The Axe Files with David Axelrod · The Institute of Politics & CNN Podcasts

The Axe Files: The 600th Episode

·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

John McCain shares a moving story about visiting his mentor, Mo Udall, during his final days with Parkinson's.

Six hundred is the doorway. Axelrod opens by saying that almost 10 years earlier, when colleagues at the Institute of Politics suggested the project, he did not even know what a podcast was. That detail gives the anniversary some welcome humility. This is not a victory lap so much as a pause to ask why the show kept mattering to him: formation, pressure, memory, and the way private experience follows people into public life. Anderson Cooper is a good fit for that pause. He gives Axelrod room to look back without turning the episode into a clip reel. Axelrod starts with thanks, naming the Institute of Politics, CNN Audio, Cooper, and the production colleagues who helped turn his curiosity into 600 conversations. Then the episode gets more personal. Axelrod remembers Officer Gardner at the University of Chicago, who gave him news when he was younger in a way that stayed with him. Later, while working at the Chicago Tribune, Axelrod called a police station and realized he was speaking with the same officer. That second contact gives the memory its weight. Gardner is not treated as a symbol. He is remembered as a person who handled a hard moment with care. Axelrod connects that memory to what people ask police officers to carry, while still leaving room for accountability. Cooper widens the conversation to the guest list, and Axelrod answers through curiosity, not status. Tom Hanks becomes the example. Axelrod says he got to know him a little through the Obama campaign and remembers him as warm, bright, interesting, and unusually attentive to Susan in a setting where spouses can get pushed to the side. The ending does not tie a bow. Axelrod says the election could change things dramatically, but he still feels another turn ahead. He just has to figure out what it is.

As heard by us

A reflective milestone episode that uses biography to frame political conversation.

The 600th episode of The Axe Files feels more like a look back at the work than a celebration of the number. David Axelrod and Anderson Cooper talk through conversations, Axelrod's own path, and the people and events that have shaped public life, so the hour stays with the way…

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Why you'd press play

You want a 600th-episode reflection that feels personal, not ceremonial.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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