The “Who is running in 2020?” tea leaves thread, Part 2

[Mr. Morden]

Merkley telling people that he’s “available” to run for president next year, though may only pull the trigger if neither Sanders nor Warren run:

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/383664-dem-senator-sees-opening-on-left-for-possible-2020-bid

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Hickenlooper:

https://durangoherald.com/articles/219110

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Holder:

https://twitter.com/aseitzwald/status/986601223259348992

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[RogueBeaver]

Tim Ryan to SC and IN, Delaney to SC.

[Mr. Morden]

Eric Holder headed to New Hampshire in June:

http://www.wmur.com/article/former-us-ag-eric-holder-to-visit-nh-in-june/19850624

Biden reiterates his timeline in which he'll decide at the end of this year:

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/383731-biden-to-decide-on-what-house-run-at-end-of-year

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[Mr. Morden]

Steyer is taking his impeachment road show to Iowa next month:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/383358-steyer-taking-impeachment-tour-to-iowa

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In other news, Hickenlooper suggests that a run for president is something he may start thinking about this summer.  Though he reiterates that no final decision will come until after he leaves office next January:

http://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/national/480283913.html?ref=913

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[Mr. Morden]

Allies of Kasich are reaching out to GOP donors to gauge their interest in backing him in a 2020 presidential race:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/19/john-kasich-allies-courting-gop-donors-for-possible-run-against-president-trump.html

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[MasterJedi]

Run Kaisch Run!

[The Mikado]

Oh, God. The Kasich primary campaign is going to be this horrible roadshow of sanctimony and preachiness with Kasich going around telling people how morally unfit for the White House Trump is and he'll end up coming off so holier-than-thou that everyone will hate him and want him to shut up even though he's basically right.

Also it'd give a lot of Republicans the excuse to say "hey, I didn't vote to renominate him" while Trump wins all those primaries 80/20 or so. That 20% of GOP primary voters will be able to say "welp, we did our best" and vote for him in the general feeling good about themselves.

[Mr. Morden]

Also it'd give a lot of Republicans the excuse to say "hey, I didn't vote to renominate him" while Trump wins all those primaries 80/20 or so. That 20% of GOP primary voters will be able to say "welp, we did our best" and vote for him in the general feeling good about themselves.

Yeah, this is why I don't actually believe that a primary challenge would hurt Trump's chances in the general election, nor would it necessarily hurt Republicans down ballot.  To this day, even though Trump is the sitting president, Trump seems to want to keep a little distance between himself and the GOP brand...and the feeling is mutual.  Many GOP leaders don't want to fully embrace Trump.  They prefer to maintain a distinct GOP identity that's not fully Trump-ified.

If Trump runs for re-nomination unopposed, then that kind of puts the lie to the idea that there's any difference between Trump and the rest of the party, so that strategy falls apart.  But if someone does run against him in the primaries (and presumably loses), then they can say "Well, the party has different factions, but our faction lost this time....better luck in 2024."

[Progressive Pessimist]

Steyer is taking his impeachment road show to Iowa next month:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/383358-steyer-taking-impeachment-tour-to-iowa

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In other news, Hickenlooper suggests that a run for president is something he may start thinking about this summer.  Though he reiterates that no final decision will come until after he leaves office next January:

http://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/national/480283913.html?ref=913

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Next January is truly going to be an interesting time.

[Mr. Morden]

Steyer endorses de Leon over Feinstein in the CA Senate race:

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/383718-steyer-endorses-de-leon-in-bid-to-unseat-feinstein

[Mr. Morden]

Long story on Landrieu here, in which he makes this comment on running for president:

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/04/mitch_landrieu_new_orleans_pre.html

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[Mr. Morden]

The National Action Network (Al Sharpton's group) is having their convention this weekend, and it includes several prospective 2020 presidential candidates as speakers (Booker, Gillibrand, Harris, Sanders, Holder, Warren):

https://nationalactionnetwork.net/nan-convention-2018/#speakers
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-04-20/warren-to-black-voters-all-our-fights-are-interconnected

Gillibrand already gave her speech, and said that Trump is what darkness looks and sounds like (darkness has a sound?):

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[Liberalrocks]

Harris will be the keynote speaker at the DNC's annual Women's Leadership Forum on May 18. Gillibrand and Kander (who is notably not a woman) will also be there, along with Hillary Clinton who will speak at the opening reception.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/hillary-clinton-dnc-fundraiser?utm_term=.fkPYMVV0l#.nmZX9pplG

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Hmm...Maybe Hillary's going to run after all... I doubt she would be doing this if the thought hadn't at least crossed her mind.

Yes!

[RogueBeaver]

Tim Ryan will also address Clyburn's fish fry.

[Mr. Morden]

Tim Ryan will also address Clyburn's fish fry.

That story says that Merkley is expected to be there as well.

And here was Ryan’s response to the 2020 question:

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[tosk]

Tim Ryan will also address Clyburn's fish fry.

That story says that Merkley is expected to be there as well.

And here was Ryan’s response to the 2020 question:

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pumped

[Mr. Morden]

Al Sharpton's MSNBC show, "PoliticsNation", is going to have interviews with Gillibrand, Harris, Sanders, and Warren tomorrow morning at 8am (presumably interviewing them in sequence, and not all at once):

https://twitter.com/TheRevAl/status/987437325096554497

[Mr. Morden]

In this interview, O'Malley says that he'll "probably" decide on whether to run for president again "after the midterms".  (as if he hasn't already decided)

[gerritcole]

In this interview, O'Malley says that he'll "probably" decide on whether to run for president again "after the midterms".  (as if he hasn't already decided)

he really needs a another job in politics; run for a house seat or something

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Steyer endorses de Leon over Feinstein in the CA Senate race:

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/383718-steyer-endorses-de-leon-in-bid-to-unseat-feinstein

I’m surprised, tbh.

[kyc0705]

In this interview, O'Malley says that he'll "probably" decide on whether to run for president again "after the midterms".  (as if he hasn't already decided)

Hey, it takes a lot of time to figure out if you want to get 0.5% in the Iowa caucuses again!

[Mr. Morden]

Bloomberg not considering a presidential run “at the moment”:’

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-bloomberg-on-a-2020-run-at-the-moment-im-not-running-for-president/

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In other news, Jay Inslee was on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night.  Here he is on Overtime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am3vQ7OtYLM

[Mr. Morden]

Here’s Harris, Gillibrand, and Sanders responding to the 2020 question in their interviews with Al Sharpton:

http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/sen-harris-sen-gillibrand-talk-politics-with-al-sharpton-1216574531908

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Then he brings it up again at the end of the interview:

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http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/sen-bernie-sanders-talks-politics-with-al-sharpton-1216576067850

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[Mr. Morden]

Here's this week's #2020Vision column:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/22/politics/2020-vision-al-sharpton-primary/index.html

I forget which of these upcoming early state visits have already been mentioned here, so I'll just list all three:

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[Mr. Morden]

Another Harris non-denial:

http://dailycaller.com/2018/04/23/kamala-harris-president-2020-donations-breakfast-club-interview/

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