Good Thursday morning, I'm Jake Sherman, and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing

sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. If there was one question that tied Democrats up

in knots last night at the first presidential debate in Miami, it was how to handle Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who might very well control the Senate, regardless of the outcome

of the race for the White House.

The question shouldn't be a surprise. McConnell's stewardship of the institution has been an animating and nettlesome issue for Democrats for years. Bill de Blasio said he would handle McConnell

by forcing Democrats to stop acting like the party of elites. He would put pressure on senators

by running candidates in red states and talking to candidates

in red states. Elizabeth Warren, the top polling candidate in last night's NBC, MSNBC,

Telemundo debate got a hearty round of applause when she used her trademark line to say, yes,

she did have a plan to deal with McConnell, but that plan was to push from the outside and inside

the White House to make sure Congress reflects the will of the people.

Ask Barack Obama if that worked with McConnell. Washington Governor Jay Inslee said that Democrats should

strip McConnell of the filibuster. Never mind that if McConnell is the Senate majority leader, it is he

who will decide the Senate rules. Perhaps Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan had the most realistic answer.

If Democrats want to beat McConnell, they should become a working class party that could beat

him in Kentucky.

The New York Times has the big picture on the debate with this headline.

Democrats diverge on economy and immigration in first debate.

David Siders and Natasha Karecki have their seven takeaways.

Castro shows some fire and Beto gets lit up.

Tactical or not, speaking Spanish is a big deal. Warren takes care of business with an asterisk. Booker shines. Klobuchar comes prepared and disrupts a mansplainer. Climate change is getting its airing, kind of. Biden and Trump are forgotten or ignored. Chris Catalago and Elena Schneider note that Julian Castro bested fellow Texan beta O'Rourke on stage.

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