PODCAST: Game Change authors John Heilemann and Mark Halperin [MP3]

^{John Heilemann and Mark Halperin discuss "Game Change"}

In the 19 months since the 2008 election, our nation's political landscape has taken quite the dramatic turn. The Democrats have succumbed to a Wall Street-like plunge in popularity. And in a bizarro-world scenario, health care has morphed Obama into a grossly polarizing figure, while Sarah Palin has birthed a "Yes We Can"-style underdog attack of her own -- successfully stirring the pot during her recent Tea Party appearance in our very own Common. On the more stagnant front, McCain is still begrudgingly chilling in the Senate, while John Edwards is still wading in his self-imposed shit pile.

But even though the dust has settled on the stampede that was the 2008 presidential election and everyone has gone their separate and wacky ways, it would simply be a damn shame to forget how much fun it was.

Cue John Heilemann, Mark Halperin, and Game Change, the book they released earlier this year to much critical exaltation. The two effectively channeled Woodward and Bernstein, not only to provide a thorough blanket summary of the various players' campaigns, but also to dig up some dirt on the candidates that was not necessarily common knowledge to us plebes.

They were both on hand March 1 at the First Parrish Church in Cambridge to bring plenty of politically minded chuckles via personalizing these icons that have already cemented themselves in our nation's historical cannon. The podcast goes in depth regarding McCain choosing Palin, Barack's fraught relationship with Hillary, and other gossipy intricacies.

DOWNLOAD: John Heilemann and Mark Halperin on Game Change [MP3]

Recorded live at the First Parish Church, on March 1, 2010; if you enjoyed this listening to this talk, check out the Harvard Book Store's schedule of upcoming events. To subscribe to our podcast, paste this RSS feed into your podcatcher or feed-reader of choice, or bookmark //thephoenix.com/podcast.