Hey, before we start, quick reminder, we have a live show coming up in Chicago later this month,

May 15th. Tickets are going fast. Get them soon. The link to get tickets is in our episode data,

WBZ.org slash events. All right, here's the show.

Hey, off from NPR, I'm Sam Sanders. It's been a minute. So since the election, I have tried

my darnest to avoid bombarding myself and you, dear listeners, with too much politics.

But on this Tuesday, for this episode, for this conversation, I am going to forget about that rule.

Today's May 1st were officially six months away from the 2018 midterm elections. So we're going

to talk with two great guests about the state of our politics and the state of both parties six

months out from those midterms. So my guest, Republican strategist Mike Murphy and a friend of his

Mark McKinnon, McKinnon's advised Democrats and Republicans for a long time. If you Google him,

though, you might know him most for his trademark big, big cowboy hat. Mark is also the co-host of

a show called The Circus on Showtime. It is a political documentary series that just began its

third season recently. Every weekly episode of The Circus is this half-hour documentary on the

events of the previous week, which is production-wise quite the feat. We'll talk about that. We also

ask Mark and Mike what they both make of all of these blue wave predictions. This idea that Democrats

are going to do very, very well in November. Mike Murphy has a ton of thoughts on this. He is a

lifelong Republican. He worked for John Cain, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, but he is not supportive of

the president at all. All right, that's enough to get you started. Here's me with Mike Murphy,

GOP strategist. He was with me in Culver City. And Mark McKinnon, he joined us from DC.

Full disclosure, we talk a fair bit about his cowboy hat.

Hey Mike McKinnon here. Oh hey, how you doing man? I'm gaining on it. How are you doing?

Oh slugging away. This is a trifecta for me. Three of my favorite things. NPR,

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