The '24 Seven - 2/28/24
The top seven stories shaping the race for the White House
Hello, and welcome to The ‘24 Seven - 24sight’s daily roundup of the top seven stories shaping the race for the White House. If you see something I missed or have suggestions, drop me a note - 24sight@substack.com.
So, here’s how life is in journalism “beyond the wall” …
1 In all things, moderation
24sight’s AI and tech policy reporter Benjamin Power interviewed
Chris Geidner about the social media cases before the Supreme Court. Powers and Geidner walked through some fairly surprising splits among the justices.Listen to the full podcast here, free. If you like it, and like what we’re doing, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
And for our paying subscribers, we’re hosting a chat at 12p ET today, here. Bring your questions about the state of the race! Related, what *is* the weight of newspaper YouTube?
2 Burnt Out
Americans are exhausted by politics.
John Halpin writes on the latest example of this over at
- he cites an Economist/YouGov poll which found that on the whole, only about 40 percent of adults have been paying “a lot” of attention to the 2024 race. The key takeaways is that wealthier, older and more partisan/ideological voters are highly engaged this cycle, and younger voters, minorities and self-identified independents are tuned out - at the moment.This one of the many reasons we’re keeping it tight and normal here at 24sight - the country’s been running on crazy for close to a decade now, this is the opposite.
3 Protest Vote
Michigan, the latest contest in the 2024 calendar, further revealed the critical fractures among the Democratic and Republican coalitions. For Trump and the Republicans, it’s the continued strength of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley — despite a seeming inability to actually win the Republican nomination. And for Democrats and Biden, it’s the critical fracture on the left among Arab Americans and muslim voters angry at his handling of the Israel/Hamas war.
Veteran politics expert
broke down the totals and what they all mean over at So What - worth your time.Michigan is one of seven or so states which will likely decide the outcome of the 2024 election. Again. Eight years ago, Trump edged out a win over Hillary Clinton as he ripped into the Democrats’ Rust Belt “Blue Wall” en route to the White House. Four years later, Biden reversed that trend. Now, most polling of a likely 2020 rematch between the two has shown a tight contest.
The key dynamic to watch is not whether voters will flip allegiances, but whether they show up to vote or stay home.
4 Swing State Kennedy
The well-heeled super PAC backing presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that it had collected enough signatures to appear on the ballots in Arizona and Georgia. While there’s little expectation that Kennedy Jr. will win the White House, there’s every expectation he’ll be a powerful X factor in the general election. However there remains some debate over whether the Kennedy family scion will act as a spoiler for Biden or for Trump.
5 Border War
Biden and Trump travel to the Southern border tomorrow. Immigration has long been a unifying issue on the right during the Trump era, but the collapse of a bipartisan immigration deal at the hands of Trump has spurred Democrats and Biden to swoop in and work to own the issue.
6 Shutdown Averse
Congress is in this week working, again, to forestall a possible government shutdown. Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reports a deal is imminent to avoid a shutdown.
7 We few, we happy few, we feral wildlings
I spoke with veteran independent journalist (and comedian) Justin Young this week about the state of the race, why Ben Carson is a sleeper pick for Trump’s running mate and more on his Politics, Politics, Politics podcast. We also talked about the spectacular collapse of The Messenger and why myself and others are taking the independent journalism route as companies, hedge funds and others keep gutting the journalism industry.
Former MSNBC star Mehdi Hasan launched
Wednesday to big fanfare. This follows after he left the cable network to the dismay of his expansive base of fans.Punchline: read this epic Washington Post dive into Sports Illustrated: The Party ahead of the Super Bowl, a celebrity- and cash-infused bash which celebrated the name of the legendary magazine as its owners gutted the publication itself.