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Election Countdown, with guest Seth Masket

Seth Masket

Becvar is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and executive director of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund. Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Seth Masket is among a handful of political scientists around the country who are both entertaining and insightful. He’s a perfect guest for our final Election Countdown series because he manages to cut through the clutter and spin.

Masket is the director of the University of Denver's Center on American Politics, which supports deep community engagement and interdisciplinary research on crucial issues in American politics. The center is chiefly focused on the two institutions most central to the integrity and responsiveness of American politics — elections and political parties.


In our final episode, we look at tiny shifts in voting blocs that could tilt the election. We are looking at you political orphans, swing voters and independents. Election Countdown is part of “Lost in the Middle,” a podcast hosted by former Rep. Scott Klug, who represented Wisconsin. Despite winning his four elections by an average of 63 percent he stayed true to his term limit pledge and retired.

During his time in Congress, Klug had the third most independent voting record of any Wisconsin lawmaker in the last 50 years. In September 2023, he launched “Lost in the Middle” to shine a spotlight on the oft ignored political center.

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“The podcast was born,” Klug told Madison Magazine, “out of the sentiment that a wide swath of the American public, myself included, can’t figure out how in the hell we got to this place. And more importantly, is there a way for us out of it.”

Since Klug spent eight years as a member of Congress and 13 years as a journalist, listeners and readers ask him all the time where to find solid political coverage that is not slanted.

Enjoy this episode:

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Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu, Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Moral equivalency as a political tool

Schmidt is a columnist and editorial board member with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

The Fulcrum is a platform where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work for our everyday lives. To be successful, it is essential we earn the trust and respect of our readers by maintaining an impartial stance.

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“Once you are working and financially supporting yourself, you look at things differently, too,” Garcia said. “I think a lot of people my age are in the same boat of just trying to make the best decision for the future and changing parties not based solely on their beliefs but more on what is best for the country and the future.”

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As we move closer to the election, it's tempting to oscillate between obsessive news consumption and complete disengagement. Both responses are understandable — they're deeply rooted in our evolutionary biology.

Our brains are wired for a "fight or flight" response to uncertainty, a mechanism that served our ancestors well when facing immediate physical threats. But in today's complex and polarized political landscape, this instinctive defensive posture can leave us perpetually anxious and reactive, rather than thoughtfully prepared.

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