Hi Gov20 Friends (and Professor Pitney)!


I hope everyone's studying has been going well so far. As I realized that this may be the last time some of us will be in a gov class for a while, I wanted to leave you with an easy way to keep up with politics. Podcasts are a great way to get a week's worth of news in an hour, especially if you find yourself struggling to find the time to check the news and read articles every day. Here are my top five:


1) Keepin' it 1600 (The Ringer): twice-weekly recap of politics and major world events, hosted by the "Obama Bros" Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Dan Pfeifer, and Jon Lovett. They often have a quick interview at the end with a political writer or democratic candidate.
2) The Weeds (Vox): weekly political recap hosted by Ezra Klein, Matt Ygelsias, and Sarah Kliff. The second half of each podcast discusses an interesting research topic, generally the subject of an NBER white paper.
3) POLITICO'S 2016 Nerdcast: just starting to get into this one, but if you feel like you need a more reputable source of information for your political knowledge, you can feel extra safe with this one.
4) Slate's Political Gabfest: similar to Keepin' it 1600, but I've found that you get a less one-sided view on topics because of the hosts, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and Emily Bazelon. These three have stronger academic backgrounds, broader career experience, and simply more years under their belt than the Obama bros. Additionally, they all have careers in the media rather than politics directly, so the show has a different feel with stronger discourse.
5) FiveThirtyEight's Politics: Without a horserace to report on any longer, this show is beginning to take a new shape. Generally drops once a week, and they try to stay true to data-based reporting for your fill of approval ratings, vote counts, and general math-y interests.


A few non-news Podcasts to check out:


1) More Perfect (Radiolab) Slate's Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick: If you have any interest in law or the Supreme Court (or you like human interest pieces) LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST. I'm telling you ahead of time to prepare yourself that this a mini series with only eight episodes, but you will still be sad when you get to the end. Each episode focuses on a different court case or specific topic acutely linked to the SCOTUS. @SophiaHelland, I know you've taken an interest in tribal courts and laws related to Native Americans, so there is an episode in here for you!
2) The Ezra Klein Show (Vox): Interviews with cool people doing cool things. Tend to run long (hour to hour and a half). Drops weekly. There are spells (especially election season) where guests are always political, but the guest list has a huge range and even with political guests the conversations go in a million directions. If you don't know what you're doing with your life, I guarantee you will hear an interview with someone that will make you want to do exactly what that person is doing.
3) The Axe Files with David Axelrod. Also interviews. Mostly political (and long). Axelrod is a former Obama campaign manager and advisor who currently runs Chicago's Institute of Politics (sometimes I wish we had this, but then I realize that all of CMC functions as an institute of politics).
4) Revisionist History w/ Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell is the kind of person who sinks his teeth into a conclusion and makes the story fit, which can make for interesting post-podcast debate (see the episode trashing Bowdoin for having fancy food & sub-par financial aid while praising Vassar for terrible dorms and lots of socioeconomic diversity). Now that he has academic clout (and tons of $$) he also gets to pick REALLY random topics to pursue, so pick and chose your episodes carefully.
5) HKS PolicyCast and The Brookings Cafeteria: both very nerdy, both SHORT (30 min or less)! Brief and informal conversations where brilliant people tell you how they fell about the world's most pressing problems.




Lastly, CMC has its own awesome podcast, Free Food for Thought, where CMC students interview Ath speakers. One downside of the Athenaeum Q&A portion is that the questions tend to be career-specific about certain policies or current events.  The podcast solves this problem by asking Ath Speakers more personal questions about their lives and how they came to find the jobs they love. FFFT has an interesting approach of asking a few staple questions to each interviewee, so while there is less of a conversational feel to the podcast, the episodes have a unifying theme. If you're interested in getting involved, reach out to Shivani Pandya (before she goes to the D.C. prog.), Kate Ridenour, Wes Edwards, Zach Wong, or Skip W-G.