The Playbook Podcast

Tech mogul Peter Thiel gave J.D. Vance's Ohio Senate campaign a fresh infusion of cash, pouring in $3.5 million to Protect Ohio Values, the super PAC backing Vance, our colleague Alex Isenstadt reports, “part of a broader tranche of money that has come in to support the Senate candidate after last week’s [Donald] Trump endorsement.”

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audi

On Monday, just hours after a federal judge struck down the nationwide public transportation mask mandate, major airlines (and even President Joe Biden’s beloved Amtrak) began telling their passengers they could stop wearing the protective face coverings — sometimes while they had already boarded and taken their assigned seats.

The surprise ruling seems to have caught the White House flat-footed on the question of whether or not to appeal the ruling.

Officially: White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the administration was “reviewing the decision, and, of course, the Department of Justice would be making any determinations about any litigation.”

Unofficially: The White House is still figuring out what to do next, weighing two very big factors: credibility and politics.

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Democratic strategists have split in two over how to discuss inflation. 

One camp tends to blame the media for focusing too much on the issue at the expense of positive economic news such as low unemployment. This group tends to promote statistics buried beneath the headlines that suggest inflation isn’t that bad. But privately, more and more Democrats see inflation in far more dire terms — and not just for their prospects in elections this year. 

One top progressive sounded the alarm over the weekend on a widely read off-the-record email list. The author gave us permission to quote from their missive — “Danger: Inflation Is a Third Rail” — which was ricocheting around lefty circles Sunday night.

With Ohio’s May 3 Senate GOP primary barely two weeks away and no clear frontrunner, J.D. Vance's rivals are mounting an all-out effort to head off a potential endorsement from former President Donald Trump, per our colleagues Natalie Allison, Meridith McGraw, Alex Isenstadt and Daniel Lippman. Trump seems intent on picking a horse in all the big GOP primaries. But several candidates are bunched together in polling in Ohio, making this one a real roll of the dice.

Listen to Playbook Deep Dive: Biden’s pollster on the recipe for how to ‘not get our a---- kicked’ in the midterms

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be out covering the key districts and states that will decide the outcome of the midterm elections. 

Nevada has one of 2022’s most under-covered Senate races. The incumbent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, keeps a low profile in Washington and back home, but she’s raised a record amount of money and is spending big on TV ads. Nevada has a famously transient population, so she’s started with a biographical spot to introduce herself to the hundreds of thousands of potential new voters who weren’t around when she was first elected in 2016. Her other messaging is straight from the Dems’ generic 2020 strategy for vulnerable senators: reminding voters of all that Covid relief money that kept businesses afloat.

The political environment for Cortez Masto is brutal. Consider the latest poll, released this week from Suffolk University and the Reno Gazette Journal:

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Here’s something Democrats agree on: High gas prices — and the inflation rate they’re driving up — are a huge political liability.

Here’s something Democrats don’t agree on: what to do about it.

On Tuesday, as the new 8.5% annualized inflation rate was announced, President Joe Biden was in Iowa, addressing concerns about energy costs and touting his decision to remove restrictions on the sale of E15, an ethanol-gas mix the administration hopes can ease the proverbial pain at the pump.

“I’m not going to wait to take action to help American families,” Biden said. “I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price and address the Putin price hike.”

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

This morning at 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department will release its newest consumer price index report, and the White House is bracing itself for the political impact of inflation numbers that are widely expected to be the highest yet faced during the Biden administration.

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Rep. Liz Cheney has set another personal fundraising record.

The Wyoming Republican is fighting off a serious challenge from Harriet Hageman, a Cheyenne attorney, and the Aug. 16 primary has turned into the most important and closely watched contest between the MAGA and traditional wings of the GOP.

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

In a history-making vote Thursday afternoon, the Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, where she will be the first Black woman in history to serve as a justice. Immediately after VP Kamala Harris called the 53-47 vote, Senate Democrats (and, notably, Utah Republican Mitt Romney) gave a standing ovation while most Senate Republicans sulked from the chamber floor.

Listen to Playbook Deep Dive: Khanna’s BBB advice to Biden: ‘Just get Sanders and Manchin in the room and hammer this out’

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

There’s no denying it: Covid is rocking Washington right now. Days after Saturday’s annual Gridiron Club dinner, multiple attendees of the boujee 600-seat confab have come down with it — including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).

Throughout the district on Wednesday, the possible superspreader event was seemingly all anyone could talk about, as NYT’s Katie Rogers writes. Reporters and pols alike found themselves trading text messages about who sat by whom and whether so-and-so who was feeling ill got a positive test result. The entire situation, she notes, is a reminder “that, even as officials seek to pivot away from strict restrictions and encourage Americans to learn to live with the coronavirus, the pandemic is not over.”

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.