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Bloomberg Politics Debuts Two New Biweekly Podcasts

January 15, 2016 By WHC Insider

“Masters in Politics” will be hosted by Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin
“Culture Caucus” will be hosted by John Heilemann and Will Leitch

Bloomberg Politics today announced the debut of two new podcasts as 2016 presidential primary voting begins.“Masters in Politics” will be hosted by veteran Washington journalists Tammy Haddad, former executive producer of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” and Betsy Fischer Martin, former executive producer of NBC’s “Meet the Press.” In their biweekly podcast, Haddad and Fischer Martin will explore the high-stakes world of politics from the modern masters in politics themselves: the candidates, strategists and fellow journalists on the campaign trail. The podcast will also include regular reporting and analysis from Bloomberg journalists.The debut episode will feature Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush along with renowned Bloomberg Politics & Des Moines Register pollster J. Ann Selzer, who will share her insights on the mood of the voters in this volatile election season. This first podcast will be released online on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Bloomberg Politics will also launch “Culture Caucus” — a new podcast hosted by Bloomberg Politics Managing Editor John Heilemann and Bloomberg Politics contributor Will Leitch. Together they will explore the intersection of politics and pop culture with special guest hosts and personalities from the worlds of politics, entertainment, tech, sports, business and beyond.

The first episode of “Culture Caucus” will post online on Friday, Jan. 15 and feature an extended discussion of the tumultuous state of late-night political comedy in the wake of Jon Stewart’s exit from “The Daily Show”‘ and Stephen Colbert’s move from Comedy Central to CBS — as well as an interview with legendary venture capitalist Fred Wilson, who provided the initial funding for Twitter, Kickstater and many other high-profile web start-ups. “Culture Caucus” will also air biweekly, posting online every other Friday at 10am ET.

These two new podcasts join Bloomberg Politics’ suite of multi-platform products for political coverage, including a news site, digital video, social media and a nightly political broadcast. The podcasts also come on the heels of Bloomberg Radio’s launch in Washington, D.C. last month.

“These podcasts are an exciting new step for us as we head towards the thick of the election season,” said Al Mayers, Global Head of Bloomberg TV & Radio. “‘With All Due Respect’ and Bloomberg Politics have already brought a new audience to Bloomberg Media, and we look forward to expanding that reach in the coming weeks.”

Bloomberg’s first “Masters” Podcast (“Masters in Business” hosted by Barry Ritholtz) looks at the people and ideas that shape markets and business. Other Bloomberg podcasts include “Odd Lots” on the hot topics in markets, finance and economics, with hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway; “Bloomberg Benchmark” focused on the global economy with hosts AkiIto, Tori Stilwell and Dan Moss; and “Deal of the Week,” on the biggest deals and M&A trends, with host Alex Sherman. They are all available on the Bloomberg Terminal, Soundcloud and iTunes and at http://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/.

Both Bloomberg Politics podcasts will be produced by Haddad Media and Feature Story News.

Read more via politico.com: Bloomberg Politics launches podcasts hosted by Tammy Haddad, Betsy Fischer Martin, Will Leitch, John Heilemann

Filed Under: News, Trail Talk, Washington Insider

Trail Talk with Senator Amy Klobuchar

September 18, 2015 By WHC Insider

No stranger to life on the campaign trail, two term Democratic Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, spoke to Trail Talk during a special gathering of Washington Women Technology Network.

Senator Klobuchar spoke frankly about the challenges facing women running for political office, especially when it comes to raising money in what has traditionally been a man’s world. She also shared stories about balancing life in the U.S. Senate with raising a teenage daughter and moving her family to Washington, D.C.

Getting a big laugh from the women in attendance, Senator Klobuchar described how her daughter Abigail coined the term “submarine mom” (vs. “helicopter mom”) to describe her parenting style: “Lurking below the surface and coming up unexpectedly.”

And since the previous evening’s CNN debate featuring Republican presidential hopefuls was the talk of the afternoon, Senator Klobuchar weighed in on the GOP field, Donald Trump, and her own party’s nomination battle between Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Download the Trail Talk Podcast from this event on AudioBoom or iTunes.

Read more about the event via washingtonpost.com: Sen. Amy Klobuchar calls her new memoir ‘the anti-Trump book’

Filed Under: Trail Talk, Washington Insider, WWTN

Jeb Bush, Jr. on his father’s debate performance

August 7, 2015 By WHC Insider

https://whcinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Jeb-2.m4a

Betsy Fischer Martin spoke with Jeb Bush, Jr. about his father’s performance during the Republican presidential candidate debate. “Mom and I were a bit nervous. Dad’s been working really hard, we’ve all been working hard. Dad’s extremely passionate about the country and it feels like he is uniquely qualified to serve as president.”

When asked about Trump: “The guy with the crazy hair? He was good, a little entertainment, but would love to see him talk about more policy.”

Filed Under: 2016 election, News, Trail Talk

A WHCInsider/Trail Talk Podcast Exclusive With Rubio’s Todd Harris

August 7, 2015 By WHC Insider

Todd Harris, Marco Rubio Campaign Senior Adviser, gave an exclusive interview to Betsy Fischer Martin in Spin Alley following the first Republican presidential debate.

He was pleased with Rubio’s performance: “Only one candidate who had a positive vision for the future.”

He did not think Rubio should have gone after Donald Trump saying this election is about a “conversation between candidates and primary voters.”

Harris, a veteran campaign strategist, commented that he would have advised Trump to come to the debate with more substantive answers.

Filed Under: 2016 election, News, Trail Talk

Q & A with Governor Bobby Jindal after the GOP Presidential Debate

August 6, 2015 By WHC Insider

https://whcinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/JINDALFINAL.mp3

GOVERNOR BOBBY JINDAL: Hey how are you?

BETSY FISCHER MARTIN: What question would you ask Jeb Bush tonight?

JINDAL: I would ask him why he thinks we need to abandon our principles – why not instead embrace our principles. Why would he advocate doing that when it hasn’t worked before for the party? He said you have to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general – that hasn’t worked. Why does he think it would actually work? Why does he think it’s smart to double down on amnesty and why does he think we need to hide our conservative beliefs – when it seems to me that voters are looking for a real alternative to this president and his path toward socialism.

BFM: And what about Trump – do you have a question for him?

JINDAL: I’ll let the moderators…maybe I shouldn’t have answered your first question. (laughter) I am sure the Fox moderators are more than capable of coming up with great questions. I’ll say this about Trump: He has tapped in folk’s frustration with political correctness. I think that the donors and party leaders in DC need to put down sharp objects, get away from the windows, they need to calm down. The reality is the American voters will pick our nominee and our president — not the donors not the party leaders — and the more they attack him, the more they strengthen him. The reality is that he has tapped into the frustration that people have with political correctness. At the end of the day, I think I am going to the be nominee and I am going to be the next president because I have that bandwidth and that backbone that voters are looking for. And any attempt to try to clear the field or appoint a candidate is going to backfire. I think that donors and party leaders just need to take a deep deep breath, relax, it’s summer – there is a long way to go in this process.

BFM: Thanks, Bobby.

Filed Under: 2016 election, News, Trail Talk

Trail Talk Podcast: Senator Ted Cruz

July 18, 2015 By WHC Insider

For the latest episode of the Trail Talk Podcast, Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin spoke with Senator Ted Cruz. Download the podcast on AudioBoom or iTunes.

FISCHER MARTIN: We are delighted to welcome Senator Ted Cruz, who was actually the first Republican to enter this crowded Republican field of candidates vying for the White House. He is known for stirring up Washington and he now has a new book called “The Time for Truth”. So now, Senator, with a new book out it really is official that you’re running.

SENATOR CRUZ: (Laughter) Well, we’re certainly running hard and we’re having a lot of fun, as well, and it’s been great that the book has been selling a lot of copies. So that’s been – It’s been enjoyable telling my story. I try in the book not to do a typical campaign book, where, you know, so often they are ghost written and you kind of wonder whether the candidate has even read them.

FISCHER MARTIN: Right.

SENATOR CRUZ: This is very much my story going back to my grandparents and going through my father being imprisoned and tortured in Cuba and fleeing to America. You know, telling the story of my mother standing up to her Irish father, who was an alcoholic, and, who did not think women should be educated, and my mom stood up to her dad and became the first person in her family to go to college and so I try to really share a personal journey that I hope is interesting and compelling. And at the same time describe really what’s happening behind-the-scenes, both at the US Supreme Court, where I was a law clerk and litigated in front of the court for over a decade, and in then in the United States Senate, and what really happens behind close doors in the Senate.

FISCHER MARTIN: And how was that process for you writing a book like this that, like you said, is just – deals with your personal history, your professional history – I know there were parts in there where you talked about learning some lessons about maybe being too cocky in Washington. What was that process like and what did you actually learn from that experience?

SENATOR CRUZ: It was great fun. It took about a year to write and I spent a lot of evenings, a lot of time on airplanes with the laptop writing and it was a lot of fun. I try to be candid and self-critical, not have it be just sort of a typical politician yammering, but an honest reflection of the journey and also a discussion of the challenges facing the country. It was also interesting to learn some history about my family. So for example, I spent time sitting down with my mom, sitting down with my dad, getting details of their history. One of the things that I never knew that I found out in the course of writing it, is that my mother’s uncle actually ran the numbers in Wilmington, Delaware. He’s a mobster.

HADDAD: Wow.

SENATOR CRUZ: And my mom’s grandmother used to carry the numbers between two soup pods that were nested, the smaller one would be full of soup, and then she’d put all the numbers in the big one on top and walk out down the street, little old lady, carrying all the numbers for the bookies.

FISCHER MARTIN: Wow. And now, you’re an official New York Times bestseller, I guess we should say.

HADDAD: Congratulations on that.

SENATOR CRUZ: Well thank you. That was an interesting saga because when the book first went on the market a couple weeks ago, it sold about 12,000 copies, which was the third bestseller in the country and so, we assumed when the list would came out, that if it was the number three seller, it would naturally be number three on the list.

FISCHER MARTIN: Right.

SENATOR CRUZ: Well the list came out and it wasn’t in the top 20 and 18 of the 20 books on the list sold fewer books, and most of them a lot fewer books, than mine did and we inquired of the Times why that was and they alleged that their evidence showed quote “strategic bulk purchases.” And my response – I called upon them, well, release your evidence.

FISCHER MARTIN: Does that mean when people have a group that they’re speaking to, they buy x amount of books?

SENATOR CRUZ: Right, and there have been allegations in the past that some politician goes and surreptitiously buys 5,000 copies of his book to drive up his numbers.

FISCHER MARTIN: Right, exactly.

SENATOR CRUZ: We didn’t do anything like that to drive up the numbers and so I said, “Look this is a falsehood. If you have evidence, produce the evidence and if you don’t, then issue an apology for imputing our integrity.” What was interesting was what happened afterwards, which is my publisher, HarperCollins, put out a statement that they had investigated the sales and they saw no evidence of bulk purchases and then right after that, Amazon put out a statement and they saw no evidence of bulk purchases and then Barnes and Noble put out a statement. And it really was remarkable for major players in the publishing industry to take on the New York Times is – is something unprecedented.

HADDAD: Have you called the editor? You should call the editor and ask them directly. If they got a call from you, maybe they’d give you a different answer.

SENATOR CRUZ: What I did call for yesterday – So they listed it this week …

FISCHER MARTIN: Right.

SENATOR CRUZ: …with no explanation, it just appeared on the list this week but they haven’t admitted that what they were saying was false. So what I did call on yesterday was for the Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan, to investigate their methodology. The New York Times is supposed to be a journalistic outlet. Either they have some evidence that HarperCollins, Amazon, Barnes and Noble couldn’t find, in which case, make it public. Or if they don’t, if they were deliberately lying, that is a very troubling thing for a journalistic enterprise, and a real violation of journalistic ethics. So one way or another, seems to me that we ought to focus on it, particularly because it’s been interesting how many conservative authors have reported the same thing, that they get left off the list or they get ranked much lower than their sales deserve, and that the ideological and partisan bias of the Times comes out.

HADDAD: But now we have to turn to Donald Trump because you had a meeting, which had everyone talking about this week. How did that meeting come about?

SENATOR CRUZ: Oh it was terrific. We had been talking about getting together for some time. In fact, it had been scheduled to occur before he announced for president and we were going to get together and then I got stuck in Washington for votes and so we had to reschedule the meeting. And I’ve gotten together with Donald several times. He’s a friend, he’s someone I like and respect and that’s something I’ve tried to do with a number of the 2016 candidates. Quite a few of them are friends of mine and I think it’s beneficial to have real friendships and treat everyone with respect and so that’s how I’ve tried to treat everyone in the field.

FISCHER MARTIN: But I remember in the spring, which is why I was kind of perplexed when I saw that you were meeting with him and that he was saying since you were born in Canada, questioning your ability to be president…

HADDAD: A birther charge against you!

SENATOR CRUZ: At the end of the day, I do my best to focus on the issues and the substance and particularly in the past couple weeks, I have endeavored to defend Donald. I think a lot of the Republicans candidates have been jumping on their high horse and smacking Donald with sticks and I am not going to go down that road. In fact, I have saluted him for focusing on the issues of illegal immigration and the safety and crime issues that flow from them, which I think a lot of the other candidates don’t want to talk about.

HADDAD: But hold on a second because we’ve got this debate coming up and you know, Donald Trump is taking all the media oxygen and the poll numbers. So what if you’re number 11 and Fox doesn’t let you in? And part of it is because you helped Donald Trump because Senator Cruz with Donald Trump, you know, is a much bigger headline than Donald Trump just going up to New Hampshire.

SENATOR CRUZ:At the end of the day, I’m not concerned about that. We’ve got incredible support. Look one of the best indications of that is the political news that broke this week, which is all the candidates file their fundraising reports. And out of 16 Republican candidates, do you know where we fell in terms of raising hard money for the campaign?

HADDAD: Top of the list.

SENATOR CRUZ: We were number one on the list. Raised 14.3 million dollars. Number two is Jeb Bush at $11.4 and you know, I gotta say if three months ago I had sat down with you guys and suggested we were going to out-raise Jeb Bush, you’d have thought I was nuts. And frankly, it would have been nuts to suggest that. I was really astonished that that’s what our supporters were able to accomplish. But what it consisted of was over 175,000 contributions. People from all fifty states, all five territories, going to Ted Cruz.org, making contributions. The average contribution was $81. You know one of the most amazing statistics is that we have one or more Cruz donors in roughly half the zip codes in America, 48.1%.

FISCHER MARTIN: But you have somebody like Donald Trump that can just write his own check and doesn’t have to rely on people’s support. Does that trouble you at all?

SENATOR CRUZ: Well that’s true but if you look in past elections, there has not been a tremendous record of success for self-funded candidates and the support from the people, in our instance, in roughly half of the zip codes in America having supporters who are going to TedCruz.org or contributing online, that’s meaningful. Every one of those who contributes, they’re going to knock on doors, they’re going to tell other people, they’re going to get online, they’re going to speak out, and they’re going to vote. That’s exactly how I got elected to the Senate was building a grassroots army and it’s encouraging to see the level of support. And even the second piece, on the fundraising side. Obviously everyone has a super PAC. Jeb’s shattered every record ever set. He raised over 100 million dollars. But in second place, on the Super PAC, was ours with 38 million dollars, which puts us at $52 overall. That’s really gratifying because what it means is we’re going to have the resources to go the distance and that’s really a game changing impact. If you think back to 2012. In 2012, Republican primary voters desperately wanted a more conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. So you saw one candidate after another, after another, pop up at the top of the polls.

FISCHER MARTIN: Right.

SENATOR CRUZ: The problem was, none of them could raise significant money, so whenever they did, they’d get hit with ten million attack ads and they’d be roadkill.

FISCHER MARTIN: ..and they’d have to drop out.

SENATOR CRUZ: Yeah. We have not seen a true grassroots movement conservative with serious fundraising ability since 1980, since Ronald Reagan was the last time we had a candidate who could do both. And that is a very, very encouraging development for 2016.

FISCHER MARTIN: But back to the debates for a minute though because I know one of the top people in your campaign sent reportedly a letter to the other candidates expressing some concern over the Fox News process of how they’re considering people be admitted in the debates, the polling, etc. What is your concern exactly with the process?

SENATOR CRUZ: Well, listen, under any of the measures we’re comfortably in the debates, so it’s not a focus of whether we make the cut or not because we’re easily there.

FISCHER MARTIN: Right, so why are you getting involved in..

SENATOR CRUZ: Because if national polls are going to be used to exclude some candidates, which is questionable on its face, then they ought to at least be polls with some indicia of reliability. And so what our head of data analytics reached out to the pollsters on the other campaigns and suggested is that it we agree on some common criteria for what would be a reliable poll. You know some of these polls that are put out nationally have a tiny sample size, have really poor methodology, which on a scientific matter they are not very reliable.

FISCHER MARTIN: [cross-talk] Oh yeah, and robo polls and all the rest. Right. But Fox News didn’t seem to be too receptive to your concerns. One of the executives there said, “I can’t wait till Ted Cruz is president so he can tell all the networks how to run their business.”

SENATOR CRUZ: Well, you know, I guess it wasn’t terribly encouraging that when we were asking that any polls relied on actually be reliable, you would think that a journalistic enterprise would welcome that suggestion.

FISCHER MARTIN: Has the party handled this whole debate process the right way this year?

SENATOR CRUZ: Well, look. I’m a believer in let a thousand flowers bloom and allow people to participate and debate, including some of those who, you know, may have very low support, but they’re people that I like and respect –

FISCHER MARTIN: So you think you could have – you wouldn’t have a problem having 16 people on the stage?

SENATOR CRUZ: You know I understand why they’ve done it but I think we ought to – we ought to be empowering the grassroots. From our end, what I’m really focusing on is continuing to do what we’ve done from the beginning, which is energizing and mobilizing the grassroots and the single thing that has been most encouraging is the level of excitement and passion we’re seeing on the ground in the early primary states – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. When we launched the campaign and we went on a barnstorming tour, everywhere we went we had standing room only crowds. The local press was reporting the crowds coming out for us were much larger, sometimes double the size of any other candidate. That is a very encouraging thing.

FISCHER MARTIN: Well to that end, on the conservatives and sort of the religious conservatives, I know you’ve said that you thought 2016, now especially with the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, was going to be the religious liberty election. And you’ve also said that you’ve felt some of your fellow candidates, you’ve been sad watching them on that issue because you thought they were running for the hills. Who are you specifically disappointed with on that?

SENATOR CRUZ: Well, there has been a real divide and I think religious liberty is a fundamental commitment that is part of who we are. This is a nation – we were founded by men and women who were fleeing religious oppression and were coming to a land where every one of us could worship God with all of our hearts, minds and souls without the government getting in the way. We are seeing on assault, on religious liberty from the federal government on an unprecedented level and I think it’s unfortunate that there are far too many Republicans who are unwilling to stand up and defend religious liberty. From my perspective, defending religious liberty, whether I share the faith or not, defending religious liberty of every American to practice his or her faith and to live according to his or her faith and conscience, has been a passion of mine for over two decades. I’ve got a long record of fighting to defend religious liberty and it is disappointing that more than a few Republicans, for example, when the fight in Indiana over religious liberty was waging, more than a few Republicans chose not to stand up and defend our fundamental values.

HADDAD: Senator Cruz, I’m going to change the conversation around a little because I need your help on something. I have a 16 year old daughter who I want desperately to get into the debate club because I think her whole life would change if she learned how to debate and you’re own of the great debaters of all time, a great lawyer, a great litigator, great lawyer in the Supreme Court. Can you give me any advice on how to convince her to do that and are your kids in the debate club?

FISCHER MARTIN: They’re four. (laughter)

SENATOR CRUZ: Well my daughters are four and seven.

HADDAD: [cross talk] I don’t care. (laughter)

SENATOR CRUZ: So they’re not part of the formal debate club, but I’ll tell you my seven year old can argue just about anything and she is a born cynic, already. In fact, Caroline, my seven year old, she asks me when I get home, “Okay Daddy, how many states have you won?” (laughter)

FISCHER MARTIN: They’re keeping track!

SENATOR CRUZ: So you thought you guys in the media were tough, you should try my daughter Caroline.

HADDAD: That’s why I need your help.

SENATOR CRUZ: Well look, I found debate a wonderful learning experience in college. It was something that I spent a lot of time on. It really helped you understand issues, understand how to think, how to reason, how to persuade, understand people who disagree with you. That’s really an incredibly helpful skill is to understand those on the opposite side of an issue. One thing that might help, I mentioned my new book “A Time for Truth”, I actually talk quite a bit about the time I spent debating in college. It might be something your daughter would enjoy reading those portions and maybe even some of the other portions, as well, such as when I was clerking at the Supreme Court and what that was like.

FISCHER MARTIN: One of the big debates though that’s now going to be taking more center stage with this agreement that the president announced with Iran. You’re opposed to that but what exactly are you opposed to and why do you think that this agreement doesn’t prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?

SENATOR CRUZ: This Iranian nuclear agreement is one of the most catastrophic mistakes in foreign policy and I believe it poses a profound threat to our national security. It does a number of things. Number one, it ensures and accelerates Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. It allows Iran to keep every single centrifuge that they have and to keep quite a few of them still spinning. It allows them to keep much of their enriched uranium. It does nothing to stop their ICBM program, which exists for one purpose and purpose only, and that’s to carry a nuclear warhead to the United States of America. And it does nothing to stop Iran from remaining the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. So a number of things will happen if this deal goes through and I very much hope that it does not. I hope that the Congress stops it.

FISCHER MARTIN: What can you do to stop it?

SENATOR CRUZ: Well for the next 60 days – We have 60 days to debate it and I expect near the end of that 60 days we will vote on a resolution of disapproval. Unfortunately, the way the Congressional Review Act was written, the president can veto a resolution of disapproval, which means we need two-thirds in the Senate and two-thirds in the House to stop this terrible deal. I intend to do everything I can and energize and mobilize the American people to call on our elected officials, in particular to call on Democrats to value national security and the safety and lives of American citizens more than simple partisan loyalty to the Obama White House.

You know two days ago I was on a panel discussion with former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman and Joe emphatically agreed with me that this deal was catastrophically dangerous both for America and for Israel and a point that I made in that discussion is that the – you know I said, I hope that in the next 60 days, we see arise more Lieberman Democrats. You know there was a time when you had Scoop Jackson Democrats. You had people like JFK who were Democrats who took national security seriously, were willing to stand up as JFK was to the communists. That is largely extinct among today’s congressional Democrats. I hope that they can get back to what should be the first priority for any elected official, and that is protecting the national security of this country because if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it is a nation that is led by theocratic zealots who lead chants of death to America and who glorify death and suicide. The odds are unacceptably high, Iran would use a nuclear weapon, and what we know to an absolutely certainty, if this Obama nuclear deal goes through, billions of dollars will flow into Iran and they will use that money to give it to Hezbollah, to Hamas, to the Houthis, to radical Islamic terrorists across the globe. If this deal is implemented, and this is not hyperbole, the Obama administration will become the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorists of jihadists who will murder Americans, who will murder Israelis, who will murder Europeans. It makes no sense whatsoever and I hope we stop it.

FISCHER MARTIN: And what if in 2017 President Cruz is in office, the deal has gone through, what does President Cruz then do?

SENATOR CRUZ: Well I think that is a very serious question – if Congress does not stop this deal, I think it will be the single greatest challenge a new president in January 2017 will confront because it is very likely that a new president, when he or she sits down in the Oval Office for the first security briefing, we’ll be told that Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons and because President Obama unraveled the international consensus on sanctions, sanctions will no longer be an effective tool. Because even if you wanted to reimpose sanctions, it would take months or even years, if ever, to bring foreign countries back together in an effective sanctions regime, which means that tool President Obama is effectively taking away from the next president. I think it is likely the next president will be advised in January of 2017, you have two and only two choices: Either you acquiesce Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon or direct military action must be used to take it out. I think that’s unfortunate, but that’s what President Obama is forcing –

FISCHER MARTIN: And President Cruz would entertain a direct military –

SENATOR CRUZ: Under no circumstances would I allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and I believe any responsible commander-in-chief should be prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons because if they acquired those weapons, the odds are unacceptably high that they would use them in the skies of Tel Aviv or New York or Los Angeles, that getting this decision wrong could result in the deaths of millions of Americans and in fact, it’s even worse than that. One of the greatest threats of an Iranian nuke is if they had one nuclear warhead and they put it on a ship anywhere off the Atlantic seaboard and they fired it on a missile straight up in the air into the atmosphere and detonated a nuclear weapon, it would set off what is known as an electromagnetic pulse, an EMP, which would take down the electrical grid for the entire eastern seaboard. The projections are that tens of millions of Americans would die, as they are unable to get food and water and the basic foodstuffs of life. That’s the threat President Obama’s nuclear deal provides and anyone who is remotely qualified to be commander-in-chief needs to be prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent a threat that could cost the lives of tens of millions of Americans.

HADDAD: Thank you Senator Cruz. We appreciate you being on Trail Talk.

SENATOR CRUZ: Well thank you for having me. I’ve enjoyed it.

HADDAD: I’m Tammy Haddad here with Betsy Fischer Martin. Special thanks to Senator Ted Cruz for being with us today on Trail Talk. Also we want to thank Feature Story News, our production partner and our friend, Rob Flynn. Remember you can follow us on @TrailTalkPod right on Twitter.

Filed Under: Trail Talk, Washington Insider

Trail Talk Podcast Launch Party with Bob Shrum and Rob Collins

June 5, 2015 By WHC Insider

Trail Talk Podcast

If noted Democratic strategist and campaign veteran Bob Shrum was invited into the Hillary Clinton campaign war room, he would offer up some sage advice: “Get on with it!”

With the latest polls showing the Democratic front-runner’s unfavorable ratings up to 50% and an increasing number of voters telling pollsters that she is not honest and trustworthy, Shrum told a special live edition of TRAIL TALK (@TrailTalkPod) that “a lot of people thought that Hillary Clinton was vaccinated against scandal stories – that voters after 23 years of these things just didn’t care and wouldn’t pay attention. Well, it looks like they might care and they are paying attention. I think that was compounded by the fact that the soft launch of her campaign, which I thought was smart, went on way too long and left a vacuum. And in that vacuum, we talked about emails and we talked about the Clinton Foundation. What she has to do right now is set out a vision for the future, a vision for the country, and she has to energize herself and energize voters.”

Also featured on the live podcast, held at Georgetown’s Dog Tag Bakery to celebrate the official launch last month of TRAIL TALK by former TV Producers Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin, Republican strategist and former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee Rob Collins agreed and noted that Hillary Clinton’s lack of accessibility could prove to be problematic when compared to the largely talkative Republican field. “I can’t identify a candidate on our side who has a desire to not talk to press the way we see with Hillary, closing her bubble around her tight.”

Shrum and Collins also weighed in on the impact of Bill Clinton, the growing controversy over the Republican Presidential debate process, the role of Super PACs, and whether a high-profile political figure could throw his/her hat into the ring to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Download the full broadcast on AudioBoom or iTunes.

Filed Under: News, Trail Talk, Washington Insider

Trail Talk Podcast Launch Party

June 3, 2015 By WHC Insider

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Rob Collins, former NRSC Executive Director, and Bob Shrum, former Democratic presidential campaign manager, will be the special guests for tonight’s launch party of the Trail Talk Podcast at Dog Tag Bakery.

Trail Talk was created by veteran TV producers Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin to feature up close news from the 2016 presidential campaign trail. Futures episodes will highlight strategists, journalists, lawmakers, pollsters and the candidates themselves, exploring what it takes to get elected, how policy decisions are made, and why it matters.

Look for a live stream of the podcast from tonight’s party at 7 pm ET on whcinsider.com.

Filed Under: News, Trail Talk, Washington Insider

Trail Talk: Highlights from Interview with Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina

May 19, 2015 By WHC Insider

For Episode 2 of Trail Talk, Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin spoke with presidential candidate Carly Fiorina. Following are excerpts of the interview where she discusses RNC debates, Hillary Clinton, her departure from HP, and being underestimated. Download the podcast on AudioBoom or iTunes.

ON BEING INCLUDED/EXCLUDED IN THE RNC DEBATES
MS. FISCHER MARTIN: Do you expect to be in the debates?
MS. FIORINA: I do.
MS. FISCHER MARTIN: And have you talked to the RNC about that, and what do you think the criteria, if anything, should be?
MS. FIORINA: I have not had a specific conversation with the RNC about that. It’s not something they’re prepared to talk to candidates about. They need to go through that, their decision-making process. But, I know what it feels like on the ground, and I know that we are, look, I’m not a professional politician, so a lot of people don’t even know who I am yet [chuckles].
MS. FISCHER MARTIN: Right, which is going to be hard when you’re polling with 15, 16 other people in a poll, there naturally is going to be a large group of people who are polling at 1 or 2 percent.
MS. FIORINA: That’s right.
MS. FISCHER MARTIN: And, if the RNC says, “We are going to cut it off at 5 percent,” how do you make the case or what do you do if you’re not included?
MS. FIORINA: Well, it’s May and my candidacy is ten days old.
MS. FISCHER MARTIN: So you expect to be higher in the polls by August.
MS. FIORINA: Of course.

ON HILLARY CLINTON AS A FORMIDABLE CANDIDATE
She’s a formidable woman, and she’ll be a formidable candidate. She will raise more money than anybody. She will have a great ground game, which the Democrat Party has built up over two election cycles. She’s hard working. She’s very smart.

ON HILLARY CLINTON AND TRUSTWORTHINESS
She has peddled fiction…the story about the server in her basement; I mean nobody believes that that was anything other than a purposeful attempt to shield her communications from people she didn’t think deserved to look at them. It’s inconceivable to most people that she didn’t consider it a conflict of interest when foreign governments are providing millions of dollars to her family’s foundation and paying her husband huge speaking fees while she is serving as Secretary of State. And despite an agreement to disclose all this, she did not disclose any of it. I mean people understand that that indicates a lack of transparency and trustworthiness.

ON BEING FIRED FROM HP
When you challenge the status quo, you make enemies. But leaders challenge the status quo. It’s their job. Managers operate within the status quo. Managers do the best they can within the existing system. And I would argue we got lots of politicians who are managers.

ON BEING UNDERESTIMATED
MS. HADDAD: Any lessons along the way you want to share?
MS. FIORINA: Well, actually I was a scared goody-two shoes, shy middle child. And [chuckles], you know, I started out as a secretary. And perhaps one of the things I’ve learned along the — I mean I’ve been underestimated all my life, starting as a secretary and ultimately becoming a chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, lots of people underestimated me along the way.

Filed Under: News, Trail Talk, Washington Insider

Trail Talk with Carly Fiorina

May 18, 2015 By WHC Insider

listen to ‘Trail Talk Episode 2: Conversation with Carly Fiorina’ on audioBoom

For Episode 2 of the Trail Talk Podcast, we spoke to Republican Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina from the campaign trail.

In a crowded field of candidates, Fiorina says she fully expects to be included in the first GOP debate later this summer and she defends her role as one of the sharpest critics of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. More personally, Fiorina talks about the leadership lessons that she learned from her rocky tenure as the CEO of HP and how she grew up from a “scared goody-two shoes, shy middle child” into a confident woman.

You can download Episode 2 on iTunes or AudioBoom and subscribe to future episodes via the Washington Insider Channel on iTunes or AudioBoom. If you missed our first episode with Sen. Lindsey Graham and the creator of House of Cards, Beau Willimon you can listen here.

Follow us on Twitter @TrailTalkPod!

Filed Under: News, Trail Talk, Washington Insider

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Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it, from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos.

Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and CEO of Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

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