Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Beto’s supporters aren’t waiting for him — Warren proposes ‘wealth tax’ on super-rich Americans — Koch network sitting out presidential election in 2020
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2019 09:03:07 -0600
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01/25/2019 10:00 AM EDT
        
By ZACH MONTELLARO ([email-masked]; @ZachMontellaro)

        
Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Score is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Campaign Pro subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here.
          QUICK FIX         
- Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke still hasn't decided on if he's running for president, but his supporters are still building out a campaign-in-waiting.

- Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposed a wealth tax that would raise money off the net worth of the richest Americans.

- The Koch network will again sit out the presidential election, denying President Donald Trump's reelection fight a crucial ground game network and data operations.

Happy Friday! Here's a great running Twitter thread from FiveThirtyEight's Nathaniel Rakich on 2020 contenders' movie and television cameos. Email me at [email-masked] or DM me at @ZachMontellaro. 

Email the great Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], and [email-masked]. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @lbarronlopez.

Days until the 2019 election: 284

Days until the 2020 election: 648

Get "Freezin' for a Reason" on Saturday, Feb. 2 with Special Olympics DC. POLITICO is proud to support the "Polar Plunge," an annual benefit to raise funds for more than 1,600 Special Olympics DC athletes. Proceeds provide sports, health and inclusion programs that benefit both children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the District. Visit www.dcpolarplunge.org to register as an individual, a team or to join an existing team.
          THE TOPLINES         
READY FOR BETO? - O'Rourke still hasn't declared his intentions, even after embarking on a solo tour throughout the country last week (he hasn't posted to Medium since Monday). But his supporters are already laying the groundwork for a run - which could help him make up crucial time to other, more organized candidates if he ultimately gets in the race.

"Two separate 'Draft Beto' efforts have become a significant force to keep public attention focused on him as a potential presidential candidate," POLITICO's David Siders reported. "And their groundwork in early primary states could prove critical if O'Rourke enters the race, delivering a roster of consultants and supporters for him to tap into if he runs. ...

"The campaign now has a presence not only in those critical early states [like Nevada and New Hampshire], but also in delegate-rich California, which will hold an early March primary in 2020 and where a small platoon of Democratic consultants - including former Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama operatives - have signed on."
          IN THE TRENCHES         
PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Warren proposed a "ultra-millionaire tax" that targets very rich Americans. "The proposal - which would create a 2 percent wealth tax on those with a net worth above $50 million and impose an additional 1 percent on net worth above $1 billion - draws from an analysis by University of California-Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, who have been consulting with Warren on the matter," POLITICO's Natasha Korecki reported (it was first reported by The Washington Post). And the MSNBC primary continues: She appeared on "All in with Chris Hayes" to promote the proposal.

- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tweeted her support for a Green New Deal, expanding in a letter that the U.S. should pass legislation to "get us to net-zero emissions by as close to 2050 as possible," Energy Pro's Zack Colman reported.

- Former Vice President Joe Biden isn't apologizing for praising a Republican lawmaker in the throes of the midterms. The former VP said he read in The New York Times that "one of my problems is if I ever run for president, I like Republicans," Biden said at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting, per POLITICO's Rebecca Morin. "I don't know how [we] get anything done unless we start talking to one another again."

- Biden has suffered unimaginable tragedy twice in his life, after the death of his wife and daughter in a 1972 car crash and the death of his son from cancer in 2015. POLITICO Magazine's Michael Kruse looks at how both events have shaped his career.

- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti could use his role in helping to end the city's teachers strike in a potential presidential campaign. "Rick Jacobs, a longtime senior adviser to Garcetti, contends that the teachers strike is putting Garcetti into the national spotlight at a time when Americans are hungering for leadership," POLITICO California's Carla Marinucci reported.

- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) hired Craig Brown to be her New Hampshire state director, her first big early state hire, POLITICO's Christopher Cadelago reported.

- In the sure, why not category: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told NBC's Chuck Todd that "I'm thinking about" running for president, "like every single other person in this building" while he was on Capitol Hill.

- A potential early cattle call: She the People, a Democratic network of women of color, will hold a presidential forum on April 20 at Texas Southern University.

CUT OFF - The Koch network is once again planning on sitting on the sidelines during the presidential election, depriving the president's reelection bid of an outside grassroots ground game and data operation. "The Koch operation is still expected to be a player in 2020: Koch-backed groups such as Americans for Prosperity plan to support candidates for U.S. Senate and governor," The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey and Michelle Ye Hee Lee reported. "In [a Jan. 2] letter - which never mentioned Trump - [network chairman Brian] Hooks said the network plans to launch new PACs in support of [reducing income inequality, criminal justice reform and other policies] and work with politicians from both
 parties in their effort."

UP NEXT - Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, a Republican, announced he will run for governor. He's the second Republican, after Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, to jump into the race to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, via the Great Falls Tribune's Phil Drake.

- DNC associate chairman Jaime Harrison said on the Bill Press Show he is "giving some serious consideration" into challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and will "probably" make a decision in the next two weeks.

PRIMARY WATCH - Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has drawn another primary challenger in IA-04. Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor announced he would run. "Instead of focusing on past controversy, I intend to make this campaign about how I can best represent and serve our people well at the national level," he said in a statement announcing his run. But will he and state Sen. Randy Feenstra split the anti-King vote in next year's Republican primary?

- Daily Kos, the liberal website and online community, is out with an early endorsement of state Sen. Kai Kahele, who is running in HI-02 (which Rep. Tulsi Gabbard currently represents, while she runs for president).

JUST SUPER? - Superdelegates were stripped of a lot of their power in the Democratic nomination process, and they will be excluded from the first ballot at the 2020 convention. But could they still make the difference? "With up to 15 or 20 viable candidates, there is a real chance no one gets a majority on the first ballot - or, worse, that three or four candidates could make the case that they should be the nominee," Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis told NBC News' Jonathan Allen. "In that case, it's Thunderdome politics at its worst, with superdelegates playing king- or queen-maker."

TRUMP'S PARTY - Kansas Republicans are mulling skipping a presidential caucus in 2020. "I'm going to have conversations with our state committee that that's probably going to be the direction we should go," Kelly Arnold, the Kansas GOP chairman, told the Washington Examiner's David Drucker.

POLLS POLLS POLLS - A state primary poll: In a Marquette University Law School poll, Biden was the top choice for Wisconsin Democrats and independents at 32 percent. Sanders was in second at 28 percent, Warren in third at 15 percent and O'Rourke was at 12 percent. (400+ registered Democratic or independent voters, Jan. 16-20).

- A Mason-Dixon Poll in Florida has voters nearly evenly divided on if Trump should be re-elected, with 46 percent saying he should be replaced, 45 saying re-elected and the remainder unsure (625 registered voters, Jan. 14-17).

NO GO - The newly appointed Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel resigned after the Tallahassee Democrat's Jeffrey Schweers obtained photos of Ertel dressed in blackface, posing as a victim of Hurricane Katrina, 14 years ago.

THE CASH DASH - The Wisconsin gubernatorial election was the most expensive gubernatorial race in the state's history. An analysis from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a progressive watchdog, said the candidates and outside groups combined to spend $93 million.

SPECIAL ELECTION WATCH - You can now sharpie in the date for the special election in PA-12. Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted that it will be held on May 21, the date of the 2019 primaries.

CODA - OF THE DAY: "I've become a fan of the millennials," Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, praising government workers who are working unpaid.
    
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