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Will 2024 All Come Down to the Ground Game?

On this episode of See How They Run, Jeet Heer and Swing Left's Yasmin Radjy discuss the importance of door-knocking in the final days of the presidential race.

D.D. Guttenplan

October 26, 2024

Women go door-to-door canvassing, calling for voting for Donald Trump in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 12, 2024.(The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images)

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Will 2024 All Come Down to the Ground Game? | See How They Run
byThe Nation Magazine

On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Jeet Heer and Swing Left’s Yasmin Radjy discuss the importance of getting out the vote.

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On these final days of the race, the chance for either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to persuade undecided voters will have narrowed to almost nothing. In such a razor-thin election, which party reaches more of its core voters, and gets more of them to actually cast a ballot, could decide the next presidency more than any ad, speech, or scandal. That’s why there’s been so much focus in 2024 on the topic of this episode: the ground game.

Anxious Democrats are hoping that their get-out-the-vote operation, which they often describe as much more sophisticated than Trump’s, will give them the edge. But how much better is that operation, really? Can it make that much of a difference? And what does it even mean to have a good ground game? To discuss all of this on See How They Run, we’re joined by Yasmin Radjy, executive director of the progressive campaigning organization Swing Left, and The Nation’s own Jeet Heer, who has been following every twist and turn of this election for us.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Canada-US Trade War Escalates, Houthis Seize Yemeni Port, Report Says Netanyahu Ignored 10/7 Warnings / American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords. In this week’s news: the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms last month was tied for the hottest ever recorded (0:52); the Houthis/Ansar Allah take the port city of Mokha (1:45); the U.S. and Iran exchange ship attacks as oil prices rise (5:25); the IAEA refers Iran to the United Nations (7:32); Trump predicts an end to the Iran war immediately after the midterms (8:59); 12 countries ban products made in Israeli settlements (10:52); a new report alleges that Netanyahu ignored October 7 warnings and a chance to recover hostages (13:49); the IDF takes a strategic ridge in Lebanon, then escalates strikes (18:30); an arbitration court rules against India on the Indus Waters Treaty (20:49); new claims of famine emerge in Sudan’s Darfur region (23:05); the Nigerian government and Boko Haram maintain a ceasefire (24:59); the Trump administration phases out U.S. support for anti-AIDS programs in Namibia (27:21); American envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visit Russia and Ukraine (29:22); Ukraine tries to close Russian airspace (31:20); and in a trade war update, Canadian tariffs on U.S. goods take effect (32:50).         

Don't forget Derek's Substack, Foreign Exchanges.

Enjoy Danny's new Substack, Imperialist Realism.

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D.D. GuttenplanTwitterD.D. Guttenplan is a special correspondent for The Nation and the former host of The Nation Podcast. He served as editor of the magazine from 2019 to 2025 and, prior to that, as an editor at large and London correspondent. His books include American Radical: The Life and Times of I.F. Stone, The Nation: A Biography, and The Next Republic: The Rise of a New Radical Majority.


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