A Very Presidential Episode 🇺🇸 (10/1/20)
LISTEN + SUBSCRIBE HERE
Description
In today’s episode we’ll: 🗣️ Learn about what exactly are presidential debates 🇺🇸 Find out how to get elected President 🤔 Get the inside scoop on what it takes to be President with special guest, political consultant James Carville ✅
Links
👨🏼🦲 Learn more about today's guest: James Carville (“the Ragin’ Cajun”) on Britannica
⛴ Read about what happened when the British government let the Internet suggest the name for a research ship: Wikipedia
📺 Watch the first Presidential Debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon: JFK Library YouTube
👉🏾 We want to hear from you! Email us with questions, comments, or story ideas: hello@thetennews.com
Transcript
Bethany Van Delft: [00:00:00] American people. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and welcome to a very presidential episode of The Ten News, the show where, in the time it takes you to make sure your adults are registered to vote, we find out what's up in the world. Today, it's the election stuff that grownups are talking about, explained and way more fun.
[00:00:24] In today's episode, we'll learn about presidential debates, find out how to get elected president and get the inside scoop on what it takes to be president. Hold onto your ballot boxes. Now let's get into The Ten.
[00:00:45] It's October, and if you're running for president, that can only mean one thing, debates! Where people running for office are asked a lot of [00:01:00] tough questions to help voters decide who they want to be president. On Tuesday, we saw the first debate between president Trump and former Vice President, Joe Biden, who will face off in the total three different debates before election day on November 3rd. It takes a lot of work to get ready.
[00:01:17] It's like studying for a really important test, except the candidates, hire teams of people to help them explain their position on issues like, healthcare, the economy and education to an audience of millions online and on TV. They even have people on their staff play their opponents so they can practice.
Male Voice: [00:01:36] "What did you say? I said, I did my best."
Bethany Van Delft: [00:01:38] Some candidates spend weeks preparing for a debate. It's one of the few times the candidates will meet each other face to face during the campaign. But why do candidates debate at all? Well, the idea comes from a series of debates from the 1850s called the Lincoln Douglas debates.
[00:01:58] Abraham Lincoln was running for [00:02:00] Senate against his opponent, Stephen Douglas. Douglas would give a campaign speech in one city and a few days later Lincoln would show up and give his. Eventually they thought it would be easier to just meet in the same place at the same time and have a debate. They held a total of seven and each was three hours is long.
Male Voice: [00:02:19] What?!
Bethany Van Delft: [00:02:20] It took a while for the idea to catch on like about a hundred years. But in 1952, when the presidential campaigns started to use TV to deliver their message to voters, things changed. It was the 1960 debates between John F. Kennedy, then Senator from Massachusetts and vice president, Richard Nixon that cemented the debates place in picking a president of the United States.
[00:02:44] People who listened to that first debate on the radio thought Nixon had won, but historians said that people watching on TV picked Kennedy as the winner. On television, Nixon looked sick and tired while Kennedy [00:03:00] looked young and energetic.
President Kennedy: [00:03:01] "By the year 1970, the United States is ahead in education."
Bethany Van Delft: [00:03:05] They debate it three more times, but Nixon lost the election to Kennedy. After that the debates became a game changer in elections.
[00:03:16] It's time for your trivia question of the day. In 2016, when the public was asked to vote on the name of a $300 million state-of-the-art polar research ship. What name did they choose? A) the Henry Worsley , B) the Great Unsinkable C) Boaty McBoatface Stick around till the end of The Ten to find out.
[00:03:50] We're counting down to election day. It's just around the corner, people! Two candidates battling it out for votes until one emerges as the [00:04:00] next president of the United States. But how exactly did we get here? What are the steps to becoming president? We asked some friends to help us explain, take it away, friends.
Kid voice - Miles: [00:04:12] How to become president of the United States. Step one, the nomination. A political party is made up of people with the same ideas about how the government should work. The race for president is usually between the two biggest parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. After voting on it, each party picks one person to run as their candidate.
[00:04:35] And announces their formal nomination at a big gathering called a national convention. This is also where the nominee chooses their running mate, the vice presidential candidate.
Kid Voice - Logas: [00:04:48] Step 2, the general election, the candidates campaign all over the country, trying to win the votes of the American people by the first [00:05:00] Tuesday in November, election day. Voters in every state cast their ballots for one president and vice president. Does the candidate with the most votes win? It's not quite that simple.
Kid voice - Ellie: [00:05:12] Step three, the electoral college. When the general population cast their votes, they're voting for a group of people called electors. Each state gets a certain number of electors in what's known as the electoral college system.
[00:05:26] After the general election, each elector casts one electoral vote. There are 538 electoral votes in total. So the candidate who gets more than half, or 270 wins the election.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:05:40] Big, thanks to Miles, Logas and Ellie for helping us understand the road to the presidency. It's important to note that especially this year, when so many people will be mailing in their ballots to avoid crowds on election day, it may take while to count up all the votes to be sure who won.
[00:05:57] We'll just have to be patient.
[00:06:04] [00:06:00] The job of leading our nation is super important and a pretty tough job to get. Our correspondent, pamela Kirkland's spoke with a guest who knows. All about what it takes to be president.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:06:19] We have a very special guest with us today and he knows a lot about politics, probably best known for making political candidates successful.
[00:06:27] In fact, he helped Bill Clinton become president. And on top of that, he co-hosts a podcast with Al Hunt called 2020 politics war room. James Carville, thank you so much for joining us.
James Carville: [00:06:38] I'm delighted to be on the show.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:06:41] I'd love to have you talk about. What you do and what you're known for, which is winning campaigns.
James Carville: [00:06:47] What I'm known for and what my passion in life has been, is running political campaigns, not just in the United States, but around the world. I've represented 14 different heads of state. And, uh, you know, my first [00:07:00] love outside of my family, is politics.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:07:02] What makes a good president?
James Carville: [00:07:04] So I worked for president Clinton and we had like the 20th year anniversary or a 25th anniversary in Little Rock and President Clinton was shaking everybody's hand, and she said, Mr. President, this is my daughter. And she said, she's 13, and she wants to be president what advice you have for her? And he said, two things, study hard and meet as many people as you can that are not like you. It's the best political advice I've ever heard for a young person is study hard, and at the end of the day, ask yourself how many people did I encounter that were not like me? Because if you go through life hanging out with just people that are like you, you're not going to have the kind of understanding of other people that is essential if you want to build a coalition to run for office. I think that's really essential advice.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:07:58] I'm sure you've had, you [00:08:00] know, many people approach you and say, "Hey, I'd like to be president." And I'm sure you didn't say yes to all of them. In your mind, what makes a good presidential candidate?
James Carville: [00:08:11] What you want to do, if you have political aspirations, you outta put yourself in a position to succeed and you look for opportunities.
[00:08:22] And when they present themselves, you seize them. And most times you gotta be prepared for the fact that a lot of them you are going to try, it's not going to work out. And you, you try something else. Look at Joe Biden. This is his third time. Seventy-six years old. Seventy- seven. People talk about his stamina. They don't know how much stamina this guy's got.
[00:08:41] You can make a difference in people's lives and maybe, you'll never be president, but you're still gonna make a difference in people's lives. If you want to do this, that is great. I'm so for you, and I still want you to succeed, but understand that fate is going to be part of this too. Abraham Lincoln was a stunningly good politician and understood politics, [00:09:00] understood the application and uses of power.
[00:09:03] And by the way, lost a lot too. I could argue that Abraham Lincoln, you know, is both at the same time, the greatest winner in the history of American politics and the greatest loser in the history of American politics.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:09:15] That's another bit of advice that you just gave. I mean, reading the history and biographies of some of the great former presidents that there are.
James Carville: [00:09:26] Yeah, I've known successful people and there is one single trait that they all have. It's not intelligence to some extent it's not even charisma. The trait that they have in common is a deep sense of curiosity. They're curious people. And, you know, if you want to be successful, you have to be curious and curious about a lot of things.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:09:50] And looking forward to November 3rd in the general election, I mean, what would you tell them kids to watch for?
James Carville: [00:09:56] Make sure your parents vote. Make sure your friends [00:10:00] parents vote, make sure your, your older brother or sister if they are over eighteen vote. Make sure your grandparents vote. Make sure that people down the block vote. Kind of be not annoying, but, but you know, please, I'm a young person, vote cause it matters a lot to me.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:10:16] What incredible advice for young people. Study hard. And at the end of the day, ask yourself how many people did I encounter, who are not like me?
[00:10:31] Remember our trivia question from earlier in the show? In 2016, when the public was asked to help name a $300 million state of the art polar research ship, what did they name it? Was it The Henry Worsley, The Great Unsinkable or Boaty McBoatface? So did you guess it? The answer is Boaty McBoatface!! I know it's ridiculous, but I just love it.
[00:11:00] [00:11:00] The name was first proposed by a British radio presenter as a joke, but clearly people found it really funny and it quickly became the top choice in the poll. Even though Boaty McBoatface won the popular vote, the name was not used for the research mothership, which was ultimately named Sir David Attenborough. However, the lead long range auto sub carried aboard the Sir David Attenborough, is in fact named, you guessed it, Boaty McBoatface.
[00:11:34] Well, time's up. That's the end of The Ten for today. You can catch new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media in collaboration with Next Chapter Podcasts and distributed by iHeart Radio. The Ten News writing team is led by editorial director, Tracy Crooks, with contributions from Pamela Kirkland and Stephen Tompkins.
[00:11:57] The creative producer is Jenner Pascua. [00:12:00] Marketing is led by Jacob Bronstein with social media and web support by Bryn Jura and Adam Pharr. Editing and sound designed by Edgar Camey and Greg Cortez under the production direction of Jeremiah Tittle. Executive producers, Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan round the team out. If you have questions about the show, a story idea, or a fun fact you want to share, email us at hello@thetennews.com. And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review The Ten News on Apple podcasts. IHeart Radio, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Bethany Van Delft.
[00:12:40] And thanks for listening to The Ten News. Now go remind your grownups, there are only 33 days to election day. Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. [00:13:00]
