Appreciate it. Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melburgh. And here is how you know we're a new territory in this midterms home stretch.

Look who it is. Barack Obama is heading out on the trail. He'll be visiting key states like Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin.

Today adding Nevada to that list. The former president is the surrogate most in demand in his party right now. That makes sense.

But there are other names, but we actually know can galvanize crowds like this.

You're looking at some of the large, young, and often diverse crowds that we saw gather for Bernie

Sanders on his campaign trail. You see, this is him out on the hustings back in the presidential

primary, so not tonight, but I want to give you the context of why some Democrats are excited

about this announcement. When you look at crowds like that in so many parts of the country,

well, Bernie's announced today he will hit eight states for 19 events in this last stretch, the 81-year-old showing his stamina.

Meanwhile, Republicans see some macro trends that they think could matter far more than any surrogate or any big crowd.

Massive economic problems continue to top voters' minds forecasts favor Republicans in many races now.

Eighty-one percent of voters right now prioritize the economy and rising prices here as their top

concern. And that's something that historically people hold against the incumbents.

And the incumbents are Democrats in the White House and Congress.

Meanwhile, Democratic warnings that democracy itself is literally on the ballot that the people who tried to steal your vote and Congress. Meanwhile, Democratic warnings that democracy itself is literally on the

ballot, that the people who tried to steal your vote and violently overthrow the election, that if you

give them more power, you might lose your vote for good. Well, we're seeing signs of those warnings

working. You could think of this as coups are unpopular if you want, because there's pushback

from Republicans

who are trying to distance themselves

from exactly what they've been doing

for the better part of two years,

...