GOOD TUESDAY MORNING and happy November! ONE WEEK (!!!!!) until ELECTION DAY.
WHAT BROOKLYN’S THINKING -- NYT A1, “Confidence Even as Hillary Clinton’s Momentum Slows,” by Jonathan Martin in D.C. and Alex Burns in New York, with Nick Corasaniti in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Thomas Kaplan in Kent, Ohio: “The announcement that the F.B.I. is reviewing newly discovered emails of a top Hillary Clinton aide has slowed the campaign’s momentum and the hopes of expanding support in traditional Midwestern battleground states. Leading Democratic strategists say the news has caused some of Mrs. Clinton’s more casual supporters to drift away. Her campaign expressed confidence that she would weather the political turbulence, but acknowledged that optimism about gaining ground in places like Ohio and Iowa, where the demographics favor Donald J. Trump, was fading. Still, it said, even as Mrs. Clinton’s overall support has shrunk in recent days, she can easily assemble the 270 electoral votes she needs for a victory next Tuesday, given her broad base of voters in more demographically diverse states.” http://nyti.ms/2fc1XFo
POLLS -- NBC/SURVEY MONKEY -- Clinton 47, Trump 41, Johnson 6, Stein 3 http://nbcnews.to/2euRdC4 … ABC/WAPO TRACKING -- Clinton 46, Trump 45, Johnson 4, Stein 2 http://abcn.ws/2fzMTWC … FOX 2 DETROIT/MITCHELL: MICHIGAN -- Clinton 47, Trump 41, Johnson 6, Stein 2 http://bit.ly/2euOR6n … WMUR/NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Clinton 46, Trump 39, Johnson 6, Stein 1 http://bit.ly/2euOPLE
WHAT WE’RE WAITING FOR -- New North Carolina and Pennsylvania polling. It seems, at this point, that Clinton is holding her lead nearly everywhere. If Trump puts those states in play, he has a chance.
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SCOOP: TOP AGENCY BOOKING JOSH EARNEST FOR POST-OBAMA SPEAKING GIGS -- White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has signed on with the Harry Walker Agency to book speaking gigs for after he leaves the administration on Jan. 21. The firm sent an email Monday morning to prospective clients, offering Earnest’s services. “To avoid even the appearance of a conflict, we will let Josh know only the scheduling details of the engagement, and he will put it down firmly on his calendar,” emailed Vana Thayu, Harry Walker SVP. Thayu also noted they won’t identify hosts or sponsors to Earnest until after he leaves the White House: “When he leaves the administration, on that Saturday morning, we will send Josh the names of the hosting organizations, and he will at that time, barring any unforeseen objections, formally and officially accept. Once Josh formally accepts, you may begin marketing Josh as your speaker. Until then, the fact that he is holding this on his calendar must remain confidential.”
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS use “blind booking” arrangements while they are in government because the speaking circuit’s spring and summer calendars fill up months in advance. Guidance from the White House counsel’s office says: “[I]f a speakers bureau negotiates a speaking engagement for you but does not disclose to you the identity of the client, you will have no recusal obligation with respect to the unknown speaking client.”
EARNEST declined to comment. Thayu did not respond to a request for comment.
EMAILS LATEST -- NYT A19, “F.B.I. Begins Review of Clinton Aide’s Emails,” by Michael S. Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman: “The F.B.I. on Monday began loading a trove of emails belonging to a top aide to Hillary Clinton into a special computer program that would allow bureau analysts to determine whether they contain classified information, law enforcement officials said. The software should allow them to learn relatively quickly how many emails are copies of messages they have already read as part of the investigation into the use of Mrs. Clinton’s private server. … Whether investigators will be able to complete their review by Election Day is unclear.” http://nyti.ms/2estfHL
WE SAW A MESS OF CAMPAIGN NEWS ABOUT TRUMP break yesterday, with varying significance, clarity and impact. None of these stories will have anywhere close to the splash that Clinton’s FBI review is having.
--NYT A1, “Donald Trump Used Legally Dubious Method to Avoid Paying Taxes,” by David Barstow, Mike McIntire, Patricia Cohen, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner: “[N]ewly obtained documents show that in the early 1990s, as he scrambled to stave off financial ruin, Mr. Trump avoided reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxable income by using a tax avoidance maneuver so legally dubious his own lawyers advised him that the Internal Revenue Service would most likely declare it improper if he were audited. Thanks to this one maneuver, which was later outlawed by Congress, Mr. Trump potentially escaped paying tens of millions of dollars in federal personal income taxes.” http://nyti.ms/2f42WuU
-- NYT A21, “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia,” by Eric Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers: “For much of the summer, the F.B.I. pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead — which they ultimately came to doubt — about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank. Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.” http://nyti.ms/2f8o29s
--DAVID CORN in Mother Jones, “A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump”: http://bit.ly/2fpNScs
--FRANKLIN FOER in Slate, “Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?”: “This spring, a group of computer scientists set out to determine whether hackers were interfering with the Trump campaign. They found something they weren’t expecting.” http://slate.me/2fcE9RX
--“FBI Making Inquiry Into Ex-Trump Campaign Manager’s Foreign Ties,” by NBC News’ Ken Dilanian, Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin and Tom Winter: http://nbcnews.to/2eWouab
--“Donald Trump is refusing to pay his campaign pollster three-quarters of a million dollars,” by WaPo’s Matea Gold: “The Trump campaign’s latest Federal Election Commission report shows that it is disputing nearly $767,000 that [Tony] Fabrizio’s firm says it is still owed for polling.” http://wapo.st/2eP1dcE
WHAT TRUMP TOWER IS READING -- “Weak early voter turnout in Fla. among African-Americans hurts Clinton,” by POLITICO Florida’s Marc Caputo: “‘They’re not doing enough in the black community. I have been screaming for months about this and nothing changed and now look what’s happening,’ said Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, who represents one of South Florida’s largest African-American communities. Hastings said he told Clinton aide John Podesta on a conference call last week that ‘you need to plus-up the spending in the African-American community and get out the vote.’ Hastings said he was told someone would get back to him. ‘Nobody did,’ he said.
“African-Americans traditionally dominate early in-person voting. But they didn’t show in force this weekend. And Hastings said he wasn’t surprised. After Sunday night’s polls closed, black voters accounted for 16 percent of the in-person early vote ballots cast. And that included five previous days of in-person early voting. But in 2012, in just two days of in-person early voting, blacks cast 25 percent of those early ballots, according to Dan Smith, a University of Florida political science professor who published some of the early voting data on his must-read Election Smith blog.” http://politi.co/2fpkVNS … Subscribe to Caputo’s Florida Playbook http://politi.co/1OypFe9
WASHINGTON INC. -- “Hatch backers hit up K Street for ‘Orrin Hatch Foundation’ funds,” by Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan: “Allies of GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch have launched a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign to build a center honoring the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee -- and they’ve begun hitting up Utah-based donors, K Street lobbyists and major corporations, according to sources familiar with the efforts … For months the foundation has been quietly seeking to raise money without drawing public attention. The fundraising operation for the nonprofit has ties to Hatch’s political fundraiser, Heather Larrison. They’ve held at least one official gathering for K Streeters, many of whom represent clients before the Finance Committee. Several sources said Hatch’s supporters have reached out to pharmaceutical and tech companies as they look to solicit high-dollar contributions.” http://politi.co/2foIt5N
PIC DU JOUR – Business Insider’s @maxwelltani: “lol michael moore changed hats during the commercial break just now on @TheLeadCNN” (from a BBC News hat to a CNN Digital one) http://bit.ly/2ehxp7V
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- Variety is endorsing Hillary Clinton this morning -- the first time in 111 years that any Hollywood trade pub has ever endorsed a presidential candidate – live at 7 a.m. http://bit.ly/2f2mlg7 ... The new cover http://politi.co/2f41dpJ
-- GOP group America Rising has a new video “Bombshell” where they feature a half dozen Democrats in competitive races getting questioned about whether they still support Hillary: http://bit.ly/2fzhsf8
HAPPENING TODAY -- DONALD TRUMP will be in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, with Mike Pence for an 11 a.m. rally at the Hilton DoubleTree hotel. He then flies to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for a 6 p.m. rally at the W.L. Zorn Arena.
After his rally with Trump MIKE PENCE stays in Pennsylvania, and goes to Youngwood for a 3 p.m. rally at Westmoreland County Community College.
HILLARY CLINTON will be in Florida, where she’s promoting early voting. She’ll be in Dade City for a 3 p.m. rally, followed by a 6:15 p.m. rally in Sanford and an 8:45 p.m. rally in Fort Lauderdale. TIM KAINE is in Appleton and Madison, Wisconsin. CHELSEA CLINTON is in the Denver suburb Aurora. BILL CLINTON is in Florida for events in Florida City, Immokalee and St. Petersburg.
PAUL RYAN, who is barnstorming the country for vulnerable House Republicans, is in Indiana hoping to boost Trey Hollingsworth and Rep. Todd Young, who is running for the Senate. He’s going to Michigan for Rep. Tim Walberg and then heads to New York for Rep. Lee Zeldin. Ryan is fundraising for Zeldin in Hauppauge.
CHECK IT OUT -- Playbook in 90 Seconds -- where we read you the best of Playbook -- is up http://bit.ly/2fcLjWv. And Playbook Power Lunch, a midday briefing, posts around 1 p.m. on Playbook Plus. http://politi.co/2f51Jnf
PLAYBOOK PLUS’ Question of the Day yesterday about whether Hillary should be worried about Comey – replies from Ryan Williams, Ed Pagano, and Sam Geduldig: http://politi.co/2f5zCm2 ... Yesterday’s Birthday of the Day Q&A with NYT columnist Frank Bruni: http://politi.co/2e5hLJh
WIKILEAK DU JOUR -- “Podesta paid $7,000 a month by top donor,” by Ken Vogel and Danny Vinik: “In February of last year, as [John] Podesta was working to lay the groundwork for Clinton’s soon-to-launch campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he signed the contract with the Sandler Foundation, which was started by Herb Sandler and his late wife Marion Sandler. The contract - a copy of which was included in emails illegally obtained from Podesta’s Gmail account and disseminated Monday by WikiLeaks - is still active, according to Herb Sandler, who said that it calls for Podesta to provide advice on grant-making and other foundation functions. It’s unusual for the full-time chairman of a general election presidential campaign to maintain an active side deal with a major donor to that campaign - let alone to raise money from that donor for the campaign.” http://politi.co/2f8452v
K-FILE – “Trump showered the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, and Democrats with praise in Imus interviews,” by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski: http://cnn.it/2f7zEt8 … “Trump said in 2005 that he voted for George W. Bush. In 2009, he claimed he never did,” http://cnn.it/2eP5Va7
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Per Tinder’s new poll of its users, in which more than 150,000 worldwide participated, 53% of Tinder users in the U.S. are for Hillary; 47% are for Trump. But there’s this: “Russia is the only country where the majority of users would choose to vote for Donald Trump. More than three quarters (76%) of users matched with Hillary Clinton based on the issues, however, 71% say they would vote for Donald Trump.” Blog post with 3 infographics http://tinde.rs/2fpt9FU
NEWS BURSTS -- “John Kasich follows through on vow not to vote for Donald Trump, writes in John McCain instead,” by Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Henry J. Gomez: http://bit.ly/2f7MZSx
-- @NBCNews: “83% of Dems said Comey’s announcement was a distraction, while 93% of Republicans said it was an important issue” http://nbcnews.to/2euguN2
--“GOP sources: Rick Perry encouraged Michael McCaul to challenge Ted Cruz,” by Texas Tribune’s Abby Livingston and Patrick Svitek: http://bit.ly/2eP3DI0
--Bernie Sanders’ travel schedule in the closing days of the campaign: Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California
COMING ATTRACTIONS – Hillary For America is hosting on Sunday an “Evening with Cher” -- $2,700 gets you inside the Host reception with Cher, $1,000 gets you a pic with Cher, $250 gives you “Preferred Seating” and $45 gets you in the door. http://hrc.io/2f43qS4
LATE-NIGHT BEST – SAMANTHA BEE interviewed PRESIDENT OBAMA in a Halloween interview for her TBS show “Full Frontal” – BEE: “This year I’m going as a witch. I’m a woman on television and I’m over 40 so I’m already in costume. Where’s yours?” OBAMA: “I’m dressed up as what happens when young people vote.” BEE: “Someone gets old really fast.” OBAMA: “That’s not it.” BEE, referring to Obama’s grey hairs: “So is that like white spray paint or fun Halloween cobwebs up there?” OBAMA: “Sam, I’m still president for about 3 months. Careful.” 5:35 minute video http://bit.ly/2e8RYQj
BUZZFEED GETS RESULTS -- “DHS Secretary Promises Secret Service: We Will Fix Unpaid Overtime Problem,” by BuzzFeed’s Ruby Cramer: “In an agency-wide email to the Secret Service, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson promised to address the salary limits that have prevented hundreds of agents from earning paid overtime during the election, telling agents, ‘You deserve our full support.’” http://bzfd.it/2ehy5tT
VALLEY TALK -- “Apple’s New Campus Is Suddenly Enormous,” by Gizmodo’s William Turton: “Apple’s has been building its huge new ‘spaceship’ campus for some time now, but the most recent drone video showing off the latest construction really makes you realize how huge this thing is.” http://bit.ly/2f42lcR
-- “Study Finds Racial Discrimination by Uber and Lyft Drivers,” by Bloomberg’s Eric Newcomer: “Drivers for Uber Technologies Inc. in Boston canceled rides for men with black-sounding names more than twice as often as for other men.” http://bloom.bg/2fpuHzu
BURR PULLS A TRUMP -- “Richard Burr bans N&O from receiving notices of campaign events,” by Raleigh News and Observer’s Colin Campbell: “Burr spokesman Jesse Hunt said concerns with The N&O’s coverage of the race have prompted the campaign to ban the paper from receiving event information.” http://bit.ly/2fzbhHR
--“In private, [Richard] Burr quips about gun owners shooting Clinton,” by CNN’s Manu Raju: “The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop ‘nothing made me feel better’ than seeing a magazine about rifles ‘with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it.’ ‘I was a little bit shocked at that -- it didn’t have a bullseye on it,’ he said Saturday to GOP volunteers, prompting laughter from the crowd in Mooresville, North Carolina. ... ‘The comment I made was inappropriate, and I apologize for it,’ Burr, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, said in a Monday statement to CNN.” http://cnn.it/2ehpAyR
MEDIAWATCH -- JACK SHAFER, “CNN Dumped Donna Brazile. It Should Keep Going”: “Her deceit reveals an ugly aspect of news talk that will probably go unremedied as Brazile is tarred and feathered by the ethics cops: That is, the whole show-business concept that places paid partisan yakkers on television is corrupt and venal and deserves burial in a shallow grave. The yakkers populate the news shows not because they add much in the way of substance to our political knowledge, but because they’re a cheap form of on-air talent for television’s 24/7 programming needs, and television has been over-relying on them for a long time. ... Instead of deploying political hacks, the news shows would be smarter to hire journalists whose job it would be to extract meaningful information from the political hacks.” http://politi.co/2fpvbFT
--@donnabrazile: “Thank you @CNN. Honored to be a Democratic Strategist and commentator on the network. Godspeed to all my former colleagues. ... Hey, you know who you are. Thanks for your prayers, your kind tweets, your positive thoughts and a few nice links to good music. Peace out. ... I did not expect to come out of this unscathed. But I am surprised at the amount of scathing based on stolen hacked emails.”
--“Every political reporter’s campaign tech article ever,” by Nick Marcelli on Medium: “A behind-the-scenes look behind the ‘best digital operation in history’ By: [Gullible Reporter]” http://bit.ly/2f7CPRo
-- FOX Business beat CNBC in business day for the first time ever in total viewers for the month of October.
--“The Megyn Kelly Auction Has Taken an Unexpected Turn,” by Vanity Fair’s Sarah Ellison: “[A]ccording to multiple people familiar with the discussions, representatives for the network have offered Kelly a compensation package north of the $20 million per year. ... So far, the purported auction for Kelly’s services has not come to fruition. One CNN insider explained, ‘of course we would love to have her,” before noting that poaching Kelly, given the likely cost of her contract, ‘is not something we are seriously considering.’ Instead, this person elaborated, CNN is investing more in documentary-style programming after the election. ...
“An executive close to ABC told me that Kelly’s performance during her heavily promoted prime-time interview with Trump was particularly damaging to her perceived ability to ‘translate’ to a morning show, where anchors are typically paid more handsomely than their prime-time counterparts. For Kelly, the Trump interview was intended to patch up her feud with the candidate and show her softer side. But the event was a critical and ratings disappointment.” http://bit.ly/2f45WaK
--“Wall Street Journal feels the pain,” by Morning Media’s Joe Pompeo: “Serious belt-tightening is now underway ... A source briefed on company financials said the Journal has recently been about 30 percent off budget. ... At the same time, sources said open positions aren’t being filled. In one recent example ... a job applicant verbally accepted an offer to cover real estate for the Journal and gave two-weeks’ notice at his existing job, only to see the offer rescinded after it was kicked upstairs for approval. ... ‘What’s happening throughout the newspaper industry,’ a current Journal reporter lamented, ‘it didn’t used to happen to us. Now it does.’” http://politi.co/2f8sEN6 … Subscribe to Morning Media http://politi.co/1Ua2DYN
FIRST PERSON -- BRIANNA KEILAR on CNN.com, “Overcoming loss in the middle of a historic campaign”: “It’s May and my producer, Pallavi, and I are on our way to Kentucky on the eve of the primary there. ... [M]y phone ... lights up in my hand. It’s my dad calling, which is odd because it’s around 6 a.m. in California. ... ‘Matey,’ he says. My father is Australian and that is his term of endearment for me and my sister. ‘I’m calling because Mom is in the hospital.’ ... My mom is my 3 a.m. phone call, my annual road trip buddy, the connective tissue between my father, sister and me — and one of the funniest people I know. ... I thought the hardest thing I would deal with in 2016 was covering the election. It was a reasonable assumption. I have no idea that by noon tomorrow she will be gone.” http://cnn.it/2eWmvTc
TV TONIGHT -- Tonight is the last episode of PBS’ series “The Contenders: 16 for ’16” that looks at how the Obama 2008 and Bush 2000 campaigns were run. Preview clips – Bush, with cameos by Jacob Weisberg, Katie Couric, Condi, Grover Norquist, Donna Brazile: http://bit.ly/2f43GQJ ... Obama with cameos by David Plouffe, Jim Messina and Stephanie Cutter: http://bit.ly/2f7MurI
SPORTS BLINK – SALLY JENKINS in WaPo, “The NFL is becoming more disturbing than appealing, and TV viewers are tuning out”: “The NFL has put less appealing and more disturbing action on the screen, and viewers are turning it off. ... [T]he NFL is beginning to seem over-managed and over-staged. Constant commercials and interruptions by refs waving their arms do not produce ‘appointment viewing;’ rather, they produce punts, ties and stasis. ... The constant advertisements and hail of yellow flags from overly officious officials make a PBS series seem fast-moving, with a clearer story line.” http://wapo.st/2f7zdiq
When you’re the only one in the office in a costume this morning. #HappyHalloween pic.twitter.com/vJLQ28xizk
— Koch Industries (@Koch_Industries) October 31, 2016
SPOTTED: John Podesta on the Red Line heading north of Dupont circle ... Mindy Finn, Evan McMullin’s running mate, trick-or-treating with her family on Capitol Hill. She was dressed as Wonder Woman ... Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst sitting in coach on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to Omaha late Saturday night ... Texas Rep. John Culberson at DCA Monday morning. TSA was doing a secondary check of his briefcase ... Adam Green on his cell phone and walking his dog yesterday morning in Dupont Circle
INSTAS DU JOUR -- @ivankatrump: “Trick or treat!” http://bit.ly/2fc3hbB ... Jenna Bush Hager dressed up as First Lady Barbara Bush http://bit.ly/2fpwpRq ... @barackobama: “Have a #blessed Halloween.” http://bit.ly/2eP1nAC ... @katyperry: “Having a little pre party before I take office #IMWITHME” http://bit.ly/2eWowyD
WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE -- Smita Satiani emails friends and colleagues: “After almost two years as the Deputy Director of the White House’s Presidential Innovation Fellows, my time here has come to an end. ... As for my next steps, I’ll be joining the GoogleX ‘moonshot factory’ Policy team in San Francisco, supporting a wide variety of their projects including the self-driving car, Project Loon, and Project Wing.”
REMEMBERING BECCA THORSEN – “The Thorsen family is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our precious daughter, sister, and sister-in-law Rebecca Thorsen. ... She was gorgeous, intelligent, hilarious, elegant, strong, brave, stylish, utterly selfless, generous, filled with personality, and had a love of life that was contagious to anyone who spent time with.” http://bit.ly/2eugkVI
BUSH ALUMNI -- PETE SEAT’s Cubs Fandom profiled -- “After 10 years of World Series roadtrips, Cubs fan finally gets a home game,” by Mike Oz in Yahoo Sports: “Pete Seat walked into Wrigley Field on Saturday night, his 11th straight year going to a World Series game. This year, though, he looked a little different. He felt a little different too. This, he thought, was the dream realized.” https://yhoo.it/2fpudcD
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Lisa Hagen, an ex-NJer now at The Hill (h/t Zach Montellaro) ... Howard E. Friedman, former president of AIPAC (2006-2010) and chairman of the Orthodox Union, is 51 (h/t Jewish Insider)
BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is 63, celebrating by completing a bike tour across his district (read the Playbook Plus Birthday Q&A with him: http://politi.co/2f8ju2B) … Katie Walsh, RNC’s chief of staff, celebrating with dinner at RPM Italian with boyfriend Mike Shields (Playbook Plus Birthday Q&A with her: http://politi.co/2fzWQTR) ... Apple CEO Tim Cook is 56 ... David Bossie, Trump’s deputy campaign manager and the pride of Ashton, Maryland … assistant RNC press secretary Vanessa Morrone (h/t Sean Spicer) … WaPo’s Carlos Lozada, the pride of Lima, Peru … Lee Fang, investigative journalist at The Intercept and a ThinkProgress alum ... Francesco Guerrera, associate editor and chief financial correspondent for Politico Europe and an FT and WSJ alum ... Politico’s Alex Byers, Jason Shervinski and Cristina Brownell ... Politico alum Brian Mahoney, now a law student at Temple, is 3-0 (h/t Marianne Levine) ... Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) is 63 ... Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Montana) is 55 ... John Oxtoby, Obama W.H. and OFA alum, now director of strategy and corporate development at Ariel Investments … Michael Byerly ... Ram Sivalingam, VP at Deutsche Bank and a Hotchkiss grad ... Jamie Sterne, a 28-year-old who launched the hedge fund Skye Global Management in July and has raised $75 million so far (http://read.bi/2f25OsA) ...
… Eric Liu, founder and CEO of Citizen University, is 48 … Megan Wilson, lobbying reporter for The Hill (h/t Neil Grace) ... Les Novitsky … Jay Villegas, bartender extraordinaire at Tosca (h/ts Maggie and Jon) … Tyler Hernandez, deputy comms director for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and a Chamber alum … Ali Ahmad, manager of public affairs at Mortgage Bankers Association and a House Oversight alum ... Peter Urban … Jordan Mason … Greg Werkheiser is 43 ... Bill Deere, EVP of the National Air Transportation Association ... Peter Newell … Leslie Pollner, senior policy advisor at Holland & Knight and an Antonio Villaraigosa alum … Bush 43 WH alum Liz Dougherty, now a partner at Jones Day ... Doug Stevens, creative director at Flyboy Graphics and L.A. Times alum ... Jordan Mason ... John Stipicevic ... Anthony DeAngelo … Chloe Mullins, director at KRC Research and a Greenberg Quinlan Rosner alum (h/t Claire Stein-Ross) ... Anthony Fragale … Sue Mahsem … Siri Uotila (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Bo Harmon ... John Seeley, national editor at Newsweek and WSJ and NY Sun alum ... Larry Flynt is 74, celebrating this weekend with friends and family (h/t Nadia Szold) ... Sen. Ben Cardin’s Rabbi, Mitchell Wohlberg, of Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh Congregation, is 72 ... country singer Richard Samet “Kinky” Friedman, whose failed bid for governor of Texas in 2006 won him 13% of the votes in a six-way race, is 72 ... Marshall Cohen, researcher and producer for CNN’s political unit (h/ts Jewish Insider) … Senate Chaplain Barry Black is 68 (h/t Legistorm)