The Note: Democrats expand 2020 map in new directions
The TAKE with Rick Klein
The 2020 map is getting bigger -- and more interesting -- fast.
It's becoming a mark of the enlightened Democratic candidate to campaign in plenty of places in between and far beyond the early-voting states.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spent the week in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. Aside from the Robert Kennedy comparisons that her backers are inviting, those are never places on presidential priority lists.
Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's road trip has taken him to Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, in addition to Iowa and New Hampshire -- with clear reasons for going to some places a certain previous Democratic nominee didn't. There are also no flyover states when you're traveling in a Dodge Grand Caravan.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders will cap his week in California, while Sen. Kamala Harris will be campaigning in Texas. Those are the Super Tuesday monsters, where campaigning can't and won't wait until the first four states weigh in.
The candidates were already reflecting the party's diversity, now they reflect the diversity of paths to the nomination and the presidency.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
Buckle up. On Tuesday, Warren proposed abolishing the Electoral College. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg agreed and has also floated the possibility of adding seats to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Just wait, next someone will throw out expanding the size of the U.S. House of Representatives.
These ideas might be radical, crazy and overly ambitious, but they're an answer to a growing and very present angst in the Democratic Party's base that asserts the system is rigged and disenfranchises urban voters.
Yes, ditching the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment, but some voters are ready for transformational change.
The TIP with John Verhovek
At the outset of his 2020 presidential campaign, Sanders sent an email to his supporters urging them to "do our very best to engage respectfully with our Democratic opponents."
But on Tuesday the senator's campaign announced the hire of David Sirota as a senior communications adviser and speechwriter. The former journalist has been criticized for his aggressive -- bordering on hostile -- interactions online with the center-left wing of the Democratic Party. His hiring raises questions about just how civil Sanders' campaign will be towards the crowded field of Democratic opponents he now has to beat out for the nomination.
It remains to be seen how public-facing Sirota's role in the campaign will be, but as the Democratic primary continues to heat up, it will be key to keep track of whether Democrats will be able to quell intra-party bickering and focus on the challenge of denying President Donald Trump a second term.
THE PLAYLIST
ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Wednesday morning's episode features ABC News Deputy Political Director MaryAlice Parks, who says some voters are looking for more specifics from 2020 hopeful Beto O'Rourke. And ABC News' Aaron Katersky tells us what we're learning from newly unsealed documents concerning Michael Cohen. http://apple.co/2HPocUL
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