Good Sunday morning. There are 51 days until Election Day. A bomb went off Saturday night in New York City, and a second bomb-like device was found a few blocks away. THE LATEST from the NYT: the bomb "did not appear to be linked to international terrorism, but that it was a powerful bomb designed to kill." http://nyti.ms/2cTU8W5
Here’s how the New York Times described their reaction in Christopher Mele, Al Baker and Michael Barbaro’s leadall: “Donald J. Trump, in Colorado Springs, rushed to describe the explosion as a bomb well before the authorities had made any determinations about what had happened and while the situation was still in flux. ‘I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on,’ he said. ‘But boy, we are living in a time — we better get very tough, folks.’ The Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, was informed of the episode after she gave a speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner … She seemed to scold Mr. Trump for his quick assessment. ‘I think it’s always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions,’ Mrs. Clinton said.” http://nyti.ms/2cQdYD0
--MORE CLINTON aboard her campaign plane: “I’ve been briefed about the bombings in New York and New Jersey, and the attack in Minnesota. Obviously we need to do everything we can to support our first responders. Also to pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold. We’ve been in touch with various officials including the mayor’s office in New York to learn what they are discovering as they conduct this investigation and I’ll have more to say about it when we actually know some facts.” Q: “Secretary Clinton, do you have any reaction to the fact that Donald Trump immediately upon taking the stage tonight called the explosion in New York a bomb…” CLINTON: “Well, I think it’s important to know the facts about any incident like this. That’s why it’s so critical to support the first responders, the investigators who are looking into it, trying to determine what did happen.”
--GOTHAM WATCH: N.Y. Post, “NYC BOMB” http://nyp.st/2cfU5Rr … N.Y. Daily News “CHELSEA BLAST” http://bit.ly/2cw1Dk9
NEW POLLS -- BUYER’S REMORSE, via JAKE and Morning Consult: “Forty-three percent of Republicans say Donald Trump was not the best pick to be the party’s nominee, while 41 percent of Democrats say the same of Hillary Clinton, a stunning level of regret in the electorate with 51 days until Election Day … If there’s any clear message from the electorate, it’s that many voters will be casting a protest vote in November. More than one-third of Clinton’s supporters say they are voting against Trump, and 44 percent of Trump’s voters say they’re voting against Clinton.” http://politi.co/2cHSSVe … Morning Consult’s story http://bit.ly/2cw97nd
--These numbers help illustrate the yawning enthusiasm gap that’s plaguing both candidates, as they try to get their supporters to the ballot box in less than two months.
-- NEW ‘CBS Battleground Tracker Poll’ -- The poll, unveiled on “Face The Nation,” shows the race is tightening. Trump and Clinton are tied with 42 percent each across the combined battlegrounds. She was up one point last week and two points over Labor Day weekend. Of note: 47 percent of those polled believe Trump will bring change to Washington compared to just 20 percent who think Clinton would do the same. Clinton does lead 47 to 39 percent on being trusted to handle the daily demands of the job.
--Pennsylvania -- Hillary 47 percent, Trump 38 percent, per a New Morning Call/Muehlenberg College poll, conducted Sept. 12-16 (all after Hillary’s “deplorables” comment and pneumonia episode): http://bit.ly/2cTMqLE (h/t @daveweigel)
KAINE SAYS TRUMP IS INCITING VIOLENCE AGAINST CLINTON --on “Fox News Sunday” -- “So example, here’s the other example, you put it in the context of other things he has said. If Hillary gets elected we may need Second Amendment people to take care of this, what did that mean when he said that just three weeks ago? And when you look at a series of these comments that he’s making, I do believe it is an incite -- or at a minimum, an expression of indifference to whether violence would occur. And this is a pattern that has been repeated over and over again, and I think this doesn’t belong in any race, much less a race to be president of this country.”
PENCE PUSHBACK -- “Pence says Trump wasn’t calling for violence against Clinton,” by Daniel Strauss: “Pence, speaking Sunday in an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ said that his running mate and the Republican nominee for president wasn’t at all calling for violence against the Democratic nominee for president. ‘I think what Donald Trump was saying is if Hillary Clinton didn't have all that security— she'd probably be a whole lot more supportive of the Second Amendment,’ Pence said.
“Raddatz then pointed out that Trump also said in his statement: ‘Let’s see what happens to her.’ But Pence said that wasn’t any kind of call for violence. ‘That’s absolute nonsense. His comment was that if she didn’t have all that security, she’d change her attitude about the right to keep and bear arms. And I’ll bet that’s probably true. But, you know, the -- the truth of the matter is, with -- it really is remarkable,’ Pence said.” http://politi.co/2cVexwC
OBAMA SOUNDS OFF -- “An angry Obama puts himself on the ballot: The president delivers a rip-roaring speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner,” by Isaac Dovere: “It was part mockery, part shock-to-the-system wake-up call. Donald Trump is a nasty, hateful charlatan selling a false message to African-Americans and the rest of the country that puts everything he’s done in office and stood for at risk, President Barack Obama said Saturday night, in a rip-roaring speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner in Washington.
“Declaring he would consider it ‘a personal insult, an insult to my legacy’ if black turnout falters for Hillary Clinton, Obama did what he got reamed for doing almost exactly two years ago, in the heat of midterm elections where disdain for him was the defining force: Yes, he said, he is pretty much on the ballot in November. ‘My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot,’ Obama said, his voice rising to a shout as he went well beyond what sources familiar with the speech say was a tamer version of the riff in the prepared remarks. ‘Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration, that’s on the ballot right now.’” http://politi.co/2d3KuTX
-- “Clinton rips Trump for birther ‘prejudice and paranoia,’” by Darren Samuelsohn: “Speaking at a Congressional Black Caucus event, the Democrat worked to block her rival’s bid to gloss over his role in spreading [the birther] conspiracy theory.” http://politi.co/2cmPEb5
TALKER -- NYT A1, “A Trump Empire Built on Inside Connections and $885 Million in Tax Breaks,” by Charles V. Bagli: In “‘Trump: The Art of the Deal’ ... and numerous interviews over the years, [Trump makes] little mention of a crucial factor in getting the [Grand Hyatt] hotel built: an extraordinary 40-year tax break that has cost New York City $360 million to date in forgiven, or uncollected, taxes, with four years still to run, on a property that cost only $120 million to build in 1980. ... Since then, Mr. Trump has reaped at least $885 million in tax breaks, grants and other subsidies for luxury apartments, hotels and office buildings in New York, according to city tax, housing and finance records. ... In seeking those subsidies, Mr. Trump is not that different from many other developers. But the level of subsidies he has received along with his doggedness in claiming them seem at odds with his rhetoric as an outsider candidate who boasts of his single-handed success and who has denounced what he calls the pay-to-play culture of politics and a ‘rigged’ system of government.” http://nyti.ms/2czUam2
DEEP DIVE -- “Drugmakers fought state opioid limits amid crisis,” by AP’s Geoff Mulvihill, Liz Essley Whyte and Ben Wieder for AP and the Center for Public Integrity: “The makers of prescription painkillers have adopted a 50-state strategy that includes hundreds of lobbyists and millions in campaign contributions to help kill or weaken measures aimed at stemming the tide of prescription opioids, the drugs at the heart of a crisis that has cost 165,000 Americans their lives and pushed countless more to crippling addiction. The drugmakers vow they’re combating the addiction epidemic, but ... they often employ a statehouse playbook of delay and defend that includes funding advocacy groups that use the veneer of independence to fight limits on their drugs, such as OxyContin, Vicodin and fentanyl, the narcotic linked to Prince’s death.
“The industry and its allies spent more than $880 million nationwide on lobbying and campaign contributions from 2006 through 2015 — more than 200 times what those advocating for stricter policies spent and eight times more than the influential gun lobby recorded for similar activities during that same period ... The drugmakers and allied advocacy groups — such as the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network — also employed an annual average of 1,350 lobbyists in state capitals from Olympia to Tallahassee during that span, when opioids’ addictive nature came under increasing scrutiny.” http://apne.ws/2cfUymJ
HAPPENING TODAY -- Mike Pence is attending church in Jacksonville, Florida, before returning to Indiana.
UPDATE -- We included a back and forth yesterday between Ari Fleischer and Jon Favreau about whether the Clinton campaign started the birther movement (they did not). We missed this tweet from Ari: “I earlier tweeted that @jheil said Hillary’s staff spread the birther rumor. Correction: Hill’s staff spread rumor O was Muslim.” See Ari’s Twitter feed if you’re interested in more http://bit.ly/2ci8XUn
YOU’RE INVITED! -- Join us for Playbook Cocktails Wednesday evening with civil rights icon, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.)! Our conversation comes during the opening week of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. We’ll talk about civil rights and explore Lewis’s extraordinary life. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The W Hotel, 515 15th Street, NW. RSVP here http://bit.ly/2daFsno
FOCUS ON FLORIDA -- the LOCAL LOOK -- “Donald Trump’s strength in Florida shows in working-class Pasco County,” by the Tampa Bay Times’ Adam Smith: “In this working-class suburb of Tampa Bay, finding people enthusiastically supporting Hillary Clinton is tough. Finding people enthusiastically supporting Trump is less difficult. Finding people fed up with the status quo is a piece of cake. Trump can’t win the presidency without winning Florida, and many observers question how he can win Florida if he fails to do better among Florida’s one in three minority voters. That’s not expected to happen. So how is it that poll after poll shows Trump running neck-and-neck with Clinton, with a real shot at winning Florida’s 29 electoral votes?
“The answer lies behind the Advanced Auto Parts and Big Lots stores along U.S. 19, in 40-year-old subdivisions with names like Holiday Lakes Estates, Beacon Square and Regency Park. Those who divide Florida into political territories call this corner of Pasco County Florida House District 36. And unlike the vast majority of legislative districts across America, the roughly 100,000 voters here tend to be independent-minded and unpredictable. Thirty-five percent are registered Republicans, 34 percent Democrats and 31 percent belong to neither party. In 2008 and in 2012, Obama narrowly carried Florida House District 36, and narrowly won Florida. But a poll of likely voters taken in July by a Democratic polling firm found Trump with a double-digit lead over Clinton -- 51 percent to 39 percent -- in this district.” http://bit.ly/2d3PyYJ
--NATIONAL look: Trip Gabriel in the NYT: “Hillary Clinton has vastly outspent Donald J. Trump on TV ads in Florida. Her 57 campaign offices dwarf Mr. Trump’s afterthought of a ground game. And Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular among Hispanics, who account for nearly one in five Florida voters. Despite these advantages, Mrs. Clinton is struggling in the Sunshine State, unable to assemble the coalition that gave Barack Obama two victories here, and offering Mr. Trump a broad opening in a road to the White House that not long ago seemed closed to him ...
“Recent polls show Mrs. Clinton is not earning the same support among Hispanics, young people or white voters that Mr. Obama captured when he eked out a Florida victory four years ago in the country’s most hard-fought swing state. Mrs. Clinton could afford to lose here and still find other routes to victory. Mr. Trump’s electoral map is narrower; he must have Florida in his column. But as the most populous and one of the most racially diverse battleground states, Florida is also a bellwether for the nation: a candidate’s struggles here often are mirrored elsewhere.” http://nyti.ms/2daMwkd
--A1 of The Villages Daily Sun: “Standing-Room Only Crowd Wowed by Pence” http://bit.ly/2cVfBAJ. Short item on front page “SMALL STRATEGY PAYING OFF FOR TRUMP IN FLA.”
--A1 of the Detroit Free Press: “Can Trump break the race barrier...Wayne County skews heavily Democratic, but Republicans are courting black voters who lack enthusiasm for Clinton” Front page http://bit.ly/2cZiDA0 … Story http://on.freep.com/2cVh9e6
DAILY DONALD -- “Trump’s climate science denial clashes with reality of rising seas in Florida,” by LA Times’ Michael Finnegan in Miami Beach: “By Donald Trump’s account, scientists have tricked Americans into accepting that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. ‘I’m not a big believer in man-made climate change,’ he told the Miami Herald on one of the rare recent occasions when he has talked about it. A few blocks from the Miami Beach hotel where Trump spoke, water flooded over a seawall last year during the highest autumn tides, blocking traffic on one of South Florida’s main evacuation routes. The city is now elevating that street and many others as part of a $500-million program to protect itself from the rising ocean. Coastal communities in the biggest presidential battleground state are adapting not just to the threat of global warming, but to the reality of it.” http://lat.ms/2daO0uz
CARLOS LOZADA on back page of WashPost Outlook section, “Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine have written a deplorable campaign book,” reviewing “Stronger Together: A Blueprint for America’s Future”: “By the time I finished this book, I resented its existence. ‘Stronger Together,’ ostensibly written by Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine ... is a self-confessed cut-and-paste job of campaign fact sheets, speeches and op-eds. That sets rather modest expectations. Yet, even by that standard, and the low bar for candidates’ campaign books overall, ‘Stronger Together’ is an embarrassment, sloppy, repetitive, dutiful and boring. ... Clinton and Kaine repeat themselves, often verbatim, throughout the book. ‘No one should face meager Social Security checks because they took on the vital role of caregiver,’ they write. And you know they’re serious, because two pages later, we learn again that ‘no one should face meager Social Security checks because they took on the vital role of caregiver.’
“In their foreign policy discussion, Clinton and Kaine warn of the ‘wide arc of instability that stretches from West Africa all the way to Asia,’ except two pages later, they fret over the ‘wide arc of instability from North Africa to South Asia.’ (Is the arc shifting? Could be, it’s unstable!) ... The first few times, it’s vaguely amusing, as though you’ve caught an embarrassing mistake. But then you remember that to feel shame, the authors would have to care. This book was slapped together, barely edited and placed before us quickly, as if to cross one more item off a to-do list, or meet some overwhelming yet imaginary demand. But why rush a book no one’s going to read?” http://wapo.st/2cvX2hV … $9.80 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2d3KWSk
BIG PROFILE OF THE PRIDE OF NEW CANAAN -- “Joe Scarborough Has Big Dreams (Including ‘Trump: The Musical’),” by Jason Zengerle in GQ: “For all the newfound acrimony, Trump’s success has prompted Scarborough to re-assess his own political prospects. Although he’s often toyed with the idea of making another run for office -- floating his name for a Florida Senate seat or eyeing the race for Connecticut governor -- Scarborough’s ambitions have ratcheted up. Increasingly, he’s grown convinced that if Trump can make a serious run for the presidency, so, potentially, could he. According to Scarborough’s thinking, Trump demonstrates just how formidable a candidate with excellent media skills can be; imagine if such a candidate also possessed a proven understanding of politics.
“‘I’ll just be really blunt. He actually does present an opening,’ Scarborough told me in one of our several conversations. ‘When I ran [for Congress] in ‘94, I ran as a conservative-slash-populist, and Republicans have been getting drubbed on the national level because they all talk like American Enterprise Institute policy wonks,’ getting in a subtle dig at, presumably, House Speaker Paul Ryan. Scarborough went on, ‘Conservative-populists like myself have never been accepted in polite political society, but Donald Trump makes me look absolutely mainstream.’” http://bit.ly/2cmPVdP
ARRESTED -- VICE: “VICE News reporter arrested outside a Donald Trump campaign event”: “Alex Thompson, a reporter for VICE News, was arrested by Houston Police [Saturday] while inquiring about press access to an event held for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Omni Westside Hotel. Thompson was arrested at roughly 1:30 PM EST and has been charged with trespassing. … A man who identified himself as a hotel manager then asked Thompson to leave and warned that he would be arrested if he did not. Roughly two minutes later, without further warning and while Thompson was waiting for a member of Trump’s staff to clarify his access to the event, he was arrested by Houston Police, handcuffed, and escorted outside. Thompson spoke with his editors while handcuffed and said that he was never given any opportunity to explain himself to police.” http://bit.ly/2czWHwx
-- Vice’s Josh @Tyrangiel: “Our reporter @AlxThomp was released on bond over night. Many thanks to our excellent lawyers. We urge Harris County to drop the charges.”
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“Welcome to the Dark Net, A Wilderness Where Invisible World Wars Are Fought and Hackers Roam Free,” by William Langewiesche in October’s Vanity Fair: “Through the eyes of a master hacker turned security expert, William Langewiesche chronicles the rise of the Dark Net—where weapons, drugs, and information are bought, sold, and hacked—and learns how high the stakes have really become.” http://bit.ly/2d0W0PW (h/t Longform.org)
--“His Life Was Insane,” by Steven Malanga in City Journal: “‘Crazy’ Eddie Antar was an innovator, disrupter, and crook all rolled into one.” http://bit.ly/2d4lc4b (h/t TheBrowser.com)
--“Can the Selfie Generation Unplug and Get Into Parks?” by Timothy Egan, with Casey Egan in October’s National Geographic: “A father and son raft down the Grand Canyon and hike in Joshua Tree, revealing the rewards that millennials can find in our most treasured places.” http://on.natgeo.com/2czis33
--“Drama at an Elite High School,” by Suzy Khimm in N.Y. Mag: “A beloved theater teacher, sexual-assault allegations, and the scandal that has rattled Chappaqua.” http://thecut.io/2cdrbBx
--“Confessions of a presidential speechwriter,” by Brussels Playbook author Ryan Heath: “If Jean-Claude Juncker goes off script in this week’s State of the Union, spare a thought for the poor soul who put the speech together.” http://politi.co/2d8dhFR
--“Typecast as a terrorist,” by Riz Ahmed in The Guardian: “As my acting career developed, I was no longer cast as a radical Muslim – except at the airport.” http://bit.ly/2cfqCMy
--“Is Peter Bart the Most Hated Man in Hollywood?” by Amy Wallace in the Sept. 1, 2001, issue of LA Mag: “He knows the movie business as well as anyone, and when he talks, studio chiefs listen. He’s Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart, and he lives in curious coexistence with the industry he covers.” http://bit.ly/2cFxyy3
--“The State of the Presidential Debate,” by Jill Lepore in The New Yorker: “How should candidates—and voters—argue about politics?” http://bit.ly/2comuVV
--“Patagonia’s Philosopher-King,” by The New Yorker’s Nick Paumgarten: “How Yvon Chouinard turned his eco-conscious, anti-corporate ideals into the credo of a successful clothing company.” http://bit.ly/2cmYghA
--“The Last Last Summer,” by Joshua Cohen in n+1 magazine: “Donald Trump and the Fall of Atlantic City.” http://bit.ly/2cPA1YS
--“Clean Eating and Pure Loving: My Life as a Whole Foods Cashier,” byLucie Shelly in Catapult: “Of course, standing for hours at a register and filling my brain with produce codes (conventional bananas: 4237, if organic, add a 9) had never been a dream of mine.” http://bit.ly/2cDl7WO (h/t Longreads.com)
--“The Falling Man: An unforgettable story,” by Tom Junod in Esquire: “Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.” http://bit.ly/2ck2c2I
--“Africa & The Problem Of Evil: Is It Reasonable For Africans To Believe In God?” by Justin McBrayer in The Critique: “Why is it that the most down-trodden people on earth are also the most faithful people on earth?” http://bit.ly/2d6xKuz
--“Sky Pilot,” by Andrew Zaleski in Wired: “A drone-racing ace charts his own course as the sport goes mainstream.” http://bit.ly/2d0Wplm
--“Notes From Many Years,” by Madeleine Schwartz in The Nation: “Helen Gurley Brown’s ideas about women were often as retrograde as the ones she claimed to fight. Why is she still appealing?” http://bit.ly/2d0WFAN (h/t ALDaily.com)
--“The Hamilton Cult,” by Robert Sullivan on the cover of October’s Harpers: “Has the celebrated musical eclipsed the man himself?” http://bit.ly/2cURiPn …The cover http://bit.ly/2daUppz
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND LISTENS, curated by Jake Sherman:
--Grateful Dead today in 1987 at Madison Square Garden. http://bit.ly/2d3MM5n
--Widespread Panic’s tour opener in D.C. from earlier this month. http://bit.ly/2cTHVAM
THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: Melanie Whelan
SoulCycle CEO Melanie Whelan has overseen massive growth of the spin workout in Washington, D.C. Opening five studios in the area (four in D.C. and one in Bethesda), the cycling and drawing high profile riders like Michelle Obama, the D.C. market has been one of the fastest growing of all of the 55 studios they operate.
“Our success has really been rooted in the people that lead the studios, our instructors… and our rider community has been so responsive to us,” Whelan said of D.C. “It’s fun, that’s why Michelle Obama has said she comes and rides with us … She can let her hair down and enjoy time with her daughters in a safe space.”
They don’t ride and tell: “We do have a lot of fans on the Hill and in the White House. What we’ve seen in D.C. especially is SoulCycle is a sanctuary. It’s a city especially where smart phones rule the world and everyone is connected 24-7 and our studios provide a sanctuary where people can disconnect and disconnect from whatever agenda they have to really connect with themselves on the bike.”
You won’t see them jump into partisan politics this election cycle: “We haven’t. We believe SoulCycle is truly people’s sanctuary and allows people to escape and just have fun and the that is our role to play.”
More studios coming to D.C.: “I have just come back from the market, looking at new opportunities for us … We are very careful how we announce where and when we are opening, but I can tell you I think the market presents a lot of opportunities both in places I think you might expect to find us but also in emerging markets that we think present cool opportunities for us to get in early.”
SPOTTED on the 8:55 a.m. Acela to New York: Charlie Rangel, coming off last night’s CBC dinner, and Tony Blinken, headed to UNGA. Rangel is in first class. Blinken is not … Lead singer of the Foo Fighters and former drummer of Nirvana Dave Grohl at the AC/DC concert Saturday night at the Verizon Center.
DEMS TURN OUT FOR DSCC RETREAT THIS WEEKEND: DSCC Chair Jon Tester and Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tom Carper of Delaware were joined by several K Streeters for their annual retreat at Amelia Island in Florida. SPOTTED: Jimmy Ryan, Marissa Mitrovich, Sean Kennedy, Ashley Flannigan, Jess Straus, Katrice Banks, Shannon Finley, Shari Yost and Jason Gold, Ed Pagano, Matt Tanielian and Izzy Klein.
KEN BURNS guest wrote Ozy’s Presidential Daily Brief email today, curating stories on education, native rights, marine preservation, understanding Trump, technology, and more. Burns’ newest film, with co-director Artemis Joukowsky and narrated by Tom Hanks, “Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War,” premieres at 9 p.m. on PBS on Tuesday. http://bit.ly/2cZh6K0 ... Trailer http://bit.ly/2czyEkB
OUT AND ABOUT -- The Daily Beast’s Asawin Suebsaeng last night hosted the likely last incarnation of what became legendary quarterly parties at his house for young journalists and politicos. Swin is moving out of the Logan Circle house. Last night’s theme: “The Comrade Harambe Ice Luge and Champagne Dance Party, a.k.a the Final #YOLOmageddon.” Pic of the Harambe luge http://bit.ly/2czpULg
SPOTTED: Tim Mak, Bob Costa, Ryan Williams, Josh Rogin, Tarini Parti, Rebecca Leber, Miranda Green, Betsy Woodruff, Tom Toles, Breanna Deppisch, Daniel Strauss, David Pasch, Nihal Krishan, Robbie Myers, Melissa Brown, Madeleine Weast, Ben Jacobs, Bryon Tau, Sahil Kapur, Carolyn Fiddler, Julia Ioffe, Katy Summerlin, Michelle Fields, Taylor Lorenz, Ali Breland, Kat Borgerding, Kevin Robillard, Jamie Kirchick, Rebecca Nelson, Eric Garcia, Walt Cronkite, and many more.
--Juleanna Glover, Patrick Fitzgerald and Joe Romm hosted a book party last night to toast Tom Toles and Michael Mann for their new book “The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy.” $15.84 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2cZ3sGI
SPOTTED: Gretchen Toles, Juliet Eilperin, Jackson Diehl, Jane Mayer, Josh Meyer, Michael Chandler, Becca Glover, Meredith Fineman, Christina Sevilla, Steve Rochlin, Michael Larabee, Garance Franke Ruta, Autumn Brewington, Eric Lipton, Adam Green, Abdulwahab al-Hajri.
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Kevin Curran, the managing director of Rock Creek Advisors, executive director of Maverick PAC and a Bush 43 WH alum, got married yesterday to Sarah Belknap, director of platform partnerships at Targeted Victory, co-chair of Right Now Women PAC and now the First Lady of Maverick PAC. They had the ceremony in Meridian Hill Park and the reception at Continental Lounge in Rosslyn. Pics http://bit.ly/2cJLIhU ... http://bit.ly/2d7ZwEh ... http://bit.ly/2cZ8gMf
-- “Stephanie Valle, Daniel Hubbell” – N.Y. Times: “The bride, 33 ... works in Washington and Kinderhook, N.Y., as the chief of staff for Representative Chris Gibson, a Republican. She graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. ... Mr. Hubbell, 40, is an associate at the Albany law firm Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna. He graduated from the University of Valley Forge in Phoenixville, Pa., and received a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Albany Law School. ... The couple met in 2014 at the Railroad CrossFit gym in Hudson, N.Y.” With pic http://nyti.ms/2cvX6OC
WELCOME TO THE WORLD – Babak Talebi, an Iran media analyst, consultant, and NIAC alum and Solmaz Sharifi, a Public Diplomacy Foreign Service Officer, post on Facebook: “Our family has been joined by two beautiful and healthy baby girls. The twin identical girls were born 20 minutes apart via natural birth by super mom Solmaz at 2:42 and 3:02 pm EST. They each weighed in at 6 lbs (2.73 and 2.71 kg).” Pic http://bit.ly/2cJJgIe
BIRTHDAYS: Monica Pampell of PentaFit, trainer to the stars (Norah and Geoff, JKarl, Margaret Brennan, etc.) ... NYT’s Jackie Calmes ... Joan Walsh ... Ric Grenell! ... Lance Armstrong is 45 ... Sara Haines, cohost of The View and correspondent for ABC News, is 39 ... Gilead Science’s Kacy Hutchison … Kyle Laymen ... Jeff Sadosky, SVP at Forbes-Tate, a Portman alum … Katrina Valdes, comms director to Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart … Matt Stuart ... Washington Examiner’s Nicole Duran, alum of Roll Call and NJ ... former Bush for President staffer Eric Terrell (h/t Bo Ellison) ... Jess Morales Rocketto, digital organizing director for HFA (aka “Jess From HFA”) is 3-0. “Wish her happy birthday by texting Happy Birthday to 47246” (h/t Rob Flaherty) ... Chile turns 206 on its Independence Day (h/t @BCIU) ... Tina Stoll, top Democratic fundraising consultant, celebrating with Peter (h/t Jon Haber) ... Mark Walsh, deputy chief of protocol at State ... Dayna Cade, coalitions and special projects advisor for Sen. Cruz. ...
… WashPost’s Darryl Fears ... Gilbert Ocanes ... Sam Lindenfeld ... Chuck Supple ... Cathy Jury ... Luis Navarro ... Karl Struble ... Cyndi Pederson ... Beth Peyton ... Kristen Crowell ... Monica Mills ... Lola Velazquez (h/t Teresa Vilmain) ... Zach Sutton ... Scott MacFarlane ... Angela Flood, Cove Strategies ... Joe Davis ... Devika Koppikar ... Christina Tübke ... voice actress June Foray is 99 ... Fred Willard is 83 ... Frankie Avalon is 76 ... Anna Deavere Smith is 66 ... hoops Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino is 64 ... Aisha Tyler is 46 ... Jada Pinkett Smith is 45 ... Jason Sudeikis is 41 ... actor C.J. Sanders is 2-0 (h/ts AP)