Celinda Lake, President of Lake Research, has been a leading Democratic researcher and strategist for 30+ years. In this conversation she talks her Montana roots, her path to polling, working for groundbreaking women like Geraldine Ferraro, Carol Mosley Braun, and Nancy Pelosi, working on Biden 2020, and lessons & insights from four decades working to elect Democrats and advance progressive goals.
IN THIS EPISODE…
Celinda talks growing up on a ranch in Montana…
The progressive tradition in Montana…
The Vietnam War influences Celinda’s politics…
Celinda’s theory on why Montana produces so much political talent…
Celinda moves from the academic world to the campaign world…
Celinda tells the story of one of her heroes, the first woman pollster in politics…
The first races on which Celinda cut her teeth as a political pollster…
Celinda remembers lessons learned from heading up focus groups for Clinton-Gore ’92…
The origins and rise of Lake Research…
The story of turning down a US Senator who wanted to work with Lake Research…
How Celinda thinks of issue messaging…
Celinda talks the challenges women candidates face…
Celinda’s memories of working with trailblazers Geraldine Ferraro, Barbara Mikulski, Carol Mosley Braun, and Nancy Pelosi…
Celinda polls for AOC during her 2018 upset…
What Celinda knows about Joe Biden that might not be common knowledge…
Celinda’s take on what makes a good pollster…
Celinda’s strangest work habit…
AND….22 rifles, Spence Abraham, John Anzalone, Jerry Austin, David Axelrod, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, Matt Barreto, Max Baucus, Jill Biden, Valerie Biden, Heather Booth, blueberry muffins, Ron Brown, James Carville, the cat’s meow, Hillary Clinton, Copper Kings, country schools, Joe Crowley, Mike Donilon, EEOC lawyers, Emerge, EMILYs List, fitbits, Kathleen Frankovic, Anderson Gardner, gatekeeping, Geoff Garin, Geneva, the gender gap, Ed Goeas, Mandy Grunwald, Stan Greenberg, Bill Hamilton, Kamala Harris, Gary Hart, Peter Hart, Harrison Hickman, Higher Heights, Italian city-states, Justice Democrats, George Lakoff, Joe Lamson, Ed Lazarus, Silas Lee, Ann Lewis, looking for patterns, Mike Lux, Dotty Lynch, mainframes, Nelson Mandela, Mike Mansfield, Mark Mellman, Jim Messina, Lee Metcalf, Warren Miller, Barbara Mikulski, Walter Mondale, Motown, new voices, Northern Plains Resource Council, Kathleen O’Reilly, Ross Perot, John Podesta, Lana Pollack, Bob Putnam, the race-class narrative, ranked-choice voting, Jeanette Rankin, Ready to Run, Ronald Reagan, red state sensibilities, Nelson Rockefeller, Steve Rosenthal, Anat Shenker-Osorio, Smith College, Alysia Snell, social proof, Social Security cards, Doug Sosnik, Debbie Stabenow, Gail Stoltz, student deferments, Phil Tawney, Jon Tester, two for one, University of Michigan, Kathy van Hook, Women’s Campaign Fund, The Women’s Lobby, Pat Williams, & more!