Political Theater

So it turns out Super Tuesday was pretty spectacular. Race dynamics changed dramatically, several marquee House and Senate races were set up and the stage is set for a long series of primary battles reaching into the summer. CQ Roll Call Politics Editor Herb Jackson helps break it down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything is bigger in Texas, and Texas is even bigger when it's part of Super Tuesday. And while the Democratic presidential primary gets a lot of attention, we like congressional politics even better. Bridget Bowman discusses the most influential and interesting Democratic and Republican primaries coming up on March 3, including what she learned in her recent reporting trip to the Lone Star Sta...

Taco trucks, cookies and a ‘Battle Born’ caucus interview with Julián Castro: CQ Roll Call reporter Niels Lesniewski joins Political Theater to share some of the moments he caught on tape during his long weekend in Nevada, where the state was holding early caucuses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With populist leaders like President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders leading their parties' primaries, it seems people are fed up with their current institutions. But what does it mean for the future? Joining us to chat about populist movements and their potential outcomes is Daron Acemoglu, an economics professor at MIT and co-author of "The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate o...

New Hampshire's 2020 Democratic primary was the mirror image of Republicans' 2016 primary. We're still lacking clarity even as the the field winnows. One thing we do know, according to Reuters political correspondent Amanda Becker, is that the candidates are preparing for a long slog and expect a lot of twists and turns as they head to Nevada, South Carolina and Super Tuesday. Learn more about you...

President Donald Trump's State of the Union was a master class in deploying conservative rhetoric, entertainment kitsch and Americana tropes before a televised audience. Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post discusses Trump's gifts as an entertainer and how he uses it to maximum effect in the political arena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Less than one week to go, and it's anyone's guess who will win the Iowa Caucuses. What's the biggest thing on Iowans' minds as they decide? Impeachment? Electability? Personal likability? Caucus expert and political scientist David Redlawsk , who has spent the last six months on sabbatical in Iowa, talks us through what to expect on Feb. 3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...

In a special edition of Political Theater, PhD drop out and comic Maz Jobrani takes Heard on the Hill's Kathryn Lyons "back to school" to talk Trump hecklers, the candidates he likes in 2020 and what it's like to be in the fake West Wing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a lot to learn from covering the White House for four years. For former CQ Roll Call White House correspondent John T. Bennett, that included the president's aides looking into that "Hakuna matata" thing, whether the president's accessibility is a double-edged sword and how to stay sane in a crazy environment. Now as Bennett takes on a new assignment with the Independent of London, he sha...

This week's Democratic presidential debate in Iowa was the last chance for the significantly winnowed field to make a big impression -- not just before the Feb. 3 caucuses but also before the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Herb Jackson and Jason Dick break down the biggest takeaways as candidates tried to get in one last look, and what voters can expect as the trial drags on....

Senators are getting a little antsy waiting for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to deliver articles of impeachment of Donald Trump so they can start a trial. We spent the first full day Congress was back in the Capitol talking to Senators, and we got an earful of their frustrations, suggestions and theories about what happens next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Jon Stewart’s smirk to a scrum at the Iowa State Fair to the frenzy surrounding former presidential aide Hope Hicks, CQ Roll Call photographers explain their favorite images of 2019, how they got them and what goes into getting the shot they need. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrat Sherrod Brown was first elected to the House in 1992 and just won a third Senate term in 2018. Perhaps aware of the history that surrounds him and his own place in it, he has a new book out, Desk 88. That is where he sits in the Senate, and the book is a series of portraits of the senators who sat there before, a list that includes Hugo Black, Bobby Kennedy and George McGovern. Political...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is not shy about using his namesake McConnell Center at the University of Louisville as a platform for showcasing his allies, adversaries and his own ability to steer the national conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 It is tempting to read into 2019's off-year elections for clues into next year’s big political brouhaha. Since President Donald Trump campaigned in many of this year's races, some key data points have emerged: a growing rural-suburban partisan divide and the president's tendency to make things about himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new movie "The Report" turns to real life to create art. The film is based on the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report of 2014. Senate investigators took seven years to detail the CIA's use of its "enhanced interrogation techniques" on suspected terrorists. The political thriller is based on efforts led by Intelligence Committee staffer Daniel J. Jones, who joins the podcast this wee...

The 2020 elections are shaping up as the most significant in memory, but predicting them is a handicapper's nightmare. Nevertheless, CQ Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales gave it a whirl, offering these four scenarios: 1) Eviction at 1600 2) Blue Washington 3) Status Quo 4) Red Revival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One year out from Election Day 2020 and Senate Republicans and House Democrats find themselves in parallel universes. The GOP is on defense in Senate races, where more Republicans are on the ballot, and it's the opposite in the House, where many Democrats who won in hostile territory in 2018 find themselves in tough races. CQ Roll Call’s campaign team, Simone Pathé, Bridget Bowman and Stephanie Ak...

Every impeachment inquiry has its own distinct identity. CQ Roll Call contributor Finlay Lewis discusses the first impeachment inquiry he covered, that of Richard Nixon in 1974, and how it contrasts with the 1998 impeachment of Bill Clinton, and how those stack up to the current one of President Donald Trump Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The memorials for the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings illustrate the unique way the nation remembers figures like him, a tradition of grieving both in public and private in places important to the deceased. Longstanding rituals in the Capitol, and in also in his hometown of Baltimore, give his family, friends, colleagues and constituents a way to celebrate his life. Learn more about your ad choices....

Republican senators up for re-election in swing states have a delicate balance to strike. They need to get almost all Republican voters in their column while reaching out to independents and Democrats. And President Donald Trump does not make that easy. CQ Roll Call Elections Analyst and Inside Elections Publisher Nathan Gonzales explains the politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...

Hot topics? The Supreme Court’s got ‘em this term. LGBTQ rights. Guns. Immigration. With the High Court's new term starting Monday, CQ Roll Call legal affairs reporter Todd Ruger joins the podcast to take a closer look at the biggest cases they will consider and how the justices have become political fodder themselves in the 2020 race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The conventional wisdom is that impeachment could imperil Democrats in 2020. But beware the conventional wisdom, and relying on dated data and small sample sets, like 1998's impeachment of President Bill Clinton. CQ Roll Call's elections analyst Nathan Gonzales joins the show to explains why he thinks things might be a little different for democrats today than they were for republicans in 1998.  L...

Joe Biden is among the most recognizable politicians. But even he was an upstart once. In 1972, he was just a 29-year old lawyer running an uphill race against a veteran senator. And, improbably, he won. Here's the story of that seminal campaign Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lobbying firms on K Street and trade associations used to be a sure bet for retiring members of Congress. Not anymore. Julian Ha, a recruiter on K Street and advisor of FiscalNote the company that owns CQ Roll Call, joins the podcast along with CQ Roll Call senior writer Kate Ackley to talk about the current state of lobbying positions for former lawmakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...