The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

When you look at the current makeup of Congress and the Senate in particular, Democrats have got a big numbers problem.

For a generation or more, they've been concentrating in big urban areas,

leaving more rural states trending heavily Republican.

Now, we often hear the Democrats are fighting to be competitive in parts of the country

where they've already been counted out.

But that's easier said than done. With partisanship so high in the country where they've already been counted out. But that's easier said than done.

With partisanship so high in the country, that means winning over voters who are not just

skeptical, but hostile. Right now, it's a government for the 1% and the corporations, and I think

we're fed up. Dan Osborne of Nebraska would probably be a dream candidate for the Democrats.

He's a blue-collar mechanic in the food processing industry.

He's a union leader, an economic populist, and a veteran of the Navy and the Army National Guard.

But Osborne isn't a Democrat, and he doesn't want to associate with either party.

He's running as an independent, which is not an easy choice for him, because it makes

fundraising and generally running a campaign a great deal harder.

And yet polls are showing that Dan Osborne is running neck and neck with Pete Ricketts,

the Republican incumbent, in a very Republican state.

The Democratic nominee in the race just stepped aside to clear the field for Osborne.

I sat down with Dan Osborne recently to talk about the Senate and his race

and how he got into politics in the first place.

Dan, some people know your story well,

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