Chris Riback's Conversations

Every topic has its own slang, it’s own lingua franca. From football’s NFL stadiums to academia’s ivory towers to California’s beaches, every niche these days maintains a coded language of its own. To really understand these niches – to be clear on what’s behind the headlines, what people are really saying, what’s really going on – you need to speak the language. And if you don’t speak the languag...

Finally, summer is over! The relaxation, beach vacations and barbecues are finally behind us and in this post-Labor Day glow, Americans can focus on our prime national sport – the one with the late hits, flagrant fouls and crazy fanatics. Of course, I mean politics. And while this glorious season brings out the political junkies, it also brings out the political crazies. The extremists who have sp...

In little more than a week, we’ll mark 40 years since one of the darkest days in American politics, government and culture – 40 years since President Richard Nixon resigned our nation’s highest office. Much has been written and reviewed about Watergate. So much that there would seem little room for anything new. But there is. John Dean played a key role in the Watergate tale.  He served as counsel...

It’s time to review what may become the most important words in the 2014 Midterm and 2016 Presidential campaigns. These words are not immigration or gun control or employment. They’re neither liberal or conservative The most important words just may be microtargeting. Data mining. Analytics. That’s because the science of campaigning is hitting an all new level. Not only can politicians and campaig...

Is political courage dead? The question gets asked a lot these days, most recently around President Obama and the immigration-border control disaster. Joe Klein of Time wrote what many of us feel: “True political courage is near extinct.” He continued: “Nowadays politicians are swaddled by their media consultants, who determine whether it is ‘safe’ to be ‘courageous.’”Of course, it’s not just immi...

It’s an annual summer event, as much a part of our American culture as a Fourth of July barbeque – often with its own set of fireworks: Another Supreme Court term ended. It’s time to make sense of the policies and the politics. Important and intriguing decisions and alliances again this year: Birth Control and Obamacare; Privacy, police searches and cell phones; abortion protests; campaign finance...

It’s no shock, of course, that we live in polarized times. Even with no empirical evidence, everything seems to feel more ideological and divided than it has in many of our lifetimes. So is that true? And if so, is there a way out? Well, we now have a major set of data, and they don’t look so great. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press recently released the first of multiple report...

For anyone who thought Midterms 2014 was only about the Senate and which party will take control, we recently got our wakeup call. Congress has another chamber, as well. You may have heard: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary race to a Randolph-Macon College Economics Professor, David Brat. And since that shock – the first primary challenger to beat a sitting House Majority Leader s...

Today’s issue, who’s running harder against President Obama – Republicans or Democrats? The question is only partly exaggerated. From criticism on “who lost Iraq” to the handling of the Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange to even the environment. And, of course, there’s always Obamacare. So how legitimate is this criticism? Is President Obama – and his low approval ratings in various key sta...

For anyone who looks at our government today and says, “Everything seems great to me. No room for improvement here,” well, today’s conversation is not for you. Now that that person has stopped listening, here’s what the rest of America can learn from today’s talk: The problem is even worse that you thought. While most discussion on fixing government deals with the politics and the posturing, we in...

At first glance, today’s conversation might seem as surprising as dog bites man: Money has taken over our political process. I know – not a shocker. But what if I told you that, quite possibly, our next President will be chosen by 5 or 6 of the richest people in America? Or a dozen? Certainly no more than 100?It’s hardly an exaggeration. From the historic growth of PACs to the Supreme Court’s 2010...

The White House recently announced a change at the top. Not the very top, of course, but as head of the Press Office. Jay Carney is stepping down; Josh Earnest is stepping up. The White House Press Secretary is, quite often, America’s face to the world. And speaking for the President, sometimes several times a day, the Press Secretary faces many masters – the Commander in Chief, the media, and of...

Forget the Koch Brothers or Super PACs or even President. The most-watched player in the 2014 Midterms just might be a computer program called LEO.LEO is the always-on, data-crunching, poll-adjusting Senate forecasting model used by the New York Times. Each day LEO takes the latest polls and historical data from around the country, blends in other information like fundraising and national polling,...

Throughout American history, the balance of faith and politics has helped define who we are. And that definition hasn’t always been totally clear. Examples of extreme positives and negatives have dominated our headlines – from the clergy’s role in driving the Civil Rights Movement to the abortion wars that have ended in murder in the name of faith to today’s debates on same sex marriage. The Const...

You think it’s hard to manage your life? Your schedule runs at the mercy of your boss or your clients or spouse or kids… Well, I’m pretty confident your life is smooth sailing compared to today’s guest. Michael D. Shear is White House Correspondent at the New York Times. In other words, when the most powerful person in the world decides to go to Hawaii or Capitol Hill or Afghanistan or the Washing...

It’s no secret that trust in government and politicians continues to chill. From a recent Harvard poll of Millennials to earlier surveys of older voters, the question for Midterms 2014 may not be whom do we trust, but do we trust at all? But as our trust in real life politics may fall, our delight in fictional politics – hit television shows and other video programming – continues to rise. Is ther...

As the battle for US Senate control continues to dominate Midterms 2014, perhaps the most influential and controversial senator in the process is not even running. It ’s hardly an exaggeration that Majority Leader Harry Reid is the key Senate player in the races – spoken and unspoken. Whether it’s a Republican candidate running against his name or a Democrat benefitting from Reid’s Senate Majority...

With key Senate battles in multiple states, and both parties looking to build 2016 momentum, for Midterms this year, the old line is true: Every vote will count. So here’s some bad news for candidates who might be depending on young voters  for victory: Don’t count on it. A prediction of low voter turnout is just one finding from the always revealing Millennials Poll from Harvard’s Institute of Po...

It’s been more than a year since Michigan’s six-term U.S. Senator Carl Levin announced he was calling it quits. Like other Democrats, Levin made his decision early – giving his party the chance to choose its best candidate and build a big lead. While they might have their candidate, Michigan Democrats don’t have a big lead – if any lead at all. As the battle for U.S. Senate shapes up as the Midter...

As we continue our state by state deep dives, whaddya say we mess with Texas? In a place known for big personalities – big everything, really – this year is no exception. Of course, this year the eyes of Texas – and eyes in many other parts of the country – are on the Governor’s race. That’s where Democrats – with filibustering state senator Wendy Davis thought they had their best chance in 20 yea...

If there’s one state where politics never turns off, it’s Iowa. And while preparations for the next Iowa Caucus seem to start the day the current Caucus ends, there is, perhaps, a more interesting new development on the Iowa horizon – for the first time since 1984, the state is about to elect a new Senator. With Sen. Tom Harkin’s decision not to run for a sixth term, Iowa is suddenly another key p...

As we continue our deep dives into Midterm 2014 key states, we visit a place where the focus is not on the Senate, but on the Governor’s mansion. It’s also been at the center of every Presidential race since 2000, and 2016 is no different. In fact, the state may offer up not one, but two potential major candidates. Of course, we’re traveling to Florida, where the upcoming governor’s battle not onl...