August 03, 2021: What to watch for in tonight’s special elections

The two special election primaries for Congress in Ohio today offer windows into each party a little more than six months into President Joe Biden's tenure — and Donald Trump's post-presidency.

And, for a while now the hottest ticket in town has been an invitation to Sen. Joe Manchin's houseboat. He’s entertained top White House officials like Ron Klain, but mostly he’s used the boat to bring together bipartisan groups of senators.

But this week Manchin’s ongoing attempts to lubricate the gears of Congress with bonhomie aboard Almost Heaven, as the vessel is called, took a frightening turn when a vaccinated Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of his Saturday guests, tested positive for Covid-19.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.