and brad and i -- by the way, i'm lisa -- the details -- i'm one of the co-oregoners owners of me store with my husband brad. we want to express our really truly heartfelt thanks to our community on behalf of our staff. the outpouring of support and concern in the aftermath of the incident on sunday has been overwhelming, positive, and a sign of us -- a testament to the incredible strength of this community, we're here, proud to be part of this community, we hope we contribute in some small way to the sense of community, as do the other binns on -- businesses on the block but it's about the people who support ore businesses and believe in solidarity in the face of this kind of assault and this commune and we thank you for being here

and showing your support some ways you do. so thank you very much. [applause] >> now i on to what we do. we are so happy to have this incredible panel of lym marys from the world of politics and journal. you. who we know are going to give us all of the exact answers. to what has truly been one of the most bizarre and -- we did air the presidential debates here at politics and prose, all three of them. we were kind of surprised how packed the store was itch guess -- i don't 'owhether to say this is -- but anyway, we were mobbed. and it just showed the interest and intense engagement over the past really year and a half around the election. so, we're really grateful to follow that up with a panel of experts from cnn who will discuss the election and its aftermath.

i think you recognize all of them. they were all mainstays to the coverage through the came pain. on my far left, on your right, is brian setzer, the owes post of the show about in the news media. he covered the media for "the new york times" and also the author of "the new york times" best seller publish in 2013, top of knowinger, inside the cutthroat world of morning tv. next we have a amanda carp per, she is also a political commentator on cnn and familiar case and remember former aide to ted cruz and a write for the conservative review. welcome. very familiar to people in washington is dana bash. she is the chief political correspondent for cnn and her

resume cover politics would take the entire hour so i have to make it shorter. she has reported on the white house, congress, presidential campaign, questioner in quite a few presidential primary debates, recently she focused mow most of her taping on the republican field. she has an interview with virtually every okayed -- a lot of. the, except patty. said republicans. so, a pro among pros, dana bash. thank you for coming. last out in not least, my former colleague from the clinton administration, patty doyle. i think many of you know patty very for a very long time at strategist to hillary clinton and is mainstay of the many cnn political roundtables we watch, offering analysis of the 20

receive prime pears, conventions and general election campaign. pat and i have the wonderful distinct of being parents of children who were in the same class in school and i'm going to say nor but one was a boy and one was a girl so i'll let you take the story from there. and if you also all know there are -- we do what to mexico there's aing into involved and that is certainly the case today. it's hot off the presses, published this week, called pow "unpre densed. the elect that changed everything, including a forward from jake tapper from this neighborhood and pieces by a site of cnn contributingors and we are pleased to have in audience jody enda -- there is thosey -- jody is responsible for the books coming together. she was editor of it and we have

john morgan, the publisher meter books. thank you for being here. so they deserve a lot of credit for this final product and we are just thrilled to have this event and thank you all for coming and thank you for being here. >> thank you very much. great to be here. my first time here, i'mso aim thrilled to be here today. i want to first mention the book and why the book is so incredible i had no idea what the meant when i heard cnn was making a book about the election, at least a year and a half ago as the candidate were entering the race. cnn assignedded jody, and thomas the main writer of the book to go off -- not have to worry about the day-to-day match nations of the campaign. we all went into election night thinking, most of us, thinking hillary clinton was about to be the first female president. unprecedented story. the title stands even more strongly today. one month later.

in this book here's what amazed me-i don't know how you did it -- it read lie trump was going to win. this book saw it come and sees white it happened and explains why it happened. was nervous to read my own essay because i wrote it before election day. so there's some interesting things as you read the back to see the words hold up. but is does in the final, final days right after the election, they were able to get this done in record time. so, i highly recommend. check it out, read thees stays, all three of the panelists and contributed to book, contributedded institute the beak. want to start with our boss. words from jeff zucker, the head of cnn. really intriguing. he says here on page 49, i don't think donald trump ever thought he was going to be the republican nominee for president. let's remember, zucker was running nbc when the apresent to i tis wasp on so has nope trump many years.

think the got in the race to burnish his brand and get in second or authorized. i think what's what it was all below. until he realized he could actually win. now, looking back 18 months, does that sound true to you as the reporter on the beat the whole time, dana? >> said that afterwards. i do agree no question, i agree. just watching him. itself was -- he was just kind of doing his thing, making it up and using his master marketing skills and celebrity status to do it. i mean, the first interview i had with him was at his winery, and i remember sitting over this -- in charlottesville, a beautiful scene of vineyards and hill top and he had come in on the helicopter and then instead of walk up the hill, the drove him in the suv and i'm thinking, okay no one is going relate to this.

when did i ever think i would be doing an interview with a candidate overlooking his winery. turn otherwise of out people did relate a lot. >> the night of the election trump's team was trying to blame people like mitt romney for their loss ump than desite coming that night. so, you talk about unprepares den -- enprecedented. in the hours before he was president-elect, they were saying, oh, these are the reason i lost. >> does that explain some of happened in the months since election night? times writ doesn't seem like we're seeing a normal transition, no preparedness, because there wasn't an expectation of winning? sure, according to reporting, they had a transgent time and then saw what was punt was together and now we're seeing

live odd digses at trump tower. >> i think we're seeing an i apprenticeship style of transition. itch i ain't broke, why fix it. worked for him throughout the primary and the general. why change things? why pivot now? he has been very successful. >> right. >> we know who he is and the way he operates. to just kind of fly by the seat of his pants. from anybody ever who work with him and obvious the way hi ran his campaign, my sense is that even if there was an expectation that he was going to win, this transition process wouldn't look much different. >> the in the book it identifies the real pivot point of this la 18 months. think that the ask later, the cliches his campaign.

what was it for you, dana, nosily a huge made for tv moment but a time when you started to realize something was different this year, different frost all cast pam pain -- past campaigns? >> trump would always talk about this crowds. there was -- the two things most important to donald trump and still are, are his poll numbers and his -- the size of his crowds. that's it. >> and talk about having huge rallies on day one. two weeks into new hampshire and he was having a pool party with 200 people and almost was too small for him. >> absolutely. but that quickly changed. and until he won the primaries, started winning, a lot of people thought that people were coming out to see a concert or a show. just like you would buy a tick to see a celebrity showing up at dar or something. and i think in some cases, in

many cases, that was true. but then when those people came to see the celebrate, they started to listen and liked what they heard. throughout the campaign, so much of what we talk about understandably and appropriately w were the thing that were so controversial but the mainstay of his stump speech had trade deals are bald, you're getting forgotten, the sim is -- system is rigged. build a wall, build a wall, of course, he didn't say that at the beginning. he liked the media at the beginning. but that's a whole other story. but -- those are the core ideas and ideals that people really gravitated towards because it was different. >> amanda, you were kind of famously -- cnn has antitrump conservative voice-went out and

hired pro trump conservative voices to have a balance. when you came on board having worked for cruz, what did you take away? the real break opinion was between new hampshire and florida writ was apparent that donald trump trump was for real and that dedebate where chris christie took out marco rubio. i want to seed i come down to a cruz-rubio race, but when i didn't see people gravitating towards making that happen, it seemed like this is really going to fall apart and you have the cruz camp saying we have get to it down to trump trump and cruz, we need trump to bead everything else and was like, wait a second temp real story of the republican party was the lack of unity in the prepare rep party you. don't ha 17 people thinking they

have a realist county chance of winning and that allowed donald trump to come in. so before he got the nomination, i thought parties are over. republican parties couldn't stop this but now he is showing himself to be a very strong leader. haver reservations but the party seems to be falling in line and saluting him in a way if never expected. that are i don't know what is going on over in the democratic party. the parties still have a big problem. >> before we talk about my party i want to talk about the primary process and the thing found most astonishing about the republican run primary is that every candidate sort of left donald trump alone, and i'm sure it was because they thought he was a joke, but between him getting all of this media attention and nobody laying a hand on him, i

think that was the two parallel tracks that caused him to rise like he did, and basically just win almost consistently through the entirely primary season, and i -- and by the time they did, by the time ted cruz went after him and marco rubio and jeb bush it was too little too late. >> dan you wrote about jeb bush in your essay you probably thought jeb bush would we the story -- ididn't probably, i did. i follow el him to estonia and latvia and poland, and right before he announced he did is international tour to kind of burnish his world stage credentials because he was thinking, like, a traditional candidate, which is their first many things he did wrong, including the fact his name was bush, which there was nothing he do could do about that. but there's no question.

i remember being at jeb bush's announcement on june 15, 2015, and i remember it was definitely -- he did very well but took a lot of effort for him to connect and to really emotish, and to try to connect with the crowd. and as soon as it was over, all of the buzz in the back at the press table was donald trump is really going to do this tomorrow. the second it was over, maybe before it was over -- i was doing live shots -- so it was jeb bush's enable to really get through to people, but also -- there's no question in my mind that donald trump announced that that he was going to run for president the day of jeb bush essentially to steal his thunder, and i worked. >> and to create a contrast

maybe. patty, doey chalk what happened on the democratic side to the same bush-like enable to connect? >> i'm a little biased bus i have to lop hillary clinton very much. but having worked for her on many of her -- her last presidential campaign, senate campaign, she is a flat candidate. she is not good on the stump. and in this particular election, she really did personify -- the. e embodiment of institutions. not just washington institutions, but the embodiment of all of those institutions that people were just so angry at, whether it's washington, whether it's congress, whether it's the government, whether it's banks, whether it's the media. she just sort of embodied all of that for them. so, was she the wrong messenger for the time? probably. but having said that, she did so

many things right. she was prepared, she had policy. she won the debate she raised the money. she did -- >> she was a girl. >> she was a girl. she decide everything she wases supposed to do. she was a girl. >> i'm saying she's a girl and that's why she did everything she was posed to do. >> joe lost because the sass would girl. >> how much do you chalk up her gender to her loss? >> i think it's really, really hard -- >> we can't know yet. i'm desperate for more research about the electorate. so much more i want to know why people did walt they did. how much do you in your gut thing think it was. >> it's rally hard to run for office when you're a woman. the little things that really pissed me off -- i'm sorry -- she i it screaming too much. don't like the tone of her voice. she was the enabler, the one who

treated the women badly in terms of her husband. that's just ridiculous. have we ever heard that about a man? ever? trump? yes, he has very mel melodic voice. >> you can tell news that it's all our. over were you fell going goo election night there was a chance she would lose? >> zero. >> zero. >> series zero. if i'm being hon, zero. i was in a green rom with corey lewandoski, waiting to go on for our time at 11:00 so we were forced to watch it and he was -- it's standard he was a little, well, and i was very chipper, and as the time sort of wore on,

i was sort of and he was very, very chipper. but, yes, zero. >> amanda, where wassure head it's? >> i was watching cnn and i expected hillary to win, didn't know by how much ill thought donald trump would be comb co-competetive but i think hillary would win. and donald trump had to win these four stays and then 0 won florida and north carolina and once he won those games hi thought, we have a gimp. was watching "the new york times" ticker and i would say is this really happening? but it all -- happened as even predecked, delete, delete, complete. no surprises. >> bog of you were mostly in green room or waiting to go on for a panel discussion. dana, you were on the set the whole night.

right across from wolf and jake and you were watching is happen and see your phone blow up. what happens of the election night of the shock around the world? >> another shock. >> what happened on the step, i could have been a fly on the wall. >> it's like -- look, i probably shouldn't make -- it is like sully landing the play. you have to focus on what is in frond of you. there's no emotion to it just do your job and try to get things in real-time. the ultimate adrenaline rush. and it just like you guys -- as soon as we started to see florida look off, it was -- we thought, oh, okay. but one thing i will say about all of their expectations, because obviously a lot of time to think about this and i human being abigail crushfield, my

partner crime, my producer in back and we have been talking about this. is that we all of us either political provisional professionals conditioned to -- in these modern times, talk about and study the dat tamp the voter modeling. especially the post -- starting with george w. bush in 2004 when the had the voter files at the rnc started started started stae microcampaigning. and fastford thank you in, 2016. the clinton campaign had it to do what we called a science, and the republicans did, too. the trump campaign didn't have it but relied on the republican national committee, and we did some story.

all of the data showed hillary clinton winning. and now, if we didn't have any of that, if we were back in the times of alexander hamilton over there and just had our shoe leg leather reporting two story wes did, oh, donald trump is going to win. one was a piece on millenials in north carolina, where we talked to so many young people who were saying, nope, i was a bernie sanders voter, i'm never going to vote for her no way no way no way no way. then in pennsylvania, it was like two or three days after the access hollywood tape came out and we went to do a piece on suburban women and be went to several trump eevents, ivanka trump was through through. these were the kind of woman whoa say, forget it. he is a dog no way. to a person we could not find one woman who said that. they all said, whatever.

of course, we know this about donald trump. but his going to x, y and z for the economy, and we can't stand hillary clinton. sorry. so looking back if we would have focused on those kinds of story wes did with real people, we would have said, oh, okay. but we were relying on the fancy data which have been right for the most part. i. >> my favorite focus groups are cab drivers and we traveled a lot throughout the campaign, to all the debates and the primaries and i always ask my cab driver, who are you voting for? and nine times out of ten they were trying to decide between bernie sanders and donald trump. and that was a clear warning sign that we just sort of kind of sped away. but that people were hungry for disruption, not the same old

same old, and those two pete highs disresumption. >> would have won sanders, trump general election? >> i think sanders. really? >> i could have been more enthusiastic for trump instead of a socialist. i don't know if america is ready for a jewish democratic president. >> is america rate read governor donald trump? what do i know. >> i think -- >> a couple questions. from the audience. let in ask -- that night on cnn, after one of the debates, donald trump infull vole, jugged you created the bigger birther movement wait did they tell you about the playing of fake news. >> let me set the stage. the first debate, hofstra, lest

el hot was the moderator. men many as us were at hofstra. was sitting in trail watch negate. came tone tail end of the debate but was there because i'm a girl, making notes about how hillary nailed the debate, and suddenly -- i'm sitting there with other commentators and i'm making notes and hear my name. i'm thinking, is it summon in the room? no, it's donald trump. first he called me dotty doyle and then he called me patty solid doyle, and then patty sweet doyle and he said i -- hillary started the birther movement and i was the point saying because i did an interview saying the campaign started the birther movement.

i did do an interview with wolf blitz are saying during our campaign a volunteer coordinator, a nonpaid person, forwarded an e-mail barack obama being a muslim and i fired him -- her, sorry -- her -- for doing that elf that nowed call peddling in conspiracies. that's call shutting it down, right? but that interview took off on the breitbart web site, on the right wing web sites, and donald trump used it as a proof opinion in the debate. what would great about working for cnn is i was able to respond in real time. that was a -- my friend dana bash, who also asked donald trump about it immediately after the debate. so that was good, but my phone

exploded. exploded. people calling me, not my thing? b word and c word and tell michigan to go back to mexico and donald trump when he wins going to deport me. eye mean, it was -- i mean, it was ugly. and -- but there are lot of, i would say, the majority of trump supporters who actually believed it because he said it. i don't know -- same thing hands happened in my neighborhood. >> y they do truly believe what he says or just go along with it? differents of shades. >> i think they believe what he saids. cnn did a focus group, there are people who believe that two million people voted illegally in california. >> three. the fact is three. >> three million people voted

illegally in california. they believe it. >> get your falls false news going. >> least take questions from the audience. go over to the mic. one more question, talking about the title unprecedented, was there a story that did not get enough play that fall that we look at in -- dana you described two interviews with boaters. is there anything that stan outs to you about what should have maybe been noticed more before november 8th to tell us this would be an unprecedented result? >> because there would much attention on donald trump and what he was saying there wasn't nearly enough attention on what hillary clinton was doing, for note get thought battle ground states. after he lowe's people were saying she once billion to wisconsin once turn the general election? had there not been so much attention on donald trump there

would have been more scrutiny -- had been had been. >> she went zero times. >> this was "the tonight show." right? for 18 months, the trump show. which in some cases made -- we decent he flaws as you were describing of the other candidates. let's go here for questions. >> in following up on that because i'm a big cnn watcher, and i'm a liberal and i'm a democrat so if i want that viewpoint i can go to msmbc but i was troubled by what i was watching on cnn, and presidencily because precise lie because i thought so much air time wayne given to trump's antics and nothing given to hillary and her speeches, little clips. there was an ininordinaries nat now of time given to trump and i hear that roy cohen learned -- he had -- member that is

misinformation but he had told a young donald trump negative news is good news as long as you're in the news. so i was curious whether cnn post election, d whether there was an been assessment and as to how you handled the reporting of the election, and then the only other thing that it would raise is that i've heard a lot about the alt right and i had to took also key on the commuter? no, alternative right. an the extreme right or radical right? i i don't think the general public would necessarily -- except for mill leanals and people who are -- i thighed say -- educatedded or whatever -- i don't think the general pop his uns its ask. under under

... >> >> he was incredibly unpredictable and provocative and he was making news at these rallies >> key was in that is the struggle because they take your point about it being donald trump and and not

focusing on what hillary clinton was saying but because donald trump was saying pretty much something every day that was so wild we thought the responsibility to talk about and fact check because that got him sell mad at us. because he had picked percent shot to be president we felt the responsibility to dig into what he was saying. hillary clinton was not doing that are saying things that required in fact, checked and we did but that explains the disparity it does not excuse it because just like everybody here was grappling what to do we were also.

>> before joining cnn and led to be in the control room that might take away is you decide what to do about a rally in realtime but what was new that minute and that was the reality of the cable news world. >> with my experience with the senator crews they did not make themselves available for them to cover that. >> did you cover that at the time when quick. >> i was saying why wouldn't they try to come out quite. >> they were caught off with the traditional primary

favor not paying attention to cnn they were caught up in a different kind of race pet trump dominated at an early stage and then they never went away. >> so where do you come down with the terminology or the of language which sometimes can be confusing? >> some were racist. >> extreme racist. >> but, when i saw this coming very early with not what happened with what they published i did not know what that outlet would be up against so what decollate?

this is not a conservative outlet. >> so it is part of the alternative reality with no accountability or fact checking your editorial control is internet politics >> i am open to a better word but it. >> it is anti-immigrant it is anti-semitic is anti-black maybe does call that anti-laugh laugh. >> [laughter] this is what destroyed the credibility with the media and generally with that conservative they say only go through us we're the only

ones that will tell you the truth. >> just like reading a book with a different opinion. >> i love your socks by the way. >> i will it watch cnn combat with said need to try to have the falsie equipment that trump did this but so did clinton but tramp -- trump did this but what about clinton you have people on your panel so i wanted to throw my issue at the tv so there was that false equivalency would

never hillary may rain not have done does not compare to what donald trump did. so why was there always a comparison of the tube? >> i think would you are talking about you call it falls equivalency but if you have a trump supporter is called spin. but historic plea there has ben issues with objective reporters sometimes doing that false equivalency because you are trained to say he said/she said but, we did not do that this campaign at all. at all. and now probably feeds into your question about donald trump getting so much more air time because we had to spend so much more air time on him.

pdf so remember who was talking when you throw the issue of. >> i know it does not appear that way when you watch us but they are lovely people we disagree on the issues or which way this country should go but they are lovely people and do want to say that the viewers for sometimes don't distinguish reporting and commentary we are supposed to defend our kennedy and our party and they are supposed to do the same thing that is what we do then it is hard to

distinguish when you have a panel for of reporters and commentators put together i see that point. >> and want to say one thing and you can disagree with me but was cool about the experience on both sides of the idol sometimes an extremely heated way but i feel like you have really made friends because they think it is really cool i remember being at one of the conventions and seeing everybody and then realize it was happening. [laughter] >> but then allowed of

commentators to leave that on the field and then let that conversation go where that needed to go with race and gender. and then they would say you are disrespecting women but does that go too far? if you say holyfield and allow us to be passionate and that was very emblematic >> in control they are saying don't go to break. [laughter] let it play out. >> now we have to leave it there that is the worst part >> remember going had what seemed like three hours and unthinking winner going to commercial? [laughter] >> i have the broader question what is wrong with

the democratic party's brand? in the house race they got 3 million more votes in the senate and in the states like pennsylvania or north carolina or wisconsin british have picked up the seats. >> with of last eight years president obama was in office we lost a historical amount of seats in the house we lost state legislatures

because they kept our eye off the ball because it remains a wild leap popular but we lost where it mattered with the state's legislators with the redistricting and encourage now with this election were thinking we would win back the senate and the white house for the third term which was unprecedented but we thought that was going to happen we really didn't think we would win back the house but pickup more seats and we did not obviously and brcs still poring over the exit polls but we left a

very important group of people on the table above the white working-class voters were left on the table and now was the biggest mistake and especially frustrating for me is that hillary clinton this is part of her coalition when she ran for senate and ran for president 2008 when other problems and there were many the clinton campaign was trying to replicate that obama coalition of hillary clinton is not barack obama hers consists of hispanic voters and white working-class voters and she did not go after them off. >> but i think barack obama

is like ability he could convince people and that did not turn out well. so obamacare could sell those but hillary did not have that flexibility. >> all the years since obama was elected. >> and donald chomp is threatening the media and threatening to shut down parts of the media i do

connected via about what is asymmetric and also lake stocked come north korea and i suspect the whole idea that they could be targeted because of the internet that could pride of legal justification to shut down the content was well as fake news and then that comes into play i have then of lager myself he would advertise online all the

time but hillary never did i am a libertarian somewhat conservative so what do you think of this? >> pc media elite leaders to rally and prepare for the day that it does not come to pass when he says on the campaign trail translates to the administration when it comes against threats against the media and the first amendment to be slightly reassure that freedom groups are very much taking him seriously at his word sofar he will not shut down social media that is

his ally he would not we president-elect if not for twitter. >> it cannot give twitter the blame. >> but he had shown interest with those libel laws saying kansu reporters unexpected see a court case on that the accuser generated? no way. >> anymore questions from the audience? >> i want to go back to the of white working-class side don't expect you to speak for all media outlets but i am confused as to how that is defined is that a measure of what people speak of that category education levels?

says blue-collar plaques is it in come might think of the word class or a combination ended isn't a group that we have nailed down and do you think it is realistic that democratic party could win the of white working class and realize fredonia to win the whole group but is a realistic for democrats to go after that group? >> i think it is all four categories that you listed and they don't vote

republican and traditionally wear the white working-class voters. they thought she was a liar but they went up over and over and over again to make the case and she y n enough of them and democrats have spent doing that and will continue. for what ever be said and i don't know why we left them on the table. and bernie sanders is a huge warning sign that he was in michigan that the state that she lost.

>> you are familiar with the demographics but with those working-class voters effectively and also for the most part of the that did not matter and those with a certain income level. and pretty much from the beginning of this race of the republican primary he attracted like gangbusters. exit poll after exit poll during the republican primary and it was more

country club republicans may be a little bit said crews but margaret rubio endorse building up that were more traditional yes there were many world republicans but his starkly -- historic plea think 1992 with bubba bill clinton went after those voters because they were traditional democrats now he also had southern states because that was back because the father and grandfather were democrats

so certainly we saw the end of the shift of of the demographics for each party in this election donald trump took the remaining voters. >> eric is a large number of those 20 presidential candidates the wonder if you think there is any validity? if so that puts that democratic process if anything can be done about it? [applause] i will be optimistic that i am not a defender but he is

a highly successful person with managing bureaucracies and budgets. >> now we are back on cnn. [laughter] if you take a person who was president and entire trump organization nidal think is fair to say he doesn't have that qualification. >> of course he is not qualified in the traditional sense because he is the first person ever elected president without military or government experience. so of course, he is qualified because they want

somebody like tim they want somebody to come to the town to blow into smithereens. >> so as a result of the president at that has been set for future elections so with your opinion what president has been set not only at the national level for campaigns? >> i have been working for 30 years i have been working in campaigns. and don the political track

he did everything wrong. but he won. with horrible offensive to women n9 hispanics and african-americans so no everyone is looking is it okay to say these terrible things? visit our okay to just run social media free campaign and win? those of us who make a

living campaigning taking a long hard look. >> that is a perfect pitch for the book we have to wrap up. [applause]

[inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> the book festival has been going on 11 hours with a total over 73 over four days and now we have "atlas

obscura." things from your own backyard has anybody been to house on the rock? therein and this book and ella has said working with t11 in five years and over the 700 entries around the world ladies and gentlemen ella morton. f [applause]re >> thank you so much i am delighted to be here and unaware of rather be on a saturday night in a library with a bunch of booklovers i am delighted you are all here and jazzed to be in madison home of the of mustard museum. [laughter] it is wonderful to be here i

am one of the co-authors of t11 that came out and book former few weeks ago to have some background in started as the website as a09 collaboration between my co-authors to assemble a data base unless somebody in the know had tipped you off as they headed wonder in the overall. also to give you an example of what constitutes a headt in wonder the archipelago is not but -- the eiffel tower is not a secret compartment at the top compress his friends that thomas edison