Happy Friday! Unless you’re working for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. A new CNN poll shows that a whopping 67 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters wish the party would nominate someone other than the president. That same poll shows Biden’s approval rating clocking in at just 39 percent.

Up to Speed

• SFA Inc., the super PAC supporting Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign, is running a new television advertisement in Iowa and New Hampshire. The 30-second spot, featuring clips of the former South Carolina governor from the first Republican debate in Milwaukee and commentators lauding her performance, makes the case that she has the best chance of beating President Joe Biden.
• Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid, also is airing a new 30-second spot in Iowa and New Hampshire. The ad features a clip of the Florida governor from the Republican debate in Milwaukee saying he would authorize force against people who illegally cross the southern border in an effort to stop Mexican drug cartels from infiltrating American communities.
• Underdog 2024 contender Mike Pence is scheduled to participate in a nationally televised town hall meeting Wednesday on cable news network NewsNation. The former vice president will take questions from a studio audience in Chicago and a second audience of likely caucusgoers in Iowa. Anchor Leland Vittert will host the prime-time town hall, which comes two weeks before the next Republican debate.
• Federal prosecutors investigating President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, plan to hand down a grand jury indictment by the end of the month, according to court documents filed on Wednesday. Special counsel David Weiss’ looming indictment follows the collapse of a plea deal between Hunter Biden and federal prosecutors involving a felony gun charge and misdemeanor tax violations. “The Speedy Trial Act requires that the Government obtain the return of an indictment by a grand jury by Friday, September 29, 2023, at the earliest,” the court filing reads.
• The Biden administration on Wednesday officially banned oil drilling across a 13 million acre strip of the Alaskan wilderness, citing climate change concerns. Also on Wednesday, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland canceled seven oil and gas leases issued by the previous administration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

No Labels Delays Candidate Vetting, Prioritizes Nomination Rules

The nonpartisan group No Labels has shelved plans to vet potential candidates for an independent 2024 ticket at least until the political nonprofit organization establishes ground rules for choosing nominees for president and vice president. 

That decision is expected sometime in October, No Labels officials tell The Dispatch.

“What we did is we really wanted to prioritize this selection aspect of this,” No Labels Chief Strategist Ryan Clancy says. “So, yeah, we haven’t started that process yet.” In April, the group told Dispatch Politics the formal exercise of researching the backgrounds of potential candidates would begin in late summer or early fall and be led by No Labels “legal teams.”