Hawthorn's Across the Aisle Podcast

In this episode of Across the Aisle , John Ashford is joined by Doug Sosnik, longtime political strategist, senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, and one of the country’s most respected analysts of American political trends. Sosnik offers a wide-ranging look at the forces reshaping American politics: the rise of populism in both parties, the growing divide between economic winners and those st...

California is often viewed as politically unique, but its elections can reveal trends that eventually reach the rest of the country. In this episode of Across the Aisle , John Ashford is joined by veteran California political strategist and public affairs expert Kelly Calkin to unpack one of the most unpredictable and consequential California primaries in recent memory. From the emergence of Javie...

Charlie Cook returns to Across the Aisle to cut through the daily headlines and focus on the political fundamentals shaping the road to 2026. One of the nation’s most respected nonpartisan election analysts and founder of the Cook Political Report , Charlie joins John Ashford for a wide-ranging conversation on today’s closely divided electorate, the growing role of turnout over persuasion, and why...

Data center demand is no longer theoretical. It is reshaping grid planning, infrastructure investment, and energy policy across the country. In this episode of Across the Aisle , John Ashford speaks with former Texas Public Utility Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty — founder of the Office of Electricity at the U.S. Department of Energy and a leader in transmission expansion and grid reliability. They d...

The podcast episode features a conversation between John Ashford and Chris Wilson, CEO of Eyes Over, discussing social media monitoring, artificial intelligence, and its impact on politics and corporate decision-making. Takeaways Social media monitoring provides real-time opinion-based analysis, capturing dynamics and momentum rather than just attitudes. AI-driven conversational persuasion outperf...

Looking more internationally than our usual domestic political junkies’ views, this episode wraps up 2025 and looks – however dimly – into 2026 with one of the genuine experts on international relations, China and Russia. Graham Allison, Ph. D ., is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University where for years he was Dean of the Kennedy School of Government, with time off to ser...

In this conversation, John sits down with Charlie Cook to discuss the current political landscape following the recent elections, focusing on the implications of redistricting, the challenges faced by political leaders like Chuck Schumer, and the importance of candidate quality in swing states. They explore the identity crisis within the Democratic Party and the role of independents in shaping ele...

Welcome to Across the Aisle , a podcast from The Hawthorn Group , where politics and business meet in conversation . Hosted by Hawthorn Founder & CEO John Ashford , each episode explores how elections, policy decisions, and regulatory shifts shape the industries that power America — and how those same industries influence political outcomes at every level of government. Joined by Hawthorn’ sta...