And now from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, the Act spiles with your host, David Axelrod.

There is no more storied position in American political journalism than that of the chief political writer of the New York Times.

Jonathan Martin holds that position today and he's a guy who has steeped in both the practice of politics and reporting on politics which makes him someone close to my own heart coming from that same background.

J. Martin, as his friends know him, is also married to a fine journalist, Betsy Fisher Martin, formerly the producer of Meet the Press and the co-host of a great new podcast, Masters in Politics.

I sat down with him in Manchester, New Hampshire before the New Hampshire primary to talk about this very, very interesting election view.

Jonathan Martin, you and I have a lot in common starting with the fact that we both were geeks about politics from an early age.

That led us into journalists.

So tell me how you got to be a geek at an early age.

Well, I grew up in northern Virginia and my parents were both very passionate about politics and history and I always kind of joke.

What they do?

My dad was a lobbyist, mom was a teacher and I always kind of joke that we were growing up instead of going to the Caribbean or going skiing for holidays.

We went to battlefields and museums and that was kind of our idea of a really fulfilling spring break was going to Appomattox or Gettysburg.

So it was kind of inculcated in me in an early age that this stuff is important, it is enriching and it's the kind of thing that I think you accepted or you rejected as a kid when you're exposed to it and obviously I accepted it.

I've got great memories of every Tuesday in our house, time news week and US news coming in in the mail and then Thursday was sports illustrated.

So having those magazines, the Washington Post was our hometown paper and having those magazines and that paper around were hugely influential and then you add that, my parents, my older brother, they all love this stuff too.

And so I really did have much much of a choice.

And were you around campaigns?

Yeah, so right after college I worked in Virginia on a gubernatorial campaign.

I had the best first job in politics, I was the driver.

As you know, there is no better job because you're 22 years old and you're exposed to the good, the bad and the ugly.

You really see how politics and campaigns work.

You are behind the scenes, you see the cantalette interact with donors, with the voters, with other staff.

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