so my first guest is even has spent much of his career reporting on american politics and writing about its political leaders he is a pulitzer prize winning journalist and author of two critically acclaimed presidential biographies including barack obama the story i'm happy to welcome back to the day this evening david mariner's david it's good to have you back on the show and when i ask you this midterm election that you again it's good to see you this this midterm election that people are talking about voters are not ignoring it they're talking about it campaign fund raising is breaking records and people are taking advantage of early voting does donald trump does he deserve the credit here . credit might be the wrong word but he deserves it but he's responsible for it to the numerous degree you know there's an old cliche in american politics that all politics is local often it's true this midterm election