| | | | The 5 BIG 2020 stories to watch, ranked |  | | 5. The waiting is the hardest part
Another week of waiting for and fighting over the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russia appears to be on tap. Attorney General William Barr has said to expect the report, with redactions, by the end of the month -- most people assume it will be closer to the end of the month rather than the middle.
A ruling Friday by a federal appeals court on the release of grand jury testimony seems to make more redactions likely, even as Democrats keep up their insistence that not seeing the full report is unacceptable.
"There could be grounds for impeachment, there could be grounds for other actions, there could be things the American people ought to know," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) said on "Face The Nation" earlier today.
Meanwhile, expect President Donald Trump to keep singing the same old song on the Mueller report. Tweeted Trump Sunday morning:
"Looks like Bob Mueller's team of 13 Trump Haters & Angry Democrats are illegally leaking information to the press while the Fake News Media make up their own stories with or without sources - sources no longer matter to our corrupt & dishonest Mainstream Media, they are a Joke!"
4. The field just keeps getting bigger (and bigger)
California Rep. Eric Swalwell is expected to join the Democratic presidential field as soon as this week, according to The Atlantic. Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.) is moving toward the race too. As is former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (Va.). And Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio) got into the race this past week.
Ryan was the 17th announced Democrat. And the field seems likely to go above 20 by the end of the month. (Don't forget about Joe Biden, who hasn't announced -- but is clearly running. More on him below.)
Why so many candidates? First, because Trump is president -- proving that anything can happen in politics. Second, not all of these candidates think they will win but understand that running for president brings them a national spotlight -- for them personally or for an issue they care about -- they wouldn't get otherwise.
3. $$$, part 2
Most of the candidates we expected to raise a ton of cash in the first quarter -- Bernie Sanders ($18.2 million), Beto O'Rourke ($9.4 million), Kamala Harris ($12 million) -- have already released their reports. Which means that the numbers we see this week are coming from either a) second-tier candidates (and below) and b) top-tier candidates who have underperformed expectations in the money game.
Cory Booker said Sunday that he had raised more than $5 million in the first quarter, putting him well behind the leaders of the pack. But he downplayed the importance of high dollar amounts, adding that his campaign team had met the first-quarter goal they had set for themselves. "I think this election is not going to be decided by money," Booker said. "We're going to raise the money that we need to run our plan."
We are still waiting on money totals from Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand -- among others. Warren's report will be the most closely scrutinized because she was expected to do quite well and early returns suggest she may have underperformed.
2. Town halls as far as the eye can see
CNN is hosting 5(!) town halls with 2020 candidates this week, featuring Gillibrand, former HUD secretary Julián Castro and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee as the headliners. (Longer shots Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang will also get a chance to answer questions from town hall crowds.)
Gillibrand will start things off Tuesday, followed by Inslee on Wednesday and Castro on Thursday. And the task for each of the trio is similar: Find a way to stand out in a field currently dominated by better known and financed candidates.
Here's the one-line takeaway each of the candidates want voters to have after their town hall:
Gillibrand: An advocate for the rights of women during her Senate tenure
Inslee: Climate change isn't an environmental issue. It's an everything issue
Castro: The only Latino candidate in the race, and the Texan not named Beto
1. Can Biden (finally) stop the bleeding?
The former vice president is still not in the 2020 race -- sounds like a post-Easter announcement right now -- but he had his worst week of his (un)campaign last week. In trying to put allegations of unwanted touching with women behind him, Biden put out three statements and a video message. Problem was, he never just said "sorry" in any of them, and inflamed the whole story Friday when he joked about his habit of violating peoples' personal space.
The reaction of Biden and his team -- underestimating the problem and then failing to deal with it effectively (and quickly) -- should worry anyone who thinks the former VP is the party's best nominee.
The question now is whether Biden can move on from this bad past 10 days. He has an event in Philadelphia on Thursday to discuss the opioid crisis but nothing until then. Does the media -- and Democrats -- move on between now and then? Or is Biden asked questions about his behavior around women on Thursday? And, if he is asked, does he have a better answer than he had last week?
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