Book Club with Michael Smerconish

Michael Barone: "How America’s Political Parties Change"

Episode Summary

We have the oldest and third oldest political parties in the world―the Democratic Party founded in 1832 to reelect Andrew Jackson, the Republican Party founded in 1854 to oppose slavery in the territories. They are older than almost every American business, most American colleges, and many American churches. Both have seemed to face extinction in the past, and have rebounded to be competitive again. How have they managed it? Michael talks to Michael Barone, longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, on his book "How America’s Political Parties Change (and How They Don’t)."