Oct. 7, 2022: Biden warns of nuclear Armageddon

Published: Oct. 7, 2022, 10:32 a.m.

Last night at a fundraiser in New York City, President Joe Biden issued a stark warning about the risks of nuclear war in Ukraine.\n\u201cFirst 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,\u201d Biden told donors at the home of investor James Murdoch. \u201cI\u2019m trying to figure out what is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's off ramp? \u2026 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?\u201d\nAnd it's the most common topic in ads for Democratic congressional candidates and their allies this cycle: abortion rights \u2014 and, more specifically, the GOP\u2019s designs on a nationwide abortion ban.\xa0\nInasmuch 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 \u201cextremists who would imprison doctors and force women who have been raped to carry pregnancies to term,\u201d our Ally Mutnick reports this morning.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.