some people said, Alan Alda with an Uzi.

Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Off Message.

I'm Politico founding editor John Harris, and that was former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

And I'll be my old-terming cell.

He's had many jobs over the years,

Chief of Staff to Barack Obama, a senior advisor to Bill Clinton. I've known him for 25 years as a

reporter. I talked to Mayor Emmanuel recently because he's got a new book out, The Nation City,

why mayors are now running the world. And I wanted to ask him about that and get his take on the politics of 2020.

Here's our conversation.

So, Mayor Emanuel, let's start out.

The name of the book is the nation city.

What is the nation city as opposed to a nation state and why do you think this is the future?

Well, a couple things.

One, I think the center

of gravity of our politics is moving much and much more local. If the economy is global,

all politics is a local job. When you think about where you live, you work, your play,

where you're going to raise your kids, and then the things that you rely on,

transportation, schools, parks, libraries, safety.

Those are all services that are delivered by local government.

And this is not the first time we've ever kind of been where the lead is happening more

locally than nationally.

But what's different is not only those innovations in those specific

...