Common Ground: Slade Gorton on the Presidential Race & Failure of the Two Parties

Washington Research Council

Our super-special guest this week is former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, who was kind enough to sit down with us and talk extensively about the 2016 presidential campaign and the state of American politics. Slade, who in June penned an op-ed for the Seattle Times ("Pray for a third-party candidate") blasting both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, covers a wide range of topics, including: the failure of the two parties in nominating "two of the least acceptable candidates in history;" increased partisanship in Congress to the point where neither party seems to represent the middle; why, and how, Republican debates should be reformed; his (dwindling) hope for a third-party candidate and why he'll vote Libertarian if no such candidate appears; and his suggestion to his former colleagues in the U.S. Senate to get rid of the filibuster rule for the sake of better government and collaboration. This episode is longer than usual because we just couldn't bring ourselves to cut short such a fascinating conversation. Enjoy! Here's the link to Slade's Seattle Times op-ed: http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/pray-for-a-third-party-candidate/