Episode #325: Biden and History (Part 3)

With Joe Biden beginning the process of selecting a running mate, Chris Lehane, Al Gore’s press secretary during the 2000 election, weighs the usual pluses and minuses nominees look for in picking a VP. But he says that Biden’s age and the coronavirus pandemic make the decision more important than ever.

Curt Smith has written a wonderful book on the love affair between politics and baseball — two things we desperately are lacking in this time of crisis.

And we go back 20 years when federal agents forcibly take Elian Gonzalez from his extended family’s home in Miami to return the six-year-old boy to his father in Cuba. And, as pollster Fernand Amandi argues, it was Al Gore who paid a political price for the incident.

Music used in this podcast:

Bang And Blame by R.E.M.

We Gotta Get You a Woman by Todd Rundgren

The Baseball Song by Corey Smith

Runnin’ Down a Dream by Tom Petty

Elian Gonzalez by OXY*More*ON