Aspen Public Radio presented NPR political editor Ken Rudin and senior Washington editor Ron Elving in a conversation about the state of politics, Washington and President Obama on July 8, 2009 in Glenwood Springs and July 9, 2009 at the Given Institute in Aspen.

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Ron Elving directs NPR's coverage of the capitol and of national politics. He was previously the political editor for USA Today and for Congressional Quarterly. His articles have also been published by The Washington Post, the Brookings Institution, Columbia Journalism Review, Media Studies Journal, and the American Political Science Association.

His book, Conflict and Compromise: How Congress Makes the Law, was published in 1995. Elving has taught as an adjunct professor in the Graduate Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University and in the School of Communication at American University.

Ken Rudin oversees campaign coverage for NPR, focusing on all aspects of politics, from the presidential contest – the primaries, national conventions, debates and general election – to the races for the House, Senate and governor, as well. He has analyzed every congressional race in the nation since 1984. He writes the "Political Junkie" blog on NPR.org and can also be heard on NPR's Talk of the Nation every Wednesday at noon on Aspen Public Radio.

A political junkie for many decades, Rudin has one of the most extensive collections of campaign buttons in the country – a collection that now surpasses 70,000 items. Nearly as impressive, Rudin was a key player on the NPR team that won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton award for excellence in broadcast journalism in 2002.

Corporate support for this event was provided by Mountain Chalet.