The Note: Democrats move back to big issues in Mueller's wake

The TAKE with Rick Klein

Democrats say they want a grand debate about big issues to dominate 2020, especially after special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation wound down with a whimper and no political bang.

They have that now and, once again, with the Trump administration's decision to ask a federal judge to throw out the Affordable Care Act with no replacement in the wings.

"The Republican party will soon be known as the party of health care. You watch," President Donald Trump told ABC News' Chief Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce in the Capitol Tuesday.

We just had an election where Republicans were known as the party of health care -- the party that wanted to take it away from people, according to the Democrats' midterm framing.

The jolt back to talking Obamacare is a reminder of how quickly the Trump-dominated news cycle moves.

Early on, the Democratic candidates have shown a propensity to talk policy -- something they hope sets up a contrast with a president for whom personality takes over all.

The RUNDOWN with John Verhovek

The day after Trump received, perhaps, the most welcome news in his presidency in the form of Attorney General William Barr's summary of the Mueller report, his administration may have just handed Democrats their most valuable political weapon heading into the 2020 election season.

The Justice Department's decision to support a federal judge's ruling that the entire Affordable Cart Act should be overturned gives Democrats an opportunity to re-focus the political conversation on health care and remind voters of the disunity that still exists within the GOP ranks on the issue.

Democratic presidential candidates and key leaders have already seized on the decision, which is undoubtedly coming to a stump speech near you for voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

"If it's a fight for health care this administration wants, it's a fight they'll get -- and we will win," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted Tuesday.

"We must fight back again with everything we've got," said Sen. Kamala Harris. "And in 2020, we need to elect a president who will make health care a right."

"Democrats won the House in 2018 by fighting to lower costs and make healthcare more accessible to all Americans, and that's exactly how we will protect and expand our majority in 2020," said Rep. Cheri Bustos, the head of the Democrats' campaign arm tasked with holding the party's house majority in 2020.

The TIP with Adam Kelsey

The weightiest decision affecting the future of American politics might not come in Nov. 2020, but rather June 2019, when the Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions on two cases addressing partisan gerrymandering, in Maryland and North Carolina.

It's possible the justices could conclude that district maps crafted to favor one party violate the First Amendment's free speech protections. Such a determination would require one of the court's conservatives -- most likely Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- to cross the ideological divide and side with their liberal colleagues. That would force immediate changes in the two states in question, if not also set standards for addressing the issue nationwide.

Look no further than Pennsylvania for potential consequences, where the state's redrawn House map enabled a 9-9 split in the 2018 midterms after Republicans went 13-5 just two years earlier. And in state legislatures there are 47 states where a single party holds a majority in both chambers.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Wednesday morning's episode features ABC News Senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer, who explains why Democrats are seizing on a shift by the Trump administration to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Then, we hear from Galen Druke, from our partners at FiveThirtyEight, who dissects the Supreme Court arguments Tuesday on political gerrymandering. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

ABC News' "The Investigation" Podcast. In this episode of "The Investigation," Mark Corallo, the former spokesperson for President Donald Trump's private legal team, shares his unique and unfiltered insight into inner workings of the Trump administration during the early days of the Mueller probe, describing the "problematic" incidents and what he calls "reckless" behavior that he says influenced his decision to leave. As one of the approximately 500 witnesses interviewed by the special counsel's office, Corallo also sets the record straight about what he told Mueller's team about high-ranking White House officials, and discusses whether what he saw was obstruction or naiveté. https://apple.co/2GjL25N

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