POLITICO Playbook, presented by Qualcomm – GAME DAY! We’re all watching Jeb v. Trump – RAND to pummel Trump as ‘a fake conservative’ – Will Carly rise? – Can Walker, Christie break through? – ROB O’DONNELL to White House – AN APP TO TRY: Sidewire Presented by Amazon

By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; [email protected]) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; [email protected])

Good Wednesday morning. It’s the “Thump and dump Trump” debate, with most of the GOP candidates planning to go after The Donald, and moderator Jake Tapper eager to spur fights. In addition to pitting Jeb, Carson, Carly and perhaps others against Trump, Tapper said on CNN that he’ll sometimes ask pairs of candidates to address (read: fight) EACH OTHER. 1-min. preview video http://politi.co/1igqj28


SEN. RAND PAUL tells Playbook in a phoner en route to Santa Monica that he plans to pound Trump as “a fake conservative”: “I think I took it a little bit easy on him the first debate, so I think I'll probably try to be a little more aggressive with him. ... [W]hen there is a celebrity in the race ... that skews the [polling] results right now. ... It’s somebody who is sophomoric in their diatribes -- his rhetoric seems to be stuck in junior high ...

“Numbers don’t change from being passive. ... You either go out and ... try to grab the attention of the American electorate or you don't. ... And it may or may not come in my direction, but it won't be for a lack of trying on my part.”

EXCLUSIVE – “New Clinton super PAC ad evokes Ronald Reagan,” by Annie Karni: “The 90-second Priorities USA spot juxtaposes Reagan’s famously optimistic ‘It’s Morning Again in America’ television ad from his 1984 presidential campaign ... with the doom and gloom statements made by the Republican.” http://politi.co/1KpvwQe See the ad, “A Different Morning in America” https://youtu.be/DkOFqsxlfyU

YOUR GUIDE TO FIGHT NIGHT:

--IS JEB TOUGH ENOUGH? by Alex Isenstadt and Glenn Thrush, with Marc Caputo: “The Bush campaign ... thinks Bush’s slow-burning fuse ... has at long last been lit. ... [T]he ... fear ... is that another lousy debate performance will precipitate an exodus of ... big money ... He’s ... reasonable, bilingual — and the ... base wants a fighter like Trump ... ‘This is a big moment, not unlike the one his brother faced in 2000 when he lost New Hampshire to John McCain,’ says ... Alex Castellanos ... ‘He has to sharpen it up.’ ...

“One Bush adviser, hinting at the candidate’s personal feelings about Trump, likened the risks to ‘getting into the mud with a pig.’ ... [Debate prep] sessions have been led by [Sally] Bradshaw, and supplemented former Romney adviser Peter Flaherty. ... [T]hree staffers have emerged as increasingly influential in these closed-door sessions ... campaign manager Danny Diaz, communications director Tim Miller and Trent Wisecup, who have helped hone Bush’s counterattack. ...

“Miller ... has prepped Bush with reams of background on Trump – from his long history of controversial remarks to his past support of Democratic causes.” http://politi.co/1iv5HUy

--FIORINA ON FIRE: Carly’s big moment, by Katie Glueck: “The former Hewlett-Packard CEO ... scrapped her way onto the prime-time stage, ... and all eyes will be on her as she tries to prove she not only deserves that spot but can also [confront] Trump, whose insults have so far only boosted her momentum. The advice for her: Don’t hold back.” http://politi.co/1UUUbCN

--“GOP rivals hope more subdued debate setting throws Trump,” by Kyle Cheney: “The raucous 4,500-strong audience ... that packed into a Cleveland sports arena last month ... fueled the bombastic billionaire ... But [tonight’s] debate will have a different feel in the more somber confines of the Reagan Presidential Library with ... several hundred donors and party insiders [and relatives of the candidates]. ... A quiet crowd ... can turn punchy quips punchless.” http://politi.co/1W2g94b

--“‘Look in the Mirror, Fat Boy’ -- Ronald Reagan’s sons discuss Donald Trump and 2016,” by Elizabeth Ralph: “In two exclusive interviews ... which span what the former president would think of the 16-strong Republican field (‘I think he’d be kind of appalled’) to who’s most like Reagan (‘Rick Perry. … They have the same hat size’) to what Reagan would think of Jeb Bush (‘lacks charisma’), the sons of the former president both reject the idea that any Republican today really is the next Ronald Reagan. ... Ron [says] the idea of comparing Trump to his father disgusts him. ‘I can’t think of two people who are more diametrically opposed. This egotistical, narcissistic guy with the weird comb over swanning in his private plane. … I mean, look in the mirror, fat boy. Look at that hair, you’re ridiculous!” http://politi.co/1gqpse2

THE QUESTIONERS -- WashPost Style front, at fold, “GOP’s debate tests its media partner plan,” by Paul Farhi: The RNC asked “that the TV networks airing its debates must do so in partnership with a conservative media organization and with the participation of conservative panelists. ... Hugh Hewitt, a highly regarded talk-show host whose program is syndicated by Salem, will join ... Tapper and Dana Bash in questioning.” http://wapo.st/1MrjWpS

OUT AND ABOUT in Malibu: Snapchat toasted politicos and journalists last night with trays of sushi and lychee martinis on the rear deck of Nobu in Malibu, overlooking the Pacific and just up the coast from the company’s Venice headquarters. Guests were greeted by a custom Snapchat geofilter welcoming them to California for the GOP debate, along with Ghostface Chillah plushies and Snapchat playing cards.

--SPOTTED: Snapchat’s Imran Khan, Jill Hazelbaker, Nick Bell, Peter Hamby, Ben Schwerin, Hunter Sparks, Steve Hwang, Josh Stone, Shannon Kelly and Rob Saliterman; Dan Balz, Mark Leibovich, Gabe Sherman, Sasha Issenberg, Steve Duprey, Dylan Byers, Michelle Jaconi, Scott Conroy, Matt David, Sam Smith, Terry Sullivan, Jai Chabria, Matt Dornic, Alex Conant, Kevin Nazemi, Lynn Vavreck, Vincent Harris, Kristen Anderson, Dave Weigel, Steven Ginsberg, Marc Adelman, Anton Vuljaj, Alex Skatell, Chris Moody, Blain Rethmeier, Jenna Gibson, Shane Goldmacher, Michael Calderone, Adam Stoll, Ed O’Keefe, Adam Verdugo, Ashley Codianni, Anne Mullins, Nick Corasaniti, Rebecca Berg, Stuart Roy, Adam Levine, Garance Franke-Ruta, Melinda Arons.

OBAMA ALUMNI – DAN PFEIFFER on CNN.com, “How social media is revolutionizing debates”: “1. Social media makes the debate a communal experience ... 2. It’s about the moments ... 3. Twitter is the new spin room ... 4. The first 20 minutes matter most.” http://cnn.it/1Nw0DKA

WHAT BROOKLYN IS THINKING – Per a Clinton official: “The ... debate gives us another opportunity to showcase the contrast between the ... agenda being pushed by the whole Republican field and Hillary Clinton’s plan to help American families get ahead and stay ahead. ... [T]he Hillary for America campaign offers ... www.gopABCs.com ... 26 of the most outrageous comments the Republican candidates have made just since the last debate, one for each letter of the alphabet ... (@TheBriefing2016).”

ROB O’DONNELL -- a veteran of President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns – joins the White House as Director of Broadcast Media, with a portfolio that includes Sunday shows and other high-profile appearance by the President and top officials. Rob was co-executive director of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee. He’s also an alumnus of Justice, SKDKnickerbocker and Davidson College.

** A message from Qualcomm: The car of the future will be full of exciting and useful technology. Enhanced safety, in-car wireless charging, 3D navigation, and improved infotainment options are just some of the ways Qualcomm is already making the fully connected car a reality. Why Wait™. http://bit.ly/1Gw9FCU **

NOW IN THE APP STORE -- “Sidewire Launches News Analysis Platform” –Forthcoming release: “Sidewire, Inc. [co-founded by Tucker Bounds] announced the launch of its news analysis platform and iOS application. Sidewire aggregates the most important news stories about the 2016 election and features original insight from a growing, and prominent community of people who work inside the election’s news cycle. ... [M]ore than 100 political newsmakers have already activated accounts.” http://bit.ly/1Lgo9Lx ... http://sidewire.com

SPOTTED: Condi Rice at Hoover, fielding a question from JMart on their shared love of football. Also in the D.C.-heavy crowd: Major Garrett, Alex Isenstadt, Blake Hounshell, Shawna Thomas, Hugh Hewitt, Jackie Kucinich.

AWESOME CLICK: ERIC LIPTON, ace in the NYT D.C. bureau, was a 21-year-old senior (philosophy major) at the University of Vermont when he interviewed Bernie Sanders, then the mayor of a city so liberal it was known as the People’s Republic of Burlington. See Lipton’s article from the Oct. 16, 1986, issue of The Vermont Cynic, the university’s independent paper: “Will Sanders make Vermont (American) history?” http://bit.ly/1MrfuaB

IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO 1 THING – Financial Times, “GE switches 500 jobs to France in blow for US manufacturing: Move linked to loss of government-backed trade finance – Boeing plans staff cuts,” by Ed Crooks in N.Y., Shawn Donnan in D.C. and Michael Stothard in Paris: GE “reignited a ... debate over America’s global competitiveness and the future of its Export-Import Bank by announcing it is shifting 500 manufacturing jobs ... to countries that provide export finance. ...

“Boeing also said yesterday it planned to cut hundreds of jobs from its satellite manufacturing business in California, in part because of the failure to renew ExIm.” http://on.ft.com/1FMm6bX

--WSJ A1, below fold, “GE Move Rekindles Partisan Bank Fight,” by Nick Timiraos, with Ted Mann: “For months, companies have warned they faced the loss of overseas contracts after congressional Republicans, who have singled the agency out as an example of corporate welfare, allowed the bank’s charter to lapse in July. ... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have fought to keep the bank ... Most [GOP 2016] candidates oppose the bank, but lawmakers are split. ... Obama and most Democrats support ... the bank.” http://on.wsj.com/1FMmkQh

PETER BAKER in D.C. and ANDREW KRAMER in Moscow, top of N.Y. Times col. 2, “OBAMA CONSIDERS TALKS WITH PUTIN ON SYRIAN CRISIS: A PERSONAL COLD WAR -- Trip to U.N. May End President’s Isolation of Russian Leader”: “The Obama administration was caught off guard by the Kremlin’s move into Syria ... [P]roponents of engagement argue for a meeting with Mr. Putin when ... leaders gather this month in New York for the [U.N.] General Assembly. ... But it would be a turnaround of sorts for Mr. Obama, who has worked assiduously to isolate Mr. Putin for his violations of Ukrainian sovereignty.” http://nyti.ms/1igxdo7

TOM FRIEDMAN, “Iran Deal Players’ Report Cards”: “Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Grade: A. ... Dick Cheney ... F. ... Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ... C. ... Obama ... I (Incomplete). Note to Obama’s parents: ‘This deal makes sense; it can keep Iran away from a bomb. But Barack should go to bed every night for the next 15 years worrying whether Iran is living up to it. That’s the best way to ensure that he, his party and his successors will stay vigilant and put in place an effective deterrence to Iran ever building a bomb.’” http://nyti.ms/1Mrhpfs

AIR WAR -- “Jeb’s Super PAC kicks off $24-million TV campaign to introduce the candidate,” by Tampa Bay Times’ Adam C. Smith: “The Super PAC ... kicks off a $24-million TV campaign for Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that aims to educate Republican voters who, according to the committee's internal polling, know surprisingly little about Bush beyond the last name.” http://bit.ly/1MrdO10 See the first Right to Rise ad, “Real Results“ http://bit.ly/1FMfnPn

--“Bush video about America uses stock footage from foreign countries,” by Eliza Collins and Daniel Strauss: “The video ... pivots to the sun rising in a field along with the text ‘choose a brighter path’ as Bush says his message will be an optimistic one. ... The sun is rising over a field in Cornwall, England ... available for ... $19 [to] $79 on Shutterstock. The video ... shows ... the silhouette of a construction worker with text ... that says ‘America is great’ — stock footage that was taken from ‘a multiple story building in Southeast Asia.” http://politi.co/1Lxjbpw The video http://bit.ly/1Ff4uKS

--NEW RAND AD: “I ran for office because no matter which party is in power, government and debt continue to grow. As President, I’ll make government smaller by cutting spending AND taxes.” http://bit.ly/1UUDmYG

--CLUB FOR GROWTH anti-Trump ads; Club for Growth president David McIntosh: “Club for Growth Action is committed to exposing Trump for the liberal he is on taxes, trade, health care, and eminent domain. These ads let Trump speak for himself.” The ads http://bit.ly/1MaSSs3

THOUGHT LEADERS -- “[Walter] Isaacson passes on Librarian of Congress post,” by Nancy Scola: “People close to the White House approached Walter Isaacson ... about serving as the next Librarian of Congress, but Isaacson took himself out of the running ... Other names still under consideration include University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann; John Palfrey, the head of school at Phillips Academy and the former head of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society [and others].” http://politi.co/1KpnwhU

JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER’s new book, “The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities” (Knopf), reviewed in Sunday’s N.Y. Times Book Review by John Fabian Witt is a professor of law and history at Yale: “Breyer reports that in his nearly 20 years on the court, he has seen a greater and greater number of cases involving foreign questions. ... In democracies, he says, courts are specialized problem solvers. Judicial isolationism, he rightly insists, will make it difficult for judges to address the kinds of problems we need them to solve in the ever smaller world of the 21st century.” http://nyti.ms/1Ffm7u0 ... $15.68 on Amazon http://amzn.to/1KfM8pW

TRAILER OF THE DAY – “New Downton Abbey Season 6 Trailer Features More Intrigue, Dowager Countess’s Pursed Lips”: http://slate.me/1iuVibz

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Rep. Joe Barton, R-Tex. (h/t John Barrow)

BIRTHDAYS: Josh Benson, co-founder and co-editor of POLITICO States … Jason Zengerle ... Josh Ginsberg is 33 (h/t Joahn, Zach, and Dad and Mom – Ben; and Jo Anne, who’s visiting) … Hogan Gidley, celebrating with debate prep ... NBC’s Richard Engel is 42 … Tamron Hall … Amy Poehler is 44 ... Nick Jonas is 23 ... Melissa Lafsky Wall … Cleta Mitchell ... Luke Hornblower is 34 … Andy Serwer … WSJ’s Rachel Louise Ensign is 27 …Sandhya Kotha (h/t fiancée Polson Kanneth) ... Paul Orzulak ... Jackie Rooney is 29, celebrating this weekend with fellow Romney alum Andrea Saul at their joint birthday party in S.F. (h/t Liz Bourgeois) ... DNC research director Lauren Dillon, who wrote a new post on Medium posted today: http://bit.ly/1iv0fRw (h/t Christina Freundlich) ...

... Emily Bolton, a DCCC alum now the press secretary for Virginia A.G. Mark Herring, also a stand-up comedian (h/t Morgan Finkelstein) ... Ben Finzel, former Clinton Administration Energy Department appointee and president of RENEWPR (h/t Jon Haber) ... Pa. State Representative Brian Sims (h/t birthday boy Bin Finzel) ... Pew Center’s Sara Goo ... Ian Walton … Jill Lesser ... LinkedIn’s Chuck Westover, an AFSCME alum … Ella Raineri … Katie Schulz … Suzy Goldenkranz of The Advisory Board … Allison Silver … Evan Carr … David Lavan … Scott Spector … Ed Conlow … Michael Childers … Liesl Newton … Dawn Smalls … Elliot Vice ... Joe Lee … Vernice Coleman … John Neurohr, comms director at Keystone Progress and a CAP alum ... Katie Kimball …

... Joe Lee (h/t Deckard) … Sheila Weller ... Vernice Coleman ... H.F. Yeomans ... Toru Oga ... Stu Johnson, VP at Connection Nation ... Lori Brutten ... Janis Paige is 93 ... Mark McEwen is 61 ... Mickey Rourke is 59 ... David Copperfield is 59 ... Orel Hershiser is 57 ... Flo Rida is 36 ... Elena Kampouris (“American Odyssey”) is 18 (h/ts AP)

BIRTHDAY TOMORROW: Don Baer

** A message from Qualcomm: When will the future arrive? While the rest of the world wonders when, Qualcomm is at work developing cutting-edge wireless technologies today. We are the inventors, the restless innovators continually pushing forward. When Qualcomm connected the phone to the Internet, the phone became smart. When we connect billions more things, our lives will be even smarter. Why Wait™. http://bit.ly/1Gw9FCU **

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