The Playbook Podcast
POLITICO’s Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns bring their fresh insight, analysis and reporting to the biggest story driving the day in the nation’s capital.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 6 minutes
- Episodes
- 1944
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Dec. 7, 2022: Raphael Warnock’s amazing feat
Over the past 30 months, Raphael Warnock has won a Senate primary, got the most votes in two general elections and won two runoffs. On Tuesday night, he finally won a full six-year term in the United…
00:09:37 |
Wed 07 Dec 2022
Dec. 6, 2022: McCarthy puts McConnell on notice
Six days after top congressional leaders emerged from the White House suggesting they would work together to pass an omnibus government funding bill before the holidays, Kevin McCarthy went on Fox Ne…
00:06:46 |
Tue 06 Dec 2022
Dec. 5, 2022: Looming lessons from the Georgia runoff
In roughly 37 hours, Georgians will cast the final votes of the 2022 midterms, deciding the Senate runoff between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican football legend Herschel Walker.
Th…
00:18:38 |
Mon 05 Dec 2022
Dec. 2, 2022: A major legal defeat for Trump
The 11th Circuit delivered a unanimous opinion shutting down the special master review of the documents that the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago and dismissing Donald Trump's civil lawsuit over the matter…
00:10:10 |
Fri 02 Dec 2022
Dec. 1, 2022: ‘Dems in disarray’ makes a (brief) comeback
Since Election Day, the drama in the House has been concentrated on the GOP side, as Kevin McCarthy tries to overcome a MAGA world mutiny to get the gavel, and Democrats smoothly elect three new lead…
00:06:37 |
Thu 01 Dec 2022
Nov. 29, 2022: Why ‘Union Joe’ put the screws to rail workers
In 1992, two days into a crippling railroad strike, then-Sen. Joe Biden came to the Senate floor and decried the lopsided nature of federal labor laws dealing with the rail industry — laws, he argued…
00:06:08 |
Tue 29 Nov 2022
Nov. 28, 2022: We run down the year-end sprint
President Joe Biden and lawmakers return to Washington this week facing a lengthy lame-duck to-do list with only three weeks scheduled to resolve it — a recipe for a very un-merry holiday season shou…
00:06:10 |
Mon 28 Nov 2022
Nov. 23, 2022: Is the Georgia runoff a done deal?
As we all pack up and take a quick break for Thanksgiving, the Peach State is still abuzz with activity as voters prepare to settle the final Senate race of this cycle.
On Tuesday, a new poll by the…
00:05:58 |
Wed 23 Nov 2022
Nov. 22, 2022: How to sound smart about politics on Thanksgiving
It’s one of the slowest weeks in politics as our elected leaders slip into the Thanksgiving break, when they have a chance to assess the fallout from the surprising midterm results and ponder the way…
00:05:10 |
Tue 22 Nov 2022
Nov. 21, 2022: The 2024 jockeying jumble
Playbook editor Mike DeBonis and deputy editor Zack Stanton break down the weekend in politics, including the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas, NV.
“2024 Republican rivals put Tru…
00:12:59 |
Mon 21 Nov 2022
Nov. 17, 2022: All eyes on Pelosi
On Wednesday night, just before 11 p.m., Nancy Pelosi's longtime spokesperson Drew Hammill announced on Twitter that today, the speaker will finally announce her plans for the future — putting an end…
00:05:26 |
Thu 17 Nov 2022
Nov. 16, 2022: House Republicans to watch if McCarthy falls short
You’ve heard allies of Rep. Kevin McCarthy say it a gazillion times — and they’ll say it another gazillion times over before the House speaker vote in January: You can’t beat somebody with nobody.
Bu…
00:09:11 |
Wed 16 Nov 2022
Nov. 15, 2022: Trump and McCarthy try to fend off a GOP revolt
As the Republican Party wrestles with whether it should stick with its three current leaders — Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell — today is crucial, especially for the first two.
McCa…
00:06:43 |
Tue 15 Nov 2022
Nov. 14, 2022: Get ready for a bonkers week in politics
For Republicans, Festivus comes early this year. In fact, it starts today at 4:30 p.m.
That’s when House Republicans kick off their candidate forum for leadership positions next Congress — the first …
00:07:10 |
Mon 14 Nov 2022
Nov. 10, 2022: Déjà vu for Kevin McCarthy
When John Boehner suddenly retired in 2015, members of the House Freedom Caucus showed up at speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy’s office with a list of demands: In exchange for their support, they wan…
00:05:59 |
Thu 10 Nov 2022
Nov. 9, 2022: How Biden and Trump squelched the red wave
Let’s start with Joe Biden.
A midterm is a referendum on the president. By all historic measures, voters should have handed Biden’s party a massive rebuke. Inflation is at historic levels, crime is …
00:06:54 |
Wed 09 Nov 2022
Nov. 8, 2022: Bidenworld makes peace with the midterms
Every ad has been cut. Every speech has been delivered. Every poll has been taken. And now we wait for the voters to decide.
Needless to say, the stakes are high. Inflation is at a 40-year peak, abo…
00:05:03 |
Tue 08 Nov 2022
Nov. 7, 2022: Is it a wave?
We’re truly in the home stretch with one day to go until Election Day. That means we are running out of precious time to deploy our favorite campaign season cliches. So allow us to note: It all comes…
00:15:37 |
Mon 07 Nov 2022
Nov. 4, 2022: Inside Oprah's big Senate endorsement
Oprah Winfrey endorsed Democrat John Fetterman in the ultratight Pennsylvania Senate race during a virtual GOTV event Thursday night. More than just another celebrity endorsement, it’s a pointed snu…
00:12:34 |
Fri 04 Nov 2022
Nov. 2, 2022: Breaking down 2022’s closing arguments
There are just six days left in this chaotic midterm, which means campaigns around the country are readying their final pitches for voters.
Candidates traditionally use their last flight of ads as a…
00:05:24 |
Wed 02 Nov 2022
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