Pro Politics with Zac McCrary Zac McCrary

Matt Robison has worn many political hats, among them working in numerous positions across Capitol Hill - including serving as Chief of Staff for three members. He also managed the successful 2012 upset re-election of Rep. John Tierney, after Tierney was named the GOP's top takeover opportunity that cycle. With roots in Manhattan, Matt had formative experiences in NYC public schools before a chance meeting with then Governor Bill Clinton in 1992 and an unlikey mentor at Harvard, nudged him to a career working in government. In this conversation, Matt talks his path to working in politics, goes deep on the best practices and unwritten rules of working on the Hill, and updates on his post-Hill life as a writer, radio host, and podcaster.


IN THIS EPISODE


How Matt's brief time in the NYC public school system informed his future outlook as a political operative...


Matt's memorable experience meeting Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign...


An unexpected political mentor and how Matt got his foot into the political door...


Matt successfully manages a Democratic House incumbent in 2012 who was the GOP's #1 target...


Matt's initial impressions of working on the Hill as a junior staffer...


Matt's best practices for running a Hill office...


The mistake Matt made as a Hill Chief that led to an attack ad against his member...


Why scheduling is the worst part of the job as a Hill Chief of Staff...


The one type of person Matt recommends never hiring as a Hill Chief...


Matt's advice for new Hill staffers...


Matt's take on the rise of unionized Hill offices...


Matt's estimate on the share of House members who are jerks...


Some of the most impressive members (both Dem & GOP) Matt saw during his time on the Hill...


Why Matt left the Hill after running three House offices...


Matt's "most interesting number in politics"...


Matt's current podcast, releasing three episodes a week...


Matt's strangest work habits...


AND Charlie Bass, Biafra, Lauren Boebert, Jeb Bradley, George HW Bush, Robert Caro, James Carville, General Comfort, Crash Davis, Mickey Edwards, David Gergen, Newt Gingrich, gross metaphors, half hugs, Paul Hodes, Rush Holt, Steny Hoyer, hybrid ads, illegal offshore gambling rings, Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, Gerry Kavanaugh, logistical nightmares, Nancy Mace, massive scandals, Chris Matthews, Mike Michaud, Mr. Miyagi, Tip O'Neill, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, personal mishegas, philosophical questions, Reagan Democrats, Stu Rothenberg, South Park, the stupidest law in America, John Tierney, Donald Trump, unhinged maniacs, wicked sore throats...& more!

Carlos Lozada is currently an Opinion columnist at The New York Times, after spending nearly 20 years at The Washington Post - where he earned the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for criticism as The Post's nonfiction book critic. He's also an author, with his second book -  The Washington Book - recently published: a collection of essays exploring what books by and about D.C. power players reveal about the people and political conflicts that define Washington. In this conversation, Carlos talks his path from Peru to South Bend to D.C., his accidental route to working in the press, some of his favorite Washington books and stories, and deeply mining his own insights into our current political moment.


IN THIS EPISODE


Carlos' personal journey from Lima, Peru to Washington D.C...


Carlos "gateway drug" books into the genre of Washington books...


How Carlos defines what exactly is a "Washington Book"...


Carlos weighs in on what he considers some of the earliest Washington Books...


Carlos' rave  review of the U.S. Grant memoir...


The place of All The President's Men in the pantheon of Washington Books...


Carlos' favorite cliches from presidential campaign memoirs...


The D.C. corridors of power that are undercovered in Washington Books...


The Washington Books that are purely exercises in settling scores...


Carlos compares the Donald Trump of 2016 to the Donald Trump of 2024...


The Washington Books that never were that Carlos would love to read...


What reading Vladimir Putin revealed to Carlos about the Russian leader...


Carlos' 101 on sharp essay-writing...


Carlos waxes nostalgic about the late Washinton Post Outlook Section...


AND The 1619 Project, Alexis de Tocqueville, all sorts of minutia, Jody Allen, the American Enterprise Institute, Carol Anderson, animating impulses, The Appalachian Trail, Appomattox, asymmetric polarization, Peter Baker, Steve Bannon, Bob Barnett, beleaguered officials, Joe Biden, Joan Biskupic, Kate Boo, George H.W. Bush, Robert Caro, Jimmy Carter, Jesus Christ, Julie Davis, drop-down menus, enabling environments, farm foremen, The Federal Reserve, Craig Fehrman, Foreign Policy magazine, full absorption, Susan Glasser, Garret Graff, Lindsay Graham, Alan Greenspan, Stephanie Grisham, Maggie Haberman, Susan Hennessey, Fiona Hill, Dustin Hoffman, holy crap anecdotes, David Ignatius, joining-ness, Jurassic Park, Bob Kaiser, Ibram X. Kendi, the Kerner Commission, Adam Kushner, Robert E. Lee, Joe Lieberman, Steve Luxenberg, Thomas Mann, David Maraniss, Mark Meadows, mid-level authoritarian regimes, military duds, Mark Milley, Robert Moses, Robert Mueller, murdered darlings, murky institutions, The New York Review of Books, Kirstjen Nielsen, Notre Dame, Barack Obama, obligatory campaign memoirs, obscene crescendos, Norm Ornstein, parallel histories, the paralysis of power, George Pataki, Tim Pawlenty, policy wonks, John Pomfret, Robert Redford, Marco Rubio, Mark Sanford, Michael Schaffer, Brent Scowcroft, Michael Shear, silent Moscow, John Sununu, Barton Swaim, targeted excerpts, Mark Twain, Mario Vargas Llosa, velociraptors, Scott Walker, Ben Wittes, Michael Wolff, Bob Woodward...& more!

Whit Ayres, founder and president of North Star Opinion Research, has been a leading GOP pollster for more than 30 years. First a high school teacher then an academic, he cut his political teeth as state Budget Director for South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell. As a pollster, upset Senate victories for Georgia Senator Paul Coverdell in 1992 and Tennessee Senator Bill Frist in 1994 put Whit and his firm on the map. And since then he's worked for some of the biggest names in GOP politics: Strom Thurmond, Lamar Alexander, Marco Rubio, Bob Corker, Lindsey Graham, Ron DeSantis, among others. In this conversation, Whit talks his path to politics, favorite campaign stories, most famous clients, best polling practices, thoughts on the trajectory of the GOP and much more.


IN THIS EPISODE


Whit's interest in politics sparks in an Ames, Iowa high school classroom...


The "searing experience" that influenced him in 1970s Berlin...


What Whit learned teaching 8th grade public school for three years...


Whit's gets his start in politics working for future South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell...


How a vetoed pay raise encouraged Whit to take up political polling...


Whit's first big client, Paul Coverdell, wins an upset Georgia Senate race in 1992...


Whit's role in Lamar Alexander's insurgent 1996 GOP Presidential Primary campaign...


Whit helps re-elect South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond at age 94 to his last term in the Senate...


Whit polls for Marco Rubio's underdog first US Senate race in 2010 over Florida Governor Charlie Crist...


Whit talks his role working for Ron DeSantis in 2018...and his take on the DeSantis 2024 presidential...


Whit remembers the 1994 Bill Frist upset Senate win in Tennessee...


Whit's take on the evolution of the GOP over the last decade...


Whit on what makes for an effective pollster...


Whit talks his time as active airplane pilot...


AND academic towns, ballistic donors, Bob Barr, the Bernoulli Principle, bionic men, Brexit, Pat Buchanan, William Jennings Bryan, Checkpoint Charlie, Chris Christie, Bill Clinton, commuting marriages, Bob Corker, Steph Curry, Davidson College, Bob Dole, Mr. Enquist, flaming underdogs, Wyche Fowler, Cheryl Glenn, hail fellow well mets, Alex Haley, Nikki Haley, Tom Ingram, Dan Judy, Ted Kennedy, Rush Limbaugh, Huey Long, Dick Lugar, mainframe computers, Jon McHenry, Mike Murphy, Barack Obama, plaid work shirts, Adam Putnam, Dick Riley, Ronald Reagan, Jim Sasser, Floyd Spence, the Tea Party, totalitarian regimes, Donald Trump, two scrubs, Vanderbilt Hospital, George Wallace, Susie Wiles, Joe Wilson, & more!

Larry Huynh is a Partner and founder of Trilogy Interactive, a trailblazing digital political firm. His path to politics is anything but typical...his family coming to the U.S. as refugees after the Vietnam War, his academic background in biochemistry, and early career in the finance sector. In this conversation, Larry talks his unconventional route to working in politics, the 2004 campaign that changed his trajectory, early days of the political internet, plus some of his favorite case studies, best practices, and thoughts on digital trends that have the potential to change politics. 

IN THIS EPISODE


How Larry's family had to flee Vietnam after the fall of Saigon...


Growing up a Texan in a low-income family in Houston...


Larry talks his pre-political interest in biochemistry and work in the financial sector...


The 2004 movement to Draft General Wes Clark into the presidential race pulls Larry into politics...


Memories of meeting General Clark the first time and the 2004 Clark campaign...


What contributed to the massive spike of online fundraising in the 2004 presidential campaign...


Larry starts one of the first digital political firms after the 2004 elections...


How Barbara Boxer's approach to Senate hearings blazed a path for effective use of digital political tools...


Larry on current trends in digital politics...


Larry talks studies his firm has done to better utilize AI...


Larry's perspective on the right type of people who should pursue a career in digital politics...


Larry talks his role as President of the AAPC and smart ways to utilize the organization...




AND alchemy, Bank of America, Stacey Bashara, best laid plans, Brent Blackaby, Blackrock, Doug Boxer, Howard Dean, Fort Chaffee, genetically-modified seeds, hard science, Jeff Hauser, jacked-up arms, Paul Johnson, Rose Kapolczynski, John Kerry, kill lists, Blanche Lincoln, Terry McAuliffe, John McCain, Jason McIntosh, Katie Merrill, Monsanto, MoveOn, Eli Pariser, Condaleeza Rice, Diana Rogal, Josh Ross, Randy Stearns, vice principals, windowless rooms....& more!

Kent Hance served 6 years in the House from West Texas, was Chair of the Texas Railroad Commission, and had an 8-year tenure as Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System - but his most famous political accomplishment is as the only person to ever defeat George W. Bush in a political campaign. He also hosts his own podcast, The Best Storyteller in Texas, where he mines his favorite political stories and weighs in on the news of the day. In this conversation, Chancellor Kent Hance talks about his famous 1978 win over George W. Bush in an open-seat congressional...his preceding time in the Texas State Senate, his time in the House carrying landmark legislation for President Reagan, running statewide, helming a major public university system, memories of iconic political figures, and some of his best stories from 6+ decades in politics.


IN THIS EPISODE...


Growing up in rural West Texas...


How the books his mother chose to read to him as a child led to a lifelong interest politics...


A Kent Hance best-practice for avoiding troublemakers at town hall meetings...


How he took on a West Texas political machine to beat a sitting State Senator in 1974...


Chancellor Hance shares his memories of iconic Texas political figures John Connally, Lloyd Bentsen, and Ann Richards...


Going in-depth about his good friend and former colleague, Congresswoman Charlie Wilson...


How Kent Hance beat George W. Bush for Congress in an open seat race in 1978...


The 1978 Hance campaign tactic that stuck with George W. Bush for 30+ years...


Memories of sponsoring President Reagan's historic, controversial tax cut in the early 1980s.

Highlighting a major difference in the leadership style of Presidents Reagan and Trump...


Coming up short running for Senate in 1984...


Demystifying what it's like serving on the Texas Railroad Commission...


What led to becoming Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System...


The curveball of the Texas Tech football coach he helped hire becoming now-US Senator Tommy Tuberville...


AND $1.2 Billion, AT&T, Jodey Arrington, Coalter Baker, Jim Baker, bank charters, Choc Blanchard, Doc Blanchard, Laura Bush, The Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, Barber Conable, dealmakers, Bob Dole, Ken Duberstein, Phil Gramm, hardcore Navy guys, Tommy Joe Harrison, hating Communists, Chic Hecht, Vic Henry, Bill Hobby, Lee Iacocca, Jack Kemp, LBJ, Little Britches, George Mahon, mail carriers, Wilbur Mills, Walter Mondale, the New England Journal of Medicine, Don Pease, Sam Rayburn, Walter Rogers, Dan Rostenkowski, Preston Smith, talking heads, trial lawyers, Donald Trump, Paul Weyrich, whipping the Russians, Clayton Williams, windfall profits tax...& more!

Morgan Searcy is a graphic designer whose work has supported some of the top brands in corporate America (Nike, MTV to name a few) and has also worked in campaigns for names like Warren and Ossoff. After the 2020 cycle, she embarked on a new project to capture and record experiences of first-time political staffers - a project that turned into the book One Year in Politics. In this work, she chronicles interviews with more than 220 first-time political staffers...with in-depth information about their motivations, challenges, concerns, aspirations, and more.

IN THIS EPISODE

Morgan's roots growing up as an Asian American in Huntsville, AL...


What drew Morgan to politics from a largely non-political family...


Morgan talks her background in graphic design and best practices for effective visuals...


How Morgan transitioned from corporate design work to working in politics in the 2020 cycle...


What led Morgan to tackle the project that turned into her book, "One Year in Politics"...


Morgan's takeaways from 220+ interviews with first-time political staffers...


Hurdles identified by first-time BIPOC staffers...


What interviews from 2020 revealed about staffer experiences during the pandemic...


The types of "burnout" first-time staffers report feeling...


How first-time staffers' ideology compared to the candidate or cause for whom they worked...


Morgan's advice to staffers early in the career...


AND 5-Star hotels, all-hands meetings, art kids, bigger logos, Boeing, brand recognition, Emerge, EMILYs List, Google Forms, hierarchies of information, Jason Kander, NASA, Jon Ossoff, traditional job boards, video game designers, Werner Von Braun & more!