ROBERT COSTA: Hello. I'm Robert Costa. And this is the Washington Week Podcast.
With the midterm elections just days away, we are going to discuss what our viewers and
listeners across the country are thinking about.
Joining us tonight, Amy Walter, national editor for The Cook Political Report; Jake
Sherman, senior writer for POLITICO; Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for the
PBS NewsHour; and Carl Hulse, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times.
We've talked a lot about the race to the midterms on Washington Week for the past year,
and this week we wanted to hear from you to find out what issues are affecting your
community and what's on your mind as you prepare to vote on Tuesday.
So we put out a request on social media, and now we're going to ask our panel -
first-rate panel to weigh in on a few of your comments and questions.
We'll start with health care, a big topic on the campaign trail.
Yamiche, Erin (sp) wrote to us that preexisting conditions in health care, including
mental health assistance, are at the top of her list more than anything else.
Why do you think voters, after the ACA - the Affordable Care Act - has been passed for
years, continue to come back to health care and are looking to see those protections
installed and kept there?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Because preexisting conditions is something that almost seems, in a
lot of people's minds, crazy now because it's been given - it's been taken away.
There's this idea that people are, like, what do you mean if you have diabetes or if you
- if my baby is born with a heart condition that they for the rest of their lives will be
paying more insurance?
What do you - what does it mean that we - that we're requesting women to pay more for
health insurance when they're the ones that birthed the entire nation?
So I think that over and over again I heard from voters when I was out in West Virginia,
California, Pittsburgh, all these places, people - it's a such a personal issue that
people face. And if you're an older voter, which is the people that are most
reliable to vote, you realize that by the time you're 50 you're going to have
some sort of preexisting condition.
ROBERT COSTA: Inequality, from Patrick (sp), is a major issue.
Are we hearing a lot about the economy when you - when you're out there analyzing these
different races? Is the economy, income inequality, are those just kind of
overshadowed by President Trump in the national debate?
AMY WALTER: That, you know, personality has overtaken policy writ large in this election.
But on the economy, there are two different ways that you're hearing it being discussed.
For Republicans, it's less about discussing it in the positive way; it's more about
focusing on what Democrats would do if they were in charge and suggesting that if
Democrats come into power they're going to be beholden to Nancy Pelosi, she will be the
speaker, and you know what's going to happen? Speaking of health care, they're going
to institute socialized medicine, it's going to cost you trillions of dollars.
They're going to get rid of these tax cuts. They're going to raise your taxes.
And anything that you think is going well right now is going to fall into this deep,
terrible abyss, right? That is - that's not a message of it's morning in America;
it's like much more it will be a nightmare on Elm Street if Nancy Pelosi is the speaker.
ROBERT COSTA: Thanks for that, Amy. Carl, when you think about the election as a
base election - you hear that term a lot - we got a note here from Gary, who says the
lack of civility in politics, way too much fear/hate out there is a real issue for him.
Is that kind of the lost voter in this environment, that moderate, civil-minded voter?
CARL HULSE: I think that that's who the Democrats are hoping that they can persuade to
come over. They need that. The base in this election is - on both sides is energized.
We know that. It's the middle-of-the-road voter.
So who's - which party is going to win that person and show they're civil?
And I think that's why you've seen this emphasis and that the Republicans started with
the Kavanaugh hearings, you know, the mob mentality; they're trying to convince voters
that it's the Democrats who are not civil. I think voters have been watching pretty
closely and they know what's going on here. But I think the trick is to get that
voter and say, hey, I'm going to restore some level of civility.
And you're kind of hearing that from Nancy Pelosi in some of the pre-interviewing that
she's doing, you know, before this election, is like, you know, we're going to - we're
going to kind of bring this back to normal, so we'll see.
ROBERT COSTA: Carl mentioned the Kavanaugh confirmation, Justice Kavanaugh.
Jake, when we're looking at a lot of our reader emails here, they mentioned the Supreme
Court is an issue that popped up this fall and has really been at the fore of their minds.
What are you hearing on the trail about the so-called Kavanaugh bump for Republican voters?
JAKE SHERMAN: Yeah, so two things. Democrats - Republicans, rather, have always been
energized by judicial nominations, as Carl could tell you very well. Democrats have not.
And for the first time I think we're seeing the Supreme Court be a big issue, an
animating issue. I will say I was on the road most of this month and I did not expect
Kavanaugh to be as salient of an issue in red Republican districts as it - as it was.
I mean, it was the biggest applause line at every single Republican event I was at.
Again, these are Republican events, some in suburban districts, middle-of-the-road
suburban districts, but Kavanaugh really was an animating issue in a way that - even more
than was sold to us in D.C.
ROBERT COSTA: Yamiche, we've gotten some notes about gun control.
And you were in Florida, site of the Parkland shooting, a horrible - another tragedy this
year, yet that issue, is it motivating young voters out there? Is this a real issue
perhaps that's, again, not maybe the headline, the A1 story, but is a midterm issue?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: It's part of it because after the Parkland shooting there was this
wave of people that were - that were registered because of all of these different drives
after Parkland for these high school students to stay, look, you - even if you can't
vote, you need to try to get anyone in your school who can vote. Go in your neighborhood
and figure out those people that can vote. So there was this - there was this push for
that. But I think it comes back to what Amy said. It's personality.
Yes, gun control is definitely a big issue that these young people are thinking about,
but they're also thinking: I don't want President Trump to be a representation of us.
And I want to send a message to him that - and he needs to check. So here's -
so we need to vote for Democrats that do that. And on the flipside, of course, there
are the young Republicans that the Republican Party wants in some ways to energize.
But even those young Republicans, they don't want to be aligned with President Trump.
They think that the party is, in some ways, kind of out of control right now and they want
to bring it back because even if you're a young Republican, you're not someone who wants
to be aligned with white nationalists, per se.
ROBERT COSTA: Amy, we got a note here from Sheena (sp). She says: I'm sick to death
about being seen as a flyover state. And she said, I wish people would pay more
attention to us. Hillary Clinton should have paid more attention to us a few years ago.
AMY WALTER: She didn't say which state that was, did she? ROBERT COSTA: She did not.
AMY WALTER: Darn. ROBERT COSTA: But we'll -
AMY WALTER: Because one of us probably have gone - yeah.
ROBERT COSTA: Have we seen the Midwest and parts of the upper Midwest and the West and
the South become real political battlegrounds this year, getting more attention than they
may have had two years ago?
AMY WALTER: This is why I love midterm elections, because every state gets to have a
little bit of the attention. Now, the national media may not be coming there, but if
you are in any of these districts you're feeling that attention. I think one of those
states in particular is Arizona. I was out there recently talking to people there.
They're not used to it being a battleground state, and they were lamenting how many ads
they were watching on television and how negative the coverage was.
They couldn't believe how many negative ads they had to watch.
So there are states on - obviously, Georgia another one that's not a traditional
battleground state that's coming into the focus. But to the voters who want to be
in the mix, a warning, it's not always very pretty to be a cool kids state. (Laughter.)
ROBERT COSTA: Final thing, Jake. You cover Congress. A lot of our readers are
wondering - viewers - what happens in 2019? If it's divided government, what's the
big issue? Can they do infrastructure with President Trump, the Democrats, if
they take over the House, or something else?
JAKE SHERMAN: I'm on the view - and I'm open to other views here - but I'm of the view
that the Democratic base has next to no appetite for deals with Donald Trump.
I don't hear anybody on the campaign trail that's running - or, not anybody - but most
people are not running on a I'm a Democrat and I'm going to be working with Donald Trump
a lot. I don't hear that much.
ROBERT COSTA: Red-state Senate Democrats.
JAKE SHERMAN: Yes, but the House is going to - if the House does flip, I think that most
of the energy, the center of gravity will be these investigative committees because no
matter what Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer say, Democrats want to hold this president
accountable. Many of them got elected on that premise.
CARL HULSE: It's subpoena time. JAKE SHERMAN: Yes.
ROBERT COSTA: If the Democrats win the House.
AMY WALTER: But does Trump want to work with Democrats?
JAKE SHERMAN: Probably.
AMY WALTER: You do think so? Or do you, like - does he like it more as a -
ROBERT COSTA: What do you think? Will he cut deals?
AMY WALTER: I don't know. I just think he likes the House also as a foil
and - more than a partner in in cutting deals.
JAKE SHERMAN: But he could get them as both. It could be - he could try to do a
deal with them, and if succeeds, great. If it falls apart, he's - they're the foil.
I think there's two ways to slice it. I do think infrastructure's an obvious area.
Drug pricing is an obvious area where he's talked to members -
CARL HULSE: He has definitely had the same view as the Democrats on that.
Yeah. Yeah. That is - I agree.
JAKE SHERMAN: Yeah. And we also have to keep in mind that Donald Trump and Nancy
Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have run in the same East Coast liberal elite circles for
many years when Donald Trump was a Democrat.
CARL HULSE: Nancy and Chuck. JAKE SHERMAN: Yeah.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: But if you're - if you're Nancy - if you're Nancy.
(Laughs.) If you're Representative Pelosi -
JAKE SHERMAN: Nancy and Chuck. (Laughter.)
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: - and Senator Schumer, you are not trying to give President Trump any
sort of thing that he can put in a 2020 ad. The Democrats have no interest, I don't
think - and there's really no benefit for them to give President Trump a new, shiny
infrastructure bill, or a new shiny trade bill, or anything that makes him look like
his government is still functioning is not something that the Democrats want.
And I don't think the base, who see him as a misogynist in a lot of ways - I'm talking
about Democrats, of course - who see him as someone who said racist things, that they
don't want him to at all be someone who's feeling good or even - I've had a voter tell
me: I want him to be uncomfortable, is what a voter told me.
And I think that that's what the Democratic base wants.
CARL HULSE: Although trade is definitely -
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: That's going to be interesting, yeah.
CARL HULSE: It's not - it's not something that would be off the table. Democrats tend
to be more in sync with Trump on trade. Sherrod Brown is probably going to win his election
next week. I mean, they are a little more together on that. But the - there has to be a
modicum of agreement, because you got to fund the government. You have to do some things.
JAKE SHERMAN: Keep the lights on.
CARL HULSE: They have to find a way to do at least little things. But I think it's
going to be interesting. I think - I generally agree that Democrats don't want to
hand Trump anything that could help him in any way.
ROBERT COSTA: I just keep thinking back to President Bill Clinton, who gets kicked by
the Republicans in 1994, cuts some deals with them in '95, and then runs against them and
wins in 1996. We're going to leave it there. That's it for this edition of the
Washington Week Podcast. You can listen on your favorite podcast app or watch us
online on the Washington Week website. While you're online, check out the
Washington Week-ly News Quiz. I'm Robert Costa. See you next time.
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For more infomation >> How will your vote affect education? | Midterms Cheat Sheet - Duration: 2:49. 
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