Essential Politics: Talking politics at the Playboy Mansion

I’m Christina Bellantoni, the Essential Politics host today. Here we go.

Thanks to his likely ascent to the speakership in the coming weeks, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is the man of the hour. It’s not the first time a Californian would have held that post, but he is set to make history nonetheless, since this would be the first time both the speaker and minority leader of the chamber have hailed from the same state.

So it might be surprising that McCarthy hardly ever speaks with Nancy Pelosi, who just five years ago held the gavel he could soon claim for his own.

Noah Bierman reports several colleagues said they can’t recall ever seeing the two together. A quick Google search finds some photos that sort of suggest it has happened, but Pelosi acted as if she barely knew McCarthy during a news conference last year, when McCarthy was in line to become the No. 2 ranking Republican behind Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Bierman writes.

He starts the story with a great anecdote, so go read the whole thing.

FROM THE PLAYBOY MANSION

Christie Hefner has some advice for Vice President Joe Biden: Don’t do it.

Hefner, daughter of the famed magazine magnate and former chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, took a moment to play pundit Tuesday.

"I would not like the last chapter of his political biography to be that he ran against Hillary Clinton in the primaries, because I don’t think he would win and I think it would be sad," Hefner said in an interview with The Times after the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards. They were hosted under a tent at the Playboy Mansion on a sunny and warm morning. (Learn more on the awards and her thoughts on government secrecy in my story here.)

Hefner suggested the "best thing" for Biden, openly contemplating a third bid for the presidency, would be to not actually enter the primaries and run against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Instead, Hefner noted she admires and likes the vice president but thinks he should "let it be known to the super delegates and to donors and to activists that if something were to happen that were to so wound Hillary’s prospects, that even at the 11th hour at a brokered convention, he would be there."

She predicted Clinton ultimately will be the Democratic nominee. Even though she has not officially picked sides or contributed, Hefner said she "wouldn’t have any problem saying that I’m going to vote for her." (Hefner supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.)

"I believe that she would be and perhaps will be a good president, but she is one of those people who is not a good candidate," Hefner said, citing as shortcomings Clinton’s "penchant for secrecy" and a sense of "guardedness" that make it harder for the former secretary of State to connect with voters.

Hefner does not know Sen. Bernie Sanders but said, "I like that he’s running, I like what he’s talking about." She said addressing income inequality, defining it as the hollowing out of the middle class and the lack of a path for generational economic advancement, is a moral imperative and the overarching issue of the next election.

During the discussion, her remarks were punctuated by peacocks and other exotic birds roaming the grounds. A fountain could be heard trickling into the pool, not far from a lawn made of turf, not grass.

Hefner also said that, instead of focusing on the presidential election, she is getting involved financially in Senate races in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and her home state of Illinois. She supports Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris over Rep. Loretta Sanchez in California’s open-seat race.

Hefner suggested Sanchez is "in the right position in Congress," even though the congresswoman must give up her House seat to run for Senate. She lauded Sanchez’s work mobilizing Latino voters and noted she and her father have supported the congresswoman before, but she added, "Kamala Harris could be an outstanding senator."

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- Speaking of Harris, don’t miss Michael Finnegan’s definitive profile from Wednesday’s front page.

-- John Kasich was fundraising in Ohio on Tuesday, and Jeb Bush presented his energy plan.

-- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is looking like the next target for conservatives cheering after Boehner’s retirement, Lisa Mascaro reports.

-- Javier Panzar details a lesson one Compton politician learned the hard way: check before you announce your endorsements that the person has, you know, actually endorsed you.

LOGISTICS

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