Political Theater

In Political Theater, Jason Dick and the Roll Call team spotlight the spectacle, the players and what’s going on behind the curtain in Washington’s long-running drama: Congress.

  • 34 minutes 16 seconds
    Primary colors: Breaking down the latest congressional contests

    The races that will shape November's election continue to take shape now that we have primary results in Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska, with consequences at the House, Senate and even presidential level. Roll Call elections analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses those races and his latest Inside Elections ratings changes.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    16 May 2024, 1:15 am
  • 32 minutes 55 seconds
    How to get yourself on Roll Call's Most Vulnerable Incumbents list

    At Roll Call, we periodically update our list of most vulnerable senators and members of the House as we get closer to the election. It's a shifting list, and reflects a snapshot in political dynamics. So how does one land on the list? Roll Call campaign staff writers Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire join the Political Theater podcast to discuss.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    8 May 2024, 5:28 pm
  • 39 minutes 5 seconds
    Jan. 6, 2021 and the people who will never forget

    There is no way to spin being beaten and bloodied and scared. The history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is still being written, which is an important and massive undertaking. Not everyone wants to talk about the bear spray and broken windows. But the new documentary “The Sixth” by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine gives a fresh voice to some of the people on the ground and in the line of fire that day: police officers, a journalist, a congressional staffer, and a member of Congress. The film is from their perspectives; it’s a sense of what it felt like to be there.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    2 May 2024, 3:27 pm
  • 42 minutes 2 seconds
    Meanwhile, in non-Trump, non-impeachment and non-speaker news

    This has been a momentous week for politics. Jury selection started in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. The Senate dispensed with impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. And the House considers a foreign aid package that has made Speaker Mike Johnson a target of his unhappy colleagues. But beyond those headlines: FEC filings show us who raised how much for 2024's election; runoffs in Alabama and another trial that could affect New Jersey races. Roll Call campaigns editor Herb Jackson walks joins the podcast to discuss.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    19 April 2024, 9:00 am
  • 28 minutes 39 seconds
    ‘Food, Inc. 2’ filmmakers provide plenty to chew on

    People feel so passionately about food that perhaps it is not a surprise it has yielded that rarest of things: A sequel to a documentary. The makers of 2008’s “Food, Inc.,” are, as the new movie’s tagline goes, back for seconds with “Food, Inc. 2,” a multi-layered look at the food industry, its farmers, workers, scientists, journalists and more. Co-directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo are here to talk about it, from soup to nuts.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    11 April 2024, 4:49 pm
  • 28 minutes 49 seconds
    When the most powerful people get what they want, Ohio version

    What does it mean when both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and former President Donald Trump agree on the same candidate? Because that happened in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary. That was not the only win for the establishment, such as it is, during Tuesday’s elections. Roll Call campaign staff writer Daniela Altimari spent some quality time in Ohio recently, and she and Campaigns Editor Herb Jackson join the podcast to discuss the results in Ohio, Illinois and California.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    25 March 2024, 3:22 pm
  • 31 minutes 46 seconds
    The highs, lows and weirds of the White House beat

    Covering the White House is one of the most high-profile beats in politics. Covering the Trump, then the Biden White House, and starting during a pandemic and an election year makes it even more high profile. Roll Call Chief Correspondent Niels Lesniewski has been at the helm for a little over four years and shares his experiences as he prepares for a new assignment in the newsroom: The highlights, the lowlights and the weirdlights.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    14 March 2024, 10:36 pm
  • 39 minutes 51 seconds
    The changing 2024 Senate landscape

    Lost in this year’s highly competitive presidential nominating contest (sarcasm detector!) is the coming-at-you primaries for House and Senate that kicked off with a bang on Super Tuesday. We got some clarity about fall matchups in some high-profile races on that most special of Tuesdays, and some of that clarity came from folks who were not even facing the voters. With us to discuss is Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    7 March 2024, 4:25 pm
  • 34 minutes 13 seconds
    What we talk about when we talk about Super Tuesday

    Tuesdays can get a bad rap. Sometimes the best that can be said about them are that they're the day that's the furthest from next Monday. But not Super Tuesday! More than a quarter of the House of Representatives faces a primary race on March 5, and there are two high-profile Senate races as well. And while not all of Super Tuesday's races are competitive, there are major implications for November’s general election, especially in California, Texas, North Carolina and Alabama. We’ll discuss the major races and stories shaping up for Super Tuesday with Roll Call campaign reporters Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    28 February 2024, 4:04 pm
  • 30 minutes 4 seconds
    Exploring the inbetweenness of Taiwan

    S. Leo Chiang’s documentary films explore lives across continents and culture, from the first Vietnamese-American congressman to the first LGBT political party in the Philippines to a legendary Hawaiian ukulele player. His latest film, the documentary short “Island in Between,” has been nominated for an Academy Award. Its subject, Taiwan’s Kinmen Island and Chiang’s own relationship to his native Taiwan, couldn’t be more timely, in the wake of Taiwan’s recent presidential election and as Congress considers a foreign aid package with billions of dollars at stake for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    21 February 2024, 2:00 pm
  • 29 minutes 36 seconds
    One special place: New York’s 3rd Congressional District

    What’s not to like about political stories that encompass not only New York City, Queens specifically, but reach into Long Island’s northern shore in Nassau County. The special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos is over, with Democrat Tom Suozzi defeating Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip for the honor of representing the birthplace of Walt Whitman and the one-time home of F. Scott Fitzgerald when he was gathering string for “The Great Gatsby.” Roll Call Campaigns Staff Writer Mary Ellen McIntire and Inside Elections Deputy Editor Jacob Rubashkin take us on a tour.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    15 February 2024, 9:40 pm
  • More Episodes? Get the App
© MoonFM 2024. All rights reserved.