| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Ryan Lizza and Eugene Daniels | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | LOOK WHO’S BACK — “Convicted fraudsters launch AI lobbying firm using fake names,” by Daniel Lippman: “LobbyMatic was founded last year by JACOB WOHL, who in 2022 was convicted along with his longtime associate JACK BURKMAN of felony telecom fraud.”
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Are we now seeing signs that VP Kamala Harris’ remarkable six-week honeymoon might finally be waning? | Francis Chung/POLITICO | ONE LONG WEEKEND — We’ve made it to Labor Day, that critical election-year milestone where voters start tuning in for real, the final shape of the race becomes apparent, and campaigns get down to brass tacks. Let’s start with our colleague Steve Shepard’s assessment of the race two months out from Election Day: “Because of Republicans’ advantage in the Electoral College, a race that [VP KAMALA] HARRIS leads nationally by between 2 and 4 percentage points, on average, is the equivalent of a knife fight in a phone booth, and it’s set to be decided in a smaller-than-usual number of states.” “The polls are extraordinarily tight in all of them, and that isn’t expected to change much over the next nine weeks,” Steve adds. “In modern presidential elections, where the race stands on Labor Day is usually pretty close to where it ends up once the votes are counted.” But we wanted to zoom out this morning and ask whether we are now seeing signs that Harris’ remarkable six-week honeymoon might finally be waning. Headlines about two overseas tragedies — one old and one new — have cast a shadow over the Democratic ticket and given DONALD TRUMP a new opportunity to dig into Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. TIM WALZ after flailing for weeks trying to figure out an effective line of attack. THE NEW: The death of 23-year-old American HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN at the hands of Hamas, one of six young hostages brutally murdered this weekend, has fueled a flurry of new GOP attacks on Harris and President JOE BIDEN. While in Israel, protests have broken out against PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU blaming him for not engaging more seriously in peace talks, here in the U.S., Trump and other Republicans have cast the murders as a failure of resolve to support Israel in its battle against Hamas. Take, for example, Breitbart’s headline on this: “Hostages found murdered in Rafah — where Kamala Harris told Israel not to go.” Or the myriad tweets of pictures of Biden at the beach — or hitting Harris for taking to the trail on Labor Day. “Hamas killed an American citizen with a bullet to the back of the kid’s head and Joe Biden has been sitting on the beach and Kamala Harris is on the campaign trail talking about joy,” conservative commentator (and off-again-on-again Trump critic) ERICK ERICKSON wrote on X. Trump himself weighed in: “Make no mistake — This happened because Comrade Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden are poor Leaders. Americans are getting slaughtered overseas, while Kamala is disparaging and making up lies about Gold Star families, and Biden is sleeping on the beach on this 16th consecutive day of vacation.” Harris issued a statement condemning Hamas for the deaths of Goldberg-Polin and the other hostages and spoke yesterday to his family. She has otherwise kept quiet about Netanyahu’s role. But speaking to reporters earlier today, Biden responded, “No,” when asked if the PM was doing enough to secure a deal. This morning, before heading out on the campaign trail in Detroit and Pittsburgh, Harris joined Biden and his national security team as they met with hostage deal negotiators to discuss a path forward — which could include, as Axios’ Barak Ravid first reported, making a best-and-final offer to Israel and Hamas later this week.
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance: TRACKING THE SENIOR VOTE — Protecting Medicare tops the list in this election, according to a new bipartisan poll. Today, that means Medicare Advantage.
Medicare Advantage represents over half of the Medicare program, serving more than 33 million seniors. Seniors choose Medicare Advantage for affordable health care with better outcomes.
That’s why a supermajority of older voters agrees: Washington must keep health care affordable for seniors by standing up for Medicare Advantage. Read the results. | | | THE OLD: Meanwhile, the fallout from the Arlington National Cemetery controversy — and, specifically, criticism of Harris by the Gold Star families who lost loved ones during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan — has renewed a focus on the bungled pullout effort. Democrats don’t seem particularly concerned. They argue that Republicans have spent so much time blaming Biden for the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate and other failures that to pivot to fingering Harris doesn’t pass the smell test. While the White House has gone to some lengths to cast Harris as a key player in foreign policy decisions (as our colleague Eric Bazail-Eimil writes today), there is scant evidence that Harris was a major player in Afghan policy, as WaPo’s Dan Lamothe noted in a worthwhile X thread yesterday. Yet the issue seems to have legs now that the Gold Star families have gotten involved. They’ve argued in videos that they’ve tried to meet and speak with Harris over the past three years and have been denied, and her team is not answering questions about whether she intends to rectify that situation, except to note that she was not invited to the memorial event Trump attended at Arlington last week. To be sure, it’s unclear — perhaps even unlikely — that this will be a matter that moves voters. In a recent Fox News poll, only 4 percent of voters identified foreign policy as their top issue in selecting a candidate. But Republicans will try to keep this matter front and center. As soon as next week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to release what’s likely to be a scathing report on the evacuation. And on Sept. 10 — the day of the presidential debate — Speaker MIKE JOHNSON will honor the 13 killed in the pullout by awarding their loved ones with the Congressional Gold Medal, all but assuring that the topic will follow Harris to the debate stage. Related read: “Trump aims to drag down Harris as he scrambles to keep up in tight race,” by WaPo’s Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Marianne LeVine: “With little chance of improving Trump’s standing, Trump’s advisers see the only option as damaging hers.” Happy Labor Day. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. TEARING DOWN WALZ — The tough headlines aren’t limited to Harris over the past 24 hours. Four vets who served with Walz in the National Guard will slam their former comrade in a sit-down with MEGYN KELLY for her podcast posting later today. The host teased some of the episode yesterday, including his comrades calling him “morally indefensible” and a “coward.”
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance:   Seniors can’t afford policies that make their health care more expensive. They are counting on Washington to protect Medicare Advantage. Learn more. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden returned this morning from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to the White House, where he and Harris began a Situation Room meeting with the U.S. team working on negotiations for an Israel-Hamas hostage release deal. On the trail Biden will travel this afternoon to Pittsburgh, where he and Harris will participate in a campaign event at a local union hall at 4:45 p.m., before he returns to the White House. Harris will also travel to Detroit, where she’ll speak at a Labor Day campaign event at 1:15 p.m. At the Pittsburgh event, according to her campaign, Harris will weigh in for the first time on the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel — saying U.S. Steel should remain in domestic hands. She’ll return to D.C. in the evening. Walz will meet with Minnesota labor leaders in St. Paul before traveling to Milwaukee, where he’ll speak at Laborfest at 2 p.m.
| | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | | 
National security adviser Jake Sullivan told American hostage families yesterday that “the next few days will be critical” to get an Israel-Hamas hostage release deal. | Susan Walsh, File/AP Photo | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: With Israel currently in chaos over the deaths of six hostages, the U.S. efforts to reach a cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war are coming to a head. National security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN told American hostage families yesterday that “the next few days will be critical.” Though it remains unclear whether the news will hasten or delay a deal, CNN’s Alex Marquardt and Lauren Izso report that U.S. officials expect the picture to become clearer soon. It may be now or never, WaPo’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and John Hudson report: The U.S., Egypt and Qatar are working on a “final ‘take it or leave it’ deal,” to be presented in the coming weeks — and if that fails, U.S. officials say, the American-led talks may end. 2. WHAT JEROME POWELL IS WATCHING: “‘Ticking time bomb’: Plunging office values alarm Washington,” by Katy O’Donnell: “The market for office buildings — already reeling from higher vacancy rates amid the rise in remote-work policies — has been crushed by high borrowing costs, and while the Federal Reserve is at last preparing to cut interest rates, it may be too little, too late. Investors, banks and property owners are now beginning to accept that some commercial buildings will never recover their pre-pandemic value, and that’s leading to a steady drumbeat of distressed sales. The market’s troubles have caught the attention of Congress — with one New York lawmaker calling it a ‘ticking time bomb’ for banks.” 3. BIG BEN: No longer an outsider, conservative podcaster BEN SHAPIRO is stepping into a new role as a prominent fundraiser for Republican candidates in key Senate races, Alex Isenstadt reports. Another Trump fundraiser is possible too. His provocative comments could present some controversy for the candidates he boosts, but Shapiro’s massive following makes him an attractive ally — especially in reaching younger conservatives who prefer his style to the old establishment. It’s “a shift for the 40-year-old Shapiro in his evolution as a conservative media personality, as Republican candidates seek to parlay his influence into cash.” 4. MUSK READ: “Trump eyes plan that may give Elon Musk role in auditing U.S. agencies,” by WaPo’s Jeff Stein and Trisha Thadani: “[ELON] MUSK’s potential involvement in a government regulatory and spending commission has sparked concerns from ethics experts who point to conflicts of interest that could emerge between such a post and his business empire. But Trump advisers are eager to bring in prominent corporate leaders to compile a high-profile list of federal excess, reprising efforts similar to those led by President RONALD REAGAN and Sen. TOM COBURN (R-Okla.).”
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance:   Medicare Advantage is affordable health care for seniors, and they want Washington to protect it. | | | 5. KNOWING USHA VANCE: The would-be second lady is staying very quiet about her faith, turning down questions from AP’s Deepa Bharath about whether she’s still a Hindu, whether she’s converted to Catholicism like husband Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) and how they’re raising their kids. Usha Vance’s background and blended family have excited Indian American Republicans, but she’s also faced far-right bigotry and hate online, making “others question whether the Republican Party is really ready for a Hindu second lady.” Some Republicans think Usha Vance could help the GOP appeal more to minority communities, but the campaign hasn’t chosen to highlight her in that way thus far. 6. WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS: “With his 1776 Commission on patriotism, Trump helped spark a culture war,” by WaPo’s Laura Meckler: “The little-noticed story of how Trump personally commissioned this initiative [to counter the 1619 Project in school curricula] in his final months as president shows his instinct for spotting and stoking a simmering culture war issue … It also offers a granular example of how Trump’s impulse to use federal power expansively to execute his political goals was at times thwarted in his first term by aides who took a more traditional conservative view of the role of government — and what he might achieve should he return to the White House without such guardrails.” 7. BATTLE FOR THE SENATE: Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.) has won swing-state elections by appealing to Trump voters and dairy farmers, and this year she’s trying to convince them to stick with her, WSJ’s Katy Stech Ferek reports from Chippewa Falls. Campaigning in rural areas, Baldwin emphasizes her record on fighting against non-dairy “milks,” securing mental health support for farmers, infrastructure and insulin price caps. She’s also talking about abortion and immigration. But Republican ERIC HOVDE sees an opening to tie Baldwin to Biden’s unpopular economic record. 8. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: “Federal workers around nation’s capital worry over Trump’s plans to send some of them elsewhere,” by AP’s Olivia Diaz and Brian Witte: “The Republican’s proposals stir anxiety in the midst of an unusually competitive U.S. Senate race in heavily Democratic Maryland … The proposals also could hinder Trump’s chances to win Virginia … And concerns don’t end there. Federal workers also are worried about ‘Project 2025.’” 9. TREND LINE TO WATCH: The latest WSJ poll finds voters growing more optimistic about the future of the country and the economy, which could give Harris a boost, Sabrina Siddiqui reports. To be sure, views are still broadly negative by a 2-to-1 margin. But the new data “reflect the most favorable view of the country’s trajectory since at least November 2021,” driven especially by softening pessimism among Democrats and independents since Biden exited the presidential race. Siddiqui talks to multiple left-leaning voters who are newly energized by Harris after initially planning to vote third party or not at all — but she also finds other registered Dems abandoning the party over economic and other concerns.
| | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Donald Trump said he had “every right” to interfere with the 2020 election. Tim Walz wasted little time in getting a pork chop on a stick. IN MEMORIAM — “Linda Deutsch, AP trial writer who had front row to courtroom history, dies at 80,” by AP’s John Rogers WEEKEND WEDDING — Wilson Shirley, a VP of global affairs at Goldman Sachs and a Mike Pompeo and Roger Wicker alum, and Ryan Whittington, a global public policy manager at Audible, got married yesterday at River Cafe in Brooklyn. They first met via Craigslist — as post-college housemates in D.C. SPOTTED: David Jimenez, Alex Titus, Luis Parrales, Marshall and Olivia Kosloff, Mollie Moore, Alex Entz, Ethan Shire and Pi Praveen. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) … Lisa Barclay … NPR’s Don Gonyea … Newsmax’s James Rosen … Jess Fassler … former Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) (93) … J.P. Freire … former Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) … Zakiya Thomas … Dan Klaidman … Tom Manatos of Block … Gilead Sciences’ Bill Bode … Kris Balderston … Emily Porter of Sidecar Health … PBS’ Raney Aronson-Rath … Seth Gainer ... Evan Viau of Cisco … Victoria Bonney of Rep. Frank Pallone’s (D-N.J.) office … Axiom Strategies’ Ethan Zorfas … Dylan Vorbach … AHIP’s Andrew Shine … Wyss Foundation’s Molly McUsic … Kevin P. Smith … Jennifer Haynes of Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) office … Elizabeth Birch of CBRE … Rachael Payton … Leroy Garcia Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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