John Cassidy: “In any Presidential race featuring an incumbent, the contest is ultimately a referendum on the performance of the sitting President, and that person typically wins… But, of course, Trump isn’t a typical incumbent, and the Democrats are optimistic that they can deny him a second term. One way to turf him out would be for the special counsel, Robert Mueller, to submit a report to the Justice Department that is so damaging and probative it convinces enough Republicans to abandon him for an impeachment trial in the Senate to succeed. But the smart money in Washington is betting this isn’t going to happen, and the Democrats’ Plan B appears to be to torment Trump all the way to Election Day with congressional hearings of the sort we saw this week. Already, the Senate Intelligence Committee has announced plans to question Cohen again, on Wednesday, and, eight days later, to question his sidekick on the Trump Tower Moscow deal, Felix Sater, a convicted felon who once took part in a stock-fraud scheme orchestrated by mobsters.”

“That will only be the start. The House Intelligence Committee is planning to call many of the Trump associates whom Cohen mentioned in his testimony, including Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. The House Democrats are also gearing up to look into all aspects of Trump’s record, including his other business dealings, his tax affairs, and his now defunct charitable foundation.”

Said House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings: “All you have to do is follow the transcript. If there were names that were mentioned, or records that were mentioned during the hearing, we want to take a look at all of that.”

Nick Gillespie: “It’s way too early to be thinking this, much less saying it, but what the hell: If Donald Trump is able to deliver the sort of performance he gave today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of right-wingers held near Washington, D.C., his reelection is a foregone conclusion.”

“There is simply no potential candidate in the Democratic Party who wouldn’t be absolutely blown off the stage by him. I say this as someone who is neither a Trump fanboy nor a Never Trumper. But he was not simply good, he was Prince-at-the-Super-Bowl great, deftly flinging juvenile taunts at everyone who has ever crossed him, tossing red meat to the Republican faithful, and going sotto voce serious to talk about justice being done for working-class Americans screwed over by global corporations.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told CNN that she has “no regrets, but plenty of unfinished business.”

Said Warren: “You can’t go back. Bernie and I have been friends for a long, long time. I’m sure far before I ever thought I was going to be in the electoral end of politics. I get out there every day; Bernie gets out there every day. And so do a lot of other good people.”

Los Angeles Times: “Parties always want to win, of course, but Democratic loathing of Trump has pushed finding a winner way up the priority scale this year, recent polls show. Democratic voters say they’d prefer a candidate who can beat Trump to one who agrees with their position on any particular issue.”

“Voters, however, have widely varying views about what electable means in 2020. To some, it is code for a safe, cautious choice — a centrist white male who presumably can speak to swing voters. To other Democrats, that’s a recipe for killing off excitement within the party’s young, diverse, progressive base, which needs to be mobilized to win in 2020.”

“I should have saved the Pocahontas thing for another year. I’ve destroyed her political career and I won’t get a chance to run against her and I would have loved that.”

— President Trump, quoted by Politico, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

CNN: “The crowd of around 13,000 supporters, according to a campaign estimates, many of them having spent the preceding hours tapping their sludgy feet to a live band after queuing up around Brooklyn College’s East Quad early Saturday morning, roared back.”

“Sanders is already striking a different chord as he seeks the Democratic nomination a second time. He has a new campaign manager, a more diverse staff and an inner circle of advisers — some familiar, some new to the fold — that, in its opening stages, has already achieved a small feat: they convinced the 77-year-old Sanders that, as he seeks higher office again, he must be willing to step out of his comfort zone and tell Americans who he is, where he came from — and why it matters.”

New York Times: “During his last presidential campaign, and throughout his political career, Mr. Sanders has offered a policy-focused message almost entirely devoid of personal details. At Saturday’s rally, however, he did something new: He talked about himself.”

“Democratic leaders are convinced that Steve Bullock, the popular governor of Montana, would give the party its best shot at unseating Senator Steve Daines, a freshman Republican, when he stands for re-election next year in a state that President Trump carried by 20 points,” the New York Times reports.

“But Mr. Bullock has a bigger — if far less attainable — aspiration: running for president.”

“And so it has gone for Democratic leaders as they struggle to recruit a solid slate of candidates that they will need to net the three or four seats necessary to take control of the Senate next year. Four top-tier potential Democratic Senate candidates — John Hickenlooper in Colorado, Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Beto O’Rourke in Texas and Mr. Bullock — are seriously exploring presidential campaigns, forsaking statewide campaigns within their grasp, at least for now, for a national one that would be the longest of long shots.”