Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren CHICAGO — As if the officials working on revising this week’s Democratic National Convention didn’t have enough to do resetting the speaker lineup and messaging after Vice President KAMALA HARRIS replaced President JOE BIDEN at the top of the ticket, senior Harris aides contemplated throwing another major wrinkle into the plans as recently as last week. According to three people familiar with the conversations, a senior Harris aide reached out to convention chair MINYON MOORE early last week to see if it might be possible to move the vice president’s Thursday night speech outdoors to Soldier Field. For a mix of security and logistical reasons, it was not. That Harris team even broached the idea, a replication of the football stadium acceptance speech BARACK OBAMA delivered 16 years ago in Denver, came as something of a surprise to some Democratic operatives given how much the team was already dealing with as it makes adjustments to a campaign revamped around a different nominee and preparing for a final, 80-day sprint to Election Day. It also underscored the campaign’s confidence about Harris’ momentum and its belief that the enthusiasm around the remade Democratic ticket is representative of a growing movement — one big enough where she wouldn’t be limited to the standard acceptance speech before a room full of delegates, where she could realistically fill a 63,000-seat stadium with supporters on short notice. That hadn’t been done until Obama’s team opted to move his closing night speech outdoors in 2008. But those who worked on that convention recalled that they gave organizers and the Secret Service six weeks notice to work through the details of complex logistical and security concerns. They even studied 50 years of Denver weather history on that late August date to be confident that moving Obama’s speech outside likely wouldn’t result in him getting soaked by a summer storm. (They tried to replicate the scene four years later in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the risk of late-summer thunderstorms pushed Obama’s speech indoors on one day’s notice.) This year, it was more than the weather (which should be lovely). Mainly, there wasn’t enough time to accommodate all the changes the new venue would require, especially in a security environment that is even more stringent than it was in 2008, according to the three sources familiar with the decision. PRITZKER HOLDS COURT: He didn’t get the VP slot, but Illinois Gov. JB PRITZKER, for all intents and purposes, is the grand marshal of the DNC, convening reporters, donors, celebrity guests (MARK HAMILL, hello!) and political guests at The Salt Shed, which he’s rented for the week, and elsewhere around town. On Saturday night, the governor hosted an off-the-record dinner for a small group of national reporters. West Wing Playbook was not invited. But according to two sources familiar with the conversation, Pritzker described watching Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate in Los Angeles at the home of MICHAEL SMITH, Obama’s interior decorator and a major Democratic donor. As CNN had already reported about the event, Pritzker wasn’t the only governor in the home theater: Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER and Kentucky Gov. ANDY BESHEAR were also on hand (although they may have left early). As was Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, who Pritzker recalled was on the patio getting an earful from director ROB REINER, irate over Biden’s poor performance, during the first commercial break. “You fucked us!” Reiner was apparently yelling. We presume Rob is feeling a bit better about things these days. LINES FOR DAYS: With all the usual caveats about how challenging it is to perfectly orchestrate a convention, there was plenty of frustration to go around on Monday as lawmakers, delegates, reporters and volunteers found themselves caught in long lines to get into the United Center and McCormick Place (the downtown center where daily press briefings and caucus meetings take place). A DNC volunteer profusely apologized to a member of Congress as he was ushered through a long line of people waiting to get into McCormick Place on Monday morning, muttering about how he was going to miss his speaking slot at one of the meetings. “Better planning next time,” a delegate angrily shouted from the line. Over at the United Center, the wait time was even worse. By midday, the media and staff security line was taking well over an hour. TV producers pleaded with security staff to let their anchors and guests cut the line, stressing that they would miss their hit times. CNN’s WOLF BLITZER waited in the beating sun for about eight minutes before someone escorted him to the front (take us with you next time, Wolf!!). Chicago Sun-Times’ LYNN SWEET thought no one saw her casually cut the line (West Wing Playbook is always watching!!). ROBBY MOOK looked stressed about getting inside for his hit inside the convention hall (he did, in fact, make it). And CNN’s DANA BASH looked at the line, regretting her decision to pop outside the security barrier for a quick lunch-time break. “Maybe this is a mistake,” she said to colleagues. (It most definitely was a mistake). (And some reporters noted that there was not any wait at the Republican convention…) There's a lot going on around town this week. Here's a bit more from our notebooks: CARDI B SHOOTS HER SHOT: Amid the speculation about which A-list celebs may take the stage in Chicago this week, it seems that we can cross CARDI B off the list of possibilities. A well-placed source tells West Wing Playbook that the rapper was invited to perform and said she’d come — for an $800,000 fee. Campaign and DNC officials said there was no world in which they would be paying that. MESSAGE US — Are you CALEB WILLIAMS? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. CALLOUT!!! Are you going to the team Biden party at The Old Post Office tonight? Shoot us a note about who cried the hardest reminiscing about 2020, whether ice cream was served and how many times ANDREW BATES said “keep the faith” while clinking glasses. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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