BREAKING: MORE REPUBLICANS FOR HILLARY -- Via the Clinton campaign, a slew of new big-name GOP endorsements: former Bush 43 Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former Ford HUD Secretary Carla Hills, former Maryland Rep. Connie Morella, former Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays, former Bush Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte.
YOU DECIDE -- DONALD TRUMP yesterday in Wilmington, North Carolina: “Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish -- the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you could do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But -- but I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day. If Hillary gets to put her judges, right now we’re tied, you see what’s going on. Because Scalia, this was not supposed to happen. Justice Scalia was going to be around for 10 more years at least. And this is what happens, that was a horrible thing. So now look at it. Hillary essentially wants to abolish the Second Amendment.”
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NATIONAL NEWS -- the ledes the world will read today -- NYT: “Donald J. Trump on Tuesday appeared to raise the possibility that gun rights supporters could take matters into their own hands if Hillary Clinton is elected president and appoints judges who favor stricter gun control measures” http://nyti.ms/2aV1ztm … WSJ: “Donald Trump, confounding the hopes of Republicans who want him to run a more measured presidential campaign, touched off another firestorm Tuesday with an off-the-cuff remark that critics interpreted as inciting violence against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.” http://on.wsj.com/2bfeo6W …
LAT: “Donald Trump roiled his tumultuous campaign once again Tuesday by suggesting supporters of gun rights could take action to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing judges as president, a remark that critics said hinted at the possibility of violence.” http://lat.ms/2aLKAuP … FT: “Donald Trump waded into controversy again on Tuesday after suggesting that supporters of the Second Amendment could somehow block Hillary Clinton from appointing liberal justices to the Supreme Court, presumably by using their right to bear arms.” http://on.ft.com/2berM7V
WHAT THEY’RE READING IN OHIO -- “Donald Trump’s latest relapse is a call to action -- or arms? -- against Hillary Clinton,” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Henry Gomez: “In politics these are called dog whistles. ... Trump has said many outrageous things in this campaign. Any benefit of the doubt you might extend to a politician who misspeaks is near its expiration date – and not just with journalists, whose job it is to document this type of rhetoric. Many Republicans who have gritted their teeth and issued half-hearted endorsements are losing patience with Trump. For Trump, there is no reset button. Only rinse and repeat.” http://bit.ly/2aFhsUf
--Trump campaign’s response, via Louis Nelson: “‘It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power,’ Trump’s senior communications adviser Jason Miller ... Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, said Trump was ‘of course not’ advocating violence with his remarks.” http://politi.co/2aKSFAV
--House Speaker Paul Ryan, the nation’s senior most Republican elected official, per LATimes Seema Mehta (@LATseema): “It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly. You should never joke about something like that.”
-- NRA reaction via Sarah Wheaton: “Just hours after Donald Trump sparked yet another controversy with remarks that seemed, to some, to encourage violence against Hillary Clinton, the NRA offered its biggest gift yet to the Republican nominee – a $3 million ad buy attacking Clinton as a hypocrite. The spot – which calls Clinton ‘out of touch’ for living under Secret Service protection while promoting gun restrictions – is the biggest single ad buy for Trump this cycle and it brings the NRA’s total spending this cycle to around $6 million. No other major political group is spending money on the Republican nominee.” http://politi.co/2aLfxD8
--WaPo: “Clinton has never said she wants to eliminate the Second Amendment. Even if she did, neither the president nor the Supreme Court nor lower-level federal judges have the power to do so. There are two ways to alter the Constitution. One requires a two-thirds vote of Congress and then approval by three-fourths of the nation’s state legislatures. The other requires calling a constitutional convention and, again, approval by three-fourths of the states.” http://wapo.st/2aABHH2
--@SecretService: “The Secret Service is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon.” … @dandrezner replies: “This is Secret Service-y for, ‘it’s been a long damn campaign.’” … California Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell): “Donald Trump suggested someone kill Sec. Clinton. We must take people at their word. @SecretService must investigate #TrumpThreat.” … @BerniceKing: “As the daughter of a leader who was assassinated, I find #Trump's comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous. His words don’t #LiveUp. #MLK”
VINE DU JOUR -- @ChrisVannini: “Guy behind Trump immediately realized what he said was a problem.” http://bit.ly/2aLLQOz
--THOMAS FRIEDMAN in the NYT: “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated.” http://nyti.ms/2aAtfYq
DEBATE BUZZ: Media execs, top on-air talent and producers think these people are in the mix to moderate the presidential and vice presidential debates: ABC’s Martha Raddatz, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly or Chris Wallace, PBS’s Gwen Ifill, CBS’ John Dickerson, NBC’s Chuck Todd or Lester Holt and CNN’s Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper. There are four potential slots -- three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.
--TRUMP is still wavering on whether he’ll debate, telling Zeke Miller and Alex Altman of Time Magazine, “I will absolutely do three debates. I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions … I’ll have to see who the moderators are. Yeah, I would say that certain moderators would be unacceptable, absolutely.” http://ti.me/2b0fKxR
As we wrote yesterday, Republicans and Democrats are both convinced Trump is setting us up for weeks of melodrama about whether he’ll participate and many doubt he will show up for three contests. He’s inevitably going to be upset by at least one of the moderators -- if not all. His go-to television interviewer -- Sean Hannity -- is almost certain to not get a debate. So, buckle up. This will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.
DRIP DRIP – NYT A10, “Emails Renew Questions About Clinton Foundation and State Dept. Overlap,” by Eric Lichtblau: “The documents raised new questions about whether the charitable foundation worked to reward its donors with access and influence at the State Department, a charge that Mrs. Clinton has faced in the past and has always denied. In one email exchange, for instance, an executive at the Clinton Foundation in 2009 sought to put a billionaire donor in touch with the United States ambassador to Lebanon because of the donor’s interests there. In another email, the foundation appeared to push aides to Mrs. Clinton to help find a job for a foundation associate. Her aides indicated that the department was working on the request.” http://nyti.ms/2aLsid8
POLLS DU JOUR -- NBC/WSJ/MARIST: TRUMP fails to reach 40 in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio -- Hillary Clinton is up 43-38 in Ohio -- she was up just three points last month. She is beating Trump 41-37 in Iowa, and is up 11 points (48-37) in Pennsylvania. http://nbcnews.to/2aLeSC1
-- “Clinton Up 6 on Trump in Two-Way Race in Bloomberg National Poll,” by Bloomberg’s John McCormick (likely voters, off embargo at 6 a.m.): “Clinton has retained most of the bounce she received after the [DNC] and now enjoys a 6-point lead over Donald Trump [50 percent to 44 percent] in a two-way contest among likely voters. ... The findings suggest damage has been done to one of Trump’s main calling cards, his business expertise, with 61 percent of likely voters saying they’re less impressed with the Republican nominee’s business acumen than when the campaign started.” http://bloom.bg/2bievKW
-- For Trump to win, many say he must win Pennsylvania. The last five polls in Pennsylvania: Clinton up 10, Clinton up 10, Clinton up 11, Clinton up 4 and Clinton up 9. As “Meet the Press” producer Ed Demaria (@eddie_dynamite) tweeted: “Take Colorado, Pennsylvania, Virginia off the board: Clinton needs any one of AZ, FL, GA, IA, NC, NH, NV, OH to win” http://bit.ly/2aFwjOu
HAPPENING TODAY -- Hillary Clinton in Des Moines, where she’ll tour Raygun at 12:30 p.m., followed by a Democratic rally at 1:30 p.m. Donald Trump is in Abington, Virginia, at 3 p.m., where he’ll be “delivering remarks at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center.” At 7 p.m., Trump is holding a rally at the BB&T Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
--FOR THE RECORD … House Speaker Paul Ryan won his primary. Big. As in, not even remotely close. Ryan got 84 percent of the vote, Paul Nehlan got 16. Ryan won by 46,539 votes in a primary where just 68,243 votes were cast.
--@BrendanBuck, top adviser to Speaker Ryan and master of shade: “Thanks for visiting SE Wisconsin everyone.”
NO WORDS -- “Julian Assange Floats Theory That Murdered DNC Employee Was Informant In Dutch Interview,” by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski: “WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange floated the possibility on Tuesday that a murdered [DNC] staffer [Seth Rich] was an informant for the organization. ‘Whistleblowers often take very significant efforts to bring us material and often at very significant risks,’ Assange said in an interview ... Tuesday on the Dutch television program Nieuwsuur. ‘There’s a 27-year-old who works for the DNC and who was shot in the back, murdered, just a few weeks ago, for unknown reasons as he was walking down the streets in Washington.’ … ‘[A] variety of WikiLeaks sources are concerned when that kind of thing happens.’” http://bzfd.it/2bifXwW
--@wikileaks: “WikiLeaks Offers $20K Reward for Information in Murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich”
SWING-STATE FRONT -- Below the fold, Tampa Bay Times: “In Clinton crowd: killer’s father” http://bit.ly/2bfjpMF
--@albamonica: “New: Spokesman @NickMerrill says Hillary Clinton disagrees with Seddique Mateen’s ‘views and disavows his support’”
TICK TOCK -- “100 days of Donald Trump: What would a Trump presidency look like?” by Shane Goldmacher: “To answer that, POLITICO decided to track Trump’s every move for his first 100 days as presumptive Republican nominee. ... The aim was simple: To capture a snapshot of how this unconventional candidate who has strained the boundaries of American political discourse is evolving, and not evolving, as he seeks the nation’s highest office.
“Amid the torrent of Trump that followed, there were recurring themes: staff turmoil and turnover, talk of resets followed by relapses, Trump attacking Republicans, Republicans distancing themselves from Trump, missed opportunities, flirtations with Russia, and uncomfortable associations with white nationalism. For much of the time, Trump lurched from controversy to controversy, lighting a new one as the final embers of the last burned low. He tweeted every single day, sending more than 1,000 140-character missives, often driving news cycles, sometimes for days.” http://politi.co/2bfaevN
SCOOP -- “RNC suffers spate of Trump-related departures: For some young staff members, the party’s embrace of its nominee is a ‘deal breaker,’” by Daniel Lippman: “In recent months, deputy press secretary James Hewitt, spokesman Fred Brown, director of Hispanic media Ruth Guerra, and research analysts Lars Trautman and Colin Spence have all left the RNC with Trump as one of the reasons for their resignations, according to sources familiar with their decisions. At least three other staff members have also left the RNC with opposition to Trump as a contributing factor, according to multiple sources. In total, at least 11 staffers have left the RNC since March, although not all of the departures were related to Trump. ...
“‘I didn’t want to be associated with the Trump campaign,’ said one [former employee], calling the Trump nomination a ‘deal breaker’ for him. ‘He’s not a person I feel comfortable working for. It’s just that simple.” ... Asked about the mood in the RNC, [Sean Spicer said:] ‘Everyone is excited to win.’” http://politi.co/2aFpvAu
DEFECTION WATCH -- “Inside Clinton’s GOP recruitment plan: The campaign is beginning to reap the rewards of a behind-the-scenes operation that was months in the making,” by Annie Karni: “The unprecedented desertion of the GOP nominee by leading members of his own party — and their embrace of Hillary Clinton — is partly organic, but for the most part it’s being midwifed by the Clinton campaign, which is beginning to reap the rewards of a behind-the-scenes recruitment effort that’s been months in the making. ... [John] Podesta installed Leslie Dach — a former aide to Bill Clinton and a former Walmart executive — last spring to serve as the campaign’s official point person for the Republican recruitment efforts across the board. It was Dach who approached skittish Republicans about speaking at the [DNC], an ask that many said was a bridge too far.” http://politi.co/2aYvUJC
--“Murkowski remains undecided on whether she’ll vote for Trump,” by AP’s Becky Bohrer: “Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she does not know if she will vote for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this fall. But the moderate Alaska Republican told The Associated Press she knows who she won’t vote for, and that’s Democrat Hillary Clinton. Murkowski is concerned that Clinton’s policy positions would be harmful to a resource-producing state like Alaska. Murkowski said she has not endorsed Trump and will continue to speak out on issues where they disagree. She said that she has time to decide how she will vote in the November election.” http://apne.ws/2aLK8MW
--“Former GOP Officials Endorse Clinton for President” – Medium: “A newly formed group of Republicans who served as officials in prior GOP administrations and campaigns ... say they will vote for her in November while, at the same time, backing GOP candidates for Senate and other races. They say that a major reason for their decision is to save their own party. ... The newly launched group R4C16 (or Republicans for Clinton 2016), expects to announce more signers in the near future. ... Among the signatories are ... Niki Christoff ... Jim Glassman ... Frank Lavin ... Peter Mansoor ... [and R4C16 co-founders] Ricardo Reyes ... John Stubbs.” http://bit.ly/2aKUz4H
--“Clinton scores major GOP donor from Trump,” by Alex Isenstadt: “Former MGM CEO Harry Sloan ... is a mainstay of Republican fundraising, having served on national finance committees for John McCain and Mitt Romney. As the 2016 election got underway, he signed on with John Kasich.” http://politi.co/2bidu5m
--NYT A1, “Donald Trump’s Support Among Republican Women Starts to Slide,” by Michael Barbaro and Amy Chozick: “Since the two parties held their nominating conventions, Mr. Trump’s lead over Mrs. Clinton with Republican women voters has declined by 13 percentage points ...In late July, 72 percent of Republican women said they would vote for Mr. Trump, a healthy majority, but far below the level won by the past three Republican presidential nominees. In 2012, Mitt Romney won 93 percent of Republican women. ... In politically moderate swing states like Pennsylvania ... Mr. Trump’s standing with women over all is perilously low among registered voters: Just 27 percent of women back him, compared with 58 percent for Mrs. Clinton.” With cameos by Whit Ayres, Stuart Stevens and Jennifer Lim http://nyti.ms/2aLu79M
DON’T GET GIDDY ALERT -- “Top Democrats warn against writing off Trump,” by Gabe Debenedetti in Miami: “It’s no surprise that Hillary Clinton’s campaign wants rank-and-file Democrats to stay concerned about the idea of Donald Trump in the White House: supporter emails like Monday’s titled, ‘He may still beat me’ is how they’ll drive voters to the polls and cash into the campaign accounts. But behind the scenes, high-level party officials who are watching Trump’s poll numbers slump further are growing increasingly worried about Democratic overconfidence that could give the Republican nominee — and some flagging GOP Senate candidates — an opening to climb back into contention.” http://politi.co/2aABdRs
TOP TWEETS -- @SeanHannity: “.@realDonaldTrump on father of Orlando shooter attending @HillaryClinton rally: ‘If that were me it would be a headline all over the world.’ … @maggieNYT: “The private frustration of much of the extended Giuliani administration diaspora over his current role with Trump is quite something” … @jpodhoretz: “If Trump has 80 million, how is he spending it? On taco bowls?” …@richardgrenell: “The entire US media assumed 2nd Amendment activists were killers. Shameful. 2nd amendment activists follow the laws.”
PIC DU JOUR -- @darrenrovell: “Michael Jordan got 2 gold medals. The little girl he’s holding now has 3. It’s Katie Ledecky.” http://bit.ly/2aF9Scd
SPEED READ -- “Federal judge doesn’t reduce Blagojevich’s sentence,” by Illinois Playbook writer Natasha Korecki in Chicago: “In a stunning defeat to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a federal judge on Tuesday refused to shave any time off his 14-year prison sentence that remains the highest ever in the state for a public corruption case. ... Revealing a white shock of hair for the first time, Blagojevich, who had obsessed over his well-coiffed mane while in office, appeared from federal prison in Colorado over closed circuit TV rather than in the Chicago federal courthouse. Blagojevich ... [has] already served 4 ½ years” and has 8 more years left. http://politi.co/2bincog
HAPPENING TOMORROW -- Jake, Anna and Daniel are holding “Playbook Office Hours” at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, 750 15th St, NW. (near the corner of 15th and Eye streets). Come by and say hello! We’ll be there between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday.
PLAYBOOK IN-BOX -- From Chris Cillizza’s out of office auto reply: “I am busy making America great again. While I pursue that goal, please send an email [Rebecca Sinderbrand] if President Obama resigns.”
THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: Anita Dunn
Anita Dunn is one of the Democratic Party’s most skilled communicators. The managing director of SKDKnickerbocker, a large public affairs firm, Dunn was one of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s closest advisers on the 2008 campaign, serving as communications director. She took the post in the White House briefly, before returning to SKD along with a host of other Obama alumni. In 2011, she helped Obama prepare for the debates against Mitt Romney (especially the second two). She is not advising Clinton. Excerpts:
Trump has much bigger potential upside in debates than Clinton: “I don’t know if by Sept. 26 this race will be so baked with the electorate that it won’t make any difference. In 2012, Mitt Romney had a really tough month of press in September 2012 -- first the 47 percent tape came out, was replayed over and over and over. Then, his initial response and initial set of statements around the tragedy in Benghazi on Sept. 11 raised real issues around foreign policy for him. He had a very rough month … He got up there and gave a great performance in the first debate that had a huge effect on the perception of the race. It didn’t have that much of a voter change, but it had a significant change in terms of how the press covered the race. And how things were seen at the time because people weren’t expecting him to be this smart, accessible, articulate really understanding not insulting me and my family type of person.”
Clinton’s strengths: “She does well in debates because her strengths all play to debates — one, her discipline. Two, her ethic of preparation. Three, her depth of knowledge and substance and, four, her ability to actually talk about policy in a way that particularly… is more accessible to people to kind of explain to people what the policy choices are. Those are all things she is very good at. Why she is good in town hall formats as well.”
She shouldn’t go negative: “I think she wants to avoid sarcasm. She can be incredulous about answers without being sarcastic or kind of harsh. When she gets into one-on-one exchanges that start to get sarcastic and testy that is not her strength. That wasn’t her strength against Bernie Sanders. It certainly not going to be her strength against Donald Trump who can be nastier than anybody. If it’s a nasty contest, he wins.”
Clinton should deflect if Trump goes personal: “What he wants to do is he wants to create that ‘aha moment,’ so you really have to seek those moments if he does that as opportunities for her to rise above him and to deflect it and take it back to what voters at the end of the day really do care about which is who is going to be a better president for me, for my family, for my children.”
For more on why Dunn believes the debate system isn’t rigged, and why the commission should cast a wider net when selecting a moderator, click here: http://politi.co/2aVfPSW
TRIAL BALLOON -- “GOP buzzing about Fiorina as RNC head: The former presidential candidate’s outreach to state chairs has some speculating she’s aiming to lead the organization,” by Alex Isenstadt: “Fiorina’s advisers have reached out to more than a dozen state parties telling them that the former GOP presidential hopeful is prepared to help in ‘any way,’ offering up her personal phone number, and informing them that she would like to connect with their respective state party chairperson. She is expected to spend much of August on a cross-country blitz.” http://politi.co/2azPTjF
2016 PLAYERS – “Sources: GOP Will Add New Adviser In Fall Black Outreach Effort,” by BuzzFeed’s Darren Sands: “The [RNC] is set to name Ashley D. Bell its new senior strategist and national director of black political engagement ... An attorney and delegate to the RNC, he is the founder and Republican co-chair of 20/20 Leaders of America, a bipartisan group of black elected officials, attorneys, and activists ‘united to elevate issues disproportionately affecting communities of color above partisan politics,’ according to the group’s website.’” http://bzfd.it/2aLsFUL
--Per AP’s Jesse J. Holland: Bell “will be joined by Elroy Sailor and Shannon Reeves. Sailor, who used to work for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, said he will serve as an advisory capacity to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus while Reeves, a political science professor at Alabama A&M University, will work with the party on creating a database of black voters.” http://apne.ws/2aLIY4d
HILL WATCH -- “ISIS Intel Was Cooked, House Panel Finds,” by The Daily Beast’s Nancy Youssef and Shane Harris: “A House Republican task force has found that officials from the U.S. military’s Central Command altered intelligence reports to portray the U.S. fight against ISIS and al Qaeda in a more positive light than lower-level analysts believed was warranted by the facts on the ground ... [T]he five-month investigation did corroborate earlier reports that analysts felt the leaders of CENTCOM’s intelligence directorate pressured them to conclude that the threat from ISIS was not as ominous as the analysts believed.” http://thebea.st/2aLwj16
MEDIAWATCH -- from NBC -- “‘NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt’ Wins Across the Board for The Week and By More than 1.1 Million Total Viewers on Friday”: “‘NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” ranked #1 across the board for the week of August 1 (Monday through Friday), averaging 8 million total viewers, outperforming ‘ABC World News Tonight’ by +258,000 (+3%) and ‘CBS Evening News’ by +1.721 million (+28%).’”
--HARDBALL with Chris Matthews, which usually airs live at 7 p.m., went live for a second time last night at 11 p.m.
NEW POLITICO PRO hires and promotions -- Marty Kady and Susan Glasser email the staff: “Jessica Cuellar ... is taking a broader role at Pro, with a promotion to Director of Production and Operations. .... POLITICO veteran Bob Hillman ... is taking on more responsibility as a senior editor ... [and] will be available to edit for Pro sections on the sunrise shift ... Tanya Snyder, who started a few weeks ago, comes to us most recently from Streetsblog, where she was the Capitol Hill editor focused on surface transportation. ... And Ashley Gold ... is returning to Pro to join the Technology team, led by Eric Engleman.”
SOCIAL 2016 -- “Text analysis of Trump’s tweets confirms he writes only the (angrier) Android half,” by David Robinson on the Variance Explained blog: “When Trump wishes the Olympic team good luck, he’s tweeting from his iPhone. When he’s insulting a rival, he’s usually tweeting from an Android. Is this an artifact showing which tweets are Trump’s own and which are by some handler? ... My analysis ... concludes that the Android and iPhone tweets are clearly from different people, posting during different times of day and using hashtags, links, and retweets in distinct ways. What’s more, we can see that the Android tweets are angrier and more negative, while the iPhone tweets tend to be benign announcements and pictures.” http://bit.ly/2aKTDjt
FUTURE OF MEDIA -- NYT Business Day cover, “Facebook Blocks Ad Blockers, but It Strives to Make Ads More Relevant,” by Mike Isaac: “Digital ads pop up online so frequently and ubiquitously that many people are using software to block them. But if you try to stop ads from showing up on Facebook’s desktop website, you will now be out of luck: The social network has found a way to block the ad blockers. On Tuesday, Facebook flipped a switch on its desktop website that essentially renders all ad blockers — the programs that prevent websites from displaying ads on the page when a user visits the site — useless. The change allows the Silicon Valley company to serve ads on its desktop site even to people who have ad-blocking software installed and running.” http://nyti.ms/2aRgOWW
FIRST LOOK -- ScienceDebate.org -- a group that represents 10 million scientists and engineers -- is sending a questionnaire today to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, asking them to answer 20 questions about just like Mitt Romney, John McCain and Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012. This year’s questionnaire: http://bit.ly/2aDPHeB … The 2012 answers: http://bit.ly/2aDPloo
PLAYBOOK TRAVEL SECTION – “Computer outage could tarnish Delta’s on-time reputation,” by AP’s Scott Mayerowitz: “We don’t cancel flights. That’s been the message for the past two years from Delta Air Lines. Double decker buses roamed the streets of New York, wrapped in ads proclaiming ‘canceling cancellations.’ Delta executives boasted about the number of days without a single flight scrapped. That all literally ground to a halt Monday when a system-wide computer outage led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights.” http://apne.ws/2bie6rF
DESSERT -- “Extremely Good New York City Real Estate Drama Unfolding in NoHo,” by Gawker’s Brendan O’Connor: “High-powered New York City real estate developer Aby Rosen has sent his business partner Jared Kushner a pretty rude message. A new billboard at a construction site Rosen owns at 337 Lafayette Street in Manhattan exhorts passersby, in huge white letters, to ‘Vote Your CONSCIENCE!’ On Monday, Rosen posted a photograph of the billboard to Instagram with the caption, ‘Wake up America.’” http://bit.ly/2aKTrRr
HOLLYWOODLAND – “TV executive predicts 500-show bubble destined to deflate,” by AP’s Lynn Elber in Beverly Hills: “With a greater supply of U.S. television than can be profitably produced, the industry is ‘ballooning into a condition of oversupply’ that will likely peak in the next two years and then slowly deflate, [FX Networks CEO John] Landgraf told a TV critics meeting Tuesday. ... Scripted shows premiering this year should reach about 450 for broadcast, cable and streaming services and near or exceed 500 in 2017 ... A key driver in the streaming sector is Netflix, which Landgraf said has premiered or announced 71 scripted series, a number he said excludes documentary, late-night or non-English language shows. By comparison, broadcast networks including NBC, ABC and CBS air about 150 scripted series; pay cable is at 50 and basic cable at 180.” http://apne.ws/2b5ykY8
RIO ROUNDUP -- The U.S. is leading the medal count with 26 (nine gold, eight silver and nine bronze), per NBC News. Tuesday’s big winners: Women’s gymnastics team, Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps (200m freestyle, Michael Phelps (4x200m freestyle relay).
-- “Phelps wins Olympic gold medals No. 20 and 21 in Rio,” by AP’s Paul Newberry: http://apne.ws/2b2IA0i
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- Page Six: “Barbra Streisand to sing at Hillary Clinton fundraiser”: “Barbra Streisand will headline an LGBT-focused fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. She will sing a few songs for Hillary supporters at the Sept. 9 event at Cipriani Wall Street. Individual tickets start at $1,200 and go to $10,000, and tables are going for up to $250,000. Those who raise six-figure sums get to join a VIP reception and are allowed a photo with Hillary — there’s no word on whether Babs will join for the photos.” http://pge.sx/2aRFH4L
SPOTTED: David Gregory yesterday at Great Harbor Yacht Club in Nantucket, on his way to the tennis court “nattily attired in tennis garb” …Martin O’Malley, ever chivalrous, holding the door for women going into Washington Square building in D.C. yesterday at noon … Jill Zuckman and former Maryland Rep. Tom McMillen at the Palm for lunch (separate tables)
OBAMA ALUMNI -- “Jesse Moore Joins Rock the Vote as Vice President of Civic Engagement”: “Moore will oversee Rock the Vote’s engagement goals of voter registration and turnout by building programs to guide electoral and issue-based efforts and managing partnerships with nonprofits and political organizations. ... Moore ... most recently serv[ed] as Associate Director of Public Engagement in the White House. In that role, Jesse was the White House’s primary liaison to the entertainment industry and minority faith communities. ... He previously served as a White House Speechwriter and on both of President Obama’s national campaigns, most recently as Political Director in North Carolina.” http://politi.co/2bfb6iW
TRANSITIONS -- Marcela Aguirre, previously of World Food Program USA and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, is joining the Clinton campaign as an email fundraising strategist.
ENGAGED -- Alex Miehls, deputy press secretary of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, proposed to Liza Koch(pronounced cook), Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at Georgetown, at the Lincoln Memorial as the sun set last Tuesday. The couple celebrated their engagement at Blue Duck Tavern. They met in 2013 playing soccer. Pics http://politi.co/2aRhFXV ... http://politi.co/2aYxqvi
HAPPY 25th ANNIVERSARY to Tucker Carlson and Susie Andrews, celebrating at their family house in western Maine (in the Rangeley region) with their four kids and the dogs. He texted us last night: “Sitting in front of the fire now. Pretty nice.”
BIRTHDAYS: Nancy Cordes of CBS News, the pride of Kalaheo, Hawaii … Andrew Sullivan is 53 (h/ts Patrick Appel and Chris Bodenner) …Buffy Wicks, Clinton, Obama and Dean alum (h/t Tim Burger) ... Gina Ormand Cherwin! She’s celebrating with hubby Josh (bday was last week) with a trip to A-Rod’s last away game at Fenway Park in Boston, followed by a vacation in the Berkshires … Hillary for America Battleground States Director and 270 Strategies co-founder Meg Ansara, celebrating at Brooklyn HQ today -- and then celebrating the birthday of her third child roughly 7 weeks later #WomenPower (h/t Lynda Tran) ... John Dunagan SVP at VOX Global, who ran Michigan for Bush-Cheney in ’04 (h/t Andrew Kovalcin) ... NYT columnist Charles Blow is 46 (h/t Carl Lavin) ... Matthew MacWilliams ... Sally Garner, executive producer at NJTV and WNET (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Alex Thompson, politics and policy editor at VICE News and an NYT alum (h/t Maureen) ... Alex Marquardt, ABC News foreign correspondent and a 2004 grad of Georgetown’s SFS ... Kevin McAllister, deputy comms director at American Bridge 21st Century, is 28 ...
… Jim Brady, CEO of Spirited Media and alum of WashPost and Digital First Media, is 49 ... Addison DiSesa ... Sarah Kyle, director of federal gov’t affairs and an Evan Bayh alum ... Jessica Wehrman, Washington correspondent for the Columbus Dispatch ... Paul Conway, former president of Generation Opportunity and former chief of staff of Labor Dept. ... Laura Kim, digital producer for “Morning Joe” ... Sophie Vershbow, social media manager at Random House ... Julie Johnson ... Ally Harpootlian of Atlantic Media ... Jayson Rodriguez, editorial director at Revolt Media & TV ... Noah Marine, LD for Rep. Ed Perlmutter, is 32 ... Katie Papa ... Mark Walker of House Foreign Affairs ... Lucy Wolfe Goss of the House Office of the Legislative Counsel ... Emily Buck of Rep. Diane Black’s office ... Cameron Onumah of Sen. Feinstein’s office (h/ts Legistorm) ... Rashid Mathus ... Rick Phelps ... George Appleby ... Ben Giesser ... Chiquita Lee ... Matt MacWilliams (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Vanessa Reed ... Rose Gallagher ... Johannah Tyer ... Sam Wilson is 34 ... Paul Foutch ... actress Rhonda Fleming is 93 ... Patti Austin is 66 ... Rosanna Arquette is 57 ... Antonio Banderas is 56 ... Riddick Bowe is 49 ... Sean Blakemore (“General Hospital”) is 49 ... Aaron Staton (“Mad Men”) is 36 ... Lucas Till is 26 ... Kylie Jenner is 19 (h/s AP)