Legendary Texas oilman and billionaire T. Boone Pickens turns 88 years old in a few short months, but to say he's social media savvy is an understatement.
Pickens speaks to a massive audience of all ages on Twitter, where he has nearly 139,000 followers. From his office in Dallas, he produces podcasts, hosting guests like Steve Forbes, financial legend Carl Icahn, former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and former CIA Director James Woolsey, to name a few.
In his latest podcast, political adviser Karl Rove sits down with Pickens to talk politics, energy and his latest book.
"We've got more candidates than we've ever had, and they don't go away," Pickens said, opening the discussion about the presidential election cycle.
"We'll have a couple more that will dry up after New Hampshire, and more that will dry up after South Carolina. My sense is this race has a great potential to get down to two or three candidates by March 15th," Rove said.
In the discussion, Pickens asked Rove if energy will be a factor in this election.
"I hope it is, because what I think it is, is an opportunity for the Republican candidate to strike a couple of notes. One, a note of optimism about the country because they can point to the success of America and being energy independent. Government didn't do it. Foreign countries didn't do it. It was American know-how," Rove said.
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When voters start to get serious about a candidate, Rove told Pickens it will come down to two factors. "National security and the economy. The economy almost always is an important issue.
National security, because of ISIS and because of the incidents around the world, is going to be an important issue. But the economy is the driver of it, and a smart candidate is going to say, 'This (energy) is a way for us to get better jobs,'" Rove said.
Rove promotes his book, "The Triumph of William McKinley" during the podcast, and the two have a discussion about why the election of 1896 is relevant today.
For more, visit the Pickens Plan website.
