The Odd Years The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter

Host Amy Walter confesses her love of Apple TV's For All Mankind and the magic of its decade-spanning montages and storytelling to none other than the show's Executive Producers and writers, Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert. As season 4 of the show launches, the trio goes deep into the show's origin [03:28]; whether we should consider the show science or fiction [06:57]; taking a closer look at Gary Hart, Al Gore, and Ellen Wilson's journey in FAMK to the highest office in the land [21:19]; the creative process, electoral maps and fictional news reports featured in the montages [16:33; where the show will go as it catches up to our actual reality [24:22]; grieving the loss of beloved characters [37:04]; favorite political reads [39:53]; and much, much more.

Catch up on #ForAllMankind, and its Season 2, 3 & 4 montage openers, on AppleTV+.

Amy Walter talks with Mark Z. Barabak, a political columnist for the Los Angeles Times, focusing on California and the West. They discuss his new series, "The New West," which explores the forces and factors that led once-reliable Republican states like Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada to turn from red to purple and blue. Amy and Mark also delve into the state of the 'Reid Machine' in Nevada, the importance of Latinos to Democrats' success and how the post-COVID "work from anywhere" economy could play into future voting patterns.

Amy Walter chats with Astead Herndon, a national politics reporter for the New York Times and the host of the "The Run-Up" podcast. Amy and Astead grapple with the fact that while voters are overwhelmingly against a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024, it still appears to be the inevitable outcome. Astead notes that we are "careening towards a rematch very fast." The pair discuss the lack of enthusiasm around Biden. Astead makes the point that Vice President Kamala Harris will be the face of the Biden campaign on the road and will be under more scrutiny from the media.

Amy Walter catches up with Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, publisher of the Bulwark and founder of the Republican Accountability Project. Sarah also hosts The Focus Group podcast, which brings listeners into wide-ranging conversations with voters.

Sarah and Amy discuss where Donald Trump is already showing his potential strength in a general election [6:16]. Sarah also reflects on what she’s heard in focus groups to explain where Ron DeSantis’ candidacy went wrong [10:04], why evangelical voters aren’t coalescing around Mike Pence, and what to expect from Tim Scott in the coming months [21:22]. Amy also asks Sarah whether a third-party candidate could hurt Biden with swing voters [31:20], and Sarah turns the tables on Amy to ask whether Trump actually could lose the Republican primary. [38:55]

Amy Walter talks with Josh Putnam, a political scientist and consultant known for his expertise on the presidential nominating process. You can read more about it in his blog, frontloadinghq.com.

Amy and Josh discuss the implications of some states’ winner-take-all delegate rules in the Republican primary [6:00] and Democrats’ primary calendar shake-up [12:00], including how much of the changes made to the 2024 calendar stick in 2028 [24:00]. They also discuss why it may be too late for potential GOP candidates like Glenn Youngkin to join the presidential primary [27:00], how to detect early signs of a third-party candidate shaking up the general election [29:00], and how Ron DeSantis could still “win the delegate game.” [35:00]

Amy Walter talks to the one and only Kara Swisher, a highly respected and deeply sourced technology reporter. Kara is currently the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher, the co-host of the Pivot podcast and an editor-at-large at New York Magazine. Amy and Kara discussed AI's role in the 2024 campaign season. Kara gives some much-needed perspective on the future of AI and whether Washington can or will be able to regulate it. She also explains why we should be more worried about the people that use AI rather than AI itself.

This conversation took place on May 17, 2023

Host:
Amy Walter

Producers:
Kate Wecker
Ally Flinn
Kathryn Hamm