Sen. Kamala Harris is pictured. | Getty Playbook Beyond the Beltway Kamala Harris generates national headlines -- Illinois has a budget

CALIFORNIA PLAYBOOK -- per David Siders and Carla Marinucci -- Is it the summer doldrums, the effects of the heat — or what? But this week, the heat in the national media seems focused on California’s junior senator, Kamala Harris, who’s generating a flurry of will-she-or-won’t-she, 2020-focused stories detailing her every move on Capitol Hill (and back in California). This kind of spotlight is what some politicians live for — and what few freshman on the Hill can manage to attract, sustain — and survive.

The seemingly inexhaustible attention being lavished on Harris by national and international media outlets comes with a big advantage — showers of donor checks. But there’s danger, overexposure, and a delicate dance required — so as not to appear too eager, hungry or premature. As California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, said Thursday: “She just got here.”


Hoover Institution’s Bill Whalen to POLITICO on the 2020 presidential field: “I put her in the serious category, because I think she has enough people whispering in her ear.”

But he warns that cliche about Harris being “the next Barack Obama” is fraught with problems: In politics, “there are few things worse in politics than being accused of trying to steal someone else’s act. There’s only one Ronald Reagan, only one John F. Kennedy ... and only one Barack Obama.” Harris, more than anyone, appears keenly aware of that pitfall. http://politi.co/2sy2CZ5

FLORIDA PLAYBOOK -- per Marc Caputo -- Via Sergio Bustos: In responding to the Trump-appointed election commission's request for tons of personal data on 13 million registered state voters, Secretary of State Ken Detzner buried the lede, as they say in the journalism business.

His answer: Take what’s already public, but you can forget the rest.

That’s what he eventually told the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity and its chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

In Detzner’s defense, he did offer a clue in the opening of his letter to the commission, which was created by Trump to investigate his claims that between 3 million and 5 million illegal ballots cast in last November’s election.

“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights available in the democratic process,” Detzner wrote. “Or course, the responsibility for the accuracy and fairness of our election process in Florida lies on us, not with the federal government in Washington.” http://politi.co/1OC2BLg

NEW YORK PLAYBOOK -- per Jimmy Vielkind and Azi Paybarah -- There’s almost never a good time for a mayor in a re-election year to take a trip overseas, particularly when it comes on the heels of a killing of a police officer. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced late yesterday he was leaving town in order to participate in an anti-Trump protest there. As our Gloria Pazmino noted, it’s de Blasio’s fifth trip overseas in less than four years. The move fits with de Blasio's efforts to highlight his opposition to the Republican president, and raise his profile as a national figure among American progressives, a status that has eluded him before the Trump era, as our Laura Nahmias detailed. The trip also fits with a criticism raised by his opponent and presumptive Republican nominee, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who said yesterday, “this election is not about Trump. It is about transit, traffic and trash.” The front page of the New York Post, and the editorial page of the Daily News are not happy with de Blasio’s trip. http://politi.co/1gJSEwx

ILLINOIS PLAYBOOK -- per Natasha Korecki -- Seriously, can Illinois do anything without a mega-drama? It wasn’t enough that we went 736 days without a budget. Or that we face an unprecedented junk bond downgrade. Or that lawmakers were targets of threats, including one death threat under investigation. Or the suspense of whether — or how many — Republicans would break from Gov. Bruce Rauner and vote for an override.

No, none of that was enough on Thursday. As the minutes ticked down to the 1:30 p.m. override vote to break an historic budget deadlock, there were suddenly reports over social media of a security “situation” unfolding.

The ventilation system was turned off. The whole Capitol was put on lockdown, leaving some lawmakers unable to enter the building for the vote. A woman was taken into custody for allegedly throwing a powdery substance in the building. A hazardous materials team swept the governor’s office and other locations, wearing protective suits and gas masks.

After all of that, we finally got to an override vote. In the end, 10 Republicans voted to override Rauner. http://politi.co/2uyzrq1

NEW JERSEY PLAYBOOK -- per Matt Friedman -- Yesterday I mentioned the squabble that erupted between Gov. Christie and Speaker Prieto over a series of line-item vetoes Christie made to the budget. Prieto accused Christie of dishonesty, saying the governor had agreed to sign the budget as-is if he got the Horizon bill. Christie pushed back, saying he only agreed to the 73 extra Democratic items presented to him.

But here’s what Christie said at a press conference Sunday: “I told them that I will sign a budget if they send it to me. If they send it to me with Horizon, I’ll sign the budget as passed by the budget committees. If they send it to me without Horizon, I will sign the budget and exercise my constitutional authority to reduce the size of the budget to be much more like the budget that I proposed and sent to them in February 2017.”

Well, the legislature sent Christie the budget and the Horizon bill. But those line items that Christie vetoed were in the document when it passed the Senate and Assembly budget committees. In talking about the budget numerous other times, Christie was more specific about keeping those 73 budget items. And a Senate Democratic source agreed with Brian Murray, Christie’s press secretary, that the budget talks among Christie, Prieto and Senate President Sweeney centered on those items. Nevertheless, in this instance Christie said exactly what Prieto claimed he did.

“Isolating one piece of conversation is disingenuous, and only arch partisans would try to parse out an item or two of verbiage from an entire week of press conferences and public statements,” Murray told my colleague Ryan Hutchins in an email.

There you have it. Only the most hardcore, disingenuous partisans would quote the “telling it like it is” governor’s own words. http://politi.co/1WdOXgU

MASSACHUSETTS PLAYBOOK -- per Lauren Dezenski -- We have a state budget. We don’t know what’s in it -- or how much it’s worth -- and it technically won’t be filed until later this morning -- but seven days into the new fiscal year, we have a compromise budget, and votes are expected in both the House and the Senate this afternoon before it heads to the governor’s desk. Other than that, details are scarce.

Meanwhile, there’s no progress on relieving tension between state Senate President Stan Rosenberg and state House Speaker Robert DeLeo. Rosenberg took another thinly veiled shot yesterday at the speaker’s decision to delay the marijuana law conference committee to force a budget breakthrough. “Miracle of miracles,” Rosenberg told reporters. “We suspended -- excuse me, a unilateral suspension of the conference committee on marijuana and 24 hours later, miracle of miracles, I've been in this building for about 40 years, that's about the most absurd thing that I have ever seen.”

The Dem-on-Dem brinksmanship not only shocked Beacon Hill, it stung the SP -- Rosenberg didn’t even know DeLeo planned to call for the suspension until the press release was sent out announcing it on Wednesday night, a Senate source tells me.

It stands to be seen if any lingering bitterness could impact future negotiations, but we’ll soon find out because the suspended marijuana conference committee plans to reconvene again today. http://politi.co/1KQBHPp

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This article tagged under: Beyond The NSA