This week on Politinerds we sat down with James Hewitt, son of conservative radio host (and Salem affiliate) Hugh Hewitt. In the first half of the show James talks about how he wound up becoming involved in conservative politics while in college and then moved directly into professional politicking right after he graduated. We get into the dicey topic of the difference between the establishment GOP leadership and the RNC, as well as how the two can blend together. The RNC doesn’t legislate, but is intended to instead act as a referee to ensure that some Republican wins, but not which one. Do they succeed in that mission?

We also talk about the upcoming debates and how much – if any – influence his boss, Reince Priebus, has on the formats which outlets like Fox News employ. In the second half of the show, James has to sign off and get back to a meeting, but Doug and I continue the debate over how the debate formats may serve as a replacement for the Iowa straw poll in the “culling” process of GOP candidates. Will we have fewer than 17 candidates by October of this year? Doug thinks so but I’m not so sure.

Remember, the show is now available on iTunes so you can catch up with us as soon as new episodes air. And for you non-iTunes users, there’s still the archive of all our previous shows.