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Hey, good morning. I'm Playbook editor Mike DeBonis. It's Monday, July 29th. There's one big domestic story and a couple big international stories driving the day today. First off, here at home, we are staring at a completely transformed presidential race one week

after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term.

It's a, quote, newly hypercompetitive race, unquote, according to Politico-polling guru, Steve

Shepard, with Donald Trump maintaining a lead over new likely nominee Kamala Harris, but a

much slimmer one than he was enjoying

over a week ago. That has turned Democratic panic into optimism, with $200 million flowing

into the Harris campaign and 170,000 people reportedly signing up to volunteer over the past

week. But now, Harris is looking to shift into a different gear now that the sugar high of the

surprise transition wears off and a barrage of Republican attacks set in.

Eugene writes all about it in today's playbook, so be sure to check it out. Meanwhile,

abroad, we're watching closely what happens next after Israel conducted retaliatory strikes

yesterday against Hezbollah following the deadly rocket attack

in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Saturday that left 12 children dead.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility, but Israel has rejected that claim amid fears that the

long-running conflict along Israel's northern frontier could escalate from skirmishing into a

full-blown war. We're also watching

election results out of Venezuela, where strongman President Nicholas Maduro is facing a serious

challenge from former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, who could end 25 years of leftist rule that has

left the country in economic shambles. The result could have profound impacts on migrant flows out of Venezuela and potentially into

the U.S. over the coming weeks and months.

And finally, President Joe Biden might not be running for reelection, but he is not at all

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