Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Wait Wait DNC Dispatch #2

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Your friends at Wait Wait head back to the Democratic National Convention to talk to the dignitaries and weirdos that make our country great. Featuring WWDTM host Peter Sagal, producers Emma Choi and Ian Chillag, and a whole lot of mayors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, I'm Robert Smith from Planet Money, and this summer we are bringing you the entire history of the world, at least the economics part. It's Planet Money Summer School. Every week we'll invite in a brilliant professor and play classic episodes about the birth of money, banks, and finance. There will be rogues and revolutionaries and a lot of panics. Summer School, every Wednesday till Labor Day on the Planet Money Podcast from NPR. Okay, there is the official music that we downloaded royalty free. We are once again at the DNC in Chicago.

This is our second dispatch. How's everybody's DNC step count looking? Mine was excellent. Just, just, just, because I, well, got lost. That'll do it. You did. I did in fact get lost. I actually ended up, and I should say the United Center is of course an arena, meaning that it's sort of oval shaped.

Yeah. And it's symmetrical on all axes almost, right? So at one point I was desperately trying to find the NPR booth and I realized, I couldn't find it. And I was like, why can't I find it? Why did they hide it? I was here the night before. And I realized I was literally on the other side

of the building from where it was. You were as far as possible from, could be. Exactly, and still be inside the building. It was like, I guess technically in three dimensions I could have been in the basement. I was at least on the right level. Speaking of the United Center. Yes. There's something that happened yesterday. Imagine that you are in the United Center, which is, you know, it is a profession. It is a NBA arena and an NHL arena. It has a capacity of 25, 23,000 people, something like that. It's full and everybody is so excited.

They have traveled from all across the country, all these territories to fill this place. The energy is amazing. Everybody just wants to party. There's music playing. The vibe is really good. And then at a certain point, someone comes on the PA and makes an announcement. We are about to take the official 2024 National Committee panoramic photographs.

Which sounds like a great idea. Then they say, no one can move during this photo. There are tens of thousands of people who are vibrating, and they say, we're gonna need you to be still for this photo. Then they say the camera is 110 years old, and this is a, it's a fourth generation photographer who has taken many a panoramic photo. They turn on his mic so that he can direct the crowd to

Be still please listen to a boss who is located in the center blue press stand in the center of the hall He keeps telling everybody to stop moving. He is talking on a microphone to 20,000 people in the hall, please wherever you are, stay right there. You're gonna make other people glare. Please hold it right there. I greatly appreciate that. And then he begins singling out people who are moving. There's some movement, please, please stay right there. He's begging, he's negotiating, it's so funny. Do not move. You can hear, like listen to the frustration in his voice. So after all of that listen to this.

He just said here goes the real camera. Everything up to this point was not the real camera. Everything up to this point was not the real camera. Extremely sensitive camera. There's this feeling in the room that it's like a class photo and everyone was wrong in it and you're gonna have to write a note to the photographer later apologizing. And your mom will be mad because when she gets her packet of photos she paid for,

you're blurred. Yeah. How could you have been blurred? After, I'm gonna say five minutes of trying to get everyone to be still we we got here. I congratulate all of you. Thank you for your attention. And people clearly were very happy I think to have this moment over with. Was that is the joy you're hearing. Did you guys note, so this is one of the things I noted when I was lost and wandering around, so people should know that everybody at the convention

has credentials, but not all credentials are the same. Each credential gets you just into a certain level. There's like one credential that only gets you in to the perimeter outside the building and another credential that gets you inside and another credential that gets into a certain level. And what that means is is like everybody was desperate to try to get into someplace where they could sit the credential that gets into a certain level. And what that means is, is like, everybody was desperate to try to get into someplace where they could sit, that they were allowed to sit. And when I was walking around, there were people who were standing in the back and angry about that, people who had given up. A friend of mine who was also up in the

rafters, a volunteer at the DNC, actually said that a fight broke out between people lying for a seat in his section just after Bernie Sanders called for community and cooperation. Wow. Wow. So yeah, things got dicey up there toward the end of the evening. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. If you're hearing this, that means you haven't gone sponsor free with NPR plus. Join us on the plus side for awesome podcast perks across more than 20 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes, behind the scenes content, sponsor free listening, and more. Learn more and sign up at plus.npr dot org and never hear this promo again. The candidates for November are set.

I know Donald Trump's tight. Between now and election day. We are not going back. A campaign season unfolding faster. Kamala Harris is not getting a promotion. Than any in recent history. Make America great again. Follow it all with new episodes every weekday on the NPR Politics Podcast. history. Make America great again.

Follow it all with new episodes every weekday on the NPR Politics podcast. If you think the economy makes no sense right now, you are probably right because even economists can't explain it lately. But our podcast, the indicator from planet money, we're a little dose of clarity on the biggest economic questions of the day and about the forces that affect your life. In 10 minutes or less, every weekday, the indicator from Planet Money, from NPR. This summer on Planet Money, we're bringing you the entire history of the world. At least the economics part. It's Planet Money Summer School.

Every week we'll invite in a brilliant professor and play classic episodes about the birth of money, banks and finance. There will be rogues and revolutionaries and a lot of panics. Summer School, every Wednesday till Labor Day on the Planet Money podcast from NPR. The Democratic National Convention is underway in Chicago. After a whirlwind start to their campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are celebrating their newly minted ticket. And Democrats are pitching their platform to the nation. Listen to the NPR Politics podcast for the latest news from the DNC.

Emma, after the photo, you got a text. Do you want to talk about what happened? Yes. So yesterday we talked about the Mayor's Pub, right? Which is a bar and it's only for mayors. And earlier I had just loitered around the Mayor's Pub waiting to see if I could catch a mayor to bring me into the pub. Yeah, you and I went down there and we decided we would stand there and anybody who looked

like they might be a mayor, we would go up and ask them if they were a mayor and if they would escort us in. Define looking like a mayor. Thank you for the question. I was looking for top hats and sashes, not a lot of them there. But there was this one guy wearing a very nice suit and a yellow tie on his phone And I thought this guy might be mr. May Hi, I work for NPR. Can I ask you a question? Are you a mayor? No

What are you doing here? I'm a chief of staff to a mayor. Wait, really? Who's your mayor? Kathy Shane from Albany, New York. Okay. Do you want to talk to her? Well, I would love to get into the mayor's pub I'll text my mayor right now and see if she'll come. I love it. Okay, see you soon. First try, I got a big bite and so anyways later after the roll call David, the Chief of Staff, texted me. He's like me and Mayor Sheehan are headed down to the Mayor's Pub, meet us there and so I booked it. Hi, I'm Emma. Nice to meet you. Mayor Sheehan and so nice to meet you. Am I allowed to come in? The pub, just for a second, pub is like any bar but it's all the decoration around the

room is mayor themed. There's a neon sign called Mayor's Matter and people are just milling around. It's like pretty busy and there's one thin velvet rope separating it from the outside hallway. Oh my god, I just stepped over the rope. Are you gonna get me in trouble? I'm not the boss of the rope, but you can come over the rope. Well, if this rope was in Albany, I feel like you'd be the boss of the rope.

Oh, I would 100% be the boss of the rope, but the rope wouldn't be there. So true. There would be no rope. Well, can you introduce yourself quickly to us? I'm Cathy Sheehan, and I'm the mayor of Albany, New York. Do you have best mayor friends? I have lots of mayor friends. It is a really great group of people.

And I will tell you this, it is the most bipartisan group of people that you could meet anywhere. We say all the time, there are not Republican potholes and Democratic potholes. There are just potholes. I'm a little bit disappointed that I don't see anyone in this pub wearing a top hat and a sash. Wearing a what? A top hat and a sash. Do you guys, where are they? Yeah, I don't know where those mayors are, but these mayors are dressed to get things done. Do you at least have a key to the city in your pocket? I do not have a key to the city

in my pocket. I'm sorry, I don't. Do you, is there any mayor friends here right now that you can introduce me to sure I could introduce you to Another mayor who is doing a lot of work for the campaign. Let me just grab Tashara Jones She's mayor of St. Louis Hi, I'm Emma. Nice to meet you. I'm Mayor Tashara Jones from St. Louis, Missouri Such a huge fan of your city. Do you have a key to the city on you? No, I don't carry them. Nobody has them on them.

What's your top hat and your sash? No, I don't carry those around, but I do carry my cell phones. Plural. Come on. I'm India Kinkanen, the mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee. Do you have a key to the city on you? I do not. They're sort of heavy. I'm sorry. I have a, the mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee. Do you have a key to the city on you? I do not. They're sort of heavy.

I'm sorry, I have a business card. How big are they? Oh, well, beyond your imagination. Can you introduce yourself quickly? Yeah, my name is Mayor Brandon Sacklund, B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S-A-K-B-U-N. I'm the 28-year-old mayor of Terre Haute, Indiana. Oh my gosh. Youngest mayor of, are you the youngest mayor of your town?

Youngest mayor in Terre Haute history, yeah. Do you have a key to the city on you right now? Do I have a key to the city on me? With all due respect, I'm a millennial. I don't use a lot of keys or cash. What mayor do you think we should talk to next? Ooh, have you chatted with Miss Mayor Angie Nelson from Michigan City, Indiana?

Hello, I'm Emma. Nice to meet you. Emma, nice to meet you. Okay, every other mayor I've asked this has said no, but do you have a key to the city on you? No. No one carries the keys to their cities? I was scared to bring my keys, period.

So I'm only about an hour away from Chicago. So I left my keys at home so I wouldn't lose them. Okay, fair enough and then no one I don't know one oh this is this man over here is the first man I've seen mayor I've seen hopefully wearing a sash. That's my guy from Sheboygan. Yeah my name is Ryan Sorenson I'm the mayor of Sheboygan Wisconsin. And you guys are pals. Yes. You were the first mayor that I assumed I assumed every mayor wears a top hat and a sash. Yeah. You were the first mayor that I assumed, I assumed every mayor wears a top hat and a

sash. You were the first mayor who's wearing a sash. Well, of course we had to look the part. Us mayors got to represent. They have been other mayors with sashes, but... Really? Not right here right now, but... Okay.

I'm looking for them. Do you wear the sash every day? Not every day, no. Just for parades, festivals, and keg tappings. A what? Keg tappings. A what? Keg tappings. You know when you tap a keg to celebrate an event? Do you do an official mayoral keg stand?

Not officially, no. Off the record? Off the record, maybe. Peter, you went to a party. Yeah, apparently much of the action at this sort of thing happens at parties, so I felt I had to go to a party. I'm not a party guy, but I got an invitation to the Axios party because I have friends who are, I know, we're the friends of the Chicago Axios. I think if there was ever a party for not a party guy, it's the Axios party.

Axios party, yeah. But it had the whole party experience. It was an event space. They had a range of speakers. They had Kathy Hochul, plus Gina Romando and Bill Daley, who was the brother of our mayor, so that's exciting. And there were a number of small fraction of people paying attention to what they were saying. And 70% of the people were going after the free food buffet, like lions at a carcass of a wildebeest. Which one were you? like lions at a carcass of a wildebeest. Which one were you?

I, the line for the food was so long, and I had just gotten in, I didn't want to immediately go into it, so I decided to wait until the line died down, and I waited too long, and they just broke down the whole buffet and it vanished. But, so I felt a little bit at sea at this party, I'm not a party goer,

I'm certainly not a political party goer, but I happened to run into Molly Jongfast at the convention. Now, Molly is an interesting person. She's a, she's a political socialite. Her main thing is she has gathered all these political people who she has invited to her house for parties. So I said to her, you know, as a political socialite, what is the key to a successful political party? Just pretending you remember everybody. Really? This is a DC versus New York thing.

In New York, you go to school with someone, you know them your whole life, and they pretend they don't know you because they don't want to deal with you or whatever. In DC, you may or may not have met the person a hundred times, you pretend you know them because people hate being forgotten and you just try to sort of

On the fly. So how do you do that? Do you go up to somebody and say oh my god It's so good to see you most important thing is they look at you you look at them There's some flicker of recognition and then you say so great to see you versus so great to meet you And this is the difference between DC and New York as far far as I can tell, that's it. Really? That is so true. I've lived, I group in DC, around DC. I just lived in New York. That is so true.

Especially like something I noticed in DC, someone will be like, I like your outfit. But in New York, they'll say, where did you get your outfit? I feel like this just tells me the only party I wanna go to is a mayor party. Feels like that's where the mayor party was the party to be at. Were there any mayors at the Axios party? There were just a lot of... You're not at your fill.

Mayors. Well, at this point, though, I'm beginning to believe that if there had been mayors, it would have been a better party. You know, the thing about mayors is that they're not focused on clout, right? You would think maybe because they're... We're going to fade down Emma here, because I have the...

I have a feeling that this isn't gonna stop. And we need to get out of here and get back to the DNC. Peter, thank you so much for exploring the DNC with Emma and me. We're gonna get out there and see if we can find more stories of... What did we say yesterday? The weirdos and dignitaries that make our country great. Yes, that make our country what it is. And some mayors, apparently.

More mayors. At the Democratic mayoral convention. DMC! Run DMC! Yeah, run, Emma, to the DMC! On this week's episode of Wild Card, author Tathi Brodesser-Akner talks about the strange places we can find peace. I've always felt safe when I was in motion. I think that being in transit is actually the only time you can stop.

Like, I feel very safe. I'm Rachel Martin. Join us for NPR's Wild Card Podcast, the game where cards control the conversation. The Constitution, our founding document, says a lot about how our country has evolved and who we want to be, But it's not set in stone. So for the next month, we'll be digging into the history behind some of its most pivotal

amendments. Listen to We the People on the Throughline Podcast from NPR.