Martin Van Buren is known as the "little magician." If he was a magician, he cast a powerful spell. The two party system he championed and helped establish has ruled the United States for two centuries and Democratic party he co-founded is the oldest American political party alive today.

Historian and Journalist James Bradley, author of the new book Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician discusses how Martin Van Buren took over New York politics, and then American politics, to transform the American political system forever.

Support the show

What's it like to be on the inside of a dark horse presidential campaign?

Chelsea Waliser knows.

Waliser was an Obama campaign regional field director during the lead up to first-in-the-nation 2008 Iowa Caucus. For nearly a year, she hired, trained, and organized volunteers for a candidate who was viewed by many as a long shot. What drove her to Obama? What's it like to spend a year of your life in Iowa? And how did Obama's campaign beat the odds?

Tune in to find out.

Support the show

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - Barack Obama, on the campaign trail, Feb. 5, 2008

Nothing was ever going to come easy to Barack Obama, and many thought he was crazy for trying, but belief himself was something Obama had in spades, and it lifted him to the presidency of the United States. Follow along as Barack Obama rises from a humble start as a community organizer in Chicago to crack into Illinois Democratic politics, transform his career with a 2004 national convention speech, and shock the political establishment by becoming the first African American President in U.S. history in 2009. His reward? Two foreign wars, an economy in free fall, and an opposition party committed to saying 'no!' at every turn. It was one of the most challenging hands any president has been given, and yet he overcame it to save the American economy and settle its foreign policy on stable ground.

Bibliography
1. Obama: The Call of History - Peter Baker
2. Bush - Jean Edward Smith

Support the show