The Think Tank with Mike O'Neil

This week it was the Republican’s turn as they nominated Donald Trump for another term as President.

Republican Consultant Paul Bentz (twitter.com/prbentz) spent the week culling the convention speeches for the most illustrative audio clips.

We start with the question: “To what extent will the story of the Trump speech be that the President held a nearly 2,000-person event on the front lawn of the White House in the middle of a pandemic? No masks, no virus checks, no social distancing? He no doubt fed off the applause of the adoring crowd. But how will this play with a population that is being admonished wear a mask in public? We discuss all the issues. 

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Joe Biden’s DNC Convention
The Democrats nominated Joe Biden this week in the first-ever virtual convention.
Rick DeGraw is a longtime Democratic politico and was a delegate at two prior (in-person) Democratic National Conventions. His perspectives are both interesting and insightful. We dissect the convention and explore the following:
• What worked—and what didn’t work—in this virtual convention.

• Who shone (and who bombed) among the “supporting cast”: the Republicans, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris, and the ordinary citizens who were featured during the convention. 

• How did Joe Biden’s speech work.  Did he dispel the “Sleepy Joe” moniker Donald Trump has tried to put on him?

We also present some of the best and illustrative sound clips from several of these speakers. So if you didn’t see much of the convention, you can hear some of its best moments. In our final segment, we assess: 

• What will the Republicans do differently as a result of seeing how the Democrats put together the first-ever first virtual convention

• Do we expect the Democrats will get the traditional convention “bump?

• Was the whole socially distanced Zoom convention an advertisement for the Trump Administrations failure to deal with Covid?

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Our guests are longtime Phoenix political and legal reporter Steve Krafft and attorney and businessman Bob Frank.We consider several things that have loomed large in the news over the last few days:

· Pandemic relief negotiations broke down in Washington and President Trump issued a series of executive orders most legal analysts see as of dubious legality.

· Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his VP selection and the two appeared jointly. How did the rollout go?

· President Trump explicitly stated that he wanted to undermine the efficacy of mail-in voting and his Postmaster General issued a series of dictums that had the effect of slowing down the mail.

· President Trump also ordered the Census to complete its work by the end of September rather than the end of October. Census experts agreed that this would impair the accuracy of the Census. He also ordered that noncitizens not be counted (again of dubious legality and also unclear how it could be implemented given that the courts rejected his attempt to include a citizenship question on the Census)

This week’s Think Tank takes on some of the most contentious issues of the last several days with two highly astute observers of the political scene

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The Arizona Legislature has been in Republican hands for decades. That means that on most issues, all legislative decisions are made in the Republican caucus without any input from Democrats. To get in the game regularly, Democrats need at least a tie in either the Arizona House or the Arizona Senate. With a tie, or a slight Democratic margin, no legislation will pass without participation of both parties. So, our primary focus this week will be the prospect for this to happen. Our expert panel is Emily Ryan of Copper State Consulting, Doug Cole COO of Arizona HighGround, and Mike Noble of OH Predictive Insights.

After discussing these legislative prospects with Emily and Doug, Mike will present a review of recent polling in attempt to describe the “mood” of the Arizona electorate as it may impact these and other races. We'll also take on federal races.

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Mary Jo West was the first woman to anchor a prime time news broadcast in Phoenix. She anchored the news at Channel 10 (then KOOL-TV) from 1976 to 1982, and KTVK Channel 3 from 1983 to 1986. In between she did a stint anchoring a network CBS overnight show.

Then she left commercial television news and largely dropped from public view.

From the outside it looked glamorous. From the inside, it wasn’t as seamless as it appeared. Her co-anchor, Bill Close, was much older and a fixture in Phoenix broadcasting. And he, by all accounts, did not much appreciate sharing the anchor desk with a woman, especially a twenty-something woman.

Additionally, there was an extraordinary speech given in Congress last week. Congresswoman Alexandria Occasio-Cortez was rudely insulted by Cong Ted Yoho on the steps of the Capitol. You have probably heard about the incident and perhaps heard a short excerpt of this speech. But the full 10 minute speech is for the ages. Firstly, and certainly for the content of the speech. But also, as someone who has studied persuasion, this is one of the most powerful and artful rhetorical takedowns I have ever heard. She addresses not only the sexism underlying his remarks, but also takes apart his non-apology apology. This speech will be studied in rhetoric classes for many years. Regardless of your political persuasion, it is worth hearing for that reason alone. We play the speech in its entirety and then listen to Mary Jo’s reaction to it.

Television news, sexism, career and life choices, all in this week’s Think Tank.

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We are in the middle of a pandemic. But are kids have been out of school for approaching six months. Education is essential, but at what risk? Are online learning options viable? What choices do we have and what are the health and educational implications?

This week’s Think Tank brings together some of Arizona’s key educational actors to discuss. Dr. Donna Lewis, the Superintendent of the Creighton Elementary School District, and President of the Arizona School Administrators, which represents school administrators, superintendents, and principals. Chris Kotterman, Governmental Relations Director, Arizona School Boards Association, an organization that represents school governing boards. And Joe Thomas, President Arizona Education Association  that represents teachers and other educators.

We discuss issues involved with opening Arizona schools including under what circumstances our should schools open, whose decision it is, and if schools are prepared to open.

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Marty Shultz has been a fixture in matters of public affairs for over four decades.  A true “mover and shaker” in the Valley, he has worked with at least eight Arizona governors on issues ranging from transportation, to education, to social services.  He was a VP of Arizona Public Service for most of his career and recently retired from a second career. As a retiree, he promises he can speak freely.  And as someone who was truly on the “inside” when many of the most important issues this state has faced over the last half century, he truly has a valuable perspective on many issues.

Few people in the state have been as intimately involved in as many of the most important issues Arizona has faced as has Marty Shultz. He will share his thoughts on the state of Leadership in Arizona, and on some of the issues he has been involved in shaping, notably transportation, education, human services, and water issues.  And, notably, the recent actions of his longtime former employer, Arizona Public Service.

And, we introduce a new feature in the Think Tank this week, a guest commentary. This week we hear from Julie Erfle.

This is truly a “don’t miss” episode of the Think Tank.

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This week the Think Tank evaluates the effectiveness of some of the most noteworthy political ads of 2020.  Our guests are Democratic political adman Bob Grossfeld of The Media Guys and Republican political strategist Chuck Coughlin of Arizona Highground.

We take a look at the Presidential and Arizona US Senate campaigns and play some of the best and worst ads of 2020  as selected by our guests. We discuss why they think these ads are or are not effective.

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Our guests in this week’s Think Tank are two of the most astute and informed observers of the American legal system: Paul Bender and Paul Charlton. They join Mike O'Neil to discuss several recent legal actions that have presented fundamental questions involving the even-handed administration of the law in this country. (Originally aired May 16th, 2020)

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