The Conversation with Dasha Burns

Go inside the making of the December Democratic presidential debate with Politico on this special edition of the Nerdcast. POLITICO's editor Carrie Budoff Brown and PBS NewsHour's Executive Producer Sara Just take us behind the scenes and explain all the decisions that go into hosting a debate -- some large, some very small. Plus, we chat with carpenter Bobby Rizzo as he builds the set for Thursda...

Go inside the making of the December Democratic presidential debate with Politico on this special edition of the Nerdcast. Scott talks to the 2020 campaign reporters covering the candidates on stage about what each candidate's biggest challenge is heading into Thursday -- and the question each one would most like to answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Nerdcast talks to POLITICO White House reporter Nancy Cook and congress editor Ben Weyl about the chock-full December ahead: USMCA, prescription drug pricing, a spending bill to avert a government shutdown and, oh yeah, impeachment. Plus, national political reporters Alex Thompson and Elena Schneider talk to Scott about the tension between Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren and why things are...

The Nerdcast talks to POLITICO national political reporter Christopher Cadelago about what went wrong in Kamala Harris' bid for president. Plus, national political reporter Laura Barrón-López and reporting fellow Maya King talk to Scott about the demographics on the campaign trail -- why Cory Booker and Kamala Harris have struggled to make inroads with black voters, Pete Buttigieg's failure to con...

The Nerdcast talks to POLITICO national political reporter Elena Schneider about the 2020 husbands on the campaign trail. The Democratic primary field is historic, with four women and a gay man running for president - but they're running in a country where only three percent of governors, the highest statewide executive office, have been women. That can make things complicated for how to introduce...

The Nerdcast breaks down an emblematic moment from Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate -- a question about President Trump highlighting a primary field determined, for the moment, to focus on next year's general election instead of fighting among each other. Guest hosted by Charlie Mahtesian with Massachusetts Playbook author Stephanie Murray. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

The Nerdcast talks to POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi and Ben Weyl as the first public impeachment hearing pulls the spotlight away from the campaign trail and Democrats try to engage the public in the push to remove President Donald Trump from office. Plus, political reporter Stephanie Murray joins from Boston to discuss the oddly expanding Democratic primary field, with Michael Bloomberg dipping his toes...

The Nerdcast talks to reporters Steven Shepard and Ally Mutnick about the election day results out of Kentucky and Virginia, what those results could mean for 2020 and how congressional maps are - or aren't - changing. Plus, campaign reporter Alex Thompson and healthcare reporter Alice Ollstein delve into Elizabeth Warren's new whitepaper on her payment plan for 'Medicare For All.' Learn more abou...

The Nerdcast talks to ace congressional reporter Burgess Everett as he introduces us to the independently minded Democratic senator irritating the left and delighting the GOP: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Nerdcast gets into the Halloween spirit with White House reporters Darren Samuelsohn and Gabby Orr, who entertain some future speculations and sketch out political nightmare scenarios. What are the worst-case fears for Democrats and Republicans heading into 2020? Plus, senior legal affairs contributor Josh Gerstein joins Scott to talk about Rudy Giuliani who continues to place himself at the c...

The Nerdcast nerds out with Maggie Severns and Zach Montellaro over the campaigns releasing their Q3 fundraising numbers. Which candidates are on top as they head into the most expensive part of the race so far and whose coffers are in the danger zone? Plus, Ben Weyl and Nahal Toosi join Scott to chat about what's new in impeachment and who's who in the cast of characters testifying on the Hill be...

We unpack a key moment of the latest Democratic presidential debate -- when the differences between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren came into focus. POLITICO's Elena Schneider joins guest host Charlie Mahtesian to break down what happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Nerdcast has a stacked show this week as we get Natasha Bertrand to take us inside two prank calls to Sen. Lindsey Graham that fly in the face of his recent comments on Turkey, the Kurds and Syria. Plus, Nancy Cook, Holly Otterbein and Daniel Strauss join guest host Charlie Mahtesian to chat about what's new in impeachment and why next week's Democratic debate might actually be kind of fun. Pl...

The Nerdcast sits down with Politico's Nancy Cook and Ben Weyl to go inside Trump's impeachment bunker and Pelosi's war room. Plus, get up to speed on what's going on in 2020 land: Iowa. Elena Schneider, Natasha Korecki and Charlie Mahtesian join Scott to chat about the importance of Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and a local steak fry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) helped kick off the latest phase of the House Democrats' impeachment debate when she and six other moderate members of Congress said that Donald Trump's contact with Ukraine could constitute an impeachable offense. She reflected on the weight of what that means in a raw and emotional interview with POLITICO's Michael Kruse, and Michael joins the show to share his obser...

The Nerdcast sits down with Politico's Natasha Bertrand and Ben Shreckinger to find out what's going on at Turnberry, President Trump's luxury golf resort in Scotland where the U.S. Air Force has lodged its crews. Plus, Darren Samuelsohn tells the story of a "zombie" congressional impeachment memo: one that Hillary Clinton helped craft in 1974, was used 20 years later as a blueprint in impeachment...

The Nerdcast team breaks down a key moment from Thursday's democratic presidential debate -- when former HUD Secretary Julian Castro took a swipe at Joe Biden's memory. Plus, a look at how Elizabeth Warren became Elizabeth Warren, and how she made so many enemies in the Obama Administration in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Nerdcast with guest host John Harris: The presidential campaign may feel like it’s been going on forever, but it’s about to enter a new phase. POLITICO founding editor John Harris joined reporters Holly Otterbein, Natasha Korecki and David Siders to talk about why authenticity is so elusive, whether the left is ascendant in the Democratic party, and why candidate selfies are...

This week on the Nerdcast with Scott Bland: More than half of the Democratic presidential field got bounced from the party’s debate circuit Wednesday night, but they’re not meekly exiting stage left. POLITICO campaign reporter Elena Schneider explains what actions they might take against the DNC’s debate rules. Also, voters across the country — from California to Pennsylvania to Massachusetts — gr...

This week on the Nerdcast with Scott Bland: White House reporter Nancy Cook explains how the Trump administration may be putting on a happy face in public, but in private, they’re worrying about a global economic slowdown triggering a U.S. recession. Also, White House reporter Daniel Lippman looks inside the president's feud with Tom Barrack, on of his closest friends. Learn more about your ad cho...

This week on the Nerdcast with host Scott Bland: Evangelicals chafe at Trump’s blasphemy— POLITICO White House reporter Gabby Orr explains why. Also, POLITICO's senior politics editor Charlie Mahtesian joins national politics reporters Chris Cadelago and Natasha Korecki to break down what's happening on the ground in Iowa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Nerdcast with guest-host Blake Hounshell: Over his decades in office, ‘Middle-Class Joe’s’ family fortunes have closely tracked his political career. We have POLITICO's Ben Schreckinger on to discuss his investigation on former Vice President Joe Biden's family finances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Nerdcast with host Scott Bland: POLITICO national political reporter Elena Schneider and senior politics editor Charlie Mahtesian break down who came out on top in this week's democratic debates. Also: A divided Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates for the first time in more than a decade. What’s that mean and why does it matter? POLITICO financial services reporter Victoria...

Cory Booker, in search of his first bona fide “moment” as he tries to work his way up in the presidential race, came ready to lunge into his critique of Joe Biden’s new criminal justice proposal as too little, too late to fix the problem of mass incarceration, after Biden’s authorship of punitive crime legislation in the ‘90s. POLITICO national political reporter Chris Cadelago joins host Scott Bl...

"You're wrong" for criticizing “Medicare for All,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told former Rep. John Delaney in the first answer of the night — setting up an evening of conflict between the left and the center. POLITICO health care reporter Dan Diamond joins host Scott Bland to analyze an important moment from round one of the second Democratic debate on Tuesday night. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...