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5. The Yang money machine rolls on: Even as better-known candidates -- including a slew of elected officials -- continue to struggle to raise the money they need to run effective campaigns in early states, technologist Andrew Yang just keeps raking it in.
That $2 million haul represents one-fifth of the total Yang raised from July 1 to September 30 and suggests he could equal or even eclipse that number between October 1 and the end of the year. (Yang started October with more than $6 million in the bank.)
While Yang has yet to demonstrate he can compete financially with the likes of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, he has already far surpassed the expectations of what he might be able to raise.
And remember: Raising money is an indicator of support and momentum. People don't donate money to candidates -- especially this late in the primary process -- unless they think there is a real chance at success.
If Bloomberg's ads are working, you are likely to see it nationally first, followed by places like California and Texas, where there are large numbers of undecided voters who might be persuaded by his ads.
We should expect most of the major national networks to release polls on the state of the 2020 Democratic race over the next two weeks. And we might get lucky and get a credible California or Texas poll thrown in, too.
For Bloomberg to stay relevant, he needs to show that he is more than just money -- that he has a compelling message votes respond to. Those polls should show that.
3. Kamala's collapse continues: The final stage of any failed presidential candidacy is the blame game -- when senior advisers seek to protect their own reputations by distancing themselves from a candidate who is clearly going down the tubes.
You should read the whole thing, but here's the CliffsNotes version: Juan Rodriguez, the campaign manager, and Maya Harris, the candidate's sister, are handed most of the blame -- for running a message-less (and mean) race that ill served Harris, according to the staffers interviewed.
That more than four dozen staffers and former staffers were willing to talk to the Times about their gripes with the campaign speaks to its massive dysfunction. That sort of rebellion is, frankly, shocking.
Because we are still 60+ days away from the Iowa caucuses, the possibility remains that Harris can turn it around. But with this sort of staff dissatisfaction and disagreement, it's hard to see how she hangs on in the race until February.
2. Warren is bleeding support: The incredible summer surge of the Massachusetts senator, which catapulted her into first place in Iowa and New Hampshire, ended about four to six weeks ago. Now something more troubling is happening: Warren is starting to lose support in key places.
Add it all up and she looks like a sailboat in search of wind -- at the exact wrong time.
There are two critical elements here: The report and the vote.
The biggest question in the report is whether there are things in it that we didn't already know that either further implicate Trump or exonerate him. It seems very unlikely there is a bombshell bigger than US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland's admission that there was a quid pro quo in place between the US and Ukraine but, at this point, who knows?
The second issue is the vote. Because Democrats control the majority on the Intelligence Committee -- as they do on all House committees -- the outcome of the vote isn't in doubt. You should expect all 13 Democrats on the committee to vote in favor and all nine Republicans to oppose.
But what's notable is that this will be the first of -- likely -- a series of impeachment votes that could fundamentally alter not just the shape of the 2020 election but also of the two parties going forward. Once the vote on Tuesday happens, the course will be set: Impeachment in the House followed by a Senate trial.
This is history.