Gov. Steve Bullock conducts an interview with POLITICO on Tuesday. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO 2020 Candidate Forum Gov. Steve Bullock on 'Yellowstone,' running the Boston Marathon

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock spoke to POLITICO Tuesday as part of a series of interviews with Democrats seeking to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020.

In addition to discussing Medicare for All, taxes and more, we asked him some lighter questions:

Have you met Donald Trump?




"Well, as National Governors Association chair and vice chair for the last two years, I've had dinner right next to him.

...The first year, that's right, was part one, and the president and the vice president said we want to talk to the nation's governors about school safety and gun violence. And this past year, during the dinner — so, there's two different things, right. There's the dinner where all the governors are, then there's the business meeting. During the business meeting, I spoke to him that first year about school safety. And I don't think last year he took any questions."

If your house were to catch fire, what is one thing you would take with you?



"My children!"

Q: "Your whole family is safe, cat's safe, dog's safe, what is an item you'd want to take with you?"

A: "I think mostly, like, our family pictures, things like that."

How would you describe your college friend group?



"Eclectic. So, I went to a small college (Claremont McKenna College)...Some of them were athletes. I was not an athlete in college. Bunch of philosophy major friends. The school was small enough that, kind of on the one hand, I felt like I knew just about everyone.

But to this day, there's probably eight or 10 came two summers ago to come fishing and things like that. And just a good group of —some are lawyers, some are in the conservation world. Just good folks."

You're doing a lot of cross-country flights. What podcasts are you listening to?



"I don't listen to that many podcasts when I fly...I'm working. On the way out, I started thinking about some of the work that we do on debates on the way. When I'm flying, I'm typically working on either — because I still have a day job that I have to do."

Q: "Do you watch 'Yellowstone?'"

A: "I actually hung out with Kevin Costner, and we got a good tax film credit."

Q: "Is it an accurate portrayal of your state?"

A: "No, it is not. Only the beauty, the beauty...I've got a 17-year-old, 14-year-old, 12. So, like, I go running, that's what I'm going to do, Steve time. Right?"

Do you have any tattoos? And if not, what would you get if you got one?



"Do you want to see? Just kidding! I don't have any tattoos.

...There was a time when I was running a lot. Like, I've done, so I'm now 53. But I was going to turn 40. And I really wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon and go ahead and run marathons. I qualify. Bring out my whole family. My parents, who came too, my mom, were at the Expo. 'Just look around. You look nothing like these people. Steve, what makes you think that you could run 26 miles?' But still, I was a little obsessed with that for a while. So, that probably would have been the one time."

