Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest, our daily politics compendium of the news and murmurs that matter in Washington, from the White House to Langley, and K Street to the Hill. In today’s edition, my conversation with New Hampshire G.O.P. insider Matt Mowers about Trump’s edge, DeSantis’s media problem, Biden’s primary dilemma, and more.

But first…

• Diva Ron: This morning the Florida state legislature passed a bill allowing Ron DeSantis to run for president without resigning as governor. Nestled in that bill, as Florida whisperer Peter Schorsch points out, is a line item adding $3.8 million in the budget for...

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Undeterred, Mowers recently set up Valcour LLC, which is strategically based in both D.C. and the G.O.P.’s first primary state, his home turf of the Granite State. Valcour’s clients are mostly corporations or nonprofits; he doesn’t advise any federal political clients, at least for now. Mowers and I discussed the latest in the still first-in-the-nation G.O.P. primary state and the 2024 election. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Matt Mowers: People are shopping. You saw Donald Trump up in New Hampshire the other day. His team is trying to show strength, and clearly the polling suggests that, right now, there’s a lot more movement beneath the surface. But you still have a lot of folks who are shopping right now, even some of the Trump loyalists...