Bc I bitch so much abt WaPo's many stories focusing, in detail, on Trump's plans to do what he has no authority to do, I checked what they're written on Mike DeWine, who may be THE KEY person on reopening the economy. @costareports did an interview Monday. https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2020/04/13/transcript-coronavirus-leadership-during-crisis-conversation-with-ohio-gov-mike-dewine/

Key takeaways:

1) Three times, DeWine emphasized direct payments to the states, including in response to questions abt something else (eg, payments direct to individuals).

That's what Pelosi is fighting for.

In spite of the fact that DeWine had already emphasized that 3 times, Costa asked whether DeWine backed Pelosi's stance. DeWine CLEARLY is trying to avoid hurting/antagonizing Trump, so again backs THE POLICY and pretends not to know what's in the bill.

2) DeWine suggests that he's NOT thinking about a geographical phase-in (Trump is pushing a geographical phase-in). I suspect there are really good reasons for this approach, not least an emphasis on retaining critical infrastructure.

DeWine emphasizes that his plan for reopening OH probably won't work the way people think it will (bc the risk to vulnerable populations will remain). Again, I'd like to know more.

3) Unsurprisingly, DeWine talks about governors' need to have extensive testing. But he also talks abt a convo he had w/"a large retail business," which sounds a lot like Kroger (HQed in Cinci). That person, too, is thinking abt testing regimes.

4) DeWine defers on whether there'll be a formal task force of states like the one on the west coast and in NE, but notes he's consulting closely w/adjoining states.

Side note: based on demographics and compared to its adjoining states, West Virginia is one of the completely unheralded success stories during this crisis. I suspect it's because Jim Justice listened to DeWine, but would love to know if that's what happened.

5) Subtly, DeWine takes a very bipartisan approach here, in describing his consultations with governors that include Beshear and Whitmer, his (deserved) debt to his Health Director Amy Acton (who worked for Obama), and his support for both Portman and Brown.

That's not surprising: he has to work in bipartisan fashion given where he is and who he's working with (and hiring Acton was based on merit, not party).

But it's another reason I think he's so important, wrt how the economy reopens.

6) Finally, DeWine mentions a task force for nursing homes, one of the two or three hardest problems to fix. I'd like to know more abt what it's doing.

Costa is a superb horse race politics journalist.

But this was an interview where Costa was asking abt horse race (trying to press DeWine to endorse Pelosi when he already had endorsed the policy) and DeWine was instead laying out how the economy would reopen.