New York’s Andrew Cuomo is not the only Democratic governor with problems.  In California, Gavin Newsom is facing a recall, and by most accounts the proponents are going to have enough signatures to make it to the ballot. John Myers of the Los Angeles Times explains why Newsom is in trouble, how the recall works, and its similarities and differences with the California recall of 2003, when Gray Davis (D) was taken down.

With Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt having decided to retire next year, Steve Kraske of radio station KCUR in Kansas City offers his analysis of why Blunt is leaving and who — almost assuredly a Republican — will succeed him.

And Marvin Kalb — the former CBS and NBC newsman — remembers his friend Roger Mudd, the exemplary TV political journalist who died this week at the age of 93.  Mudd is most remembered for his question of Ted Kennedy in 1979 that hurt his presidential hopes, but the totality of Roger Mudd is far more than just that.

Music in this episode

Recall Me by The Predators

The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan

Real Love by Wendy Wall

Television Man by Talking Heads

We all agree that sexual harassment is bad, regardless of who is the accused.  The allegations against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, look bad.  The allegations against North Carolina congressman Madison Cawthorn, a Republican, look bad.  We have reports on the two by Chris Churchill, a political columnist at the Albany Times-Union, and Tom Fiedler, a journalist from Asheville, N.C.  Neither politician comes out looking especially good.  But a sidebar to these stories is that such allegations leveled against a Democrat will result in far more severe punishment by his own party than they would if the allegations were made against a Republican.  Some Dems are calling for Cuomo’s resignation; Cawthorn is continually heralded as a rising star.  In addition to the two situations, we ponder why the two parties see it differently.

We also have a report on the goings on last weekend at CPAC by Tim Denevi, who retells some of the craziness at the event, sizes up potential 2024 presidential hopefuls and, most significantly, assesses Donald Trump’s first major appearance since he left the White House.

Music in this episode

It Wasn’t Me by Chuck Berry

Hero Takes a Fall by the Bangles

Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane

They’re Coming to Take Me Away by Napolean XIV

 

Will a history of snarky tweets doom Joe Biden’s nominee for budget director?  Republicans who have tolerated and ignored Donald Trump’s daily outbursts are saying that the posts by Neera Tanden have made her an unacceptable person to head up the OMB.

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Trump vote to impeach and then convict, we talk to three journalists about the political consequences:  Liz Ruskin of Alaska Public Media on Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Bob Beck of Wyoming Public Radio on Rep. Liz Cheney, and Jeff Tiberii of North Carolina Public Radio on the retiring Sen. Richard Burr and the fight for his seat.

Music in this week’s podcas

Black by Sarah McLachlan

Dick Cheney by Roy Zimmerman

George Murphy by Tom Lehrer

I Said Brr, It’s Cold in Here by Clovers/East Compton

 

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has declared her candidacy for governor of Arkansas, hoping to follow in the footsteps of her father, Mike Huckabee, who also served in that office. Janine Parry of the University of Arkansas says that with a famous name and the likely backing of a former president, she may well be on her way to victory.

The impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins on Tuesday and by all indications there is little chance that the Senate will come up with 17 Republicans ready to vote to convict.  The New York Times’ Carl Hulse explores what’s at stake for now-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as well as for a party that seems to be torn over Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The rightwing shift of the GOP is felt not only in Washington but in Arizona, where the party recently censured the widow of John McCain, the current Republican governor, and a former Republican senator.  Ron Hansen of the Arizona Republic reflects on a party that has lost both Senate seats in the past two years and watched a Democrat, Joe Biden, carry the state for the first time since 1996.

And Howard Wilkinson of Cincinnati’s WVXU reports on the retirement of Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman and the fight to win his seat in 2022.

Music in this week’s program

Daughter by Pearl Jam

Impeach the President by The Honey Drippers

The Logical Song by Supertramp

Massive Attack by Angel

Out of Time by The Rolling Stones

Sara Smile by Hall and Oates

 

 

A somber look at January 2021, starting with President Trump’s attempt to get Georgia officials to rig the election in his favor, and continuing on with a Trump speech exhorting his followers to head to the Capitol, a melee that took five lives and rocked the foundation of democracy to its core, and ending with his impeachment for inciting an insurrection.  And now we wait for the inauguration of the nation’s 46th President, Joe Biden, and hoping against hope that there won’t be more mob violence.

The last time the nation’s capitol ever endured anything close to this came in 1954, when five Puerto Rican nationalists sprayed the House floor with bullets, injuring a handful of congressmen.  Former Pennsylvania Congressman Paul Kanjorski, who back in ’54 was a House page and happened to be on the floor when the shots rang out, talks about that harrowing moment.

Photo by Reuters.

Music in this episode

Problems by the Sex Pistols

A Mistake by Fiona Apple

 

Tuesday’s runoffs in Georgia will determine which party will control the Senate in the new Congress.  Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tells us what’s at stake and how early voting seems to be breaking all records.  The following day, Congress is going to vote on certifying Joe Biden’s victory.  Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, says he will vote no, arguing that rules were broken in several states.  And, besides, Democrats, such as Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, did the same thing in 2005 and no one made a big deal of it.  Well, Barbara Boxer is on the program this week to explain the vast differences between what she was trying to accomplish and what Hawley is doing.

Music in this episode

Don’t Stand So Close to Me by The Police

Know Your Enemy by Green Day

The Army Song by the United States Army Band

Bad Reputation by Joan Jett

Ron Elving joins Ken to talk about some of the political giants who died this year, most notably Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.

Music heard in this episode:

Abraham, Martin and John by Dion

Revolution 9 by The Beatles

I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R.

Good Night by The Beatles

 

The Electoral College had its constitutional say this week, and it ratified the November vote:  Joe Biden 306, President Trump 232.  No dissenters, no “faithless electors.”  This compares to the 2016 election, when two electors broke from Trump and five broke from Hillary Clinton.  Emily Conrad, author of the new book, “The Faithless: The Untold Story of the Electoral College,” spoke to several of the 2016 faithless and explains why they broke from their parties’ nominees.

And we delve into the archives for our 2016 conversation with Mike Padden, a 1976 Jerry Ford elector in Washington who decided to vote for Ronald Reagan and explains why.

Music in this episode

The Plot Against America opening theme (HBO)

I’m Not Running Away by Feist

Come A Little Bit Closer by Jay & the Americans

Change Your Mind by Sister Hazel

Donald Trump may have lost, but former Nebraska Congressman Hal Daub argues that the Republican Party did very well in the 2020 elections, winning seats they weren’t supposed to and surprising all the forecasts of a Blue Wave.

The recent death of David Dinkins, New York’s first and only African-American mayor, prompted a look not only at his record but of the past, present, and future of black politics in NYC.  Former New York State Comptroller Carl McCall conducts the tour.

Music in this week’s episode:

California Dreamin’ by The Mamas and Papas

Omaha by Waylon Jennings

Nixon’s the One by The Vic Caesar Orchestra

The City by Mark-Almond

Both political parties are focusing on the two Senate runoffs in Georgia on January 5th.  Wyche Fowler, a Georgia Democrat elected to the Senate in 1986, nearly won re-election in 1992 but because he fell a tad below the required 50 percent, he was forced into a runoff three weeks later … and he lost.  Fowler is on the Political Junkie this week with memories of that time, and offers differences and similarities to what is happening today.

Music in this week’s episode:

Particle Man by They Might Be Giants

The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan