DRIVING THE DAY IS THE PRESIDENT A DRAG? �

DRIVING THE DAY
IS THE PRESIDENT A DRAG? …

-- WAPO’S BOB COSTA and JOSH DAWSEY, “‘Nothing bodes well’: Lackluster election results spark debate over Trump’s midterm role”: “A new round of lackluster showings by Republican candidates reignited a debate Wednesday within the GOP over whether President Trump will be a drag on the party’s chances in November and should stay out of some of the country’s most hotly contested races. Inside the White House, Trump aides are mapping out plans for the fall that would offer a variety of options to Republican candidates, including visits by the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump to blue states and presidential tweets to bolster red-state allies.

“But mounting apprehension about Trump’s political capital lingered in Washington and on the campaign trail. In a flurry of elections on Tuesday — from the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, to the technology corridor in Washington state — Democrats turned out in droves and significantly overperformed expectations by posing serious challenges to Republicans in staunchly GOP districts.” WaPo

-- NYT’S MIKE SHEAR, with a “News Analysis” bug: “In President Trump’s mind, he has become the indispensable man, the political force singularly responsible for the narrow lead that Troy Balderson, the Republican candidate, clings to in a heavily conservative Ohio House district and that Kris W. Kobach maintains in the Kansas governor’s primary.

“But the presidential braggadocio that followed Tuesday’s election night squeakers ignores another reality that the White House is loath to acknowledge: Mr. Trump — and his chaotic, controversy-laden tenure in the Oval Office — is largely responsible for the toxic political climate that is undermining the Republican candidates he is trying to save.” NYT