VIDEO: Al Baldasaro on 'The Art of Politics'

Hunker down for a lively debate on this week's "The Art of Politics," when bi-partisan hosts Ken Gidge, D-Nashua, and Bill O'Brien, R-Mont Vernon, keep it real with guests Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, and John Burt, R-Goffstown.

Things start out on light-hearted note: "Hope I didn't scare you by coming here," said Baldasaro, to Gidge, who responds, "No, but everyone else – little kids and dogs are running around out here."

But the conversation heats up pretty quickly after O'Brien explains that he invited Burt and Baldasaro on to discuss name calling tactics in politics.  

Gidge quickly counters that Republicans are "thin skinned," and "stuck in your ways."

O'Brien talks about the fact that there was "no downshifting whatsoever" from Republicans, saying that the claim of downshifting is a "convenient tactic" but not based in reality.

From there, Baldasaro and Gidge engaged in a debate over funding of social services for the mentally ill and homeless, which devolved into some finger pointing and calls for fact checking.

Burt said the reason Republicans lost was because "Mitt Romney was still using clipboards" and Obama "was using iPads ... and he outsmarted us – that's the bottom line."

From there the topic shifts to voter fraud , importation of Massachusetts voters and the rising cost of education, and so much more.

When Baldasaro tries to define to Gidge the difference between "you" and "us," Gidge counters, "the difference between you and us is, there's no 'you and us,' it's 'us,' and you guys can't take that."

Oh, the art of politics...

You can tune in here for the whole show. Put your feet up and grab a bag of popcorn.