WBEZ's Best Game in Town

Episodes

1. 33

   Best Game in Town #25: The rise of Latino political power in Chicago

   One of the many remarkable things about the 2011 race for Chicago mayor is the fact that for the first time in the city's 174 year history, there will be two Latino candidates on the ballot. Never before has that happened.

   Feb 19, 2011
2. 32

   Best Game in Town #24: Is Obama the new Reagan?

   On this week's episode of the WBEZ political podcast The Best Game in Town, historian Rick Perlstein helps us explore the comparisons between Presidents (and Illinoisans) Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan. Perlstein wrote a recent article for Newsweek on the topic.

   Feb 12, 2011
3. 31

   Best Game in Town #23: Snowball politics

   On this week's episode of the WBEZ podcast The Best Game in Town, we reflect on the politics of white stuff--and, no, we're not just talking snow.

   Feb 5, 2011
4. 30

   Best Game in Town #22: Rahm residency redux

   Well, it's final: Rahm Emanuel is on the ballot for Chicago mayor, thanks to a decision late Thursday by the Illinois Supreme Court.

   Jan 29, 2011
5. 29

   Best Game in Town #21: Counting the cash

   In this installment of WBEZ's political podcast The Best Game in Town, we take a dive into the giant pool of money that is campaign cash: How much, where from, to whom and how to.First: a primer on new campaign finance rules in the Prairie State, with Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign f

   Jan 22, 2011
6. 28

   Best Game in Town #20: Talking taxes

   On this week's episode of the WBEZ political podcast The Best Game in town, we talk taxes, from Springfield to the race for Chicago mayor. First, Illinois Public Radio's Amanda Vinicky takes us behind the scenes as the deal went down to raise taxes in Illinois.

   Jan 15, 2011
7. 27

   BGIT #19: The BBC examines Chicago's culture of corruption

   Chicago's reputation for hardball politics and public corruption is legendary. But who knew that reputation was global? We didn't have a clear idea of it ourselves until the BBC World Service called to ask if we'd be willing to collaborate with them on a documentary examining the history

   Jan 8, 2011
8. 26

   Best Game in Town #18: Politics Year in Review

   This week on WBEZ's political podcast The Best Game in Town, we recap the biggest stories of the year and get the dish on the top political players of 2010 (hint: one of them is pictured above).

   Jan 1, 2011
9. 25

   Best Game in Town # 17: Forums, forums, forums, and more on Rahm's residency

   This week on our political podcast "The Best Game in Town," we talk with NPR's David Schaper, Democratic political strategist Kitty Kurth, and the Chicago Sun-Times' Laura Washington about mayoral forums, and the dominating political news item this week: Rahm's residency.

   Dec 18, 2010
10. 24

    Best Game in Town #16: Rahm's residency and extreme corruption

    This week on our political podcast The Best Game in town, Sam Hudzik takes us inside a preliminary hearing on the challenges to Rahm Emanuel's mayoral candidacy. And a visitor from abroad examines Chicago's corruption.

    Dec 11, 2010
11. 23

    Best Game in Town #14: Big issues in the race for Mayor

    In our latest installment, we turn from style and sizzle to steak and, er, turkeys. Yes, we took a big bite out of the major issues and key challenges facing the next mayor of Chicago this week - from pensions to police redeployment, from parking meters to public housing and education.

    Nov 27, 2010
12. 22

    Best Game in Town #13: staging and waging the mayoral campaign

    This week on our Illinois political podcast Best Game in Town:Mayoral campaigns tout their own diversity, and what's in a petition signature? More than you might think. We find out all the tricks of the trade when it comes to bouncing candidates off the ballot.

    Nov 20, 2010
13. 21

    Best Game in Town #12: Clamoring for consensus candidates

    This week on our Illinois political podcast Best Game in Town: We talk with the Reverend Jesse Jackson about finding a consensus candidate for Chicago mayor in the African-American community, and political scientist Maria de los Angeles Torres gives us the breakdown on Latino candidates and concerns

    Nov 13, 2010
14. 20

    Best Game in Town #11: The final countdown

    This week on our Illinois political podcast Best Game in Town: We meet up at Gene & Georgetti for a conversation about the final stages of the campaigns for governor, senate and the Illinois house.

    Oct 30, 2010
15. 19

    Best Game in Town #10: Chris Matthews & local congressional races

    This week on Best Game in Town: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews brought his popular cable talk show Hardball to Chicago this week and host Steve Edwards caught up with him to talk about Illinois’ congressional races and a status report on President Obama.

    Oct 23, 2010