Breaking news on next week's Democratic debates. We now know the candidate podium placement.

We are just now finding out who will actually fit on that stage of all those candidates for the Democratic

2021st debate. We all sit here and talk about this a lot. A lot of Americans haven't been paying

attention. This will be their first chance to really hear from the candidates directly.

It's speed dating. So you have one minute to make a really good impression to see if you get the second date. And I think that's really what you need to do. You put your thumb on the scale a little bit. They're going to want ratings. They're going to want people to tune in it. By the time you hear this podcast, the Democrats' first two days of debates for next year's presidential nomination will probably be underway. They may already be over. That is intentional on our

part. This podcast is a look at how they were structured, how they're likely to influence what

comes next, and more generally how media of different kinds are shaping or reshaping American

politics. Matt Taibi is an award-winning politics reporter for Rolling Stone.

He covered the Trump campaign extensively in 2016. He is currently in Manhattan, but he is leaving

for Iowa next week. Great to have you back with us. Thanks for having me on, Warren.

I covered the Iowa caucuses one year, and we tried to found a town which had never been visited by a presidential candidate in Iowa.

And we ended up with a Mennonite colony that were driving around with horse-drawn carriages.

That's tough because a lot of the candidates try to do the what they call the full Grassley, right?

It was pioneered by Chuck Grassley where you visit every single county.

So that's, you know, Rick Santorum did that.

It's pretty tough to find somebody that hasn't had their hands shaken by a candidate.

Well, they feel it's almost their right, it seems to me.

Absolutely, yeah.

Yeah.

And it's become almost a geographical game to see if you can find a little spot in the map that other candidates haven't staked out.

Well, let's talk about the debates coming up with 10 candidates in two-hour segments, 20 altogether, five moderators each time. Each candidate's been lucky or will be lucky to get

eight minutes of time. Are these really debates, as that term is normally understood?

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