Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Playbook PM: Democrats’ uphill Senate battle

Playbook PM: Democrats’ uphill Senate battle

Apr 11, 2022

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As President JOE BIDEN and other administration officials start traveling to tout their infrastructure work and policy agenda, the White House this morning rolled out a "Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Rural Playbook." (Hey, that's our name!)

— What it is: It's essentially an effort to sell the infrastructure law's tangible benefits for rural communities, from high-speed internet to roads and bridges to drinking water, and help them figure out how to apply for funding. The administration is also announcing billions of dollars in new grants this month.

— What they're doing to sell it: Their playbook will pair with "a rural infrastructure tour," which leads off with Biden visits this week to Menlo, Iowa, and Greensboro, N.C. Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG will be in Tell City, Ind., on Wednesday. Also on the docket this month, per The Hill's Alex Gangitano: Agriculture Secretary TOM VILSACK, Energy Secretary JENNIFER GRANHOLM, Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO, infrastructure coordinator MITCH LANDRIEU, EPA Administrator MICHAEL REGAN and Interior Secretary DEB HAALAND, fanning out to states including Alaska, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia.

The political context here is Democrats' utter free fall in rural America, which helped keep election margins razor-close over the past few years even as Dems ran up the score in the suburbs. Nowhere does Dems' rural wipeout threaten the party more than in the Senate, a body that skews significantly toward rural voters — and thus disproportionately advantages the current GOP. Even though the House may be more likely to flip Republican in the midterms, the Senate is where Democrats' long-term political fortunes look bleakest.

And Dems' Senate hopes saw some fresh setbacks to start the week:

— In Missouri: After other scandals left his star in the Missouri Senate GOP primary undimmed, ERIC GREITENS is finally taking a political hit from the latest domestic abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Natalie Allison reports. The race is shaking up as a series of polls show Rep. VICKY HARTZLER surging into a neck-and-neck race with Greitens, with state A.G. ERIC SCHMITT not far behind. Greitens, of course, has worried many national Republicans as the contender with the biggest general-election liabilities. A primary win by anyone else would likely put this seat out of reach for Democrats. What to watch for: "A potential DONALD TRUMP endorsement continues to loom over the primary, set for Aug. 2."

— In Iowa: Former Democratic Rep. ABBY FINKENAUER hit a major roadblock in her bid to unseat Republican Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY when a judge ruled Sunday that she can't appear on the primary ballot due to issues with the signatures she gathered, per the Des Moines Register. She's expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court. But the secretary of state's office says it needs a final decision by Friday to print absentee ballots.

And here's a big-picture read worth your time: In a new Slow Boring piece, Simon Bazelon delves into the numbers of what should really make Democrats sweat: "Democrats are sleepwalking into a Senate disaster."

— The gist: "'Business as usual' will result in President Trump or President [ RON] DESANTIS, with somewhere between 56 and 62 Senate seats [for Republicans]," writes Bazelon.

Good Monday afternoon.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

MAKING FRIENDS — VP KAMALA HARRIS and Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH have developed a close policy collaboration and friendship in the White House, with Walsh gaining drop-in privileges at the VP's office and Harris planning a baby shower at her residence for his stepdaughter, WaPo's Matt Viser reports. They've often hit the road together for the administration, and their alliance brings political advantages to each as well.

— Fun anecdote: "A few months ago, a meeting in the West Wing appeared on the schedules of Walsh and Harris. Staffers scrambled to figure out how to prepare background briefing materials and talking points, but it turned out they just wanted to talk."

ALL POLITICS

2022 WATCH — JOHN FETTERMAN may be dominating the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary from the progressive lane, but in a new profile, he tells Jewish Insider's Matthew Kassel that he has an "unwavering" commitment to U.S.-Israel ties and will "lean in" on the issue if elected.

— This is interesting: "During the interview, Fetterman took special pains, it seemed," to distance himself from the Squad's positions on Israel, Kassel writes, "at one point anticipating a question about U.S. funding for Israel before it had been posed to him."

ANNALS OF INFLUENCE — A new PAC is launching today from cryptocurrency executive RYAN SALAME, Stephanie Murray reports: He'll start with a $4 million investment in American Dream Federal Action to support Republican candidates.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND — Absent any federal voting rights legislation from Washington, Democrats and nonpartisan advocates in Georgia are working to figure out a strategy around state Republicans' new restrictions on voting, WaPo's Matthew Brown reports. Major groups are meeting Tuesday to make a plan, with an emphasis on educating voters and driving turnout. But some key questions remain: Will the tactics that worked in 2020 hold up against the new laws? And will the restrictions end up depressing turnout — or sparking a backlash that gets people to the polls?

IT'S STILL TRUMP'S PARTY — New polling from Morning Consult shows Trump's approval rating among Republicans holding strong at 86% in Georgia, 87% in North Carolina, 80% in Ohio and 77% in Pennsylvania. Those numbers are up a bit in North Carolina and Pennsylvania since he left office, and down slightly in Georgia, Eli Yokley writes. And he's still more popular with the party than other national GOP leaders.

KNOWING ANDREW GIULIANI — WaPo's Paul Schwartzman has a big feature on the New York GOP gubernatorial contender's campaign, touting the legacy of his father, RUDY, and sounding all the Trumpian, law-and-order notes of the Republican base. Even in a longshot blue-state bid, Giuliani is embracing these ties wholeheartedly, and finding receptive audiences in New York's conservative corners. "On his own campaign trail, Andrew Giuliani is a caffeinated, J. Crew version of his often dour father. He locks eyes with voters as he beams and shakes their hands, ever-ready to extend an emphatic thumbs-up as they swoop in for selfies."

LA LA LAND — Billionaire developer RICK CARUSO has skyrocketed into a dead heat with Rep. KAREN BASS in the Los Angeles mayoral election in a new poll, thanks to a surge of concern about crime and his advertising dominance, per the L.A. Times' Benjamin Oreskes.

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WAR IN UKRAINE

LATEST ON THE GROUND …

— More than 10,000 people in Mariupol have died, the besieged city's mayor told the AP. Meanwhile, nine volunteer aid workers trying to rescue civilians there were detained by Russians and have been missing since late March, CNN's Jake Tapper reports.

— Russia claimed to have destroyed multiple Ukrainian air defense systems, per the AP.

— The U.S. assesses that Russia has not yet begun its "new offensive" in the Donbas region, Pentagon press secretary JOHN KIRBY said today, though all indications are that Russia is refocusing there.

— The first draft of history: NYT's Carlotta Gall and photographer Daniel Berehulak have an unmissable accounting of a month of atrocities in Bucha, having seen dozens of corpses and more than 100 body bags firsthand. The level of detail to which they've mapped out killings and recorded stories is a striking work of journalism. "The evidence suggests the Russians killed recklessly and sometimes sadistically, in part out of revenge," they write.

REACTION IN THE WEST …

— Close to 10,000 undocumented Ukrainians have been processed at the U.S.-Mexico border in the past two months, CBS' Camilo Montoya-Galvez scoops — an "unprecedented wave" via Mexico that's "a symptom of a dysfunctional and backlogged immigration system that is not designed to respond to burgeoning refugee crises, especially after numerous Trump-era restrictions and the COVID-19 pandemic."

— Vague on The Hague: There's a heated debate ongoing among Biden officials about how much the U.S. should support potential investigations into Russian war crimes by the International Criminal Court, NYT's Charlie Savage reports. The administration sees the court as a venue for accountability — but the U.S. and Russia have both withdrawn their signatures from the treaty that created it, and the Pentagon opposes any softening. The divisions "explain why administration officials have been hazy about where efforts to prosecute Russian war crimes should center — even as evidence of large-scale atrocities has mounted."

— Real estate is a major loophole for Russian oligarchs to launder their money. Now U.S. officials are increasingly trying to crack down in this area, Katy O'Donnell reports, with House Financial Services Chair MAXINE WATERS (D-Calif.) planning to introduce new legislation and Treasury preparing new regulations.

AFTERNOON READ — NYT Magazine's Robert Draper has a buzzy feature on Trump's Ukraine/Russia moves in office, through the eyes of FIONA HILL and other advisers. There are plenty of striking anecdotes, including Hill's conversation with GEORGE W. BUSH and DICK CHENEY that led to NATO's 2008 announcement on Ukraine, and a supersized paragraph already making the rounds on Twitter that lays out all of Trump's Russia ties. Draper gets new details on Trump's anti-democratic impulses and admiration for the world's autocrats — and he writes that these advisers see Trump's potential return to power as the end of U.S. leadership in the world and a victory for Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN.

— Trump's classic response to Hill, in the article: "She doesn't know the first thing she's talking about. If she didn't have the accent she would be nothing."

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

COMMITTEE LATEST — The Jan. 6 committee is moving toward its end stages as it prepares for blockbuster hearings. Kyle Cheney and Nick Wu have a useful breakdown of five big decisions committee members will have to make now: 1) when and how they'll call Trump to testify; 2) whether to ask MIKE PENCE to testify about his Jan. 6 call to Trump; 3) whether to ask Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL and especially Speaker NANCY PELOSI to testify; 4) whether it will subpoena three Republican House members who refused to cooperate; and 5) what investigative work will continue even after the committee puts out its findings.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

AGAINST THE GRAIN — A year ago, Tennessee Republicans passed a law restricting classroom instruction around race and gender, seen as one of the country's first "anti-critical race theory laws," prompting plenty of controversy and agita. But in reality, the change has led to a whole lot of nothing, WSJ's Scott Calvert reports : Only one complaint has been filed to a school district anywhere under the law, and school board meetings are less contentious now. (Still, both sides claim victory and note that the law's passage may have altered some teachers' approach.)

DEEP IN THE HEART — Texas Gov. GREG ABBOTT's directive to have state child welfare workers investigate the parents of transgender children has already prompted more than half a dozen investigators to leave the office or look for an exit, The Texas Tribune's Eleanor Klibanoff reports. Employees say they're "unwilling to undertake what they see as discriminatory investigations and critical of the agency's internal response to requests for guidance, but haunted by what a mass exodus of experienced child abuse investigators would mean for the state's most vulnerable children."

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PLAYBOOKERS

BOOK CLUB — Mike Pompeo will publish a yet-untitled recounting of his time as CIA director and secretary of State in the Trump administration, per AP's Hillel Italie. It's coming out in November from Broadside Books.

MEDIA MOVE — Leigh Ann Caldwell is joining WaPo as a co-author of the Early 202 and anchor of Washington Post Live. She currently is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News. Announcement

HUD ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Adjoa Asamoah is now HUD's first ever senior adviser for racial equity (i.e. the "racial equity czar"), per The Root's Keith Reed. She's a Biden campaign alum.

TRANSITIONS — Jen Piekarz is now a press assistant for Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), replacing Claire Waggoner, now a government affairs associate at Oregon Farm Bureau. Piekarz previously was an intern for Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). … The Student Borrower Protection Center is announcing several promotions and new additions: Jackie Filson will be head of comms, Ben Kaufman will be director of research and investigations, Amy Czulada will be outreach and advocacy manager, and Claire Stein-Ross will be senior adviser for operation and strategy.

WEEKEND WEDDINGS — David Mortlock, managing partner for Willkie Farr's Washington office and an NSC alum, and Claire Healy, director of E3G's D.C. office, got married at Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire, England, on Sunday. They originally met via mutual friend Matthew Doyle of the Labour Party, who officiated. Pic … SPOTTED: deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh, Matthew Aks, Jon Allen, Stephanie Allen, Justin Russell and British MPs Peter Kyle and Pat McFadden.

— Ellie Kaufman, a Pentagon producer at CNN, and Jonathan Sherman, a senior analyst at the nonprofit soundexchange, got married Saturday at the College of William & Mary Alumni House among family and friends. The two met in D.C. three years ago and live downtown with their dachshund Bentley. Jonathan showed up almost an hour late to their first date right as Ellie was about to leave, but she decided to take a chance and stay. Pic … Another pic

BIRTHWEEK (was Friday): Gray TV's Priscilla Huff