The 2-month sprint to kick off 2020

[brooklynite]

Politico

THE CALENDAR — Say goodbye to your loved ones until at least mid-March, because it will be all Democratic primary, all the time until then (you’ll still have team POLITICO, though). As a public service, here’s the dates you should mark off on your calendar over the next two-or-so months.

— Jan. 14: The seventh primary debate in Iowa. We’re less than two weeks away from the next Democratic primary debate, hosted by CNN and The Des Moines Register. And we’re even closer to the qualifying deadline on Jan. 10. As a reminder: Candidates need to hit 5 percent in four polls (or 7 percent in two early-state polls) and receive donations from 225,000 individuals.

...snip...

— Jan. 31: The FEC deadline. The year-end FEC deadline is a big one. Not only do we get fourth-quarter numbers from every presidential hopeful (and House and Senate candidates), but we also get six months’ worth of numbers from super PACs and the big online fundraising platforms (ActBlue and WinRed). The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher has a story piecing together the hints that the expected presidential fundraising leaders have dropped on how much they raised in Q4.

— Feb. 3: The Iowa caucuses. The moment we’ve all been waiting for: Voters are actually voting (or, well, caucusing)! This is the first time voters will actually have their say (although determining a winner might be a bit more complicated than it first seems), and poor showings could drive some candidates out of the still-large field.

— Feb. 7: The eighth primary debate in New Hampshire, hosted by ABC News/WMUR-TV/Apple News. For this (and the future debates), we don’t yet know how candidates will qualify. But DNC Chair Tom Perez has not ruled out shaking up future criteria once voters have actually voted.

[George II]

1. The year end FEC filing isn't due until January 31? That means we'll have to listen to bragging....

....about them for a month before we can find out for ourselves what's being exaggerated. And that's just 3 days before the Iowa caucuses. Not good, not enough time to truly debunk the reports and present facts.

[brooklynite]

2. Presidential campaigns don't tend to exaggerate their hauls...

If they've had a good quarter, they'll tell us know. If not, they'll stay silent or promote some other metric ("last 24 hours"; "most first time donations&quot

We'll likely know all the numbers before the week is out.

[George II]

3. Well, some have already been bragging about "donors" when they really mean "donations"....

...27 $1 donations is NOT 27 donors. It inflates the number of donations and deflates the "average".

[Renew Deal]

4. February 3 is the day after the super bowl.

Wonder how that effects campaigning.

[brooklynite]

5. Super Bowl is the evening...

Campaign all day/complete training for your Caucus captains, then hold a football watch party.