Document 0JjYpmZV3q4Vjbr1G78wVkEZk

considering running for governor of Georgia next year, according to two people familiar with the matter. Ayers is 34 but already a veteran Republican strategist who burst onto the political scene a decade ago as the wunderkind executive director of the Republican Governors Association." http://politi.co/2oEh43r THE FAMILY BUSINESS -- "Democrats clamor to take on Rep. Comstock in northern Virginia," by WaPo's Jenna Portnoy: "Dorothy McAuliffe, 53, the wife of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, is considering joining the crowded field as well, according to two Democrats familiar with her thinking." http://wapo.st/2o0C3dL REAL TALK -- "'You want to have a screwed up state?' If not, then vote to raise taxes, Brown says," by L.A. Times' John Myers, Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason: "In the final days before a decisive vote in the Legislature on a sweeping $52billion tax plan for transportation, the sales pitch from Gov. Jerry Brown often strayed from civic inspiration to political exasperation. 'I'm going to my ranch in two years,' Brown said last week, a nod to plans to retire in 2019 to his Colusa County homestead. 'You want to have a screwed up state with a bunch of potholes? Go ahead, but that's insane.'" http://lat.ms/2oMa6qo HAPPENING TODAY -- The White House is also hosting 50 wounded warriors at the start of the annual Soldier Ride for wounded veterans recovering from war; President Trump, the First Lady, Vice President Pence and Mrs. Pence will welcome some of the veterans participating. List and bios of wounded warriors http://politi.co/2nfAI5t LATE-NIGHT BEST -- OBAMA ALUMS on COLBERT -- "'Pod Save America' Hosts Have Sympathy For Sean Spicer": "Podcasters Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor trying comparing their White House tenures to Sean Spicer's, but it's like comparing apples and orange presidents." 6-min. video http://bit.ly/2oM8Y5B COVER DU JOUR -- Bloomberg Businessweek, "North of the Border, South of the Wall: What the U.S. has to lose by cutting off Mexico," by Kirsten Luce (online headline: "The Border Wall Is Already Giving Up Part of America: What life is like in the no-man's land north of the border, south of the wall"). https://bloom.bg/2p4BkYg ... The cover http://politi.co/2ocS7uI CORRECTION OF THE DAY -- NYT: "Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misidentified Ivanka Trump as President Trump's wife. His wife is Melania. Ivanka is one of his daughters." http://nyti.ms/2o5Xbke PLAYBOOK ERS SPOTTED -- Susan Rice was a guest at the French ambassador's house for a dinner honoring Andre Leon Talley, the fashion stalwart. The event was a fundraiser for Alliance Franaise, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was a host. WaPo's Robin Givhan was there. ... Dana Bash and Kellyanne Conway last night at a back table at a BLT chatting and laughing through the whole dinner. NEW FIRM ALERTS -- JENNY ROSENBERG, who ran aviation policy at DOT in the Obama administration, has launched JTR Strategies. Rosenberg is also a Hill alumna, with stops at the Senate Commerce Committee, House Oversight Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee. She has already inked her first client: JetBlue. http://bit.ly/2nfdJr6 --Alex Wall , Hillary for America's social media director and Obama White House director of online engagement, and Jillian Maryonovich, digital creative director in the Obama White House and lead designer of the Obama campaign, are launching a digital firm called Sweet Spot Strategies. TRANSITIONS -- JOHN GOODWIN has been hired as head of communications at The Weather Group. He joins the company from The Herald Group where he served as vice president. ... CAP has hired Morgan Finkelstein to be the CAP Action Fund's war room press secretary. She was previously the Clinton campaign's director of rapid response for Pennsylvania and deputy press secretary for the Democratic National Convention. ... Sean Hayes starts on Monday at HHS as the deputy assistant secretary for oversight and investigations. He was previously a staff director on the Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules at the House Oversight & Government Reform. -- MIKE CASSESSO of the DSCC and Matthew Ferry of Change.org have joined the staff of Hustle, the technology company working to increase civic engagement by creating one-on-one interactions with supporters and voters via text messaging. http://politi.co/2o5Uijv OBAMA ALUMNI - Dr. Ellen Williams, Obama's former Director of DOE's Advanced Research Project Agency joined the Board of Directors of CO2 Sciences, an