Playbook Deep Dive POLITICO

Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels and POLITICO politics bureau chief Jonathan Martin join host Ryan Lizza to tackle questions about Vice President Kamala Harris’s new role at the top of the Democratic ticket, including:

What really caused Joe Biden to end his quest for a second term?

How did Kamala Harris lock up the nomination so fast? And what is really going on inside her campaign right now?

How have the issues, swing states, and demographics that will decide the 2024 election changed?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Democrats vying to serve as vice president?

And how is Donald Trump responding to all of this?

Congressman Richard Hudson is chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, which is to say, he’s in charge of delivering a majority in November for Speaker Mike Johnson and possibly President Donald Trump. In this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Hudson discusses how the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the possibility of Joe Biden leaving the Democratic ticket are influencing his strategy for House Republicans this November.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp joins for a bonus episode of Playbook Deep Dive.

In a live interview from the Republican National Convention, Kemp — a swing state governor with a famously conflicted relationship with Trump — opines on how Saturday’s assassination attempt will change both Trump and Biden’s election strategy; his thoughts on J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate; what his advice to Trump is for his convention speech and everything after; and whether or not he is courting a position in Trump’s cabinet.

Elaine Kamarck is a longtime member of the DNC’s rules committee, a scholar at Brookings, a former advisor to top Democrats such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Walter Mondale; and author of “Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know about How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates.” On this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels asks Kamarck all of your questions about how the Democratic Party would choose a new nominee should Joe Biden step aside.

Topics include: How and when Joe Biden would go about dropping out; if his delegates can rebel against him if he doesn’t; whether or not he can choose a successor; how exactly an open convention would unfold in Chicago; and what she thinks the public’s reaction will be if the Democratic nominee for president is chosen by a handful of party insiders in smoke-filled back rooms.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox is a longtime Trump critic who is known nationally for his work to depolarize American politics.

This week, Cox easily defeated a far-right opponent in the Republican primary. So too did a slate of other Utah Republicans. While national Republicans continue to move in Trump’s direction — in Utah, the Romney faction of the GOP is still holding its own.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox is a longtime Trump critic who is known nationally for his work to depolarize American politics.

This week, Cox easily defeated a far-right opponent in the Republican primary. So too did a slate of other Utah Republicans. While national Republicans continue to move in Trump’s direction, in Utah, the Romney faction of the GOP is still holding its own.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Cox joins host and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza to discuss Utah politics, as well as Cox’s disagreements with Trump; how he’s preparing to be cast as MAGA’s next boogeyman; what he thinks Trump’s other Republican critics, such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, get wrong; and why “disagreeing better” doesn’t mean giving up your most strongly held beliefs.

Bob Bauer is President Joe Biden’s personal lawyer and was general counsel to both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. But over the last three decades, he’s developed another specialty practice: playing the role of his candidate’s rival during debate prep.

Bauer has helped Democratic candidates prepare for debates by playing the likes of Bernie Sanders, Al Gore, and Donald Trump. He’s also been involved with efforts to reform the process and production of presidential debates themselves.

So with the first presidential debate less than one week away, and both Biden and Trump cramming to prepare for it, Bauer is joining the show to preview the event, as well as to discuss his new book, “The Unraveling: Reflections on Politics without Ethics and Democracy in Crisis”.