The Powers That Be: Daily

Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter with a fresh midterm update as Democratic optimism swells toward a possible Election Day tsunami—and even Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson sounds fatalistic about losing the House. Leigh Ann explains why some races remain a toss-up, and digs into several governors’ contests where Democrats are begging for more money to get across the finish line.

Lauren Sherman joins Peter fresh off four consecutive fashion weeks to deliver a runway postmortem on which brands and designers impressed on the runway. Lauren also gets into the sales slumps dogging Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and what those problems signal about parent companies Kering and LVMH as they try to right the ship.

John Ourand joins Peter to chew over Tony Romo’s departure from the CBS NFL booth in the wake of his D.U.I. earlier this summer, and what comes next for a broadcaster with his level of fame. John also looks back on Puck’s In the Arena sports media conference, where his guests included NCAA commissioner Charlie Baker and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey for a wide-ranging conversation on the myriad challenges confronting college sports.

Jon Kelly rejoins Peter to size up Skydance’s new leadership team, including co-C.E.O. Ynon Kreiz, who arrives from Mattel with a mandate that likely includes cuts across the Hollywood giant. The duo also take stock of what outgoing Condé Nast C.E.O. Roger Lynch got right during his tenure, and what the media empire should prioritize as it hunts for his successor.

The besties Jon Kelly and Peter Hamby convene to size up the newly minted Skydance, and the splashy trailer that introduced it. They also dig into what the reported exits of Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca signal about the movies Ellison wants to make, and how his tech-bred, test-and-learn instincts could clash with Hollywood. Then the pair turn to CNN, where Mark Thompson appears to be staying put and Bari Weiss may be out of the running for an expanded role.