About this episode
Last night at a fundraiser in New York City, President Joe Biden issued a stark warning about the risks of nuclear war in Ukraine. “First time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of a] nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” Biden told donors at the home of investor James Murdoch. “I’m trying to figure out what is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's off ramp? … Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?” And it's the most common topic in ads for Democratic congressional candidates and their allies this cycle: abortion rights — and, more specifically, the GOP’s designs on a nationwide abortion ban. Inasmuch as there is a unifying Democratic message this cycle, this is it. In districts as disparate as suburban Omaha and heavily Catholic rural Texas, Dems and their allies have spent more than $25 million in broadcast TV ads depicting Republicans as “extremists who would imprison doctors and force women who have been raped to carry pregnancies to term,” our Ally Mutnick reports this morning . Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing. Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.