The not so shadow campaign

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Jan 25, 2023 View in browser   By Eli Stokols, Christopher Cadelago and Lauren Egan Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.   Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Eli | Email Lauren If there were any remaining doubts about President JOE BIDEN running for a second term, the president's upcoming travel plans should lay them to rest. He's running, people. And some Democrats view Biden's pre-State of the Union address calendar, which is starting to take shape, as the soft launch for it. His aides don't even dispute that. Biden will appear at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in New York City next Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the event. On Friday, he'll deliver a speech at the DNC's two-day gathering in Philadelphia, as will Vice President KAMALA HARRIS, and both will attend another DNC fundraiser there, according to three people familiar with that event. These activities, a top political aide to the president allowed, are "indeed the typical actions of a president preparing to run for reelection." The speech at the Sheraton Philadelphia will come on the eve of Saturday's DNC vote to ratify the 2024 primary calendar, revamped at Biden's behest to move South Carolina to the front of the line (the Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to vote Wednesday night about granting extended waivers to New Hampshire and Georgia, which have not yet received legislative sign-off to shift their election dates). But it's likely to focus less on the inside baseball of election mechanics and serve more as a rallying cry for the party itself: a celebration of Democrats' policy and political accomplishments over the last two years. Dipping a toe back into the political waters clarifies Biden's intent to seek reelection. That, in turn, buys him time to make an official announcement. While plans remain fluid, a number of individuals likely to be involved in the campaign believe such an announcement may not happen until late March or early April. Pushing it down the calendar is a way to raise money without spending it. "There's a whole bunch of reasons not to speed up an announcement," said JOE TRIPPI, a Democratic operative who was the chief strategist on Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. "When you're the sitting president of the United States, you don't want to become a candidate any sooner than you have to. Because the second he announces he's running for reelection, it changes the way everybody looks at things. But he still has to raise a ton of money. He can't wait another six months to start on that and start preparing for a campaign." The staff structure of the eventual campaign is still up in the air, and the White House itself is in the midst of a leadership change with JEFF ZIENTS set to replace RON KLAIN as chief of staff in the coming weeks. Zients, a more technocratic manager with little experience in electoral politics, is likely to focus on White House operations while senior adviser ANITA DUNN and deputy chief of staff JEN O'MALLEY DILLON oversee the campaign from the West Wing, according to people familiar with the plans. With additional personnel changes likely within the administration following Klain's exit, many gearing up for a campaign role believe the official launch will come after more dust has settled at the White House. In the meantime, next week's travel will also allow Biden to road test his biggest speech of the year. The State of the Union address on Feb. 7 will serve as a preview of the president's eventual campaign announcement and his case for another four years. According to two administration officials familiar with speech preparations, Biden's remarks to a joint session of Congress – and as large a television audience as he's likely to have all year – will focus largely on what he and Democrats have already done in their first two years, and how many of the tangible benefits from new investments in infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and healthcare have yet to be felt. MESSAGE US —Are you SAM CORNALE, executive director of the DNC? We want to hear from you. And we'll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.   JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA'S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE.     POTUS PUZZLER This one is from reader JIM MILLER. Which president hit his drive into a pine tree on a Georgia golf course so frequently that the tree ended up being named after him? (Answer at the bottom.) The Oval SHE'S BAAAAAACK: First lady JILL BIDEN made her first public appearance following her surgery to remove cancerous lesions earlier this month. "Glad to be back in action today! Thank you to everyone for your prayers and well-wishes as I recovered from Mohs surgery. It meant the world to me," she wrote in a tweet Wednesday. One of her first orders of business included a donation of two outfits to the Smithsonian Institution — an "ocean blue tweed dress and matching coat that she wore to her husband's presidential inauguration at the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, along with the ivory silk wool dress and cashmere coat ensemble she wore at the White House later that evening," according to AP's DARLENE SUPERVILLE.  WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: A recent survey by Morning Consult summarized by ELI YOKLEY about how the president's approval ratings have remained steady since news about his classified documents broke: "According to the Jan. 20-22 survey, 55 percent of voters disapprove of Biden's job performance and 43 percent approve. The figures are in line with his standing at the end of December, before CBS News reported the initial document discovery on Jan. 9. As he prepares to announce his reelection plans, Biden's standing has gone unchanged among Democrats, 4 in 5 of whom approve of his job performance — including 41 percent who do so strongly." White House deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES tweeted the piece out Wednesday morning. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ: This opinion piece by JACK SHAFER for POLITICO Magazine about Biden's classified document scandal that dubs the president "Sloppy Joe." Biden, Jack writes, "had to know better. He spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate, and he chaired or served as ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years. Classified information was served to him in such steady, abundant portions during his years of office that he could have been fattened and put to market in nine months had he eaten them instead of read them." Filling the Ranks STEPPING DOWN: FRANK YIANNAS, the Food and Drug Administration's deputy commissioner for food policy and response, is stepping down from his post after last year's baby formula crisis and turmoil within the agency. Yiannas has been in the position since December 2018. Our MEREDITH LEE HILL has more details. Agenda Setting Biden video thumbnail SEND IN THE TANKS: In a major show of support for Ukraine, the U.S. is sending the nation a battalion of 31 M1 Abrams tanks, the Army's premier main battle tank, as the Russian invasion drags on, our LARA SELIGMAN reports. The president announced the move Wednesday, but the tanks won't arrive in Ukraine for months. The development came after German Chancellor, OLAF SCHOLZ under pressure to send tanks to Ukraine, vowed to do so only in concert with Washington, underscoring the degree to which diplomacy within the alliance is driving decisions about defense aid. THE TREES WILL REMAIN JUST THE RIGHT HEIGHT: The Department of Agriculture on Wednesday finalized a rule restoring environmental protections for the 9.37 million-acre Tongass National Forest in Alaska that were rolled back during the Trump administration. In a statement announcing the move, Secretary TOM VILSACK said that protecting the forest, the nation's largest, was "key to conserving biodiversity and addressing the climate crisis." Environmental groups cheered the move and called on the administration to protect additional forests and wilderness areas from logging and development. MONEY IN YOUR POCKET: Our VICTORIA GUIDA notes that despite ongoing inflation, workers' earnings are outpacing the rise in consumer prices: "Americans' average income has beaten inflation for the past six months, driven by the plummeting cost of gas, along with drops in furniture, cars and other goods. If the trend continues, it could be a boost for Biden as he gears up for a tough reelection campaign, undercutting one of the main Republican arguments against his handling of the economy."   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don't miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     What We're Reading White House zeroes in on its next top economist (WaPo's Tyler Pager, Jeff Stein and Rachel Siegel) Facebook to reinstate Trump (Axios' Sara Fischer and Mike Allen) Opinion: Biden's devious plan to break the MAGA fever just might work (WaPo's Greg Sargent) The Oppo Book JARED BERNSTEIN, a member of Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, is a big music nerd — he even likes to compare his economic work to music composition. "I actually think about composing music when I write about the economy," he told his alma mater, the Manhattan School of Music, back in 2018. "To me, a good economics article is like a good composition. It's clear and it's engaging… it's not too confusing and maybe a little challenging. So, I recognize that when I write I try to think about some combination of Mozart and Keynes." Hmm, can't say we've thought the same thing! POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER routinely hit a pine tree, eventually called "the Eisenhower Tree," while golfing at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. According to Masters.com, "the 65-foot-tall loblolly pine along Augusta National's 17th hole was cut down after it was damaged in an ice storm that hit Georgia and several other states. The tree earned its nickname because it didn't like Ike." A CALL OUT — Thanks to Jim for the question. Do you think you have a harder one? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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