| | | | |  | | By Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration and Harris campaign. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren There was once a time in political campaign coverage when reporters would go everywhere with the candidate. They’d follow them on summer vacations and trail them on errands to the grocery store, filing detailed reports about how much Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi they picked up (looking at you, MITT ROMNEY). Some bureau chiefs would give their campaign reporters copies of TIMOTHY CROUSE ’s 1973 book, “The Boys on the Bus,” to prepare them for the assignment. Campaign reporters spent so much time together cramped into press vans and planes that deep friendships, and even a few marriages, were forged. But after a Covid-marred 2020 campaign of Zoom interviews and car rallies, the traditional “Boys (and Girls! ) on the Bus” model has not come back in 2024. In this new era of shrinking newsroom budgets and campaigns increasingly targeting specific subsets of voters via podcasts and social media, in-person candidate events — and the traveling pack of national political correspondents who used to live in the bubble of the press bus or plane to capture them — are less and less the defining characteristic of presidential campaign season. “People who go to rallies are not deciding the election, so talking to them isn’t all that useful,” said one veteran campaign correspondent who was granted anonymity to speak with candor. “And for the campaign in terms of how they’re targeting swing voters, we matter less than ever before.” With just 20 days before the election, neither Vice President KAMALA HARRIS nor former President DONALD TRUMP have established protective pools, as has occurred well before this point in previous cycles. Although there’s a 12-person pool of reporters that covers Harris’ public events and travels with her on Air Force Two, her campaign is still in talks with the White House Correspondents’ Association about setting up a charter plane to allow a larger contingent of reporters to travel with her. According to two people familiar with the plans, a Trump press plane could be in the air as early as Friday. Given that the Harris campaign is still discussing logistics, it’s unclear if or when a Harris press plane will take off. Harris typically engages off the record with the journalists aboard Air Force Two. On Wednesday, she briefly answered questions from the pool of reporters traveling with her. But her campaign has also, at times, advised the press of the vice president’s events with barely enough time for anyone outside the area to get to them, as was the case with an evening event in Raleigh, North Carolina, last Saturday that the campaign announced that day around noon. Trump, who grew accustomed in the White House to summoning reporters at any moment, has missed having a captive audience. When he decamped to Mar-a-Lago in early 2021, he once asked an aide to send for a pool of reporters, seemingly unaware that presidential perk no longer existed, according to an aide. During his campaign, he has at times invited a small and select group of beat reporters to travel with him on his plane, or come to Mar-a-Lago for special events. Since this summer, however, space on Trump’s plane has been limited due to extra security and staff, and reporters have not regularly been invited on board. At events, the aides traveling with him mostly stay backstage, leaving reporters in the press pen without many chances to talk in person. That’s all a far cry from past cycles when having a protective press pool was the norm. Functioning similar to the White House press pool, those reporters would go everywhere with the candidate, chronicling their day-to-day activities for the larger press corps. When more reporters traveled aboard a press charter, senior campaign aides would routinely hop on to engage them. In the 2008 race, then-Sen. BARACK OBAMA agreed to allow a protective pool starting in June and Sen. JOHN McCAIN had a protective pool by the end of July. Romney created a bit of a controversy in 2012 by delaying his protective pool until August, drawing the irritation of Obama adviser DAVID AXELROD. Although the protective press pool model somewhat died in 2016, when both presidential candidates were relatively press averse, HILLARY CLINTON had a dedicated press plane by the beginning of September and, unlike Trump, traveled with top aides and reporters on the same plane toward the end of the campaign. “It’s changed from ‘Girls on the Bus’ to ‘Girls on the Couch,’” said a reporter who covered Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “Everything is viewable online and there are a lot fewer reasons to be on the campaign trail, and the barriers to being in person are higher.” “The big outlets are sending people still, but since it’s mostly unilateral travel there’s less of a clear group with the candidates week to week,” the reporter added. “Honestly, even the 2020 campaign had a lot more of a typical feel — despite Covid.” Several news organizations rotate their road reporters each week. But without an organized press pool, each is responsible for traveling on their own. That means more time worrying about juggling reporting with logistics — returning the rental car, grabbing lunch, dealing with delays — and far fewer opportunities to get to know not just the candidate but their top aides. “When everyone was traveling together, you could always find a senior campaign aide who’d come talk to us in the hotel bar at night,” said WaPo’s ASHLEY PARKER, who is covering her fourth presidential cycle. “Without that bubble, you just lose a lot of those sourcing opportunities and the camaraderie that develops with some of the other reporters.” Meridith McGraw contributed to this report. MESSAGE US — Are you WHCA President EUGENE DANIELS ? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
| | | | REQUEST AN INVITATION: 13TH ANNUAL MERIDIAN SUMMIT: Executives, diplomats, and policymakers are working to anticipate shifts shaping the future. The 2024 Meridian Summit highlights trends, risks, and opportunities shaping our world, empowering decision-makers like you to navigate a complex geopolitical landscape. Request an invitation here. | | | | | | | Which president had difficulty opening allergy-pill bottles? (Answer at bottom.)
| | COME ON IN BOYS, THE WATER’S FINE: At the same spot where GEORGE WASHINGTON crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, Vice President Harris held a rally on Wednesday, pleading with Republicans to set aside party loyalty in November, our HOLLY OTTERBEIN reports. “No matter your party, no matter who you voted for last time, there is a place for you in this campaign,” Harris said at the Pennsylvania event, one her campaign claimed more than 100 Republicans attended. Surrounded by red “Country Over Party” banners, Harris attacked Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, saying he “violated the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States” and “if given the chance, will violate it again.” IT REALLY BE YOUR OWN PEOPLE: Soon, Vice President Harris will take arguably the biggest risk of her campaign, joining Fox News for an interview with BRET BAIER aimed at pitching her message to undecided Republican and independent voters. And the Fox host has spent the past day busy on X, calming down Trump supporters who have soured on the Murdoch empire. Since the announcement on Monday, Baier has responded to 12 posts from users grumbling that he will “pass her the questions,” give her softball questions, edit the interview and many more unhinged theories. Baier shot down the assertions an exhaustive amount of times. “Thanks Dennis - the interview will run as-live - unedited - uninterrupted - without commercials - not ‘cleaned up.’ All of it will air from the first word to the last. Thanks for your confidence - hope you tune in,” Baier wrote in response to a post from a man who said he “doesn’t trust Fox” and “trusts Baier less.” STATE OF THE RACE: Three new national polls released Wednesday showed Harris marginally ahead of Trump. In a YouGov/Economist poll, Harris leads the former president 49 percent to 45 percent. In a TIPP Insights poll — the third of a 23-day tracking poll series — Harris is beating Trump 50 percent to 46 percent among likely voters, outside the poll’s margin of error. And in a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll , Harris leads the Republican nominee 50 percent to 47 percent. Election betting odds still favor Trump (-155, which means you bet $155 to win $100) over Harris (+135), but Harris has reached her best odds since entering the race. Get your bets in, folks! (Not actually, West Wing Playbook does not endorse gambling. Unless it's hammering the Lions’ ML.) A PERSUASIVE PITCH: During Donald Trump’s “women’s issues” Fox News town hall this morning, the Harris campaign aired an abortion-rights ad featuring HADLEY DUVALL, who was raped by her stepfather when she was 12, our ELENA SCHNEIDER reports . The 60-second TV ad, the campaign hopes, will break through with Republican-leaning and independent women on an issue that’s been proven to be most persuasive. WHAT WILMINGTON WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by NYT’s GLENN THRUSH , who reports that despite Trump’s barrage of transphobic rhetoric launched at LGBTQ+ people and attempts to characterize Harris as extreme on transgender rights, the former president’s own record is ... nuanced. The Trump campaign released an anti-trans ad weeks ago, slamming Harris for supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for prisoners and migrants. The ad, like many spots from Trump and the chief super PAC backing his campaign, concluded: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” But under the Trump administration, appointees at the Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Justice Department, provided an array of gender-affirming treatments, including hormone therapy, for a small group of inmates who requested it. Campaign director of rapid response AMMAR MOUSSA, spokesperson IAN SAMS and spokesperson JAMES SINGER shared the piece on X. WHAT WILMINGTON DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by our Holly Otterbein and Elena Schneider, who report that top Democrats in Pennsylvania are worried that Vice President Harris’ operation in the key battleground state is being poorly run. They say that Harris aides lack relationships with key party figures, particularly in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs. They complain that they have been left out of events and surrogates haven’t been deployed effectively. And in private meetings, they’re urging Harris staff to do more to turn out voters of color. Some — like RYAN BOYER , one of the most powerful labor leaders in the state — are pointing fingers at Harris’ Pennsylvania campaign manager, NIKKI LU, who they say lacks deep knowledge of Philadelphia. “I feel like we’re going to win here, but we’re going to win it in spite of the Harris state campaign,” said one Pennsylvania Democratic elected official.
| | | | FINGERS CROSSED FOR NO BLIZZARDS: President Biden’s trip to Angola has been rescheduled for the first week of December, White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE announced at Wednesday’s briefing. Biden was initially slated to travel to the African country last week but had to reschedule due to Hurricane Milton. Jean-Pierre was also asked whether the president would cut back on his trips to Delaware due to the Secret Service being overburdened as of late. She did not comment on that specifically. IN MEMORIAM: President Biden, joined by former Presidents Barack Obama and BILL CLINTON, among many more heavy hitters, attended and spoke at the funeral of ETHEL KENNEDY, who died at the age of 96 last week. During his remarks, Biden highlighted the influence she had on his political career. After his wife and daughter died in a car accident, he said, it was Ethel and TED KENNEDY who convinced him to stay in politics. “I spoke to my governor … to find a replacement for me, but Teddy and Ethel Kennedy would hear none of it,” Biden recounted. “Like she did for the country, Ethel helped my family find a way forward with principle & purpose.”
| | FROM FINLAND TO … DELAWARE: Ambassador to Finland DOUG HICKEY has left Helsinki and will join the Harris campaign as an adviser, primarily on technology policy issues, he said in an interview with a Finnish paper last month. PERSONNEL MOVES: AMISH SHAH , who had been serving as senior associate counsel to President Biden, has left the White House to join the law firm Ropes and Gray as counsel in its Washington office. — CASEY LINDBERG and JORDIN METZ are now senior advisers for chemical safety at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Lindberg most recently was a biologist at the EPA, and Metz is being detailed from the Department of Energy where he most recently was AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. — WILL SHIH has been promoted to be executive secretary for the U.S. Trade Representative. He most recently was deputy executive secretary.
| | SURELY THIS WILL GO OVER WELL: Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN is considering a post-war plan for Gaza based on ideas developed by Israel and the United Arab Emirates that would be presented after the November election, Axios’ BARAK RAVID reports. But several White House and State Department officials are concerned the plan would marginalize Palestinian Authority President MAHMOUD ABBAS and his government, which is what Israel and the UAE are pushing for in the immediate term. Some in the State Department, including Blinken, think a hostage and cease-fire deal doesn't seem possible before the end of the Biden administration. They see the Israeli-Emirati plan as a possible “Plan B” that could start drawing a path out of the war. ONE CLICK AWAY: The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday adopted a final rule requiring businesses to make it as easy to cancel subscriptions and memberships as it is to sign up, Reuters’ JODY GODOY reports. The “click to cancel” rule requires retailers, gyms and other businesses to get consumers’ consent for subscriptions, auto-renewals and free trials that convert to paid memberships. “Companies shouldn't be able to trick you into paying for subscriptions that you don't want,” said FTC Chair LINA KHAN.
| | This Election Is Different (The Atlantic’s Peter Wehner) Trump team preps list of banned staffers (POLITICO’s Robin Bravender) JD Vance Adviser Posted on Reddit for Years About Use of Cocaine, ‘Gas Station Heroin,’ Other Drugs (Wired’s Makena Kelly)
| | RICHARD NIXON once called upon staffer STEVE BULL to help him open an allergy-pill bottle, BOB WOODWARD and CARL BERNSTREIN wrote in their book, The Final Days . “Once, the President had called him in to open an allergy-pill bottle, which Nixon had been struggling with for some time — the childproof type of bottle, with instructions saying ‘Press down while turning,’” the duo wrote. “The cap had teeth marks on it where Nixon had apparently tried to gnaw it open.” The irony of it all was that Nixon was the president who, in 1970, signed the legislation requiring prescription drug companies to child-proof pill bottles. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Jennifer Haberkorn, Steve Shepard and Rishika Dugyala. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
