The Run-up podcast hit a home run today. 

They approached the campaign as if it were a TV series and get this -- it works. 

Trump is a bit Archie Bunker and Richard Hatch, the first winner on the reality show Survivor. He's an anti-hero like Tony Soprano or Walter White. He's weak and flawed and evil, but somehow some people identify with him. I wonder if anyone has done a poll and seen if the deciding factor in supporting Trump is whether or not you watched him on The Apprentice. I don't and didn't.

They make an important point. We know the TV characters much better than we know the candidates. But we can talk about them effectively using the characters as communication tools. 

An aside, that was what was so valuable about the Frontline episode we watched. It's the interweaved biographies of Hillary and Donald going back to childhood. They tell a story I hadn't heard before. When Bill Clinton was in the Rose Garden giving another apology, this time after his acquittal by the Senate, a historic and dramatic scene, she was upstairs in a conference room with aides, and a map of New York State spread out, planning her own life independent of Bill. And we're coming up to the season finale of the story that started that day. Next we'll find out if it ends like The Sopranos, or if it gets renewed for another season.

Hillary as a TV character

Hillary Clinton, like Trump, is already a TV character, but she didn't craft her own persona. 

She's like Alicia Florrick in The Good Wife, Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, or Tracy Flick in Election. A more dark interpretation of Hillary is Claire Underwood in House of Cards. 

The character that really connects, imho, is Carmela Soprano, the mob boss's wife. There's a scene in The Sopranos when Carmela and her mob wife friends actually discuss HIllary Clinton. I'm so glad they found this at Run-up, and it's also on YouTube. Kick back and enjoy it, it's utterly perfect.