The Wannabes

This country is crawling in presidential candidates right now and they're bumping into each other in Des Moines and yelling over each other in Miami. We hang out with them, in this weird early period of the election when they're easy to walk right up to. Prologue: Producer Zoe Chace drives around with Washington Post political reporter extraordinaire Dave Weigel. He delights in this special period in the race where it’s easy to trip over people running for president. (8 minutes) You can sign up for Dave Weigel's newsletter The Trailer for insights on political campaigns around the country. Wannabes One: Weigel and Zoe drop in on two candidates desperately trying to break out of the one percent. (7 minutes) Wannabes Two: Host Ira Glass follows presidential hopeful Julián Castro as he prepares for the first debate of the Democratic primary. His goal is just to let people know he’s in the race! By, possibly, interrupting somebody onstage. (15 minutes) Wannabes Three: Producer Emanuele Berry plays Ira Glass some weird inside his head tape of presidential hopeful Cory Booker trying to walk two blocks. (6 minutes) Wannabes Four: Producer Ben Calhoun gets on the road with presidential hopeful Andrew Yang as he bestows free money on an Iowa family to make a point. (11 minutes) Wannabes Five: Producer Zoe Chace and Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel spin through some greatest hits of their weekend in Iowa once more, and Weigel reflects on what’s about to come next in the presidential race. (7 minutes) Wannabes Six: Producer David Kestenbaum drops in on some Republicans who are still trying to field a candidate to challenge this president.