Political analyst Michael Barone is coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics. Before participating in a panel on the relationship between diversity and democracy in America, he revealed in the Zócalo green room that while his favorite pizza toppings are a bit mundane, he’s got quite the collection of ties—and maps—at home.
Q:
What’s your favorite pizza topping?
A:
Tomato, cheese.
Q:
How would you describe yourself in five words or less?
A:
Knows numbers to understand people.
Q:
What’s your favorite political race of all time?
A:
I don’t think in terms of favorites.
Q:
What’s the most interesting, or fascinating?
A:
The 1980 presidential … They’re all fascinating.
Q:
People talk a lot about a conservative echo chamber; do you think that exists?
A:
I think there’s something like that. It’s not as insulated as the liberal echo chamber.
Q:
When and why did you last get a traffic ticket?
A:
1996. Speed limit.
Q:
What’s your guilty pleasure?
A:
Reading history.
Q:
What’s the fastest way to embarrass you?
A:
I wouldn’t want to tell anybody that.
Q:
What’s the ugliest tie you own?
A:
I’ve gotten rid of those. I moved and got new tie racks, and had to get myself down to something like 140 ties.
Q:
What’s hanging on your living room walls?
A:
Maps. I’ve got maps of London, of Boston, Venice, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, Brazil, Edinburgh, Bath, Dublin, Michigan.
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