Live from Illinois!

Jeremy Hobson takes calls from around the country with guests Phillip Bailey, a Pulitzer Prize winning national political correspondent for USA Today based in Louisville, Kentucky, and Urbana, Illinois mayor Diane Marlin. The topic: what is the most important issue to you heading into the election?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Middle, a show about bringing people who
don't live on the coast into the national conversation. I'm
Jeremy Hobson, broadcasting live from Urbana, Illinois, my hometown and
will the station where I began my career decades ago. Tonight,
we're asking you to tell us this what is the
most important issue to you heading into the election that's
coming up in less than three weeks. We'll be taking

(00:26):
your calls for the next hour at one eight four
four four Middle. That is one eight four four four
six four three three five three. You can also reach
out to us on social media or on our website
Listen to the Middle dot com. Joining us tonight USA
Today National political correspondent Philip Bailey, Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin,

(00:47):
and DJ Anthony Valadez. The Middle starts right after the
news Welcome to the Middle. I'm Jeremy Hobson, live this
evening from Willl Illinois Public Media in Urbana, Illinois. That's

(01:10):
my hometown. It is great to have you here for
this very first episode of the Middle. Now, this is
a new show. There are some new aspects to it.
We're going to go through them now. First of all,
we have a house DJ. His name is Anthony Valadez.
He comes to us from public radio station KCRW. Hi Anthony, Hey, Jeremy,
how's it going. It's great, and I'm so happy to
have you here. And you are going to be bringing

(01:31):
us some of the music from the place we are,
which today is Illinois. Absolutely, we're gonna be focusing on
the Midwest. So I've been doing some deep dive record
dig in. I'm surrounded by records right now and I'm
excited to share some of that with you. Awesome. Well,
we will hear from you as the show goes on. Now,
as you know, Anthony, the goal of this show is
to bring voices from the vast middle of the country
into the national conversation, to elevate the voices of the

(01:54):
people in the middle. And to that end, all the
panel guests you hear on the show are going to
be people based between Queen the East and West coast,
and we hope that many of you who call in
are in the middle of the country as well. I
ask though, that as we have this conversation, we do
it without condescension and with respect for one another. I
want this to be a civil conversation even when we disagree.

(02:14):
Wouldn't that be nice, Anthony, to have a civil conversation.
That's what it's all about. We need a little bit
of that right now in twenty twenty two. Now tonight,
we are asking the question what is the most important
issue to you heading into the election that is coming
up in less than three weeks. You can call us
right now at eight four four four Middle That is
eight four four four six four three three five three.

(02:35):
You can also find us on social media on Twitter,
on Facebook, and you can email us by going to
listen to the Middle dot com. And while we wait
for your calls, let's bring in our panel guests. Joining
me here in the studio in Urbanna is the mayor
of this city, Diane Marlin. Mayor Marlin. It is great
to have you here. It's wonderful to be here. And
for people that don't know anything about our Bannah, which
is probably most of our listeners, it is a city

(02:57):
where Abraham Lincoln spent almost two decades as a young lawyer.
We're in the land of Lincoln. Of course, what else
should people know about this place? Well, we're a small city,
but you can have a big life here. We're the
home of the University of Illinois, along with our sister city, Champagne.
So if you enjoy browsing the web using PayPal, saving
money for your first tesla, using YouTube, leaving reviews on Yelp,

(03:19):
eating sweetcorn, enjoying air conditioning in your home, or whipped
cream in a can, I'll just say you're welcome with work,
you know. And by the way, we didn't get any
advertising revenue for what she just said, so and that's
not fair. Let's welcome our other guests. Philip Bailey, a
USA Today political correspondent, pull User Prize winning, by the way,
based in Louisville, Kentucky, joining us from Louisville Public Media. Philip,

(03:41):
thank you so much for being here. Jeremy man As always,
thank you for the invite. And you have been covering
politics in Kentucky, which is the home, of course, of
the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for a very long time. Yes,
I actually knew center Mcca. I first met him when
I was eighteen years old, so I've known the Senate
for about twenty years, even before I was a list. Actually. Wow, well,
it's great to have you here again. Our number eight

(04:03):
four four four Middle, and let's go to the phones
because we've already got calls coming in. Tony in ann
Arbor is on the line. High, Tony, Hi, good evening. Well,
and our question was what is the most important issue
to you heading into the selection? So what is it
for you? Well, you know, I am a registered independent

(04:23):
in ann Arbor, Michigan, which is very less leaning, but
I do practice as an emergency posician in Livingston County
and I've gone out to the West side of Michigan
as well, and so I kind of straddle the entire
state in how I meet people. I don't think many

(04:48):
other specialties or you know, professions have that chance to
meet the whole spectrum political spectrum. But what I like
to see, in what I'd like to hear more is
exactly what you're doing is having dialogue. And I think
with more dialogue, whether it's in less competitive forums than

(05:12):
to say, a debate, but more like a listening tour
a town hall, just to see how our future politicians
act with and deal with opinions and evidence that goes
against what they perhaps came into the room with. Well,
and so let me go to your opinion then what
would you say is the most important issue to you

(05:34):
as you go into the selection, What are you going
to vote on? You know, I'd like to see people
who try to serve the entire state. I don't. I don't.
I'm going to be voting for people mostly there are
some issues like in you know, abortion or voting rights.
But I'm looking for people who really speak to the

(05:56):
issues that the whole state really cares about, and not
just their select minority. And I think that's probably better
for the country. Diane Marlin, You're you're the mayor of
a city that you know has a lot of people
with a lot of different opinions. You probably hear this
kind of thing a lot, right, But what you're saying
resonates because at my level at them as a mayor,

(06:19):
most of the issues I deal with there's no there's
no party affiliation. In front of a pothole, you know,
you have to fix the streets, you have to keep
the lights on, you have to make sure you have
funding for essential services. You have to deal with with
housing and utilities and taking care of the basic needs
of the population, and and you can't put a partisan

(06:43):
twist on that. So so what we deal with our
issues that everyone needs and frankly that we all have
that in common. Let's go to another call. We've got
Joseph on the line from Fargo, North Dakota. Joseph's not
there yet, but this is a live show. This is
what's gonna happen. You know, we had we had Joseph.
We don't have Joseph. Philip, what about that? What about

(07:05):
what you just heard there from Tony? Well, look, I
think Tony's description and his issue with politics right now
is actually pretty widespread USA today. We actually did a
poll about one hundred days out before the election, and
what we found is that, you know, six and ten
voters say the third party or multiple other parties are necessary,

(07:27):
right including sixty four percent of Democrats and forty six
percent of Republicans. Just fifteen percent of independence like Tony
Jeremy say the two parties do a good job of
representing their political views. There are these raging centrists that
are out here, people who feel very alienated from the
current Republican Party, particularly as it tries to reconcile how

(07:49):
it deals with President Trump. But they're also not particularly
pleased with the Democratic Party's direction. Some of that is
on President Biden, whose popularity numbers obviously are pretty low
at this point. But I think there is a growing
attitude amongst independents that we're not hearing our way of life,
are sort of compromised with folks in our politics, right,

(08:12):
Like it's day to day that these raging centrists are
at the local level, like with Mayor Marlin, and they're
not feeling adequately represented at the national level. In particular,
you wonder what that is going to mean for turnout
at a midterm election is often about turnout. Who's going
to turn out on the Democratic side, Who's going to
turn out on the Republican side? And when people don't
feel like the party represents them full they do they
turn out to vote Philip Right. I think oftentimes people

(08:35):
do not, but I think I state I'm very interested
in Jeremy is Georgia right where I think you might
where they've already started early voting on Monday. I'm very
interested to see if there were going to be some
split ticket voting which took place in twenty twenty, where
you see some folks maybe pull the lever for Governor
Bryant Kemp, the Republican who's being challenged by Stacy Abrahams
for governor, but also didn't switch over and maybe vote

(08:57):
for Raphael Warnock for US Senate as opposed to herschel
Walker in those races like that, right, like when we
saw you know, Kemp do pretty well and win decisively
over David Purdue in that primary. But at the same time,
you know been Brad Raffernsberger, the Secretary of State of Georgia,
who was challenged by President Trump the vote find unquote
more votes after he lost the twenty twenty election. Split

(09:20):
ticket voting, I think is what a lot of independent
centrist voters are looking for. Now. We can go to
Joseph and Fargo, North Dakota. Joseph, what issue is going
to bring you to the polls? As a seventy five
year old mail to speaking personally, the most important issue
is keeping social Security and Medicare intact. But thinking of

(09:40):
all the people around me, I think the most important
issue is a woman's right to choose. Diane Marlin, you
know you're you're you're You're not dealing with the issues
of social Security and Medicare or abortion at the local level,
but you speak to your constituents. How how how big
of an issue do you think it is going to
be for them as they go to vote this November. Well,

(10:01):
the impact of inflation on people who are living on
a fixed income is huge, and we're seeing that here
as we are, you know, in the rest of the country,
so especially food, gas, some of the medicine, some of
the basics that folks need, and a woman's right to choose.
It's like, how long do we have to keep fighting
this battle? I mean, I think back to I think

(10:23):
back to the battles we fought in the late sixties
and early seventies to get the rights that we have today,
and now they're on the verge of were on the
verge of losing them again. Let me ask you about
the inflation issue though, because I think this is one
of the areas where we see a difference in the
middle of the country than on the coast, because the

(10:44):
salaries just are typically not as high in the middle
of the country, the cost of living is generally not
as high, and when gas prices go up, when the
price of milk goes up at the store, it's going
to have more of an impact in some ways in
the middle of the country in places like this in
New York, a lot of our people, especially in this area,

(11:04):
drive many miles back and forth to work. For example,
we're a regional employer with the university here, we have
a regional medical center, so people may drive ten twenty
thirty forty miles each way to get to work, and
that that adds up. And if you don't live in
a large city with a mass transit, you depend on
your vehicle to drive. So that's that's a factor we

(11:25):
And then of course there's the trucking industry and all
the other transportation modes that depend on it. But and
the same thing with your price of food and that
sort of thing, Philip. Abortion is obviously an issue that's
going to drive a lot of people out right now
because it truly is on the ballot. But social Security
and Medicare are they in this election? Well look the

(11:46):
polling that USA Today and other news organizations have done.
You know, people mentioned inflation, they mentioned climate change, they
mentioned abortion. You know, the economy as a whole, the
future of programs such as Social Security and Medicaid. Medicare
did not make the list. But that doesn't mean it's
not being discussed. For example, Congressman Steve Scalise, the number
two House Republican of Louisiana. He mentioned recently how the

(12:11):
JP does have its plans and they do include cuts
to certain entitlement programs and certain changes to those entitlement
programs should Republicans win the House, which honestly, GLP officials
and even Democrats privately will will admit the House is
probably lost. I know a lot of Democrats will wemit
that out loud on the record, but that's what people
are preparing for. And I think you may see that

(12:32):
surge as a last minute issue. But but Jeremy, we're
in a time period now where our basic democracy is
being challenged, right like that may come up later, but
well it already has by the way I felt. But
I will say, you know, we've had we've been taking
calls on our number, which is eight four four four
metal or eight four four four six four three three
five three, And one of the biggest topics by far

(12:54):
that people have left messages on has been the issue
of democracy. So I'm sure we're going to hear more
about that as we go on. Again. Eight four four
four middle is our number, and we'll be right back.

(13:15):
Welcome back to the Middle. If you're just tuning in,
we are live and we are a new national call
and show focused on bringing voices from the middle of
the country into the national conversation. I'm Jeremy Hobson, live
from my hometown of Urbana, Illinois. My guests are Urbanah
Mayor Diane Marlin and USA Today political correspondent Philip Bailey,
who is in Louisville, Kentucky. And we are asking you
what issue is moving you to get to the polls

(13:38):
on November eighth. Our number is eight four four four Middle.
That is eight four four four six four three three
five three, or you can reach out to us at
Listen to the Middle dot com or on social media.
We did ask for calls before the show started, and
we got some voicemails. Let's take a listen. I am
mister Edward Wichard Davis, a Frisco tu I'm calling about

(14:03):
a common problem that's been in the news all the time,
really over all of my close to sixty four years
of life. Over the last several years, with the lockdowns
and the problems in the big cities across the country,
the crime rate has skyrocketed again Hi, my name is Venked.

(14:25):
I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia. What is important to
me in this midterm elections? Great question. The most important
thing for anybody in this midterm election should be democracy.
D E. M O. C R A C Y. Democracy
is on the ballot, ladies and gentlemen, because you know

(14:47):
what happened on January sixth. Hi, my name is Tara
and I'm in Rockford, Illinois. One of the most important
issues for me coming up in the election is transgender rights.
I have eight four almost five year old transgender child,
and so that's kind of on the foremost of our

(15:08):
minds right now. Thanks so much. Not the only call
we got on that issue, either, But let's talk about democracy,
Philip Bailey, because you brought that up earlier. That is
something that has come up from a lot of people
that have called in. I don't know how much that's
going to drive people to vote, but it is certainly
on people's minds, right I mean, we have roughly Jeremy

(15:31):
three hundred plus or so election deniers on the ballot
in some shape or form across the country. Folks who
have still casted some doubt on Joe Biden winning the
twenty presidential election. I think we should always reiterate Joe
Biden won the twenty twenty presidential election. But we have

(15:51):
these folks running for everything from governor to secretary of state,
attorney general all the way down to add commissioner and
an auditor in some places have nothing to do with elections.
But some of these folks who have refused to accept
the results are running for seats to oversee the next election.
And that's that's a worry. That's really across the board,

(16:12):
Republicans and Democrats, but certainly on the Democratic side. But
I think Jeremy though, what you're seeing though is in
the as the polls are indicating in the final stretch,
Americans are often selfish voters. They are thinking a lot
more about their pocketbooks, a lot more about inflation in
the economy, and polls are showing that, yes, they are
aware of democracy being an issue, but it might not
necessarily be the driving force of why they're turning out

(16:33):
to vote. It's usually the economy, stupid. As James Carville
would say, let's go to another caller. We've got Carol
on the line from Bixby, Oklahoma. Hi, Carol, Hi, what's
your issue, what's bringing you out to the polls this year.
I am concerned about the democracy as well, and I

(16:54):
am concerned about all the information that gets out there.
It is misinformation and then uninformed voters. I worked the
elections here in Tulsa and the last primary I was in,
so this is our runoff. We we have close primaries here.
People came in and wondered why there were certain names

(17:14):
not on the ballot because those were the ads they saw.
They didn't realize that it wasn't their district. I had
one person come in and look at the ballot and
say to me, I don't know who these people are.
M Diane Marlin. Diane Marlin. Actually, let me just stop
you for one second, Carol, because I have to say
sometimes I go into vote and there are certain local

(17:36):
officials I have no idea, you know, I haven't paid
attention to the most local of races, and I mean,
what do you do? How do you how do you
deal with that when people don't know because that would
happen if that happens at the national level or bigger races,
you know, how do you deal with that? Well? And
it's very frustrating because your local races, in my opinion,
are your most important races. Your school board, your city, government,

(18:00):
park districts. That's those are the government agentities that impact
your life every single day, and of course the national
as well. It's frustrating. You'd think with all the media,
the information channels that we have, the ways of communicating,
you'd think that everybody would be very well educated. But

(18:21):
but it's just I'm always shocked at how people stay
within a very narrow, you know frame. They they have
certain things in their life they're interested in, and sometimes
they do not make an effort to understand who they
have to vote for. The bigger challenge, I think is
simply getting people to the polls. We've we've been just

(18:42):
in my last election, I was elected for my second
term in spring of twenty twenty one, the turnout was
half of what it was the previous four years. Illinois
just had a second lowest voter turnout in their primary
in the last forty years. Why do you think that is, Well,
it was very late in the year because of redistricting

(19:04):
in that sort of thing. But but it's getting people
to the polls, and it's the sense of hopelessness almost
that you feel among people, Philip Billy. There are a
couple of things though, this time around, that many of
the pundits seem to think are going to get people
to the polls in One of them is abortion rights. Yeah,
and I think that certainly when the Dabbs decision came down,

(19:27):
even after the elite opinion the Dabbs decision came down
in the summer, Democrats and liberals and people on the
left certainly felt an energy that this cascade of women
were going to come to the polls to stand up
for their reproductive rights. You heard many young women gen
Z voters especially say I have less rights than my
grandmother had, for example. But I think what's happened, though,
is is that in the machinery of the campaigns, Democrats

(19:50):
have been very reluctant to say exactly what they want
in terms of limitations and in terms of how accessible
abortion should be, not really going on the offensive. And
I think Republicans have returned the conversation for the most part,
to inflation, to the economy, and crime. I do think though,
with some of these ballot initiatives, like what you saw
in Kansas. We have a ballot initiative here in Kentucky.

(20:11):
I do think that you're going to have a revelation
for a lot of pundits, which is conservative women, Republican
women have gotten abortions too in the past fifty something years,
and whether they may not be pronouncing this, and they're
necessarily their political activism. Right, we all go into that
voting booth privately, right, and what we do privately is
up to us. And I'm very interested to see how
these abortion referendums turn out more than anything else. All right,

(20:32):
let's go to another call. We've got John in Minneapolis,
Minnesota on the line. By the way, another Twin City.
This is Champagne or band of the Twins Cities Minneapolis
Saint Paul, the bigger Twin Cities. John, Welcome to the program. Hey,
how are you doing. I'm doing well. Tell us about
what you're going to be voting on. Well, I'm going

(20:54):
to be voting just like one call said earlier, for
people like you've really is who are the candidates and
what do they want? But I've done a lot of
canvasing this summer, and abortion is for sure the number
one issue. While both people voting for pro life and
pro choice, I think it's going to drive people on

(21:15):
both sides. Two of the polls this year, and what
about you? Are you voting on the issue of abortion.
It's one of many issues. I mean, I'm going to
vote Democrat, mostly because I believe they have better candidates,
candidates who can lay out in actual plan for policy
and not just I'm gonna gainst this. And I see

(21:38):
a lot of national talking points in local candidates, which
now really a strong way to we've run a local campaign.
All right, well, John, thank you for that call. Diane
Marlin on the issue of abortion, I have to say,
if you look back over the last several months in
this entire election season, one of the things I think

(21:59):
has been and most impactful was that abortion rights vote
in the state of Kansas. And I think it's surprised
a lot of people because a lot of people haven't
spent a lot of time talking to people from Kansas
and they thought, oh, it's a red state, how could
they possibly make this choice? They did. Do you do
you think that that that speaks to some sort of
hidden majority of people across the country in red states

(22:21):
that will that will go in and vote on the
issue of abortion rights and vote in favor of abortion rights.
For the candidates who will support that, well, this isn't
just abortion rights, it's it's reproductive rights, and it's basically
control over your own body. And half the population are women,
and frankly, they are the most qualified to make decisions

(22:41):
about their bodies. So, no matter what their political party
or leanings in other areas, I think this is a
very personal issue that women and their partners and their
families will support them on that. And frankly, it's not
a surprise the way Kansas went. I think if people

(23:02):
had actually gone to Kansas and talk to people in
Kansas instead of assuming that they knew how they would vote,
they would have discovered that same. Though. You know, I
think the election of President Trump in twenty sixteen wouldn't
have been such a shock if people had gotten off
the coasts and come to actually see what was going

(23:23):
on in the middle of the country. It comes to
the middle absolutely again. Our number here is eight four
four four middle. That is eight four four four six
four three three five three. I want to read an
email that's come into us from Sarah in Lansing, who says,
I'm always perplexed by the fact that both sides of

(23:44):
politics failed to see how literally nothing will matter if
we don't get a handle on climate change. Even though
the left talks more about it, they fall painfully short
in regard to bold change and laser focus on curbing
our impact. I believe we owe this to the next
generation now, Philip she says, the left falls short. They
did just pass the biggest climate change bill the Biden

(24:05):
administration did, in the Inflation Reduction Act in the history
of this country. Right, And this was a complaint about
the Biden administration really for the two years that they've
been in office, is their inability to sort of turn
the corner on the messaging aspect of it. But you
hear this more and more, I think, particularly from younger voters,
from gen Z folks. After the Dobbs decision, for example,
there were plenty of gen Z activists who are saying,

(24:26):
we wait a minute, not just President Biden, but why
didn't Barack Obama. Why didn't previous Democratic majorities in the
House and send it. Why didn't they codify right reproductive
rights when they had majorities previously? And I think there's
a higher expectation. I think one thing that's changed politically
is that the left enters this politics simply not saying, oh,
you've gotten my vote already, Democrats, No, you have to

(24:47):
earn my vote. And the younger Democratic voters, the younger
progressives who were even outside of the Democratic Party, are
saying on issues like abortion, on issues like climate change,
and yes, the economy, the rent revolution is big for
these younger voters in particular, they're demanding progressive legislation almost
very similar to some other democracies and first world democracies

(25:09):
we see across the country. So Democrats simply can't get
away I think anymore with leaning on all Republicans are
bad and it's like, no, what are you going to do?
Let's go to John in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. John, what's the
issue that is most important to you heading into this selection?
Good evening. I consider myself to be generally conservative fiscally

(25:29):
but politically independent, So like some of the other voters,
I will definitely be voting for the candidates. But at
the same time, as far as national politics goes, inflation
is what's most concerning to me. Inflation. Thank you, John,
Diane Marlin, You've had to deal with this issue at

(25:50):
the local level, but I think for a lot of
people this is a big issue just because it hits
their profit pocketbook. It's what we were talking about earlier.
It's the economy stupid, exactly, and it hits cities as well.
Everything that we are trying to do as a city.
The costs have gone up, particularly with construction materials, and
we're finding also that we're since the pandemic, the whole

(26:17):
working and staffing levels is always a challenge, and we
are changing our making our salaries more competitive to attract
the best and retain our staff. So inflation has hit
us in a lot of ways, and that's always going
to be an issue. You know, it's interesting that we
haven't heard from people talking about COVID. In many parts

(26:40):
of this country. It feels like COVID is completely over.
In other parts it feels like it is not at
all over. We are still in the recovery phase. The
last two years, I will say, have been hell, and
I guess that's okay to say on this radio. But
trying to get through the pandemic, in addition to maintaining
all the other services that we're expected to provide and
actually meeting the higher needs during the pandemic, has just

(27:03):
been incredibly difficult, and we're in the recovery phase. It's
going to take years well. And I bring that up
also because there is an argument to be made that
a lot of the inflation that is going on right
now is at least in some way related to COVID nineteen,
to the supply chain issues, to the fact that in
China COVID nineteen is most certainly not over, and that's

(27:25):
where the things that we're buying are coming from in
many cases, and that is driving the prices up for
all of us, absolutely, and we run into it every day.
But things have changed permanently actually for cities in many
ways too, So we're all we're all still adjusting to
the post pandemic reality. Let's go to another call. Now,

(27:47):
we've got Karen in Saint Louis, Missouri. Karen, Hello, Hi,
how are you. I'm doing well, and what's the issue
that's most important to you. I'm turned about the thread
of violence by the right if the election doesn't go
their way. From you know, I just watched the Frontline

(28:09):
piece on Michael Flynn and it's just really frightening that
these people are out there believing that they you know,
the election was stolen in twenty twenty, and they're going
to do everything they can to take control. And and
you know, I guess the prevalence of guns in our

(28:32):
society now, it just makes it very alarming that these
elements are out there. Diane Marlin, you mentioned guns. Gun
violence has is is a problem. Last year in our community,
we had the highest level of gun violence ever experienced.

(28:53):
We had about one hundred and thirty confirmed shootings. This year,
thankfully that numbers down by about fifty five percent. Hopefully
we can continue in that direction. But but you know,
we seem to go in in the waves and for
a while all you heard about was gun, gun regulation,
gun laws and everything, and now you don't hear a word. Well, yeah,

(29:16):
Philip Bailey, let's let's talk about that for a second,
because this is an issue where you know, one side, uh,
politically we'll say one thing about gun violence, and one
side we'll say, you know, don't touch my Second Amendment rights,
and that this is that that that that's the main
issue here. I don't know whether it breaks down differently

(29:37):
between people on the coast and people in the middle,
but how does that debate fall where you are in Louisville, Kentucky. Well, look,
Kentucky is a proud gun state, right like it's it's
a state where people really value their Second Amendment rights.
I think what gets muddied up is is that, again,
the disinformation and the machinery of government are very difficult

(29:57):
things to untangle. Number One, people often told that this
legislation is going to do something that that's not gonna do.
You know that government's going to come in and take
every single law abiding citizens gun, which I think most
reasonable Americans would oppose, But that's not what a lot
of this legislation is aimed at doing. It's often aimed
at keeping assault weapons, very dangerous weapons, out of the
hands of people who honestly have a mental health issue

(30:19):
or probably shouldn't own a gun period. But then at
the same time, there's also I think a legitimate concern
about on the right about Second Amendment rights and how
they are portrayed in the public. Most gun owners are
not violent people who are going out here committing mass
murder and mass shootings. But again, when we get to
the machinery of government, we have a consensus when we

(30:42):
look at the polling, but then when we get to
the filibuster and the Senate, we need sixty votes. When
you get to this legislation is being worked out differently
at the House and the Senate, then it just all
sort of just turns into shambles and nothing gets done
in Americans say, well, look, nothing gets done up there
in Washington. I would be very interested in looking, particularly
at more purpose full states like Virginia and how they

(31:02):
reconcile untangled these things, because at the state level, and
as the mayor knows, that's where a lot of the
work is really being done and accomplished. We're talking with
Philip Bailey, USA Today Political correspondent in Louisville, Kentucky, and Urbana,
Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin. You can join the conversation at
eight four four four middle and we'll be right back.

(31:31):
Welcome back to the Middle of Jeremy Hobson. We're live
from wil in my hometown of Urbana, Illinois. This hour
my guests Urbannah Mayor Diane Marlin, and USA Today Political
correspondent Philip Bailey, who's in Louisville, Kentucky, which means we
will not blame him at this hour if he's already
drinking bourbon though we did not provide it. Philip, it's
all on you. Okay, we're asking you, what is the

(31:52):
issue getting you to the polls this mid term election?
Our number eight four four four middle that is eight
four four four six four three three five three. Let's
go to Allen in Minneapolis. Hill. You're you're on the air. Ellen,
tell people what's your issue? Yes? What A couple of
things is giving me to the pole? Uh this this

(32:12):
uh November, and one is public safety, the other is
civil rights. All over the country you hear them saying
how dangerous and how crime was going up. But really,
like we have the couple of officers, whether it in
New York where they was sitting playing Pokemon goal, whether
the uh, whether the bank was being robbed, that's what's happening,

(32:33):
and we need to put a stop to that. Of
course we have crime out here. But when the police
is going to sit back on their hands and say,
because we are protesting, because we are tired of being
murdered and our civil rights violated. So what what's going
on with this country is ridiculous and it's been allowed
law enforcement and like I said, public safety and civil

(32:56):
rights is going to definitely get me to the poll. Well, Ellen,
let me ask you this, because what do you think
when you hear the phrase defund the police. I know
exactly what it means because I am a grandfather, I'm
an older African American man. Here in Minneapolis. We need

(33:18):
some of them funds that go to the police to
go to to programs to stop the violence, to mental health.
I walked up on an officer that was using a
self diforce on a small child and his mother definitely
has some mental health issues. When I told that officer,
we have a new policy here in Minneapolis that if

(33:39):
you if the officer believe it's mental health is involved,
they supposed to call the crisis team. That officer turned
to me cussing me out, placed me in handcuffs. And
that's what type of officers we have. So de fond
the police do not mean that we are getting rid
of the police. But when you have police acting like
that here in Minneapolis, we have police in jail for murder,

(34:01):
we have police in jail for rape, for extortion, and
of course in jail, and of course Minneapolis was where
George Floyd was murdered as well. Alan, thank you for
your call, Diane Marlin, this has got to be one
of the most challenging issues to deal with as a mayor.
I assume you are the boss of the police chief,

(34:23):
but and you've got to deal with a the issue
of crime and be the issue of potentially police not
behaving well sometimes like how do you how do you
handle that well? It is one of the hardest issues
we've dealt with. I will say that the police force
in the city of Urbana is tremendous and we have
a very good working relationship. But that said, in the

(34:44):
last couple of years, since the George Floyd incident, it
really caused us all to step back and say, Okay,
how can we be better? So we have in the
last two years adopted a policy of commitment to de
escalation called the ten Shared Principles, which was developed by
the Double ACP and the Illinois Association of Police Chiefs.

(35:06):
We completely rewrote our use of force policy. Working with
the ASLU and Double ACP, the police chiefs and community members,
we've pilot we're piloting a what we're calling the Crisis
Corresponder Team, which is pairing our social workers following up
on calls that come in for people experiencing behavioral crises

(35:27):
or mental health crises. And our city council in the
summer of twenty twenty voted to redirect the funding for
equivalent to the salary of a one patrol officer to
pay for a public safety review. So we've just done
the RFPs. We have four proposals we're evaluating. We're going

(35:50):
to do a comprehensive review of our approach to public safety.
So we are making some serious, incremental and very strong
I think changes. Well, and Philip Bailey to you, I
mean you are the national political correspondent, So how big
of an issue do you think that crime? This is

(36:11):
certainly something Republicans have been wanting to make the issue
in the selection, or at least one of the main ones.
How big of an issue is this going to be?
And are people still voting in the same way that
they would a year ago on this? Well, first, Jeremy
look black folk attire pole after poll shows. And I'm
here in Louisville, Kentucky, the home of where the Brianna

(36:33):
Taylor shooting took place, which was a sort of the
twin issue in twenty twenty. Along with George Floyd's murder. Look,
African American voters, polling shows are fatigued, and that's trouble
for Democrats because listen, the base of the Democratic Party
are African Americans. At the same time, post a lot
of those protests in twenty twenty where millions took to

(36:54):
the streets to demand police accountability, you saw very little
follow up in Washington. The George Floyd Police Act went
nowhere fast in Washington. At the same time, this uptick
and violent crime, which was very easily sort of converted
from the from the rebellions and the protests and some
of the looting and riots of twenty twenty into now
this discussion of all Democrats and their allies are accepting

(37:17):
to fund the police. Now there's this rise in crime.
But many folks, I think this is where your show
and others are very important to these conversations. To fund
the police is a very nuanced conversation. It's basically taking
money from police agencies and shifting them over to other
anti crime fighting initiatives. When you phrase it that way,
the police numbers for it actually go up. But when
you simply say defund the police, in people's minds, it's

(37:39):
this world of no police and everyone's just you know what,
Senator John Kennedy and his ad Senator John Kenny of Louisiana,
he runs ad out there says, well, next time you
don't like what the police are doing, if someone's coming
to crime, call a crackhead, right Like, there's this imagination
that to fund the police means no police whatsoever, when
when you talk to activists at that level, they're saying, no,

(38:00):
it's about other crime fighting initiatives, in public safety measures
that can be taken. I remember interviewing the Democratic Congressman
James Clyburne very early on in the conversation after the
death of George Floyd, who said that he hated that
term to fund the police, because people take it the
way that they want to take it, and it's it's

(38:21):
easy to put on a bumper sticker and hard to understand.
Let's go to another call here that's come in Vanessa
in Duluth, Minnesota. Hi, Vanessa, tell us what is the
most important issue to you heading into this election. My
most important issue is the environment, not just climate change,
as important as it is, but how the environment is

(38:44):
affecting human health. What do you mean by that. Yesterday
I read a rather disturbing statistic in Harper's Magazine that
came from the Centers of Disease Control. Half of all
Americans age eighteen to thirty or have at least one
chronic health condition, and one quarter of Americans in that

(39:05):
age group have two or more. And I wonder if
a lot of that is coming from our food and
air and water and soil being polluted. Vanessa, thank you
for that call, Mayor Diane Marlin here in Urbana, Illinois.
What kind of do these issues come up for you?
They do? And I would also add the link between

(39:26):
chronic diseases and health can it's also related to food
and nutrition, as I'm speaking as a former dietitian with
a degree in foods of nutrition. But climate change is
really weather change, and yes, that has an impact. We

(39:47):
should say, by the way that here in Urbana, Illinois,
it was twenty eight degrees as allow the other day,
but it's going to be seventy five this weekend, which
doesn't seem normal to me having lived here for the
first half of my life. Let's go to get it, okay, fine? Uh.
Danillo in Houston is on the line. Danillo welcome. What

(40:08):
is the most important issue to you? All right? It's
actually two U two issues. I would say one is
generally economic opportunity. I've I've lived in Texas most of
my life and been blessed, but by the opportunities given
in the state. Be honest with you, as as a
formal illegal immigrant, you think that it would be harder. Uh,

(40:33):
But frankly, Texas has has provided opportunities for education, for
business growth, and for for development I didn't think were possible.
And I'm concerned that that, you know, with the demographic
change is happening in the state that you know, specifically
a lot of folks coming in from California, New York

(40:53):
and to you know, I don't mean to you know,
bag on that, but they're they're bringing another kind of
mentality about business and about development that you know that
concerns me. So that's probably the principal issue for me
to just curious how that kind of demographic shift is

(41:14):
considered in the middle. I mean, Houston is a big city,
but I'm curious how you guys see that impacting other
parts of the country. Are you saying you're uncomfortable with
the demographic shift You're uncomfortable with the changes that are
coming to your state and your city. Yes, absolutely, and
the the you know, fundamentally, it's when you see the

(41:38):
businesses coming to Texas, the teslas of the world, and
I mean, I'm not a big fan, but even the
bitcoin miners, you know, making their way to the state.
There's opportunity here. And that opportunity exists as a result
of kind of a system that's been set up in
the state, the kind of limited regulation. And I'm concerned
about as that demographic shift happens, all that is going

(42:00):
to increase and it will reduce the economic opportunities over time.
That's that's my biggest concern in this election, Danilla. Thank
you for that call, Philip. I think the issue there
actually is one that comes up across this country but
also in other countries when they talking about elections, which
is change. Change can be difficult for people, right because
let's take a step back here. I mean, the twenty

(42:22):
twenty census showed the United States has experienced unprecedented multi
racial population growth at the same time a decline in
the white population for the first time in the nation's history.
The white population, the white non Hispanic population without another
race actually decreased by eight point six percent since two

(42:44):
thy ten. So the browning of America that you keep
hearing about and think pieces, it's happening, right. And this
is a very different country than it was when my
father was born back in nineteen fifty five, right with
the surge of immigration, with the growth of racial minorities,
and at the same time the decline of the white
population in a state like Georgia. We keep bringing up Georgia.
You know, the state is about fifty point one percent right,

(43:07):
non white, right. And this is a question at the
core both of the January sixth issue with election denihilism,
it's the core of the climate change issue. It's the
core of a lot of our issues in this country.
Can we have a multiracial democracy? We try to do
it during reconstruction and we failed. And that's really at
the core of a lot of these conflicts here with

(43:27):
the College just mentioned, is that there's this basic fear
that a lot of white Americans have about the country
doesn't look like I remember it even twenty five years ago,
and what will it look like twenty five years from now?
It will be a multiracial country. The question is can
we handle a multiracial democracy. What are your thoughts on that,
Mayor Dian Maryland. Well, that's where cities like Urbana, Champagne

(43:49):
and all over the country, especially university communities. It's happening already.
In Urbana, roughly twenty percent of our population was born
in a different country. They may have arrived here thirty
years ago, they may have arrived here three months ago.
The University of Illinois is fifty six thousand students. Nearly
twenty five percent of those students are international students, So

(44:11):
we are a multiracial community already. We have dozens of
languages in our public schools and students here from one
hundred and thirteen countries just at the university. So on
a small scale, and this is being repeated, I think
all over the country we are learning to live in
a multiracial society. Are you facing, though, people who are

(44:32):
uncomfortable with it, who have a hard time with that change?
I have not personally, people haven't expressed that to me.
But I think it's been gradual, it's been incremental, and
it certainly has from my personal perspective, and I think
it's shared by a lot of people. It's enriched our community.

(44:53):
The diversity we have here has enriched us rather than diminished.
Let's go to I think we're going to have time
for at least one more call here. Maximilian is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Maximilian tell us what is the most important issue to
you heading into this election. Yeah, certainly the on the
national front, you know, abortion, that kind of stuff is important,

(45:14):
But more on the local side of things, I'm actually
very much concerned about the school, local school board elections
and particularly people that are kind of trying to implement
their political agenda into school and like in high school
and goes. So yeah that I'm I'm young, I'm college age,

(45:36):
and i don't have any kids, but it certainly matters
to me for the kids in my community and making
sure that, you know, educational standards are upheld. You know,
Philip Bailey's school boards were a big thing as we
got into that election in Virginia where Glenn Junkin the
Republican became the governor. Education was what that was all about.

(45:57):
Do you see that being a big issue heading into
this election. Do you hear from people in the middle
of the country about that? Oh? Absolutely. Shout out to
Chris Quintana from USA Today who wrote a story about
this actually for us on in October about you're seeing
this surge of Republicans who are running for and wanting
to win these school board races. And as we just
mentioned earlier Jeremy, as the country is becoming more diverse

(46:19):
and more multiracial democracy, what are we also seeing a
backlash to that in the reference of critical race theory
being sort of this hot button issue at the local
school level, even though a lot of critical race theory
isn't being taught at the local school level, but it
still goes back to when you look at some of
these state laws, like here in Kentucky and other places.
It's this idea of how do we retell American history,

(46:41):
how we who gets to tell American history? And from
what vantage point? Is George Washington still the hero who
chopped down the cherry tree? Are we telling more of
a story of him as someone who is this complicated man,
or is he being told in cast more as a
slave owner. These issues are coming up more and more
because the country is changing, and even though we Glenn
Youngcan and others cast it as parents, often the coverage

(47:02):
was focusing on white parents, because when we talk to
African American parents, they said, in fact, no, we want
our children to learn the history of this country, raw
and unfiltered, and they still love the country anyway. It's
this growing fissure. I think we're going to see more
and more jeremy as the country becomes racially diverse, more
diverse in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation, more

(47:23):
religiously diverse. Where you're going to see this effort to
sort of reconfigure how we teach the basic fabric and
the basic sentiment of the country. That is Philip Bailey,
who is the national political correspondent for USA. Today we've
been speaking with our van and there Diane Marlin. But
right now we have time for a little bit of
fun as we close out this hour with Anthony valadez

(47:46):
our DJ Anthony, you're back, Yum, It's that time for
the needle drop. Now what we're gonna do is, I'm
going to drop the needle in the middle of the
record middle. I see what you did there there. It
is just connecting the dots. And you have to guess
the name of this iconic Chicago based band who celebrate
the elements of life let's see and if you can
name the song as well. Bonus points. Y'all ready? Are

(48:07):
you guys ready? Philip and Diane Marlin. Oh, I'm terrible
at this. Sure, let's try it. We're gonna have some
fun here we go. Okay, Philip named that band? Uh,
that would be Earth Winn and Fire, which the lead
singer is Philip Bailey. Philip Bailey, but not you. We

(48:30):
have fell. No, let me as congratulations. What does he get, Anthony?
He gets five million dollars Venomo to you from Jeremy
Hobson's personal in Bitcoin right right, Yes, Anthony Valadez, that

(48:51):
was the needle drop it'll be. I think you're gonna
have to make it more difficult next week because it
seemed like it was too easy. No, Philip was going
to be so on it like but congratulate and you
didn't have Alison Krause in your musical selections next time?
Next time. Well, I want to thank USA Today National
political correspondent Philip Bailey and Urbanna Mayor Diane Marlin for

(49:13):
joining us. You guys were both such great guests for
this first show. Thank you so much. Thank you and
Anthony Valadez our DJ at KSR W Anthony, Thank you
to you as well. Always a pleasure of Jeremy. And
next week we are live from Fort Myers on the
west coast of Florida. Our topic is going to be
how is the changing climate impacting you wherever you are

(49:33):
in this country and what, if anything, do you want
the government to do about it? So you can reach
out to us at eight four four four Middle or
at Listen to the Middle dot com. You can leave
a message before the show or call live. The Middle
is brought to you by Longnook Media, produced by Alex Ashlock,
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(49:55):
will and we could not have done this show without
the help of the team here, Lilly Duncan's In, Liz Westfield,
Reginald Hardwick and Moss President hand are theme music composed
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Louisville Public Media and the more than five hundred public
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country to listen to the Middle. I am Jeremy Hobson.

(50:16):
I'll talk to you next Wednesday, live from Fort Myers