Primary Tourist

This episode contains chapters 38 and 39 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'. With this episode, 'Primary Tourist' comes to an end.

This episode contains chapters 36 and 37 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 34 and 35 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 32 and 33 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 30 and 31 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 28 and 29 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 26 and 27 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 24 and 25 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'. We recorded this over the phone, so the sound quality's different than usual -- sorry about that!

This episode contains chapters 22 and 23 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 20 and 21 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 18 and 19 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist', plus a little audio from a real life faceoff between Vermin Supreme and Ron Paul. That audio is taken from a video at https://youtu.be/U5W-Tc1G3_M , so check that out if you want to see for yourself how it all played out, and maybe even get a glimpse of the author!

This episode contains chapters 16 and 17 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 14 and 15 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'.

This episode contains chapters 12 and 13 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'. In chapter 12, Spike talks about cancer, chess, telemarketing, and food. Then, in chapter 13, Spike and his sidekick venture into the wilds of the 2012 Republican primaries in New Hampshire, in which Chinese is spoken, Newt Gingrich looks forward to enjoying the sport with the spherical object, and the Internet comments on everything.

This episode contains chapters 10 and 11 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'. In chapter 10, Spike talks about living in a nursing home (terrible), gets romantic advice from a friend (run!), and learns that his nephew is in the hospital (cancer). Then, in the next chapter, Spike encounters two presidential candidates: Wesley Clark and Vermin Supreme. We were able to track down a video of Spike's interaction with Wesley Clark, and there's a clip of it at the end of this episode. You can see the video at https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4658516/spike-asks-wesley-clark-question , or the video of the entire campaign rally that the clip is excerpted from at https://www.c-span.org/video/?180238-1/clark-campaign-rally .

Our hero, Spike, is recuperating from a stroke in a nursing home. He recalls a time when he used to go up to New Hampshire during Primary Time, a time when he walked freely, a time when he didn't live in a nursing home. A golden time. Not so long ago.

This episode contains chapters 6 and 7 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist', in which he invents a poetic form known as the Spiku, sees Rick Santorum at a gun club, and considers addictions of different types: sugar, drugs, political.

This episode contains chapters 4 and 5 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist', in which he considers the participants in the first Republican debate of 2011, consummates a relationship with a chess-playing friend, and gets a ride from a New Hampshire town hall star.

This episode contains chapter 3 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist', in which he acquires a sidekick, goes to see John Edwards and Howard Dean, and steps on Al Franken.

This episode contains chapters 1 and 2 of Spike DiMartino's book 'Primary Tourist'. The journey begins!