Background Briefing: December 4, 2022
The Democrats Change Their Presidential Primary Nominating Calendar for 2024
We begin with the move by the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, at the urging of President Biden, to change the primary schedule for 2024 with South Carolina first on the calendar on February 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on February 6, then Georgia on February 13 and Michigan on February 27. Joining us is an expert on presidential nominating primaries, David Redlawsk, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware who was previously a visiting professor at the University of Iowa. He is the co-author of Why Iowa?: How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process and his latest book is The Positive Case for Negative Campaigning.
Why has Such a Small Man as Putin Had a Disproportionate Impact on the World Stage?
Then we assess President Biden’s suggestion that he would enter into peace talks with Putin if the Kremlin had any serious interest in ending the war in Ukraine to which Putin responded by indicating he’d be willing to talk if the West accepted his precondition that Russia retain all the Ukrainian territory it has claimed. Moving beyond the devastation of the battlefield as winter grips the seemingly endless conflict, we will look into the man and the myth behind the tragedy Putin is inflicting on the people of Ukraine to try to understand why such a small man has had a disproportionate impact on the world stage. Joining us is Andrew Weiss, Chair and Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he oversees research on Russia and Eurasia. He previously served as director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, as a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and as a policy assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. We discuss his new book, just out, Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin.