars over Chicago-area airports...The story from Forrest's first race in Cook County, with his opponent trying to convince voters that Forrest (who is white) was a Black candidate...How far one has to go back in Chicago politics to find election-counting interference...Forrest's take on why Chicago is no longer "a city that works"...Forrest's favorite story of the influential Chicago columnist, Mike Royko...Forrest's must-see recommendations around Chicago for political junkies...AND AKPD, Yasser Arafat, Thomas Barnes, Evan Bayh, Michael Bilandic, Rod Blagojevich, Jane Byrne, Jimmy Carter, council wars, Fred Cowan, Andrew Cuomo, John D'Arco, Richard Dennis, economic invalids, eye-glazing agencies, Paul Findley, Newt Gingrich, The Grateful Dead, iron-handed bravado, Brandon Johnson, Martin Kennelly, Martin Luther King, Lori Lightfoot, Machiavellian power plays, Ron Madison, Millennium Park, The Rolling Stones, John Stroger, Ed Vrdolyak, & more!

Mark Udall, former Democratic US Senator and House member from Colorado, comes from the famed Udall family of the Mountain West - including his father, Congressman Mo Udall, and uncle, former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall under both JFK & LBJ. But Mark Udall largely stayed away from politics until his mid 40s - having an entire career within the outdoor leadership organization Outward Bound. However, once he flipped the switch to politics, his ascent was rapid: elected to the Colorado State House in 1996, the US House in 1998, and the US Senate in 2008. In this conversation, Senator Udall talks his famous political family, his own early relationship to politics, and memories of 20+ years in elected office that span both highs and lows - with great stories and insights from someone with one of the most unique arcs in American politics. IN THIS EPISODEGrowing up between Tucson, AZ and Washington DC...Lessons about public service learned from his mother...Growing up in a political family of with a Congressman for a father and Cabinet Secretary for an uncle...The political legacy of his father, Mo Udall....The famous friendship between John McCain and Mo Udall...Old Mountain West connections among the Udalls, Goldwaters, and Romneys...The Udall brothers' opinions of both Presidents Johnson and Kennedy...Mark works New Hampshire for his father's 1976 presidential campaign...The 20-year career he had before entering politics...Running for office for the first time in his late 40s...Mark rolls out his Bill Clinton impression...What surprised him most - both positives and negatives - about serving in Congress...The behind-the-scenes machinations of why he didn't run for Senate in 2004 and did run in 2008...Why he was caught flatfooted in his 2014 Senate re-election...Memories of some of the most intense moments on the floor of the House and Senate...The now-infamous role the issue of abortion played in his 2014 race against Cory Gardner...Why he was one of the few members of Congress to list "no religious affiliation" in his bio...The current projects he's most interested in...The Mark Udall recommendations for traveling through Colorado...AND 50 mile hikes, Michael Bennet, Sherry Boehlert, Hale Boggs, Jimmy Carter, Grover Cleveland, Rocky Colavito, Democratic bankers, Denver Nuggets, Don't Ask Don't Tell, William O. Douglas, Fort Wayne Pistons, James Garfield, Gabrielle Giffords, Gary Hart, Jay Inslee, Bobby Kennedy, David King, Lady Bird Johnson, Dick Lamm, John Larson, Monica Lewinsky, Bob McNamara, John McCormack, mercurial marriages, George Miller, Minneapolis Lakers, Minnie Minoso, the NBL, the NRA, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Barack Obama, Tom Osborne, Outward Bound, Bill Owens, Nancy Pelosi, plural marriage, Harry Reid, Ranger Rogers, Roy Romer, George Romney, John Salazar, Ken Salazar, Pat Schroeder, Herb Score, Sonia Sotomayor, tough cookies, Mark Uterus, Tim Wirth, Willard Wirtz & more!