Jonathan Bernstein: “Sen. Kamala Harris did a CNN Town Hall in Iowa on Monday night. If anyone had doubts about her readiness for the campaign trail, her performance should’ve put them to rest. She knew her stuff, knew how to interact with a big crowd on television and generally seemed as presidential as anyone does in such settings, at least aside from actual presidents.”

“That said, it’s not clear that she can stand out from the crowd. She’s good at this type of campaigning. But I expect Senators Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and a few others will be solid as well. As a group, they’re well-informed on policy (or at least know enough to fake it). They have real proposals that they can talk about in shorter or longer bursts. They know how to deliver an attack line against the president (to which the audience of Iowa Democrats was extremely receptive). They’re going to seem professional and serious.”

“Bill Burton, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, defended his decision to join Howard Schultz’s team as the former Starbucks CEO considers an independent presidential bid in 2020, pushing back against suggestions that Schultz could be a spoiler,” CNN reports.

Burton warned against a third-party candidate in a Sacramento Bee op-ed in August 2016, saying it could help elect Donald Trump.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds 56% of all Americans say they would “definitely not vote for him” should President Trump become the Republican nominee, while 14% say they would consider voting for him and 28% would definitely vote for him.

Majorities of independents (59%), women (64%) and suburbanites (56%) rule out supporting Trump for a second term.

Also interesting: While 75% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents approve of Trump’s performance in office when asked separately, nearly 1 in 3 say they would like to nominate someone other than Trump to be the party’s candidate for president.

“Starbucks chairman emeritus Howard Schultz is a long shot to win the White House, but a sure bet to create headaches for the coffee chain he turned into a global empire,” Axios reports.

“Schultz and Starbucks are tied at the hip, which means they’ll need to work together. Kind of like Mitt Romney and Bain Capital in 2012. For Schultz, that means quickly identifying supporters in upper Starbucks management (including in the communications and legal departments), and leveraging those people when the campaign needs time-sensitive answers.”

“A defense attorney for Andrew Miller, who’s fighting a subpoena from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, learned Monday afternoon that the special counsel still wants witness testimony for a federal grand jury,” CNN reports.

“Paul Kamenar, the defense attorney, says the assertion from Mueller’s team made clear to him that Mueller and the Justice Department are considering an additional indictment of Roger Stone or have plans to charge others.”