Post Politics Now: Biden Heads West With Eye On Boosting Fellow Democrats
Post Politics Now: Biden Heads West With Eye On Boosting Fellow Democrats https://digitalarizonanews.com/post-politics-now-biden-heads-west-with-eye-on-boosting-fellow-democrats/
Today, President Biden heads west on a trip heavily focused on bolstering fellow Democrats in advance of next month’s midterm elections. His first stop is Colorado, where he plans to designate Camp Hale as a new national monument, delivering on a key priority for Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), who faces a competitive reelection bid. Other stops in coming days include California and Oregon.
Meanwhile, the latest in a string of debates in marquee Senate races — this one between Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and his Democratic challenger, Mandela Barnes — is scheduled Wednesday night. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments, including in a case about the “fair use” doctrine in copyright law.
Your daily dashboard
9:15 a.m. Eastern: Biden departs the White House en route to Colorado. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters aboard Air Force One. Listen live here.
3:30 p.m. Eastern (1:30 p.m. Mountain): Biden delivers remarks at Camp Hale in Vail, Colo. Watch live here.
7 p.m. Eastern: Johnson and Barnes debate in Milwaukee. Watch live here.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Noted: In Georgia’s race for governor, Kemp enjoys a clear lead, poll says
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has a clear lead over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, while the race for Senate in the state is tighter, according a University of Georgia poll released Wednesday.
Kemp leads Abrams in the poll by 51 percent to 41 percent among likely voters, a significantly wider gap than in Kemp’s narrow 2018 defeat of Abrams, a voting rights activist and former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the poll shows Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) drawing 46 percent support compared with 43 percent for Republican Herschel Walker, a former football star. That finding is within the poll’s margin of error.
Analysis: Abortion is a strong motivator for voters, which is good news for Democrats
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Democrats and Republicans are sharpening their battle plans in the final stretch of the midterm campaign, aiming to find the right messaging to motivate their bases to get to the polls on Election Day.
Writing in The Health 202, The Post’s Rachel Roubein says that a new survey out Wednesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation has both good and bad news for Democrats. Per Rachel:
The good: Abortion is a stronger motivator for midterm voters now than it was in July. In particular, access to the procedure is motivating Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters in states where most abortions are illegal.
The bad: The Medicare provisions in the party’s health-and-climate bill are popular among Democrats and independents. But few voters are aware of the law’s specific health provisions roughly two months after President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act.
Midterm elections see far fewer voters than in the presidential election years, meaning races will be won and lost by which factions turn out in November. That gives increasing importance to any issue that could drive voters to the ballot box.
You can read Rachel’s full analysis here.
The latest: Jan. 6 panel to highlight new evidence Trump was alerted of violence
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The probable final public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to highlight newly obtained Secret Service records showing how President Donald Trump was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, but still sought to stoke the conflict, according to three people briefed on the records.
The Post’s Carol D. Leonnig and Jacqueline Alemany report that the committee plans to share in Thursday’s hearing new video footage and internal Secret Service emails that appear to corroborate parts of the most startling inside accounts of that day, according to the people briefed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal records. Per our colleagues:
On our radar: Harris calling in to radio stations in six competitive states
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Vice President Harris on Wednesday plans a blitz of radio interviews focused on a half-dozen states with competitive Senate and gubernatorial races.
According to her office, Harris plans to call in to local stations in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Her aim, her office says, is “to share with listeners how the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered for working American families and speak to the investments the Administration has made into specific communities.”
Analysis: Parties fight for control of key state legislatures
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The 2022 midterm elections are officially less than one month away and efforts to shore up or flip majorities in state legislatures have kicked into high gear across the country.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer note that states are often where national political and policy trends bubble up. Control of these bodies is particularly important now that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has left the issue of access to abortion up to state governments. Per our colleagues:
On our radar: Biden to designate Colorado’s Camp Hale as his first national monument
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President Biden will travel to Colorado on Wednesday to designate a World War II-era military site as a national monument, using his executive powers to protect the historic landscape and delivering on a key priority for Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
The Post’s Maxine Joselow reports that Biden has yet to create an entirely new national monument, although he has expanded existing monuments that President Donald Trump slashed in size. Per Maxine:
The designation will apply to Camp Hale, which served as winter training grounds for the Army in the 1940s and now provides critical habitat for wildlife including elk, deer, lynxes and migratory songbirds.
The Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument will encompass more than 53,800 acres and will also include the Tenmile Range, a mountain range with stunning views that is prized by hikers and rock climbers, according to a White House statement.
You can read Maxine’s full story here.
Noted: Biden sees ‘a very slight recession’ at worst and other CNN interview highlights
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President Biden, in a prime-time interview broadcast Tuesday night, said he doesn’t see a recession coming and believes it would be “very slight” if there is one.
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden downplayed repeated forecasts by some economists that the U.S. economy could fall into a recession.
“Every six months they say this,” Biden said. “Every six months, they look down the next six months and say what’s going to happen. … It hadn’t happened yet. It hadn’t. … I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession. That is, we’ll move down slightly.”
The latest: Biden says Supreme Court ‘more of an advocacy group’ than ‘evenhanded’
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President Biden on Tuesday stepped up his criticism of the Supreme Court, calling it “more of an advocacy group” than “evenhanded.”
Biden’s assessment came toward the end of remarks at a virtual fundraiser for Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) as he laid out what he sees at stake for Democrats in November.
“So, I view this … off-year election as one of the most important elections that I’ve been engaged in, because a lot can change because the institutions have changed,” Biden said. “The Supreme Court is more of an advocacy group these days than it is … evenhanded.”
On our radar: The most surprising battleground for the House is New England
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A handful of Republicans in New England — including candidates in Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut — have a chance of winning in a region where Republicans at the federal level had been considered an endangered species.
The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer note that there are no New England Republicans in the House, and Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) is the only Republican senator from the northeastern part of the country. Per our colleagues:
The political environment appears to favor Republicans to retake the House.
But Republicans in New England point to additional factors in their favor, including a cadre of strong candidates and a “perfect storm” of issues that include the high cost of energy and food as well as the rise of fentanyl in New England communities, which GOP candidates argue is arriving up north due to a lack of security at the southern border.
You can read the full story, which includes a look at the competitive race in Rhode Island between Democrat Seth Magaziner and Republican Allan Fung, here.
On our radar: In crucial Nevada, economic woes threaten to shake Democrats’ grip
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In Nevada, a crucial midterm battlefront where Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in a decade and have come up short in other key races, economic woes have raised the GOP’s hopes of flipping seats throughout the ballot.
Reporting from Las Vegas, The Post’s Hannah Knowles writes that financial strains are testing Democrats’ ability to retain and turn out the minority, working-class voters who have long helped power them to victory, according to interviews with voters, candidates and strategists, as well as a review of polling. Per Hannah:
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