Hello everyone. It is Thursday, January 5th, 2017. I'm Scott Bland, your new host,

and this is Politico's Nurdcast. It's a new year and the center of gravity has shifted for political news.

Instead of following it as it unfolds state by state across the country,

it's happening here in DC in the capital and the White House and sometimes in Trump Tower.

And slowly over the course of the year those events will push out into the rest of the country

as the 2018 midterms draw closer.

But no matter where it's happening, we will be following it and talking about it every step of the way.

So if you enjoy the Nurdcast and we hope you do, please subscribe and rate us on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.

And with that, let's jump right into the numbers that mattered this week.

Six, that is the packed confirmation schedule for President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet appointees

on January 11th alone, as the new administration looks to get its people confirmed

and get off to a running start. 167. That's the number of days between

Trump's last press conference and his next one which has also been scheduled for January 11th.

And the number four. That's the number of Democrats who abandoned Nancy Pelosi during the public vote for Speaker when Congress came back this week.

We'll talk about who they

were and why it matters. All that and more on this week's political node cast.

Welcome back Charlie Matessian. Hi Scott.

Nancy Cook, thank you for being here.

Oh, thanks for having me.

Eli Stockels.

Welcome back to America.

Happy to hear Scott, thanks.

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