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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194

What Just Happened?

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 194: What Just Happened?

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Republicans Are Acting Like the Polls Are Right

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There’s always a chance the polls are missing something.

Democrats know this all too well from the 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns. 

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The 1994 Feeling Is Back

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This midterm campaign is starting to feel more and more like 1994.

Not simply because control of Congress is up for grabs, but because the political map itself seems to be expanding.

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Trump’s Lame Duck Era Begins

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Donald Trump still has more than two years left in his presidency, but Republicans are beginning to treat him like a lame duck.

The signs are suddenly hard to miss.

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Nearly Everything Is Moving Against the GOP

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Something unusual is happening in the polls as the midterm elections approach: The political environment keeps getting worse for Republicans.

Midterm elections usually move against the president’s party but the deterioration this late in the campaign has been especially sharp.

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The White House Can’t Pick the Press It Likes

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No president has ever liked every reporter who covers him.

That’s not the point.

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Turning Off Trump’s Camera

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President Trump’s escalating fight with the press may have just created an unexpected problem for the White House.

The White House press pool will not send a replacement television camera to cover Trump’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly after CNN was barred from participating.

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Republicans Are Defending Trump Turf

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House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is publicly predicting Republicans will win 225 House seats in November.

But the way Republicans are spending money suggests a very different battlefield.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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Republicans Try to Spend Their Way Out

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Republicans don’t like what they’re seeing in the Senate polls, so they’re unleashing an enormous wave of late spending.

A Hotline analysis finds the GOP is outspending Democrats by more than $200 million across the nine most competitive Senate races from the beginning of September through Election Day.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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GOP Has No Choice But to Nationalize the Midterms

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One of the oldest tricks in a tough political race is to run against someone who isn’t actually on the ballot.

Republicans appear increasingly eager to do exactly that this year.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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AI Is the Ultimate Horseshoe Issue

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Sometimes politics really does make strange bedfellows.

But it’s hard to imagine many stranger than Sen. Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon.

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New Hampshire Is Still a Senate Battleground

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Chris Pappas (D) has spent months warning Democrats that New Hampshire’s Senate race would be tougher than the political environment suggested.

And now the Polling Dashboard shows it’s an extremely close race.

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The Mail Voting Fight Is Pushed to 2028

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The Supreme Court last night removed one of the biggest uncertainties hanging over the midterm elections.

In a 7-to-2 decision, the justices refused to let the Trump administration impose new Postal Service restrictions on mail voting before November.

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New Maps Aren’t Saving Republicans

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Republicans spent much of the last year redrawing congressional maps to protect their House majority.

It may not be enough. And in some places, it could even backfire.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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AI Companies Should Own the Risk

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I had a realization about artificial intelligence while riding in my self-driving car the other day.

The car can recognize stop signs, obey traffic lights, avoid pedestrians and make hundreds of split-second driving decisions without my help.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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AI’s Prisoner’s Dilemma

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The debate over artificial intelligence increasingly looks like the ultimate prisoner’s dilemma.

Everyone might be better off in the long run if everyone slowed down. But almost no one has an incentive to go first.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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How to Make an Interview Go Viral

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There’s no better way to draw attention to something than to tell people they’re not allowed to see it.

Jimmy Kimmel demonstrated that this week when he announced that an interview with Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D) couldn’t be broadcast on his show.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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The GOP’s Message Doesn’t Add Up

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If the first rule of a political campaign is to settle on a compelling narrative, Republicans are having trouble finding one at their midterm “convention.”

Consider three observations:

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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Fetterman’s Power Play

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Making predictions in politics is a fool’s game.

But here’s one I won’t shy away from: Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) video appearance at the Republican midterm convention shut the door on any chance of him winning reelection as a Democrat.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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