| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | | 
This is the tour Democrats are hoping will help save their midterms fortunes. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo | It was the kind of backdrop politicians love: As heavy machinery moved the earth behind him, an aviator-clad President JOE BIDEN this afternoon celebrated the groundbreaking of a new $20 billion Intel semiconductor plant in the evocatively named Licking County, Ohio. "It's time to bury the label Rust Belt," Biden trumpeted. "Made in Ohio and made in America is no longer just a slogan: It's happening," he said. "The industrial Midwest is back," he leaned into the microphones to declare. This is the tour Democrats are hoping will help save their midterms fortunes: Biden and other top officials on the road, touting the summer's string of unexpected legislative victories and making a play for working-class voters with a pitch focused on manufacturing and infrastructure. His revived agenda is reflected in an official, 58-page economic blueprint the White House put out this morning. Biden used the occasion to tout the CHIPS and Science Act, the big semiconductor manufacturing legislation whose impending passage played a role in Intel's funding decisions. The Ohio project is expected to create thousands of jobs, and Intel announced a related $17.7 million investment in educational and workforce training at local colleges and universities. Its computer chips will also have an impact on national security. More from Reuters In a sign of the project's importance to the region, Democratic and Republican politicians — including Ohio's governor and both senators — joined Biden at the announcement. Gone were Biden's dire warnings about "extreme MAGA Republicans" and threats to democracy. Instead, the president today was in can-do bipartisan mode, lavishing praise on Republican Sen. ROB PORTMAN: "He's a good man. … You're leaving a hell of a legacy." But whether these investments will pay dividends politically for Democrats remains to be seen. In a deep-red portion of the state, Biden's appearance is likely still a mixed blessing at best for the party. That was epitomized by Rep. TIM RYAN's interview Thursday with Youngstown's WFMJ-TV, where the Senate nominee said he was "campaigning as an independent, really," and went further than most Democrats in pumping the brakes on a Biden 2024 bid: "My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board. … It's time for a generational move." This morning in Ohio, Ryan walked back his comments slightly: "The president said from the very beginning he was going to be a bridge to the next generation, which is basically what I was saying," he told White House pooler Sebastian Smith of AFP. Asked again whether Biden should run, Ryan said, "That's up to him." THE ROYAL SENDOFF — Biden will attend the late QUEEN ELIZABETH II's funeral, NBC's Savannah Guthrie reported. Related read: "Biden says queen 'defined an era.' For a proud Irishman, it's complicated," by WaPo's Matt Viser: "Biden — an Irishman to his core — may not have revered the queen as much as some, and did not bow to her as many do, he honored her in his own way." Happy Friday afternoon.
| | | | A message from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: FDA: End the delays. Protect kids. Eliminate flavored e-cigarettes.
The FDA has missed deadline after deadline to protect our kids from nicotine-loaded flavored e-cigarettes, defying Congress and the courts and leaving these addictive products on the market.
All while tobacco companies continue to target and hook more kids.
FDA: End the delays. Protect kids today by eliminating flavored e-cigarettes. | | | CONGRESS PAGING JOE MANCHIN — The West Virginia Democrat's energy permitting reform looks likely to get attached to a stopgap government funding bill and pass, despite progressive opposition, WaPo's Maxine Joselow reports. Senate Dem leaders agreed to the bill to get Manchin on board with reconciliation, but climate activists are now rallying against it. "Even if [Sen. BERNIE] SANDERS votes against the funding bill, the measure could still pass the Senate with at least 11 votes from Republicans. And several GOP senators signaled this week that they were eager to revamp the permitting process." McCARTHY ON THE BRINK — WSJ's Natalie Andrews has a big new profile of House Minority Leader KEVIN McCARTHY, who's walking a narrow path in a divided GOP to try to become speaker next year. "The most common words that colleagues past and present used to describe Mr. McCarthy are congenial and jovial," she writes. "They also call him 'not policy driven,' and a 'shape shifter,' a reference to how he has made friends with the broad swath of the caucus—and that he has never been known as an outspoken conservative or centrist." Some quotes that stand out: McCarthy: "I have a couple of different philosophies … I'm continuing learning every day, I can never have too many friends in this world, and I never give up." Former House Speaker PAUL RYAN: "Unlike say, a NEWT [GINGRICH], or maybe even me, where you want to be the lead policy maker, he looks at this more as a lead coaching role." Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.): "Kevin is not bridled by too many policy views … His organizing principle is ambition." Rep. ADAM KINZINGER (R-Ill.): "He'll be the worst speaker and he won't last because he's going to be led around by insurrectionists." MEDIA/BIG TECH NEXUS — "Klobuchar pulls vote on bipartisan tech bill, says agreement 'blown up' by Cruz amendment," by The Hill's Rebecca Klar: "Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) asked to pull a committee vote on a bill aimed at giving news outlets the ability to negotiate collectively with tech platforms … [S]he said she fully plans to move forward with the bill."
| | | | A WOMEN RULE CONVERSATION ON LEADING FROM THE GROUND UP: Join POLITICO's Women Rule on Sept. 15 for conversations focused on creating and leading sustainable, healthy and inclusive communities. The program will feature a Member Exchange panel followed by a keynote discussion exploring the most pressing issues facing women in their communities and women in leadership roles who are best positioned to solve these problems. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | ALL POLITICS BATTLE FOR THE SENATE — Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL is urging Republicans close to DONALD TRUMP to get the former president to spend more money on Senate races, Burgess Everett and Meridith McGraw report. As key GOP nominees struggle with fundraising, Trump is sitting on $99 million — but some Republicans think he won't jump in, given his bad blood with Senate GOP leaders. Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) says he plans to ask closer to November. "Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.) said [Arizona's BLAKE] MASTERS will 'probably not' be able to win without more assistance." BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE — The NRCC is placing another $28 million on TV ad reservations for the fall, laying the groundwork for a lot of offensive (and some defensive) spending, Ally Mutnick scooped . At the top of the list: $3.7 million against Rep. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-Va.) and $3.4 million for the open seat in Ohio's 13th Congressional District. Though three-fourths of the money is in Democratic-held seats, the GOP is also spending anew to protect some incumbents, including $2.2 million and $1.3 million to shore up California Reps. MIKE GARCIA and DAVID VALADAO. — With the primaries almost over, The Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman takes a step back to examine how the parties changed this year in House elections: Republicans got significantly more Trumpy, while Democrats moved left at a much slower pace. "'Establishment/Traditional' Democrats prevailed 65% of the time," he finds. "And heavy spending by stridently pro-Israel groups such as [the Democratic Majority for Israel] was the difference-maker torpedoing progressive contenders in many of these races." ELECTION INFRASTRUCTURE — Voting experts and advocates urged Georgia to switch from touchscreens to paper ballots and to step up the number of audits for the November election, citing security concerns in the wake of an apparent breach in one county by people seeking evidence for false fraud claims. The secretary of state's office said they'll respond to the letter in time, but that the state's elections remain secure. More from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2024 WATCH — Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) is interested in another potential presidential campaign, but he openly acknowledges that he won't make a decision about 2024 until Trump does, the Washington Examiner's David Drucker reports from Londonderry, N.H. Though Cruz "loves campaigning and desperately wants to run for president again," including his stop in the first-in-the-nation primary state, he tells Drucker that he's clear-eyed about the GOP landscape: "There are a lot of candidates out there feeling their oats and boasting, 'I'm running no matter what. I don't care what Donald Trump says.' Anyone who says that is lying. That's an idiotic statement for someone to make who's actually thinking about running." THE NEW GOP — Republicans' House nominees across the country are increasingly racially diverse, with more than 60 people of color on the ballot for the GOP in November, Axios' Sophia Cai reports. The party says it's the result of a greater focus in recruitment. (Of course, Republicans still lag Democrats on diversity.) FROM 30,000 FEET — Mother Jones' David Corn is out with an excerpt adapted from his new book, "American Psychosis" ( $30 ), tracing how the Republican Party arrived at MAGA: The party "went crazy," he posits, long before Trump. "What I found was not an exception, but a pattern," Corn writes. "Since the 1950s, the GOP has repeatedly mined fear, resentment, prejudice, and grievance and played to extremist forces so the party could win elections. Trump assembling white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Christian nationalists, QAnoners, and others who formed a violent terrorist mob on January 6 is only the most flagrant manifestation of the tried-and-true GOP tactic to court kooks and bigots." IN THE KEYSTONE STATE — Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee DOUG MASTRIANO hasn't aired any TV ads since winning the primary — and he's booked no air time for the rest of the campaign yet either, McClatchy's Dave Catanese reports. Democrat JOSH SHAPIRO's TV ad spending allocations total $29 million. Mastriano didn't need many TV ad buys to win the GOP primary. "But Mastriano's financial hardships could prove consequential in a general election where he needs to reach a broader swath of voters." — Shortly before the Jan. 6 insurrection, Mastriano said, "I pray that … we'll seize the power that we had given to us by the Constitution," Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson reports with newly published video. ABORTION FALLOUT IT'S OFFICIAL — Following a ruling from the state Supreme Court, Michigan's Board of State Canvassers this morning put an abortion rights amendment on the November ballot, per WZZM-TV . That will set the abortion question directly before voters in a critical swing state, with potential effects on turnout: Bloomberg Government's Alex Ebert wrote earlier this week that the amendment could energize Democratic voters, particularly young people and women, and bolster the party's fortunes. Among the politicians who could benefit most: Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER and Reps. DAN KILDEE and ELISSA SLOTKIN. Meanwhile, TUDOR DIXON, Whitmer's GOP challenger, is feeling the heat on abortion. She responded today to a reporter fact-checking her abortion stance by attacking the press: "Let me know when you all want to do your job. … Whitmer destroyed lives & livelihoods yet none of you silver spoon blue check marks care."
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | TRUMP CARDS TRUMP-RUSSIA LATEST — A federal judge tossed out Trump's lawsuit against HILLARY CLINTON, JAMES COMEY and others over the Russia investigation in a ruling that blasted the former president's legal approach, per the AP. U.S. District Judge DONALD MIDDLEBROOKS wrote that Trump's lawsuit had "glaring structural deficiencies" and amounted to "a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this Court is not the appropriate forum." TY COBB UNLOADS — The former White House lawyer in the Trump administration said on CBS' "The Takeout" podcast with Major Garrett that he thinks Trump could be barred from running for president again: "He clearly violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution's Article III when he gave aid and comfort and three hours of inaction with regard to what was happening on the grounds of the Capitol. That clearly gave aid and comfort to the insurrectionists." Cobb also said he thinks DOJ's Mar-a-Lago records probe is linked to its Jan. 6/2020 election investigation. WAR IN UKRAINE YIKES — "Europe's largest nuclear power plant was operating in emergency mode Friday for the fifth straight day due to the war in Ukraine, prompting the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog to call for the establishment of an immediate safety zone around it to prevent a nuclear accident," AP's Hannah Arhirova reports, quoting IAEA director RAFAEL MARIANO GROSSI: "This is an unsustainable situation and is becoming increasingly precarious." AFTERNOON READ — In POLITICO Magazine, Bryan Bender has a fascinating feature on Camden, Ark., a remote town whose weapons plants have played a critical role in Ukraine: Here is where some of the war's most consequential missiles, artillery and more are made. But it's also an area in which geopolitics collide with the realities of the modern American labor market — manufacturers are struggling to draw enough skilled workers to a long-struggling region. "In short, a longstanding weakness in the U.S. workforce could have potentially serious consequences on allies' ability to help Ukraine and delay efforts to resupply their own forces in the event of a new conflict." POLICY CORNER PINCHING POCKETS — Affordable Care Act monthly premiums are set to leap a median 10% next year, and as much as 20% under some insurers, WSJ's Stephanie Armour and Anna Wilde Mathews report . Federal subsidies extended in the Inflation Reduction Act will likely act as a buffer to prevent consumers from feeling much of that increase. But it could have a significant impact on small businesses that won't have such aid. AMERICA AND THE WORLD 21 YEARS LATER — After more than two decades, KHALID SHAIKH MOHAMMED and four others accused of 9/11-related crimes are still waiting for trials at Guantánamo Bay, AP's Larry Neumeister, Jennifer Peltz and Carrie Antlfinger report ahead of the anniversary this weekend. The timeline remains cloudy after pretrial hearings set for this autumn were axed in August. "Now, [former U.S. Attorney DAVID] KELLEY said, with the passage of time it will be much more difficult to prosecute Mohammed in a tribunal, much less a courtroom. 'Evidence goes stale, witness memories fail.' The passage of time hasn't dulled the memories of the victims' families or dampened their interest in witnessing justice." PLAYBOOKERS SPOTTED at a party Wednesday night at Sazerac House celebrating Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid's newest lobbyist, Mary Dee Beal: Julie Hershey Carr, Caleb Crosswhite, Laura Friedel, Sarah Gilmore, Hana Greenberg, Andrei Greenawalt, Aparna Paladugu, Dudley Hoskins, Whitney Jones, Anna Lanier Fischer, Mary Christina Riley and Emily Slack. IN MEMORIAM — Loren Hoekstra , director of government relations for the National Sheriffs' Association and a former Hill staffer, died Aug. 18 at 36. A memorial service in her honor will be held Wednesday evening at the Capitol Hill Club. Full obituary STAFFING UP — Liza Acevedo is now comms director for second gentleman Doug Emhoff, per NBC's Carmen Sesin. She previously was deputy press secretary for DHS. … Lauren Mendoza is now deputy assistant secretary of Education for state and local outreach. She most recently was policy manager at First Five Years Fund. MEDIA MOVE — Sabrina Rodríguez will be national political reporter for WaPo. She previously was a national political correspondent for POLITICO. Announcement WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Bari Weiss, the editor of Common Sense and the host of the "Honestly" podcast who is building a new media company based in LA with her fellow NYT alum wife, and Nellie Bowles, who writes the Friday column "TGIF" for Common Sense and is also working on a book, welcomed a daughter on Sept. 2. BONUS BIRTHDAY: WaPo's Robert Samuels
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