'Start Here': Ohio special election, Elon Musk and 'Space Force'. What you need to know to start your day
It's Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018. Here are some of the stories we're talking about on ABC News' new daily podcast, "Start Here."
1. Balderson, O'Connor come down to the wire in Ohio special election
We are 90 days out from the midterms as of Wednesday morning. Last night, we saw our final special election for the midterms -- and it's going down to the wire.
In Ohio's 12th Congressional District, the lead teetered back and forth on a knife's edge.
Finally, Republican Troy Balderson inched ahead of Democrat Danny O'Connor. He claimed victory, though provisional ballots have yet to be counted.
And yet Democrats are saying they have the momentum.
ABC News Political Director Rick Klein tells us what this race means for both parties ahead of November's elections.
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2. Tesla shares climb as Elon Musk mulls going private
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter Tuesday that he was considering taking the company private, shocking investors and driving the electric automaker’s shares higher. The tweet came shortly after the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had bought a $2 billion stake in Tesla. Richard Waters, Financial Times' West Coast editor who helped break the story, helps us make sense of Musk’s decision.
“If he succeeds in taking this private and really has that kind of backing, he might have bought himself a lot longer to achieve what he wants to achieve,” Waters says.
3. Space Force prepares for launch
Trump's call for a Space Force will come one step closer to liftoff this week when the Pentagon is expected to deliver a report to Congress on its plans to strengthen the Department of Defense's space efforts. ABC News' Elizabeth McLaughlin, who covers the Pentagon, tells us what the imagined Space Force could actually look like.
4. After Venezuela, experts raise concerns about drone attacks
The Venezuelan government claimed last weekend that President Nicolas Maduro had survived an attempted assassination by drone. There were questions over who hatched the alleged plot or whether it was an actual assassination attempt, but security experts were quick to point out the growing risk of drone attacks is very real.
"We've gone from ... big drones carrying big missiles to this commercialization of drone technology that's going to make the world, frankly, a less safe place,” Col. Steven Ganyard, an ABC News contributor who handled military and political issues at the U.S. State Department, tells us.
