Good Friday morning from the city of brotherly love and welcome to the general election. Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton will consume power centers across the globe over the next 102 days -- and we’re honored to be your guide. Thank you very much for the spotteds, tips and help over the last two weeks -- including the steady stream of emails from the city’s hotels and bars as we woke up each morning!
HISTORY -- 07/28/2016 10:46 PM BC-US--APNewsAlert/17 “PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Hillary Clinton accepts nomination for president with ‘determination and boundless confidence in America’s promise.’”
--APPLAUSE LINE: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” Transcript http://lat.ms/2aDgD09 ...Full video http://cs.pn/2aBmIh7
THE NARRATIVE -- “We are witnessing a visceral shift in the way the parties speak to the country” (print headline on A1: “For both parties, a partisan reversal of roles on the state of the nation”) by WaPo’s Karen Tumulty and Bob Costa in Philadelphia: “The country’s two major political parties, emerging from their conventions to square off in the general election, are speaking to Americas unrecognizable to each other in voices that sound like a political and ideological role reversal. For Republicans, the country is a place of near-apocalyptic gloom whose best days are fast receding … The nation of the Democrats who met here this week to nominate former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is a vibrant and diverse place.” http://wapo.st/2aetPIn
HOW IT PLAYED -- NYT online banner: “Clinton Declares Election A ‘Moment of Reckoning’ … Print (five columns, A1): “Clinton Warns of a ‘Moment of Reckoning’” http://nyti.ms/2aiZEB8 … WaPo online: “Clinton: Progress is possible” … Print (centered A1, five columns) “Offering an uplifiting vision” http://bit.ly/2abLGj6 … WSJ online: “Hillary Clinton Pitches Her Vision For America” subhed: “Candidate seeks to underline contrast with rival as she accepts nomination” … Print: “Clinton Lays Out Her Vision” … Drudge: “THIS IS THE WOMAN” (photo of Clinton with two thumbs up) … HuffPo: “BOSS” … NYPost: “Hillary speaks to DNC, waives $200,000 fee...IT’S ON ME… (And she released the transcript)” http://nyp.st/2aeEJxM … NY Daily News: “MAKE AMERICA GREATER!” http://nydn.us/2aBjgmC
INSIDE THE ROOM -- “How Clinton quelled an insurgency,” by Annie Karni, Gabe Debenedetti and Isaac Dovere in Philadelphia: “Hillary Clinton sat in a locker room in the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center Wednesday night, watching President Obama make the case for passing her the baton. With her longtime aides Huma Abedin and Capricia Marshall by her side, she grew emotional watching her onetime rival bring down the hall -- at one point placing her hand over her chest as she watched … But the picture of an optimistic, unified party didn’t just happen on its own. Sure, by Day 4, the Democratic National Convention would look smooth, expertly choreographed and far more effectively produced than the Republican programming a week earlier. But that was the result of days of negotiating and wrangling with Bernie Sanders, adjusting the schedule and creating opportunities to publicly make peace between the party’s rival factions.” http://politi.co/2aB3QOZ
GLENN THRUSH, “Five takeaways from Clinton’s biggest speech yet”: She exits the convention on a high with a good speech and strong support. Now the hard part begins: “It was a pretty good speech. But was it good enough? ... All about the bounce. ... Don’t worry – but don’t be quite so happy. ... ‘Hillary’ the movie was as good as Hillary Live.” http://politi.co/2alzXAj
--“The story of Hillary Clinton: Thirteen definitive POLITICO articles that explain how we got here,” by Annie Karni http://politi.co/2azyDKC
DAN BALZ -- “Hillary Clinton had a lengthy to-do list here Thursday night … Most of all, it was to make the case that a politician who embodies the establishment and political status quo is the safest change-maker in this election.” http://wapo.st/2a98L47
--NOTE: The Clinton-Kaine rally has been moved inside due to rain. It’s now at McGonigle Hall at Temple University, 1800 N. Broad St.
EXCLUSIVE -- PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: PRIORITIES USA’S GUY CECIL
Guy Cecil, the chief strategist of the main pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, said the group is on the brink of launching a $10 million campaign to “make sure we are doing everything we can to turn folks out.” The super PAC is making a strategic shift from focusing just on undecided voters to spending resources on targeting Democratic voters as well.
“That includes an expanded buy in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania focused on African Americans,” Cecil told us Thursday. “We’re going to be launching Spanish-language advertising in Miami, Tampa and Orlando.”
Priorities USA has $142 million in the bank and in firm commitments, Cecil said, making it one of the central players in 2016. Cecil said they've seen an increased interest from new donors at the convention. The group will release new advertisement in the next week.
Also, for the first time in its history, Cecil said the group is investing in ground operations to turn out voters, and register those who are not signed up to vote. Cecil said they are spending $2 million to help a “a coalition of Hispanic groups that are doing work in Colorado, Nevada and Florida.”
--Plan is to focus on “divisive nature” of Trump. “Donald Trump affords us lots of opportunities but I do think it will really be along those two tracks — the divisive nature and that you’ll see us target those messages to different communities and voters throughout the country and that we’ll stick pretty closely to those two simple straightforward messages.”
--Fundraising up big. “At this point we’ve already raised more than in the previous cycle … Certainly throughout the convention we’ve had people come up to us really with two messages -- one concern about the Donald Trump they saw at the convention last week, but also excited again about the prospect for Hillary. I think it has been really important that our convention has not just been a hate fest on Donald Trump.”
--It’s going to be close. “I think our expectations of Democrats looking at the race needs to be that we are going to be in a single point race through election day much like we were through 2008 and 2012.”
PARALLEL WATCH -- ROMNEY ‘12, PENCE ‘16 -- When Mitt Romney accepted the nomination in Tampa, Florida, in 2012, he said in his speech: “Tonight is the start of a new campaign to unite every American who knows in their heart that we can do better! The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do.” When Mike Pence accepted the nomination in 2016 in Cleveland, he said in his speech: “Now, they tell us this economy is the best that we can do. It’s nowhere near the best that we could do, it’s just the best that they can do.”
DCCC HACKED -- “Exclusive: FBI probes hacking of Democratic congressional group - sources,” by Reuters’ Joseph Menn, Dustin Volz and Mark Hosenball: “The FBI is investigating a cyber attack against another U.S. Democratic Party group, which may be related to an earlier hack against the [DNC] … The previously unreported incident at the … DCCC, and its potential ties to Russian hackers are likely to heighten accusations, so far unproven, that Moscow is trying to meddle in the U.S. presidential election campaign to help Republican nominee Donald Trump … The newly disclosed breach at the DCCC may have been intended to gather information about donors, rather than to steal money.” http://reut.rs/2a9at5M
ON THE WIRE -- “OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) - Pope writes in Auschwitz guest book: ‘Lord, have pity on your people. Lord, forgive so much cruelty.’” … “SAN DIEGO (AP) - Police: 1 San Diego officer has died, another remains in surgery following shooting.”
HAPPENING TONIGHT -- The Trump campaign has a “VIP Meeting, Photo Opportunity, and Evening Reception” in Colorado Springs.
PRESIDENT TRUMP -- “Candidates poised for classified briefings despite spy agency worries over Trump,” by WashPost’s Greg Miller in Aspen: “U.S. spy agencies are preparing to deliver a classified briefing to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the nation’s intelligence director said Thursday, despite deep unease among many spy officials with the real estate mogul’s pro-Russian rhetoric. National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper Jr. indicated that Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are eligible to receive intelligence briefings within days of the conclusion of the [DNC]. … Amid reports that some intelligence officials have deep reservations about sharing sensitive information with Trump, Clapper said that ‘it is not up to the administration and not up to me personally to decide on the suitability of presidential candidates. The American electorate is deciding on the suitability of the next commander in chief.’” http://wapo.st/2amxiTS
CLICKER – “Highlights from Day 4 of the DNC, in [36] photos” http://politi.co/2azxNO3
DRIP, DRIP -- “Sex, ‘lies’ and the Grayson family drama,” by Florida Playbook author Marc Caputo: “As Rep. Alan Grayson’s Senate campaign began falling apart over allegations he beat his ex-wife, he blasted out a new robocall touting a Grayson for U.S. House campaign. Grayson, however, wasn’t dropping out of the Senate race and running for reelection. He instead was phoning Wednesday on behalf of his new wife, Dena Minning Grayson … ‘In the last few years of my marriage, Alan Mark Grayson was unfaithful to me with Dena Minning,’ [ex wife] Lolita Grayson said in an email Thursday to POLITICO, marking the first time she named Minning, who is otherwise listed as one of the congressman’s alleged ‘paramours’ in his ex’s divorce filings. ‘Having whacked his ex-wife around few times, he has lost support even from the liberal groups. I don’t know who supports him other than himself,’ said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who called on Grayson months ago to quit the Senate race.” http://politi.co/2alzi1z
PICS DU JOUR -- M. Scott Mahaskey (@smahaskey): “Spotted: @DWStweets at @DemConvention in #DemsInPhilly” http://bit.ly/2ah2WaS… @hodgerc: “Kareem likes balloons.#demsinphilly” http://bit.ly/2aj4M88
--per Instagram: “Hillary Clinton’s embrace of President Obama following his address to the DNC last night has not only become her most-liked photo on Instagram, but the most-liked photo of all candidates during this presidential campaign.” http://bit.ly/2alB7vE
POWER PLAYER -- “Chuck Schumer’s audacious prediction,” by Burgess Everett and Isaac Dovere in Philadelphia: Chuck Schumer is feeling good enough about the battle for Senate control to essentially predict he’ll be majority leader next year. Not only that, the veteran New York Democrat believes his party is on the cusp of something much bigger: An era of electoral dominance. ‘We’re going to have a Democratic generation. [President Barack Obama] helped create it. But it’s just where America’s moving demographically, ideologically and in every way,’ Schumer [said]. ‘We’ll have a mandate to get something done.’ … How many seats must Democrats win in November to give the party more than a fleeting two years in the majority? Schumer dodged any attempt to pin him down. ‘You are the hammer and the nail. And I am the jello,’ Schumer said.” http://politi.co/2alyQAz
TOP TWEETS -- @SeanSpicer: “#plagarism alert @hillaryclinton at @DemConvention ‘America is great because America is good,’ de Tocqueville ‘America is great bc she is good’” … @RameshPonnuru: “someone should tell Spicer this is not a real Tocqueville quote.” http://bit.ly/2alpHI0
MEDIAWATCH -- “New York Times Co. Reports a Loss, and a Fall in Digital Ad Revenue,” by NYT’s Sydney Ember: “The company had strong growth in digital subscriptions … but digital advertising revenue, which has been a bright spot in the past, declined. … [T]he company said that it had added 51,000 net digital-only subscriptions in the quarter for its news products and 16,000 net crossword product subscriptions. The Times now has about 1.2 million digital-only subscriptions for its news products and more than 1.4 million total digital-only subscriptions, an increase of more than 25 percent compared with the same time a year ago.” http://nyti.ms/2agMDpC
-- “The uncouth Roger Ailes,” by CNN’s Dylan Byers: “Fox News chief Roger Ailes was listening to [former Politico publisher] Fred Ryan make his case ... [in] 2011 ... Years earlier, Fox News had banned Politico reporters from its airwaves because of suspicions of anti-Fox bias, and Ryan was pushing for a fresh start. Then ... Ailes told Ryan what he wanted: He wanted fair coverage from Politico; he wanted the website to take stock of Fox News’ successes, not just its controversies; and he wanted Politico to stop taking talking points from ‘that faggot David Brock.’ ... To those who know Ailes, however, the story would not be surprising at all.” http://cnnmon.ie/2a4iA85
THRUSH PODCAST: Glenn Thrush interviews Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook in this week’s “Off Message” podcast. Mook tells Thrush the American people will have to observe Hillary as president before fully trusting her, addresses the DNC hack, and discusses his friendship with Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver. LISTEN http://apple.co/1KRm0m0
ALMOND JOY -- NBC’s Savannah Guthrie sets the record straight on President Obama’s almond habit. SAVANNAH: “A lot of people were interested to learn that you have a late night snack every night of exactly seven almonds.” OBAMA: “Thank you for raising this.” SAVANNAH: “Why not eight?” OBAMA: “Well, this is an example of the weird way that the press works. So Michelle and Sam Kass, who was our chef here, one night they were talking about me and teasing me about how disciplined I was, that I didn't have potato chips or I didn’t have a piece of cake.
“And this is when Michelle said, ‘Yes, and he just has seven almonds. That’s it.’ To really drive home the point that I needed to loosen up a little bit. And Sam relayed this joke to The New York Times in the article and somehow it was relayed as if I was counting out ... the seven almonds. All my friends were calling up and they’re saying, ‘You know, this seems a little anal. This is kind of weird.’ And I had to explain to them, no, this was a joke.” SAVANNAH: “That was my next question. After the White House are you going to let yourself go and have like, 10 or 11 almonds?”OBAMA: “Absolutely. But, you know, almonds are a good snack, I strongly recommend them.” http://on.today.com/2alDzlA
--Playbook ran into the NYT’s Mike Shear in Philadelphia, and asked him about Obama’s almond quota. Shear noted that former White House chef Sam Kass was on the record in his story, and had not disputed the quote.
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- “Biden to appear on ‘Law & Order,’” by Nolan D. McCaskill: “‘While in New York, the Vice President will tape an appearance on ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ on the rape kit backlog and efforts to end violence against women,’ the White House said in a statement.” http://politi.co/2aezNc5
VIRAL VIDEO – “Father Of Muslim American War Hero To Trump: ‘You Have Sacrificed Nothing’” http://huff.to/2aB8Kf9
MILESTONE -- “Navy to Name Ship After Gay Rights Activist Harvey Milk,” by Sam LaGrone in the USNI: “The July 14, 2016 notification, signed by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, indicated he intended to name a planned Military Sealift Command fleet oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206). The ship would be the second of the John Lewis-class oilers being built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, Calif.” http://bit.ly/2avCozm
-- Yesterday we pointed out that Joe Biden’s 2016 convention speech had similar language to Bill Clinton’s 2008 convention speech. Biden’s office wants you to know that the VP has been using the phrase since 2005 -- well before Clinton used it. “The vice president has pointed to the power of the American example numerous times over the years, including as a senator in 2005,” said Meghan Dubyak.
VIP PARTY: CAA’s Michael Kives and Darnell Strom hosted an impromptu afterparty at The Logan to celebrate Katy Perry. SPOTTED: Katy Perry, Dianna Agron, Samantha Ronson (after DJing for Snoop), Huma Abedin, Jon Davidson, Orlando Bloom, Michelle Kwan, Jordan Brown, Jamie Patricoff, John Podesta, Angela Baker, Nick Merrill, Irene Sherman, Connolly Keigher, Alex Hornbrook, Chad Bolduc, Katie Dowd, Rachel Kelly, Doug Landry, Patty Padilla, Erik Gudmundson, Jennifer Palmieri, Sally Kohn. They sang happy birthday to Huma. Pic of the packed bar at 4 a.m. last call: http://bit.ly/2aOW14A
SPOTTED in Philly: The Clintons and Kaines hit their afterparty at the Kimmel Center around 2 a.m., and gave short speeches. 1-min. video http://bit.ly/2a9ibN4 Most notable, per a tipster: “Kaine saying ‘wooooooooo’ a bunch of times.” … Valerie Jarrett at the Ritz Carlton VIP section at about quarter to one … Sidney Blumenthal in “honored guest” section 218 (the nosebleeds) … John Weaver at the “CNN Grill” during Hillary’s speech … Kevin Madden and Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan leaving the Sofitel …
… Three-term Republican Sen. Larry Pressler doing interviews in support of Hillary Clinton in Philly … Nina Turner and Ben Jealous in deep conversation at the downtown Sheraton lobby restaurant ... Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva on the subway leaving the convention … James Carville huddling with Weber Shandwick Chairman Jack Leslie at Urban Farmer … Sen. Debbie Stabenow in the Hillary Clinton suite ... Bob Barnett chatting it up with friends around the media suites in Wells Fargo Center last night … Joel Johnson, Savannah Guthrie and Mike Feldman walking around the Wells Fargo suites yesterday … Sen. Elizabeth Warren taking pictures with people in the Yahoo suite
OUT AND ABOUT IN PHILLY -- KENNY DAY and team iHeart Radio and many friends rocked out to Snoop Dogg last night in Philly. Pic http://bit.ly/2ahdyq6 ... 30-second video http://bit.ly/2ahfzCR
SPOTTED: Reps. Pete Aguilar and Marc Veasey, Adam Jentleson, Matt House, Kristen Orthman, David Brook, Eli Zupnick, Rodell Mollineau, Katie Beirne Fallon, Paul Bell, Chris Moody, Benny Johnson, Bruce Kieloch, Burgess Everett, Scott Wong, Byron Tau, Rebecca Ballhaus, Gabby Wooten, Ryan Coyne, Ben Chang, Blair Watters, Kenny Day, Katie Harbath, Niki Christoff, Anne Brady Perron, Kim Kingsley, Meredith McPhillips, Jack Smith, Sloane Potter, Neera Tanden, Dan Swartz, Kimball Stroud, Fred Hochberg, Hilary Rosen, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer and Sheldon Whitehouse, Jonathan Becker, Heather Podesta, Margaret Carlson, Joel Benenson, Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Bret Baier.
SPOTTED at Google/CAP Action Fund party at 801 Market Street: Sen. Chuck Schumer dancing to the band, Rep. Sean Maloney, Sen. Ron Wyden, David Newman and Susan Tracey, Anu Rangappa, Tara McGuinness, Neera Tanden, Jessica Strauss, Jennifer Duck, Adam Abrahams, Shanti Oates, Franny Wellings, Steve Hartell, Jon Favreau, Cody Keenan, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzer, Tommy Vietor, Eric Lesser, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Peter Hamby, Max Clermont, Bret Baier, Joe Carey, Adam Kovacevich, Becca Rutkoff, Susan Molinari and Suzie Paxon, Michael Meehan and Hayley Richard, Bostonians David and Ellen Gasson, Alexandra De Luca, PJ McCann, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, Seth Webb, Katherine Oyama, Kevin McDonald.
PLAYBOOK IRL – A pic of black trash bags that held the signs for delegates and others to wave around http://bit.ly/2amKCaY ... A hat seen on the convention floor saying “America is Already Great” http://bit.ly/2aP9RUr ... A view of the many reporters in part of the press section at Wells Fargo http://bit.ly/2ainEkj
SUNDAY SO FAR:
--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort … RNC Chairman Reince Priebus
--ABC’s “This Week”: Donald Trump … Joe Biden … Gen. John Allen. Panel: Jonathan Karl, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Greta Van Susteren, Cenk Uguyr, Alex Wagner
-NBC’s “Meet the Press” -- Panel: Hallie Jackson, Alex Castellanos, David Brooks, Doris Kearns Goodwin
--CNN’s “State of the Union”: Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine (D-Va.) … Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) … Panel: Bakari Sellers, Amanda Carpenter, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.).
BIRTHDAYS: Caitria Mahoney, special assistant to the President and deputy director of the WH office of political strategy and outreach is 28 ... NBC’s Peter Alexander … Obama and Biden alum Herbie Ziskend (bag tip: Lesser) ... former ABC News President David Westin, now a Bloomberg TV anchor … Rodney Allen Rippy is 48 – YouTube of classic “Jack in the Box” commercial http://bit.ly/15Z9blz ... documentarian Ken Burns is 63 ... Marilyn Quayle is 67 ... former Sen. Elizabeth Dole is 8-0 ... former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-Baker is 84 ... Ellie Titus of Bloomberg Politics (h/t boyfriend Devin Banerjee) ... Politico’s Danny Vinik (h/t girlfriend Cate Martel) ... Garance Franke-Ruta, Washington editor at Yahoo News (h/t Olivier) ... Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) is 64 ... Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) is 49 ... RNC’s Chris Carr ... Laura McGann, Vox’s deputy managing editor of politics and policy … Grant Bosse, editorial page editor of the Union Leader, who got the party started at a Foreigner concert this week ... Rob Hennings of McCarthy, Hennings, Whalen ... Politico’s Carol Eisenberg (h/t Joanne Kenen) ...
… Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn (h/t Ashley Bauman) ... Denver Mayor Michael Hancock ... Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) is 59, celebrating by heading home from Philly to cool Colorado, where she'll enjoy dinner with her family tonight and get right back in the saddle on Saturday with events in her district (h/t Lynne Weil) ... Bill Pascoe … Melissa Steffan ... Lise Clavel of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a Biden alum ... Katherine Lugar, CEO of the American Hotel Lodging Association ... Laura Nichols ... Aaron Kessler, national investigative producer for Scripps News DC bureau and an NYT alum ... Dave Barr, Andy Barr’s younger bro and a OFA and DNC alum and now a law student at Chicago-Kent ... Charles Hoskinson ... Doug Hill ... Elizabeth Dole ... Carrie Hyun ... Allison Jaslow ... Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry ... Brad Marshall ... Jeff Patch ... Fox News’ Kristin Fisher Forehand ... Kris Purcell ... Caitlin Callahan ... Tom Kimbis ... Jay Heine ... comedian “Professor” Irwin Corey is 102 ... Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) is 7-0 ... Tim Gunn (“Project Runway”) is 63 ... Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 63 ... Olympic gold medal gymnast Nellie Kim is 59 ... country singer Martina McBride is 5-0 ... actor Matt Prokop is 26 (h/ts AP)