The “Who is running in 2020?” tea leaves thread

[NeederNodder]

http://observer.com/2017/02/kirsten-gillibrand-andrew-cuomo-president-2020/?utm_campaign=social+flow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Gillibrand says that Cuomo would be a great candidate against Trump

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Here's hoping Cuomo and Booker split the Clinton vote.

[Figueira]

Article about Jay Inslee

[Mr. Morden]

Are you ready for Chafee 2020?  He’s been doing a “comeback tour” on the political media circuit:

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20170221/lincoln-chafee-defends-trump-criticizes-raimondo-and-does-not-rule-out-return-to-politics

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But yeah, while he mentioned 2020, it sounds like he wasn’t too seriously about it.  Later in the interview, he said “anything’s possible” when asked if he’d run for governor again.

Also, in this story:

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/02/21/lincoln-chaffee-jokes-about-running-for-president-again-in-2020

he says he voted for Sanders in the Democratic primary last year, and then Clinton in the general election.

[Free Bird]

Are you ready for Chafee 2020?  He’s been doing a “comeback tour” on the political media circuit:

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20170221/lincoln-chafee-defends-trump-criticizes-raimondo-and-does-not-rule-out-return-to-politics

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But yeah, while he mentioned 2020, it sounds like he wasn’t too seriously about it.  Later in the interview, he said “anything’s possible” when asked if he’d run for governor again.

Also, in this story:

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/02/21/lincoln-chaffee-jokes-about-running-for-president-again-in-2020

he says he voted for Sanders in the Democratic primary last year, and then Clinton in the general election.

He could also be guessing Reed retires in 2020 and is playing with a Senate comeback.

[Mr. Morden]

Cuomo spoke at a union event in the Bronx today, and 2020 came up….in the form of someone yelling from the crowd:

http://observer.com/2017/02/show-us-what-youre-made-of-cuomo-urges-national-dems-to-use-tea-party-tactics-against-trump/

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[Mr. Morden]

The National Governors Association Winter Meeting is being held in DC from Friday to Monday, including a Sunday night ball at the White House that will happen at the same time as the Oscars:

https://meetings.nga.org/files/live/sites/meetings/files/wm17/docs/2017GovStaffAgenda.pdf

I assume that the governors who double as potential 2020 presidential candidates, like Cuomo and Hickenlooper, will be there, though I don’t know.  Will be interesting to see if there’s any 2020 talk about anyone there.

[Figueira]

Are you ready for Chafee 2020?  He’s been doing a “comeback tour” on the political media circuit:

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20170221/lincoln-chafee-defends-trump-criticizes-raimondo-and-does-not-rule-out-return-to-politics

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But yeah, while he mentioned 2020, it sounds like he wasn’t too seriously about it.  Later in the interview, he said “anything’s possible” when asked if he’d run for governor again.

Also, in this story:

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/02/21/lincoln-chaffee-jokes-about-running-for-president-again-in-2020

he says he voted for Sanders in the Democratic primary last year, and then Clinton in the general election.

He could also be guessing Reed retires in 2020 and is playing with a Senate comeback.

Honestly the article makes it sound like he wants to primary Raimondo.

[Mr. Morden]

Murphy asked about 2020 again:

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/02/23/chris-murphy-talks-politics-in-trump-era/

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[Blackacre]

Murphy asked about 2020 again:

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/02/23/chris-murphy-talks-politics-in-trump-era/

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That either sounds like "I want to run in 2024 if the Dems lose 2020" or "I want to be the Senate leader that helps the next Dem President achieve their goals"

[Mr. Morden]

Hickenlooper tries to dial back the speculation that he’s going to run, while still saying that he never rules anything out:

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/23/hickenlooper-not-running-for-president/

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[Mr. Morden]

O'Malley gives another maybe:

http://realtynewsreport.com/2017/02/16/omalley-tells-houstons-kinder-institute-hes-open-to-another-presidential-bid-in-2020/

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[Mr. Morden]

Politico has a new story on the large field of Democratic candidates who, despite what they’re saying about “just focusing on my current job” and “not even thinking about 2020” are in fact making calls to potential presidential campaign operatives and trying to do whatever they can to keep their options open:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/democrats-2020-presidential-field-235335

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Which potential candidates are actually doing this though?  The story doesn’t give us anything concrete.  It does say that among current governors and senators, these names at least are “thought to be in the mix”:

Booker
Brown
Franken
Gillibrand
Harris
Klobuchar
Merkley
Murphy
Sanders
Warren

Bullock
Cuomo
Hickenlooper
Inslee
McAuliffe

(Interesting that they include Franken, who’s given a Sherman-esque denial, but not Kaine and Warner, who’ve done the same.  But it jives with my own subjective impression that Franken is the most likely of those Sherman-esque deniers to “change his mind”.)

But I’m not sure if that list is really based on any special knowledge that they have, or if it’s just based on public reporting.  I mean, we could have crafted a similar list just based on what’s been posted about in this thread.

Oh, and they also get a quote from Mark Cuban:

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[Mr. Morden]

Here’s a list of governors attending the NGA winter meeting in DC this weekend:

https://www.nga.org/cms/WinterMeeting2017

Though it looks like they missed Kasich, who’s at least attending for part of it.

Almost every governor in the country is attending, but Cuomo is skipping.

And it looks like Inslee has scored a meeting with Trump on Monday:

http://www.king5.com/news/politics/inslee-to-meet-with-trump-monday/413877701

[Mr. Morden]

Hickenlooper offers yet another denial that isn’t really a denial.  He appears to be saying that he isn’t running “right now”, but that he might in the future.  But what’s the future?  2019?

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/john-hickenlooper-not-running-for-president-235342

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UPDATE: Here's the video of Hickenlooper's non-denial:

https://twitter.com/POLITICOLive/status/835137897254748160

[Mr. Morden]

That Politico story mentioned two names that haven’t gotten much attention so far: McAuliffe and Merkley.  But it’s worth mentioning that Merkley was in Iowa last fall, and McAuliffe made multiple early primary state visits in 2015/2016.

Merkley stumped for Clinton in Iowa in October:

https://www.facebook.com/JeffMerkleyOregon/posts/1332092036809884

And well before that, McAuliffe was in South Carolina in April 2015 to stump for Hillary Clinton:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcauliffe-finds-himself-back-in-campaign-mode-for-hillary-clinton/2015/04/19/98640098-e634-11e4-81ea-0649268f729e_story.html?utm_term=.bd598ade45a0

then in New Hampshire in August 2015 to do the same:

http://www.nh1.com/news/virginia-gov-terry-mcauliffe-visits-nh-to-support-clinton/

then in Iowa in January 2016 to do the same:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcauliffe-to-campaign-for-hillary-clinton-in-iowa/2016/01/04/a17c3f38-b2fd-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html?utm_term=.8169880a829d

then in Iowa again in July of last year for the NGA summer meeting:

http://wtop.com/virginia/2016/07/mcauliffe-to-travel-to-iowa-for-conference/

[Beet]

McAuliffe will be the nominee. Having another nominee under FBI investigation would be a terrible idea, so of course that's what Chairman Perez will ensure happens.

[Mr. Morden]

de Blasio is headed to Atlanta this weekend for the DNC Winter Meeting.  In the meantime though, he just spent over four hours talking to prosecutors in Manhattan, as part of the fundraising probe:

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/de-blasio-to-be-questioned-by-feds-on-fundraising-reports-say-1.13170930

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[Mr. Morden]

Kander spoke at the DNC Winter Meeting:

https://twitter.com/JasonKander/status/835504596055375874

[Mr. Morden]

Sunday morning talk show watch:

Tomorrow morning, Hickenlooper will be on Meet the Press, Kasich will be on Face the Nation, Sanders will be on State of the Union, and McAuliffe will be on Fox News Sunday:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEWS_SHOWS?SITE=AP

[Mr. Morden]

Clinton also addressed the DNC Winter Meeting via video:

http://www.inquisitr.com/4011242/hillary-clintons-video-message-to-democrats-sparks-2020-rumors-video/

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[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Clinton also addressed the DNC Winter Meeting via video:

http://www.inquisitr.com/4011242/hillary-clintons-video-message-to-democrats-sparks-2020-rumors-video/

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Ugh, Perez as DNC chair, and Hillary thinking of running again? The party really really really really must like losing.

[Mr. Morden]

This story’s about two weeks old, but I missed it at the time.  It says that unnamed Dems working on Capitol Hill haven’t seen any sign that Franken is interested in a presidential run, and Franken’s office re-issued a denial on presidential ambitions earlier this month:

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/02/08/al-franken-2020-media-pundits-think-the-minnesota-senator-is-th/21709778/

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Remember though that Franken has a book coming out in May.  If his book tour happens to have stops in Iowa and New Hampshire, then I might start doubting his denials. 

[Mr. Morden]

I already mentioned the details on the leadership PACs by Booker, Gillibrand, Klobuchar, and Warren.  I mentioned how Gillibrand’s leadership PAC (“Off the Sidelines”) only gives to female candidates.  Well, looks like she has a second, smaller, leadership PAC that gives to male candidates:

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00477067

Also, leadership PACs by Brown, Merkley, and Murphy:

Brown: “America Works”, contributed $266,500 to Democratic candidates this cycle
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00331694

Merkley: “Opportunity and Renewal PAC”, contributed $149,500 to Democratic candidates this cycle
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00460972

Murphy: “MurphPAC”, contributed $122,000 to Democratic candidates this cycle
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00459925

In early state action, all three of them donated to Maggie Hassan in NH.  Brown and Merkley both donated to Patty Judge in Iowa, while Murphy didn’t.

[Mr. Morden]

Terry McAuliffe says he has “no intentions” of running for prez:

http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2017/02/26/corey-lewandowski-on-perez-as-dnc-chair-trump-agenda-govs-mcauliffe-and-walker/

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