Last Call for 7.16.24 — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics

Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Former President Donald Trump hasn’t received a boost in the polls following a failed assassination attempt over the weekend.

A Morning Consult poll conducted Monday — two days after the attempt — asked 2,045 registered voters whether they preferred Trump or President Joe Biden, finding the former President up 46%-45%.

While Morning Consult’s poll was conducted after the attempt, it was released before Trump announced that Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance would serve as his running mate.

Still, the Monday poll’s spread is slightly narrower than Morning Consult’s weekly tracking poll, which found Trump leading 44%-42%, although the one-point discrepancy falls within the margin of error.

The polling also indicates Democratic voters are still lukewarm on whether Biden should continue his campaign, despite the quieting of calls for him to step aside, at least among elected Democrats. 

A plurality of self-identified Democrats (48%) believe Biden should be replaced at the top of the ticket, while 43% said the 81-year-old should forge ahead to November.

While the odds that Biden will step aside for a replacement nominee are slimming, the field won’t technically be cemented until Biden is formally given the nomination at the Democratic National Convention next month.

Evening Reads

—“How Donald Trump got to ‘yes’ on J.D. Vance” via Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Marianne LeVine of The Washington Post

—“How will Vance affect the race? Look at 2028, not 2024.” via Nate Cohn of The New York Times

—“Are Republican voters ready for the nerdy radicalness of Vance?” via Ian Ward of POLITICO Magazine

—“By picking Vance for VP, Trump doubles down on Trumpism” via Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight

—“The 26 must-see lines from Joe Biden’s NBC interview” via Chris Cillizza of So What

—“Violence plagued officials all levels of American politics long before the attempt on Trump’s life” via John Hanna, Carolyn Thompson, Geoff Mulvihill and Jeffrey Collins of The Associated Press

—“Party revolt against Biden quiets, but re-election looks tougher” via Annie Linskey, Andrew Restuccia, Katy Stech Ferek and Emily Glazer of The Wall Street Journal

—“Supreme Court decision means soldiers’ ability to disobey unlawful orders is now a gray area” via the Sun Sentinel

—“As critics decry religion in classrooms, some fear how far Florida will go” via Jeffrey S. Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times

—“Community leaders react to resignation of FAMU President Larry Robinson” via TaMaryn Waters of the Tallahassee Democrat

Quote of the Day

“The central feature of our nation’s entrenched bureaucratic class is never being held accountable for failures.”

— Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the security failings surrounding the Trump assassination attempt.

Put It on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

According to Eric Trump, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s residency was one of the main reasons he lost the veepstakes. Constitutional conundrums aside, he’ll be sipping La Floridas for at least the next four years.

U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz and Jared Moskowitz get a round of Bipartisans for their resolution condemning the attempted murder of Trump and “political violence in all its forms.”

Serve U.S. Rep. Cory Mills a Conspiracy Theory for his novel take on the Trump assassination attempt.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

MLB All-Star Game tonight

Tonight, Major League Baseball holds the midsummer classic, the 94th All-Star Game, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, home of the defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers (8 p.m. ET, FOX).

The National League won last year’s game 3-2, ending a nine-game American League winning streak dating to 2013. There was no game played in 2020 due to the pandemic.

In 2022, a new tiebreaking format was implemented. If the game is tied after nine innings, instead of going to extra innings, the game will be decided by a home run derby.

The format sees three players from each team get three swings apiece. The team with the most home runs wins the game. This will help alleviate the stress put on pitching staffs brought on by past games that have exceeded nine innings. 

The American League has a slight edge all-time, winning 47 games to the National League’s 44. There have been two ties. 

One of the players in the spotlight tonight will be Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes, who gets the start for the National League. Only four rookie pitchers have started an All-Star game before Skenes. The former #1 overall pick has been brilliant in his first season in the big leagues with a 6-0 record and an ERA of 1.90 in 11 starts.

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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.