And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with

your host, David Axelrod.

Governor Gina Riemando of Rhode Island is quietly one of the most intriguing political

stories in the country.

She ran for state treasurer and that state took on their troubled pension system, made

some difficult decisions that wrangled democratic constituencies, as well as Republican, and managed

to get elected governor four years later and then re-elected.

She's chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and a very strong voice for

centrists within the Democratic Party.

I sat down with her the other day for a live podcast at the Institute of Politics, the University

of Chicago, and here is that conversation.

Welcome here to the Axe Files, to the Institute of Politics.

I am not an expert on ethnic names, but your sense is very Italian.

Yeah, there you go.

You went out on a limb with that one.

I did.

Gina Marie Riemando, absolutely.

Tell me about your family and how they came here.

Yeah.

First of all, thank you.

Thank you for having me and thank you guys for all being here.

I probably described my family as very Italian.

...