DeSantis’s Inner Circle, Harper vs. The Machine, ESPN’s Power Play

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon companion to Puck’s latest reporting.

Today, we start with Eriq Gardner’s tantalizing profile of the two shareholder groups slugging it out in court to contest the formation of Warner Bros. Discovery. Should David Zaslav be worried?

Plus, below the fold: Tara Palmeri and Peter Hamby exchange notes on G.O.P. presidential hopefuls and other pre-’24 fascinations. Tara spotlights a star-studded Senate drama brewing in Michigan. Julia Alexander fact-checks ESPN’s plan for worldwide streaming domination. And on The Powers That Be, Eriq and Peter discuss an unusual NFL lawsuit, while Ben Landy and Bill Cohan break down Goldman Sachs’s investor day drama.

ERIQ GARDNER

Bricklayers, government workers, the Newhouses, ‘Batgirl,’ and Chris Wallace’s CNN+ deal are all factoring into two suits contesting the formation of Warner Bros. Discovery—and, more bizarrely, contesting each other!

TARA PALMERI & PETER HAMBY

News and notes on the G.O.P.’s early ’24 arms race, the dark horse beneficiaries of the Trump-DeSantis cage match, Glenn Youngkin’s MAGA playbook, and more.

TARA PALMERI

Outgoing Senator Debbie Stabenow has been trying to stage manage her succession, playing cruise director of the state party. Harper, who is expected to challenge Elissa Slotkin in April, is going for the Wes Moore playbook instead.

JULIA ALEXANDER

Live sports remains the final frontier for streaming. Can ESPN, with its decades of credibility, figure out the puzzle that has already eluded Amazon and Apple?