The midterm election that didn't. In 2002, With national security on the minds of voters and a poor message in opposition, the President's party gained seats in the House for the first time in a first-term Congressional election since FDR's time. George W. Bush's GOP also gained back the Senate.

But it's hard election to analyze. We'll try, with a little help from a former President.

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We've been podcasting for 20 years and Billy Paige has listened to the show for all of those years. We talk to him and other listeners in some special episodes in the next couple of months.

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Nixon's first presidential midterm election (the election in which the House and Senate would be up for election) would turn out to be his last, but no one knew it at the time. Nixon tried something Presidents hadn't tried and took off in Air Force One to boost GOP candidates and attack hippie "thugs" across the country. He hoped to reverse the midterm trend. He did not, and he blamed bad audio and unhelpful political science. He may have done better than he thought.

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This phrase may have been stated by a Pennsylvanian in the 1880's described as a "German." as we talk about in this episode about family, assimilation, education and immigration. But it's not so simple. There were many German Americans, and two types in particular stood out from and sometimes in contrast with each other.

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The island-hopping and Second-front hoping after Pearl Harbor did not bring FDR a reverse of the traditional midterm curse or a victory for his party. The GOP and anti FDR Democratic winners of this midterm would ensure there would be scrutiny of the war effort and that New Deal programs domestically would be ended. They would lay the seeds for Truman's difficult Presidency and the eventual GOP recapture of Congress and the White House.

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In the last episode of the series, we ask the question of where Reagan fits in today's politics, given that parties have shifted so much since his Presidency. We also summarize the series, and ask new questions.

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Starting with the Reykjavik Summit of 1986 and a fly on the wall view of the events there, we look at the pro-Reagan and anti-Reagan arguments regarding his role in the ending of the Cold War, and try to capture everything

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A TV show affects Reagan deeply. The question is often asked if Reagan won the Cold War. Usually, the only period examined is Reagan's second term. But if one looks at Reagan's first term, we see a perhaps unproductive stance and an unpopular hawkish stance that terrified many Americans and some allies, and was not helping to thaw the cold. Had the Presidency ended in 4 years, no significant progress could have been claimed. Yet one could aslo say Reagan was building a strategy while his adversaries had aging and sometimes ill leadership, and a few light moves were made.

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That's the State's Rights amendment, right? Ask just about anyone about the Tenth Amendment and they will say "States." States rights, powers, protections, limits to the Federal government. And they are right. Partially.

But the Tenth contains words at the very end reserving powers:

to the states

or to the people.

The last part is hardly ever discussed and has not been significantly litigated. But it seems illogical to ignore it, and understanding it could be the key to applying the amendment.

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Answering listener questions.

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Based on a listener question, POTUS and VPOTUS making speeches.

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