This is a good game. I've always been saying like, I don't think I got this one right. But like,

I feel like I just, I generate so much like trivia in my brain for stuff that no one else will

ever ask me about. The remaining factoids I have about 2020 candidates who no one remembers

is filling up so much of my brain space. So I'm glad I get to like try to use it.

Katie, I am right there with you.

Hello and welcome to the 538 Politics podcast. I'm Galen Drute. Game time for the Republican

presidential primary begins in earnest this week. The first debate is being held in Milwaukee

on Wednesday and it marks the beginning of a five month countdown to the Iowa caucuses

during which there will be monthly debates, nonstop campaigning and a likely winnowing of the

field. As summer winds down and voters train more of their attention on the primary,

we'll also see whether any of the candidates are able to take former president Trump down a peg.

He currently leads our national polling average with 54% support. And at the time of this recording,

reporting has just come out suggesting that Trump is going to skip the debate in favor of an

interview with Tucker Carlson. As an aside, we're recording this on Friday because I'm going to be

running around Milwaukee on Monday. But in any case, while this may be when the nation begins to

tune in, folks in the early states have been tuning in either by choice or because of multi-million

dollar ad spending for months. And so today in preparation for the months ahead, we're going to

take in the view from the early states. And to do that, I've asked a few local reporters to join

me going in primary state order is Katie Aiken, political reporter at the Des Moines Register.

Welcome to the podcast. Hey, happy to be here. Next is Josh Rogers, senior political reporter

at New Hampshire Public Radio. Likewise, welcome, Josh. Thank you. And Joseph Boostos,

politics reporter at the state in Columbia, South Carolina. Welcome. Thanks for having me.

...