Pro Politics with Zac McCrary

You know David Axlerod...the chief strategist for President Obama, CNN commentator, and founder of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. The Obama years come up a bit in this conversation, but we focus mostly on his 20+ years as a working political media consultant before connecting professionally with then-State Senator Obama. We talk cutting his teeth in NYC, how the appeal of Chicago politics drew him to the Windy City, why he made the jump from political journalist to political operative, & stories, lessons, and insights from his 40+ years in and around politics.

(To donate to support The Pro Politics Podcast, you may use this venmo link or inquire by email at [email protected])

IN THIS EPISODE....

David’s early political memories growing up in NYC...

The political appeal that drew David to Chicago for college...

David tells the story of Chicago machine politics through 3 influential figures...

What made David make the jump from journalism to become a political operative...

The story behind David’s first campaign working for Congressman Paul Simon...

The Axelrod approach to political ads...

David talks his time working for iconic Chicago Mayor Harold Washington...

The historic 1992 Illinois Senate race that might not have happened without Axelrod agitation...

How the 1992 Illinois Senate race foretold the 2004 rise of Senator Barack Obama...

David’s take on the “self doubt” present among many who work in politics...

AND Jill Abramson, Paul Begala, Jessie Berry, Madison Brown, bullshit meters, Jane Byrne, Mike Calabrese, James Carville, cashing in stamps, the Chicago Tribune, chiseling, civilian review panels, Forrest Claypool, Cardiss Collins, George Collins, colorful Chicago lore, the Commissioner of Rodent Control, Rich Daley, Richard J. Daley, Bill Dawson, Alan Dixon, David Doak, Lloyd Doggett, dopes, Stephen Douglas, Rahm Emanuel, Carter Eskew, Jerry Finkelstein, Erwin France, gambling syndicates, Newt Gingrich, golfing with Dan Quayle, hammer-and-tong battles, Fred Hampton, Henry Henderson, Anita Hill, Al Hofeld, homespun wisdom, Hyde Park, impostor syndrome, Ben Lewis, John Lindsay, luminescent figures, JFK, RFK, the Jewish Kennedys, Vince Larkin, Jerry Liebner, Jim Ross Lightfoot, Abraham Lincoln, Little Rock, machine cogs, Jane Mayer, Mark McKinnon, Ralph Metcalfe, Kiki Moore, Carol Moseley Braun, Mike Murphy, Dr. Odom, Jesse Owens, PS 40, Deval Patrick, pastry and cash, Charles Percy, quixotic races, the Reagan Revolution, realpolitik, Republican golden boys, Dan Rostenkowski, Joe Rostenkowski, Mrs. Roth, secret sauces, Bill Singer, slate-making, Bob Squier, Andrew Stein, Stuyvesant Town, Tammany Hall, Clarence Thomas, unerring noses, the University of Chicago, Tom Vilsack, ward bosses, the wheel of history, David Wilhelm, the Wigwam, the Wizard of Oz Syndrome & more!

Hal Malchow was the incredibly innovative Democratic direct mail and fundraising consultant, who passed away several weeks ago. His final chapter was chronicled by Sasha Issenberg in Politico recently. Hal's was truly a creative mind, including breaking new ground on sophisticated political microtargeting and "social pressure" tactics to generate increased voter turnout. Joining this conversation are two of Hal's longtime business partners and friends - fellow direct mail consultants, Trish Hoppey and Rich Schlackman. We discuss Hal's political roots in progressive politics out of the Deep South, his innovative and curious political mind, the new approaches he developed, and the legacy he leaves behind after decades in the trenches of political targeting and communications.
IN THIS EPISODE

Memories of meeting Hal for the first time...

Hal's path to DC from the Deep South...

The GOP luminary who was one of Hal's most trusted friends...

The innovations in political targeting and messaging spearheaded by Hal...

A few of the races and campaigns most impacted by Hal's creativity...

The origin of Hal's groundbreaking work on "social pressure" with two Ivy League academics...

Why Hal left day-to-day consulting after the 2010 cycle and how he stayed involved over the past decade...

Hal's most recent advice to Democratic campaigns...

Hal's motivations during the final chapter of his life...

Final thoughts on Hal's legacy in politics...

AND The Analyst Institute, bananas ideas, Evan Bayh, better mousetraps, Andrew Bleeker, CHAID analysis, Campaign Performance Group, Christina Coloroso, couch surfing, Mario Cuomo, Morris Dees, failed attorneys, fake-out mail, Vic Fazio, feedback loops, funny accents, Page Gardner, Alan Gerber, Al Gore, Christine Hopkinson, Herb Kelleher, Harry Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Dean Levitan, Alex Malchow, microtargeting, Janet Napolitano, Gavin Newsom, paella, personalized yard signs, Mike Podhorzer, rat infestations, Rick Ridder, Mitt Romney, Ron Rosenblith, Santa Fe, Tom Sugar, Richard Viguerie, Voter Contact Services, Mark Warner, Michael Woolridge & more!

Carlos Lozada is currently an Opinion columnist at The New York Times, after spending nearly 20 years at The Washington Post - where he earned the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for criticism as The Post's nonfiction book critic. He's also an author, with his second book - The Washington Book - recently published: a collection of essays exploring what books by and about D.C. power players reveal about the people and political conflicts that define Washington. In this conversation, Carlos talks his path from Peru to South Bend to D.C., his accidental route to working in the press, some of his favorite Washington books and stories, and deeply mining his own insights into our current political moment.

IN THIS EPISODE

Carlos' personal journey from Lima, Peru to Washington D.C...

Carlos "gateway drug" books into the genre of Washington books...

How Carlos defines what exactly is a "Washington Book"...

Carlos weighs in on what he considers some of the earliest Washington Books...

Carlos' rave review of the U.S. Grant memoir...

The place of All The President's Men in the pantheon of Washington Books...

Carlos' favorite cliches from presidential campaign memoirs...

The D.C. corridors of power that are undercovered in Washington Books...

The Washington Books that are purely exercises in settling scores...

Carlos compares the Donald Trump of 2016 to the Donald Trump of 2024...

The Washington Books that never were that Carlos would love to read...

What reading Vladimir Putin revealed to Carlos about the Russian leader...

Carlos' 101 on sharp essay-writing...

Carlos waxes nostalgic about the late Washinton Post Outlook Section...

AND The 1619 Project, Alexis de Tocqueville, all sorts of minutia, Jody Allen, the American Enterprise Institute, Carol Anderson, animating impulses, The Appalachian Trail, Appomattox, asymmetric polarization, Peter Baker, Steve Bannon, Bob Barnett, beleaguered officials, Joe Biden, Joan Biskupic, Kate Boo, George H.W. Bush, Robert Caro, Jimmy Carter, Jesus Christ, Julie Davis, drop-down menus, enabling environments, farm foremen, The Federal Reserve, Craig Fehrman, Foreign Policy magazine, full absorption, Susan Glasser, Garret Graff, Lindsay Graham, Alan Greenspan, Stephanie Grisham, Maggie Haberman, Susan Hennessey, Fiona Hill, Dustin Hoffman, holy crap anecdotes, David Ignatius, joining-ness, Jurassic Park, Bob Kaiser, Ibram X. Kendi, the Kerner Commission, Adam Kushner, Robert E. Lee, Joe Lieberman, Steve Luxenberg, Thomas Mann, David Maraniss, Mark Meadows, mid-level authoritarian regimes, military duds, Mark Milley, Robert Moses, Robert Mueller, murdered darlings, murky institutions, The New York Review of Books, Kirstjen Nielsen, Notre Dame, Barack Obama, obligatory campaign memoirs, obscene crescendos, Norm Ornstein, parallel histories, the paralysis of power, George Pataki, Tim Pawlenty, policy wonks, John Pomfret, Robert Redford, Marco Rubio, Mark Sanford, Michael Schaffer, Brent Scowcroft, Michael Shear, silent Moscow, John Sununu, Barton Swaim, targeted excerpts, Mark Twain, Mario Vargas Llosa, velociraptors, Scott Walker, Ben Wittes, Michael Wolff, Bob Woodward...& more!

Tim Persico, the Executive Director of the DCCC, provides a post-election debrief with his thoughts on all things 2022 House races. He gets under the hood as to how House Democrats beat the odds to exceed pundit expectations...and weighs in on the winning blend of messaging for candidates, the leadership provided by Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney and Speaker Pelosi, specific seats that helped Democrats buck the midterm trends, the tools and tactics the DCCC utlized this cycle, & much more with one of the key architects of House Democrats' impressive 2022 cycle.

IN THIS EPISODE...

The latest post-election math about control of the House...

How previous DCCC post-mortems helped prep Tim run the organization...

Tim’s macro view of how House Democrats overperformed expectations...

Tim recounts the critical decision by DCCC Chair Maloney to take a risk and go for the majority instead of taking a more cautious approach to hold losses to a minimum...

Tim’s take on whether Democrats won these races late or always had the advantage....

Tim on what messaging worked well for Democratic candidates...

Tim talks leadership lessons learned from Nancy Pelosi...

A few seats Tim was confident Dems could win despite pundit skepticism...

Tim’s initial thoughts on why New York was a tough state for House Dems...

The DCCC’s approach to digital communications...

Lessons learned from digesting hundreds of internal campaign polls...

How Tim handled getting advice from a 220+ member Democratic Caucus...

Tim evangelizes on why a finance background is a good path to rising up the ladder in politics...

Tim compliments some of the strategies utilized by the NRCC...

What Tim is most proud of from this cycle running the DCCC...

AND American treasures, asymmetrical disadvantages, Michael Bennet, big thinking thoughts, building runways, Cheri Bustos, canaries in coal mines, Yadira Caraveo, cookie-cutter stuff, Karen Defilippi, Dirtbags, Isaac Fitzgerald, fully-formed human beings, Tommy Garcia, graybeards, the Hudson Valley, hybrid ads, late movers, left-handed Methodists, Elaine Luria, massive things, moon suits, Patrick Murphy, Wiley Nickel, noisy data, non-linear benefits, pet peeves, pipe bombs, a Pittsburgh Republican, pivot points, pre post-mortems, Christie Roberts, Chuck Schumer, sheer chaos, Eric Sorensen, sour electorates, Abigail Spanberger, special masters, Emilia Sykes, Tony Vargas, walkabouts, Jennifer Wextons, whisper quiet & more!

David Callahan is a prolific creator and thinker within Democratic politics. He helped start the progressive think tank Demos in the late 90s, founded the media outlet Inside Philanthropy as a Consumer Reports of sorts into the world of charitable giving, and more recently created Blue Tent - an advisory group to help progressive donors get the most bang for their buck. In this conversation, David talks his early days in politics focused on foreign policy, his next stint as a think-tanker trying to pull the Democratic Party left, and why he's more recently been focused on the world of political giving. David is one of the most informed people on the planet on all facets of the political donor world and provides a tour de force on both the current state of play and future trends to better understand how our politics are funded.

IN THIS EPISODE

Growing up in New York as the child of academics...

An early experience that showed David he was not cut out to be an activist...

A formative year spent at the liberal magazine, The American Prospect...

David talks getting his PhD and his recommendations for those considering academia...

David helps found the progressive think tank Demos and talks the role of think tanks in American politics...

What led David to start Inside Philanthropy, a media outlet dedicated to understanding political fundraising...

The disturbing trend in political giving that led David to start Blue Tent, a resource for progressive donors...

How David and Blue Tent determine where donors will get the most bang for their buck...

Why David is an advocate of giving to organizations instead of candidates...
David on the phenomenon of "rage giving"...

Are donors pulling Democratic candidates to the left?

Has Democratic giving fallen off this cycle?

David's concern about too many advocacy groups and donor fragmentation on the left compared to more unanimity on the right...

David de-mystifies the world of big "donor advisors"...

David on the Soros factor on the left...

The rough balance of spending from the right vs. spending from the left...

The types of operatives who succeed in the donor advising space...

The political novel David wrote in the late 90s that eerily predicted elements of both the 9/11 attacks and the rise of a Donald Trump-like politician...

AND AOC, Stacey Abrams, Miriam Adelson, The American Enterprise Institute, The American Liberties Project, The American Prospect Magazine, Arabella Advisors, Joe Biden, bioethics, Michael Bloomberg, bureaucratic machinations, the Cato Institute, the Center for Voter Information, Bill Clinton, The Committee on States, credential firepower, the DLC, The Democracy Alliance, Michael Dukakis, The Economic Policy Institute, effective altruism, Federalist Society, Marcus Flowers, Focus for Democracy, Fredrick Forsyth, Forward Montana, Give Well, giving circles, Al Gore, Lindsey Graham, Stanley Greenberg, Jamie Harrison, Hastings-on-Hudson, the Heritage Foundation, Hezbollah, Indian Point Power Plant, Indivisible, the Koch Brothers, LUCHA, Mitch McConnell, Amy McGrath, Michigan United, Mind the Gap, Dustin Moskovitz, Movement Voter Project, neoliberal mindsets, The New America Foundation, Paul Nitze, NYPIRG, Beto O'Rourke, Open Markets, RCTs, Ronald Reagan, The Roosevelt Institute, Run for Something, saber-rattling, Sandinistas, Adam Schiff, Star Wars, the States Project, Swing Left, Marjorie Taylor Greene, transactional donors, Way to Win, Working America & more!