Good Monday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing. Stay tuned

after the show for a message from Google. And I'm Jake Sherman. We are teeing up a few questions

to ponder as we begin this crazy week. First, what is Mitch McConnell thinking? A congressional

leader is supposed to shield their members from tough votes and there is no one better at that than

Mitch McConnell.

Will he allow Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to come up for a vote, or will he somehow nudge Kavanaugh out press President Trump to nominate someone new and try to get the nominee

through in the lame duck?

Number two. Will Kavanaugh withdraw?

Brett Kavanaugh is a veteran Republican who signed up decades ago for a conservative

reimagining of the court. Would he advise a friend in his shoes to stick it out? Would he say

that this nomination is hurting the larger cause? And number three, what do the fence-sitter's

say? Does this make it easier for Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,

and even Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee to wash their hands of Kavanaugh?

Has a no vote become that much easier?

Where is Trump?

If there's one thing we know about the president, it's that he hates losing.

Does he believe a Kavanaugh withdrawal makes Kavanaugh look like a loser but not impact his standing? If so, Kavanaugh's probably gone. Does he believe Kavanaugh withdrawn would make him a loser? If that's the case, he'll stick by his guy and try to push him through. If there wasn't enough going on with Kavanaugh, Siren, four days until the government runs out of funding.

The house is expected to recess Friday until after the midterms.

Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer wrote the bombshell New Yorker article,

detailing a new allegation of sexual misconduct when Kavana was in college.

Deborah Ramirez is alleging that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken dorm party,

thrusting himself in her face and causing her to touch him without consent.

...