2020 Contenders raise their profile

The 2020 primary is happening now. Right now.

2015: Big Campaign up and Running

The invisible primary.

This isn't "starting early." To be where the candidate wants to be this summer the candidate needs to be doing things right now. 

Getting famous. Getting money. Staffing up.

By August 2015 Hillary Clinton had a big campaign up and running. She had a staff. She had a jet. She needed one because the event I attended in Portland was preceded by one in Salt Lake City that morning and was to be followed by one in Atherton that afternoon. 

In New Hampshire in September of 2015 every candidate had a staff gathering contact information and handling scheduling and communication  plus a big travel vehicles to get them all around.  

Three takeaways from observing 2015: 

1. A presidential candidate either has to have money or be able to raise it in vast quantities because a real campaign is expensive. 

2. Fame matters. People show up to see people they have heard of and are excited about. Trump, Bernie, and Hillary drew crowds. 

3. Being on the Sunday shows didn't help. Lindsey Graham was on Meet the Press every other week for years and he could not fill a conference room.

Here is an update on what candidates are doing to get visibility. One thing is write books, then promote them on TV

Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were front and center during the Kavanaugh hearings. Harris' new book is The Truths we Hold.  Booker's book is United. Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good.

Mitch Landrieu will be one of the speaker/instructors at the Harvard Institute of Politics 3-day program for newly elected Congressmen on December 3-5. This won't make him famous but it will buff up his resume. His book is about racial reconciliation: In the Shadow of Statues.

Martin O'Malley is also at Harvard Ash Center, serving as a Senior Visiting Fellow speaking next week on "Assessing the Results of the Governors Races." Many events of this kind require tickets, but this one does not. Plus Harvard will serve pizza. He does not yet draw a crowd.

Eric Swalwell was on Bill Maher this Friday. He is talking with his family. He is a frequent guest on cable news. No book yet.

John Delaney keeps traveling to Iowa and New Hampshire. He just hired a Communications Director, someone fresh off the Andrew Gillum campaign, and he told Politico he plans to have 30 full time staffers in Iowa and eight offices, all by January of this year. Who is John Delaney?  He was the 3rd richest guy in Congress, a self made entrepreneur with a net worth of $240 million according to Open Secrets, so he can afford to self-finance for now. Gary Wills just wrote about him--the first national recognition I have seen but he has already been to all 99 counties of Iowa. His book: The Right Answer. How We Can Unify our Divided Nation.

Michael Bloomberg just made news for making Johns Hopkins essentially tuition free thanks to a big contribution, and he is busy talking with party leaders about his own run for president. He told a Mississippi Democratic financial bundler he thinks the biggest problem isn't his wealth or his age. Voters show they like rich New Yorkers who can self-finance, he said; he thinks his problem is that he is Jewish. His book: Climate of Hope. How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens can Save the Planet.

Elizabeth Warren writes and promotes books and sounds decisive and fiery. She attempted a counterpunch on the Pocahontas taunt. Her books: In 2014, A Fighting Chance.  In 2017, This Fight is our Fight. Warren is a woman, slender and small of stature. She knows she needs to project strength. Fighter.

Bernie Sanders was on Al Sharpton's show yesterday. He's "looking at it," he said, and says he only wants to run if he is really certain he is the strongest candidate to replace Trump. He has a huge base of former volunteers ready to go and unwilling to accept any substitutes.

Beto O'Rourke proved he can excite people and raise money via the internet. 

Kirsten Gillibrand was on Steven Colbert, talking about 2020. Her new book is: Bold and Brave, Ten Women who Won Women the Right to Vote. It is a children's book, short and non-controversial. 

Sherrod Brown won an election in Ohio and he talks about working people, not identity. Democrats are turning their attention to him. He has not written a campaign promotion book, but does have two policy books out. Congress from the Inside and Myths of Free Trade; Why American Trade Policy has Failed. His position on trade, dating from 2004, gives him credibility as a free trade critic.

There are other Democrats--and of course John Kasich a Republican, and Ben Sasse, the GOP Nebraska Senator who will be on Colbert next week. Most of the activity is on the Democratic side, but Republicans are wondering if Trump will falter, at which point it will be a free for all on their side, too.