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 When press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE bounded into the briefing room on Monday, she offered a smile as bright as her parakeet-green pants before gazing out at the room. “A lot of empty seats back there, I see,” she said. “It’s August.” Not only were the back rows mostly empty, but several unfamiliar faces filled the first two rows, as newsrooms juggling staff vacations — as they often do in August — brought in reporters and network producers from other beats to fill seats usually occupied by correspondents. When President JOE BIDEN flew on Tuesday to New Orleans for a speech, the Air Force One crew and White House advance staff took note of “all these newbies” on the plane who didn’t seem to know what is and isn’t allowed. After some new members of the pool took pics inside the press cabin, the White House communications team got a call from advance staffers requesting a reiteration of the guidance. Inside a much quieter White House, aides who’ve noticed the relative emptiness and distinct lack of buzz (especially compared to one of the more insane Julys in recent memory) are wondering privately and in conversations among themselves how much these doldrums have more to do with the new political order than the typical August sleepiness in Washington. Some press aides have sarcastically responded to reporter inquiries about Biden: “Oh, you guys still care about us now?” But the humor is little veil for the broader coming to terms with what it feels like to work in the White House now that Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ campaign is the primary focus for the next three months. Interest in and coverage of the president himself seems to be waning. “It’s kind of like: So this is what it’s going to be like for the next several months,” one administration official told West Wing Playbook. In recent weeks, several newsrooms have reassigned some White House reporters to focus on the campaign over the next several months. And according to two people familiar with the planning, only three news organizations opted into a pool of print reporters who will trail the president next week when he’s away on vacation following his Monday night address at the Democratic convention. While the unexpected position has left some West Wing staffers feeling a bit envious of their peers in Wilmington who are now at the center of the Democratic political universe, others have relished the more relaxed atmosphere on campus. “We’re no longer in fight-or-flight mode,” said a White House staffer. “And that is a good feeling.” Staffers in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building described a much more “laid back” and “chill vibe” in the four weeks since Biden dropped out of the race, with blood pressure levels finally coming down. They’re able to sneak out the campus gates a bit earlier on Friday afternoons and check phones a little less obsessively during more leisurely lunch breaks. But even as the press’ focus on Biden has waned, easing some of the pressure cooker environment that had become campus norm, the president has made clear that he wants his final few months in office to be just as productive as any other period in his term. And a handful of White House staff told West Wing Playbook that, despite the descriptions by some aides of a more laid back workplace, they were not letting up the gas on their way out the door. “The President just beat Big Pharma and is saving seniors billions of dollars on prescription drugs. It’s clear his White House has no plans to slow down,” White House spokesperson ROBYN PATTERSON said in a statement. That expectation has been communicated directly by chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS, who convened a call last week with Biden appointees across the administration to map out the months ahead. Zients said Biden had asked him “push the envelope and look for opportunities for new policy” in the final months of his administration, however much of an uphill battle legislation might be, according to a person familiar with the call. National security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN also told the group that they should prepare for a busy travel schedule, including international summits. Health and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA said his department was continuing to make progress on prescription drugs, and Energy Secretary JENNIFER GRANHOLM provided an update on IRA implementation. Some White House aides also pointed to the president’s busy schedule this week — the Cancer Moonshot event in New Orleans, a meeting with his economic team, a Situation Room meeting on challenges in the Middle East, remarks at the White House Creator Economy Conference and a joint speech with Harris on prescription drug costs — noting that such events required a lot of work from multiple different departments. MESSAGE US — Are you CASSIE WILCOX, associate director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. DNC COUNTDOWN: Are you headed to the 2024 Democratic convention in Chicago? 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