Hey everybody, it's Glenn Thrush with Politico's off-message podcast. We're here in Philly,

first day of the convention. And boy, was it weird. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz,

and the entire upper echelon of the Democratic National Committee are out on their teches, to use a word that the former chairwoman would understand.

And I do too.

We really kind of walked into it here.

I've known Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I should say, for a very long time.

She is from Long Island, I'm from Long Island, and she was, as it

turned out, a Newsday Paper Girl. So when I was covering the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008,

I talked to Debbie quite a bit. And, you know, I've written a bunch of negative stories

about her over the years, particularly during the 2012 campaign. People didn't like her.

They thought she was in it for

herself. I have to just say personally, and this is where relationships come in in politics,

I have always found her to be accommodating, friendly, funny, and she's got an inspiring personal

story. She had pretty significant breast cancer, was raising young children at the time,

and was running for House leadership.

So regardless of how she sort of went out with the DNC, my personal interactions with Debbie have

always been really positive. So on a personal level, it's probably very tough for her.

Anyway, I will make this very brief. We are fortunate to have a former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the current

Democratic minority leader in the House as our kickoff guest here in Philadelphia.

She, of course, is the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States government,

the third-ranking official in the United States as House Speaker, and I think uniquely equipped to talk about Hillary Rodham Clinton,

someone, by the way, with whom she does not have a deeply close personal relationship. And you can

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