Off The Record With Paul Hodes

A spat between the White House and progressives was followed in short order by a slew of stories about whether Biden is too old to run again.  Coincidence? Also, should the nomination process become a reality show? Is there really room for a centrist party in America?  And is there a Constitutional right to eat dinner?

Paul and Kevin Landrigan cover the front page New York Times article about awakening democracy in Croydon, New Hampshire. The town rose up, shook itself off, and organized to confront Free Staters who had taken advantage of citizen complacency. They also cover the race for NH  Governor. A new poll from Democratic candidate Senator Tom Sherman gives him a shot with abortion politics as the driving issue.

Mark Putnam has helped to elect 11 governors, 10 senators and dozens of House members. He may be best known for the fact that when Barack Obama had enough money in 2008 to produce not a 30 second ad but a 30-minute film, he turned to Mark Putnam to direct it. According to the Washington Post, Mark has “a reputation in Beltway circles as the go-to guy for candidates running tough races in red states.” So as the Democrats face down an election cycle with nothing but tough races, Mark joins the show to tell some amazing stories from his decades behind the camera working with America's top leaders.  Plus, he reveals his hints for how to make an effective ad in this day and age and what Democrats need to do in 2022 and beyond.

Privacy experts and pro-choice advocates are trying to get a handle on a new threat in post-Dobbs America: that our online behavior in apps, searches, or even just keeping our phones in in our pocket at the wrong time could send women or doctors to jail. Its a wild west of data collection and sale out there, and the new patchwork of abortion laws across states could mean that our digital footprints create very real legal perils.  What if you need an abortion and you're in a state like Texas that puts a bounty on you?  What if there's a new law that allows prosecutors to go after doctors if they provide care to women crossing state lines from states where abortion is restricted? How much information are we putting out, who might get it, and how might it be used against us?  Rob Shavell, CEO of digital privacy provider Abine, joins to explain this emerging issue. Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash

From time to time, Paul and Matt take a step back to look more deeply at a few topics, and in this episode, we examine the narrative about January 6 Committee star witness Cassidy Hutchinson's age, and what role young professionals really play in Washington.  Are they bystanders, or the power behind the thrones? [hint: it depends].  Also, Mitt Romney's widely-discussed piece in the Atlantic claims that "America is in Denial."  Is it actually Mitt who is in denial? Or does he have an important point?

From time to time, we all need a break from the news, current events, and politics.On this show, the way we do that is to go way, way beyond politics every few months and hear about what's going on at the frontier of human discovery in space. Today we talk about the amazing views of all the planets in our solar system available in the sky right now, the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, the plan to return to the moon and send humans to Mars, and a postcard from interstellar space and decades ago from the Voyager spacecraft. Our guest is "The SKYGUY," John S. Gianforte, an Astronomer and Director of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Observatory.

We welcome back two friends of the show, Mario Broussard and Alex Ivey who are senior vice president and vice president of research respectively at Global Strategy Group, one of the premier polling, research, and public affairs companies in America. Mario and Alex have just released the latest edition of their fascinating research project The Melting Pot: An Ongoing Look at Racial Politics in America, which is intended to take the temperature of Black America on political issues, social attitudes, and voting behavior. 

In the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning a constitutional right to abortion, we wanted to re-release a discussion we had two months ago with Dr. Randall Balmer of Dartmouth College about the real history of the religious right's crusade against abortion. Because this moment is the direct result of a tactical decision that religious conservatives almost stumbled into 44 years ago. In fact, Dr. Balmer says that under closer examination, the real driver of the story at the time was not really abortion at all. It was segregation. Dr. Balmer joins us to explain what actually happened, and why it matters so much today.

As we were recording another show, news broke about the Dobbs decision that overturns the right to abortion in America. Our panel -- featuring former Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes, conservative commentator Alicia Preston, and political analyst Matt Robison -- immediately switched in real time to discussing the decision.  Alicia provides a pro-life view, but with an empathetic response from those who will be enraged by the decision. Paul weighs in to ask what rights are next?  And Matt raises the question of just how radical the strict originalist cult on the Supreme Court is.

Ruby Freeman is the new face of the attack on American democracy. She is one of the critical people who helps make elections work.  Donald Trump falsely accused Ruby and her daughter, both former election workers in Georgia, of election fraud. This week, she testified that “There was nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to  have the president of the United States to target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me.” If we want to preserve our system of elections, we need to have the people in place -- unbiased, patriotic, fair-minded people -- to run them. Two months ago I wrote an article arguing that people who really cared about protecting American democracy needed to start paying a lot more attention to people like Ruby who make our elections work. I pointed out that there are not-for-profit organizations that will help you get involved, say if you are interested in being a poll worker, or helping to k

Right before recording our show yesterday with NBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade, Matt joined legendary West Virginia radio broadcaster Howard Monroe for a quick conversation about the January 6 hearings, in which he previewed the emerging argument that January 6 was a big deal, but from a legal standpoint may now take a back seat to everything that preceded it.  Because as rofessor McQuade argued, there are two ways to prosecute Donald Trump and his co-conspirators that have almost nothing to do with the attack on January 6, and they both have a growing stack of proof to support them.  Howard and Matt get into what that case is and why we may be entering a new phase of thinking about the investigation in this quick bonus pod.  

Last week's Congressional hearings were as riveting and disturbing as any testimony that has ever occurred in the US Congress. The picture has now become much sharper and much uglier about the true danger on January 6, the wild scheme to overturn the election that built for months, the fact that the plot was occurring at the highest levels of government, and most of all that President Donald Trump was told repeatedly, in the words of the former Attorney General of the United States William Barr, that his false election claims and the illegal scheme to keep him in power was all "bullshit." And yet, he tried to stage a coup anyway. In fact, perhaps most surprising, the January 6 attack may not even matter when comes down to the question of whether Donald Trump will be prosecuted. We unpack all of this with Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan and the former U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan - the first woman to serve in her position. She’s also a legal analyst for NBC N

Matt joins Old Dominion University sociologist and Editorial Board writer Rod Graham on his live video show to break down how Democrats could do a better job peeling off voters they may have written off too soon, why Democrats need to stop chasing shiny objects, and whether Joe Biden still deserves some strong grades for his presidency.

Every week, we convene a former Congressman from the left, a conservative political consultant and columnist from the right, and a center-left host to dive deep behind the week's headlines. The Balance of Power round table is usually broadcast on WKXL and available in the Capitol Close Up podcast. But this week, we wanted to bring the show to our Beyond Politics listeners as we talk about the framework agreement on reducing gun violence and the real implications of the new information coming out of the January 6 committee hearings. 

With this week's drop the S&P 500 is officially in bear market territory. Why? And why are major business leaders warning of an “economic hurricane”? Chris Hill of Motley Fool Money explains.

The top issue on everyone’s minds these days is the economy, and especially the fast-rising prices that we’re all feeling at the grocery store and the gas pump. Of course, the economy is almost always the top issue for Americans….in 1992 the Bill Clinton campaign boiled down their whole message to its “the economy, stupid.” So to understand what’s happening in the American economy, inflation, and most important, what’s likely to happen next, we simply couldn’t have a better guest than Dr. Mark Zandi. He’s chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs economic research, and he’s a recognized and trusted voice through his many appearances on major news media outlets like CNBC, NPR, Meet the Press, CNN, not to mention frequent testimony before Congress.

The Editorial Board, edited by longtime newspaper veteran John Stoehr (@johnastoehr), publishes articles designed to make you think. You may agree, disagree, or find yourself alternating between the two. And that's the idea. John and Matt talk about what the recall of Chesa Boudin really means, why the media narrative about it (and a lot of things) isn't quite right, whether more democracy is the cure for what ails many of our failing government systems, and our ambivalent relationship with Twitter. 

Before and after our great discussion with legal expert Kim Wehle about her new book featured in our last pod, we talked a bit about the January 6 investigation (which Kim has written extensively about) and whether the Administration can deem the Equal Rights Amendment as enacted right now (and whether they should!) which Matt is writing about in an article due out this week. 

Our guest today may be the bravest woman in America, because she has the gumption to argue that we could all learn a thing or two from lawyers, and in fact, if YOU could think more like a lawyer, you’d make better decisions and be happier. Her new book is called “How to Think Like a Lawyer – and Why.” Kim Wehle is a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a former Assistant US Attorney and you may recognize her not only from her work as a CBS News legal analyst, but also her appearances on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, BBC, NPR and here as our previous guest on Beyond Politics. 

Matt joins legendary West Virginia radio host Howard Monroe to talk about the public hearings starting this week about the insurrection.  What can we expect, will evidence come out that leads to indicting Donald Trump, and if not, what will the committee actually accomplish when they take this to prime time?