275. Bill Hillsman. The Godfather of Independent Politics. Lessons from Jesse Ventura’s Win 25 Years Later. No Labels = No Candidate. Dems Ramp up Attacks on Kennedy, But Maybe They Shouldn’t. Presidential Primaries Are Broken. Hell to the Naw Season.

Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Righteous Media | Bleav

Daily News, Veteran, News, Politics, News Commentary, National Security

4.6 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Independent Political Strategist Bill Hillsman has masterminded some of the most effective and innovative election campaigns in the modern era. Hillsman first rocked the political world when he helped elect the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone in 1990 in one of the biggest political upsets in decades. In 1993, Hillsman took over a floundering Minneapolis mayoral campaign four weeks before election day, resulting in Sharon Sayles-Belton's election as the first African-American and the first woman mayor of Minneapolis, a city comprised of 85 percent white voters. He later shocked the world by helping Jesse “The Body” Ventura become Governor of Minnesota in 1998. When he joined independent candidate Ralph Nader during the 2000 election, his inventive campaign, created on a tiny budget, had the whole country talking and rethinking how we sell our politicians. He worked on independent campaigns for Arianna Huffington for Governor of California in 2003 and Kinky Friedman for Governor in Texas in 2006. And he created the groundbreaking and award-winning “Not There” television ad for Operation Truth (later Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) featuring Iraq veteran and amputee, Robert Acosta. Bill’s innovative creative work has brought him a host of awards, including a Grand EFFIE for the Wellstone campaign. Both USA Today and Business Week named his Wellstone commercials the best political ads of 1990 and his Ventura commercials were honored with five POLLIE Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants. A master of effective TV Ads, marketing and branding, Bill is CEO of North Woods Advertising and has been working in independent politics for a generation–and understands independents better than anyone in America. And for decades, Bill has been a man on a mission to change our political system. His book Run The Other Way is an eye-opening look at the political landscape with a cast of characters that includes Colin Powell, Ross Perot, Donald Trump, Kinky Friedman and Warren Beatty. And with independents in the driver's seat to determine the 2024 Presidential election (and the future of our country) Bill is a wise and experienced leader we all need to hear from. He joins our host Paul Rieckhoff (@PaulRieckhoff) in this latest episode to share what can be learned from Ventura’s campaign 25 years later, how he defines an independent voter, how he sees them defining themselves, and gives an assessment of the entire independent movement landscape ranging from No Labels and Forward to Robert F Kennedy Jr and Cornel West. And Paul asks Bill who he thinks will win the election—and they talk a little baseball and more. No other show is digging into all things independent politics like we are. Every episode of Independent Americans hosted by author, activist and social entrepreneur Paul Rieckhoff is the truth beyond the headlines–and light to contrast the heat of other politics and news shows. It’s content for the 49% of Americans that proudly call themselves independent. And delivers the Righteous Media 5 Is: independence, integrity, information, inspiration and impact. Independent Americans is your trusted place for independent news, politics, inspiration and hope. -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. - WATCH video of Paul and Bill’s conversation here. -Check the hashtag #LookForTheHelpers. And share yours. -Find us on social media or www.IndependentAmericans.us. And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch. -Check out other Righteous podcasts like The Firefighters Podcast with Rob Serra, Uncle Montel - The OG of Weed and B Dorm. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. America’s next great independent media company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Power by righteous media.
0:15.4	Welcome to Independent Americans.
0:18.8	Welcome to episode 275. I'm your host, Paul Reikoff. It's finally
0:26.9	baseball season. It's final four season. It's almost master's season. And it's always chaos season.
0:36.6	But it's also always helper season.
0:42.0	Now, especially, is it time to stay vigilant.
0:46.6	We are moving at full speed on a number of key priorities, and I've issued four directives
0:52.1	to this team.
0:53.3	The first, we need to continue to focus on recovery because it is our obligation to bring a
1:01.0	sense of closure to these families.
1:04.0	The second, we need to clear the channel and open vessel traffic to the port because
1:09.0	the health of the Maryland economy and the national economy
1:13.4	depends on. Third, we need to take care of all the people who have been affected by this crisis.
1:20.4	And that means the families, that means the workers, that means the businesses, that means the
1:25.6	first responders, that means everybody. And fourth, we need to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
1:36.8	That's Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
1:40.4	A good friend of mine and someone you've heard on this podcast multiple times.
1:45.1	If you've never heard or seen those episodes, especially now, I recommend you go back and check them out.
1:51.7	Wes Moore is what it looks like when a leader has clear goals and a real strategy.
1:59.1	Our generation of veteran leaders learned how to do it in the military,
2:04.0	and now many are applying it in politics, none better than my friend, Governor Wes Moore.
2:11.9	When I say look for the helpers, he's exemplifying what I mean. And even more so, he's highlighting the other helpers that exemplify what I mean and even more so he's highlighting the other helpers that exemplify
	...

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