Too Close To Call Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com On this #Rant for paid subscribers, Dave explains why reporters aren’t always obligated to include responses from figures in their stories — particularly when the responses fail to address the substantive point in the story or are more intended to distract from the thrust of the journalism attempting to be con...

I asked veteran blogger, pundit, podcaster, friend of Ann Coulter and border security hardliner Mickey Kaus to join the #pod after a tongue-and-cheek tweet tossed at me following my description of South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace as “increasingly compelling.” Kaus says he was just joking, of course. But the point is that he recoils at Republicans who talk out of both sides of their mouth on immigrat...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan represents Massachusetts’ 3rd Congressional District, which is anchored around the city of Lowell, which is about a 35 minute drive northwest of Boston. In this #pod, Trahan fields questions on the southern Border, how to best pitch President Biden’s goodie bag of legislative succes...

Mark Jacob is former editor at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times , freelance author and avid tweeter of media critiques. It was his thread on “dirty secrets of journalism” that commanded my attention as I’ve long kept my own list of hidden tactics of the trade. Might you indulge for more? In this #pod, Jacob and I dissect a few “secrets,” volley back and forth on dependency on anonymous so...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com Rep. Anthony D’Esposito is part of the New York success story that helped propel Republicans back into the majority — a story that’s been substantially submerged by the saga of George Santos. D’Esposito, a former Brooklyn detective , isn’t happy about it and believes Santos’ political expiration will come in u...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com Don’t get fooled by calls for decorum. American politics should be spicy and the State of the Union needs an Adderall lift. The rowdier vibe that permeated Tuesday night’s pageantry with Joe might be a step in the right direction, argues Dave in the latest version of #TheRant. What a beautiful day to upgrade t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com “Off the record” is easy. “On background” is trickier. These are the main two ways sources converse with reporters. And surprisingly enough, a lot of political figures don’t get the nuanced differences and find themselves out over their skis on a cold hard mountain once the story pushes live.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com “Even the way we talk about it right, you’re just friends, if you’re not in a relationship together,” says Marisa Franco , a Washington-based psychologist who explores the bonds of friendship in her book, “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends.” As someone who has place...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com Sacha Haworth was hired as a communications director for Kyrsten Sinema as she prepared for her U.S. Senate run in 2018. She lasted just five months. Now as Sinema pursues a political future as an independent with a potential re-election in 2024, Haworth opens up on the #pod about her time in close proximity t...

Shwirl is a 22-year-old electronic producer from Arizona who began making music his freshman year in high school when he could swipe away his parents computer. His songs have been picked up by the electronic label #BitBird, which is topped by San Holo, a progressive DJ from Holland. In this #pod, Shwirl talks about his #hyperpop music, how he pitched himself to his music hero, why he now hates his...

Rep. Josh Harder, a third-term Democrat from Central Valley California, kicks off #TooCloseToCall’s 2023 podcasts with a view from the mess on the House floor and a critique of his party’s 2022 political decisions in close House races. “In 2022, last year, there were a lot of districts that were very close that were decided by less than 1 point that the Democratic Party all but ignored … If you lo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com Dave returns from Christmas family time with an observational #Rant about the choice to rear children and what’s lost in the midlife years when offspring are old enough to walk and talk but not think for themselves. Free Substackers get the 1:21 tease; Paid subscribers get the nourishing full 12-minute rant. P...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com Could the blue bird’s demise actually reinvigorate journalism? This week, on #TheRant, Dave delves into the spiraling storyline of Elon Musk as moderator in tweet, why his frenetic reign is both expected and confounding, and the most likely outcomes for social media use in the world of journalism going forward...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com On this #TooCloseToCall rant, Dave reviews the LCD Soundsystem show in Brooklyn, serves up two NYC cocktail bar recommendations and details his experience lunching in true Americana-style at Margaritaville in Times Square. A free snippet is available for everyone; the full rant is for paid subscribers. Press p...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidcatanese.substack.com On this #TooCloseToCall rant, Dave takes paid subscribers into Holiday Party season in Washington, D.C. where banal conversations reign, lobbyists beat their chests, white Russians are spilled and Off the Record rules are in effect. Here’s how to survive a party when you had a Twitter spat with its host.

Stephen Lawson is a Republican operative who has worked for Govs. Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in Florida before moving to Georgia where he signed on with Kelly Loeffler’s 2020 Senate campaign. He’s now working on behalf of the super PAC that is trying to pull Herschel Walker across the finish line in Tuesday’s Senate runoff. On the final installment of Georgia week’s series of #pods, Lawson chats...

Georgia-week on the #pod continues with Cyrus Garrett , the Democratic strategist who ran Southern states for Joe Biden in 2020 and is now advising outside entities trying to lift Raphael Warnock to victory over Herschel Walker in next Tuesday’s U.S. Senate runoff. Remember, Cyrus told loyal listeners back in early October where this was heading. Listen: Georgia is ‘going to head to a runoff’ In t...

Nabilah Islam is the first Muslim woman and the youngest woman ever elected to the state Senate in Georgia, after winning her Democratic primary by 77 votes and then surviving the closest state Senate general election contest in the state this year. In the #pod, the 32-year-old Islam chats about how suburban minority communities have gradually changed Georgia’s political composition, what happened...

Molly Jong-Fast, the host of the Fast Politics podcast and Vanity Fair special correspondent joins the #pod to comb through the aftermath of the 2022 midterms and then walks the bridge to 2024. We cover whether the media whiffed on its 2022 coverage, dive into whether the result is truly validating for Joe Biden and then peak around the corner to whether Democrats should welcome another run with T...

If you’re here, you know where the results of #Election2022 stand, you’ve read the takes, refreshed the results pages and combed through the initial finger-pointing and excuses. So I wanted to take Friday to zone in on a single race that hasn’t yet been called but has immense consequences for the country’s politics. Listen *above*. Also on Spotify or Apple Podcasts , where you can leave me some st...

I first met Billy Long 13 years ago when I was a local television reporter covering politics and he became a candidate for Congress in southwest Missouri. Long is now retiring after six terms as a U.S. House member representing Springfield, Mo., a place I called home for five years before venturing to D.C. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate this year and in this #p...

Ye, or the artist formerly known as Kanye West , is my favorite artist of all time and has been one of the most powerful forces in my life. His music moves me, his design wows me, his ambition inspires me and his raw authenticity impresses me. It’s always been tough being a Kanye fan and trying to defend him and rationalize his outbursts and meltdowns as the musings of a misunderstood genius. But...

Toss the polls aside, people are early voting in droves. As of midday Thursday, 476,000 votes have been reported in battleground Nevada, per King Jon Ralston’s analysis, with Democrats holding only a 1.5% lead statewide. Chuck Warren , a Republican operative, radio host and the managing director of the September Group, says that’s a flashing red light since Democrats are more inclined to vote earl...

Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t as crazy or stupid as you think she is. Robert Draper, author of “Weapons of Mass Delusion: When The Republican Party Lost Its Mind,” learned this after chasing an interview with the provocative Republican Georgia congresswoman for more than a year. His persistence proved successful and Greene sits at the center of his latest book on the ascendant set of characters tha...

Prognosticators have ticked up their assessment of potential Republicans gains in the U.S. House to two dozen seats, and some GOP operatives believe it could even extend beyond that, producing a true “wave” election. But even if Democrats sustain those losses in 12 days, Democratic operative Kelly Burton doesn’t believe all is lost for her party. The president of the National Democratic Redistrict...