Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told the Burlington Free Press he would consider a presidential bid in 2016 if the race is without a strong liberal voice.

Said Sanders: “That is honestly not me. Anyone who really, really wants to be president is slightly crazy because this is an unbelievably difficult job given the crises that this country faces today.”

He added: “Under normal times, it’s fine, you have a moderate Democrat running, a moderate Republican running. These are not normal times. The United States right now is in the middle of a severe crisis and you have to call it what it is.”

Former Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS) “says he is considering entering the Mississippi Senate race next year — particularly if longtime Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) opts not to seek another term,” the Washington Post reports.

“Conservative and tea party groups have lined up behind GOP candidate and state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who got into the race in advance of Cochran’s announcement. The prospect of a hard-fought GOP primary has Democrats hoping to capitalize in a tough state.”

“The biggest Republican-leaning money machines are spending dramatically less to help the party ahead of the 2014 congressional elections, a year after big-dollar conservative groups poured millions into unsuccessful campaigns against President Obama and Democratic candidates, and the GOP failed to retake the White House or the Senate,” the AP reports.

“Groups such as American Crossroads and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce no longer are willing to risk major investments on hard-line conservatives who embarrassed GOP leaders last fall and rattled the confidence of party donors. Many remain concerned after last month’s government shutdown highlighted Republican divisions… Outside spending on television ads designed to benefit Republican Senate candidates is down almost 60% compared with two years ago.”

Bill Clinton told a Chinese audience that hopes there will be a woman in the White House in his lifetime, AFP reports.

Said Clinton: “I hope we have a woman president in my lifetime, and I think it would be a good thing for the world as well as for America.”

However, he tempered his remarks regarding his wife, Hillary Clinton: “But I do not know if she’s going to run, and there is no such thing as a sure thing in politics… If that’s what she wants to do, I will support her. But if she decides for whatever reason she doesn’t, I will support that.”

A new Siena poll in New York finds Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) with the the lowest job performance rating he’s had since becoming governor, 44% to 52%.

That said, Cuomo still has a 61% favorability rating and crushes potential challengers in hypothetical match up.s

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) — while offering praise for his GOP colleagues — dismissed Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan as the ideal 2016 Republican presidential nominee, ABC News reports.

Said Walker: “I think it’s got to be an outsider. I think both the presidential and the vice presidential nominee should either be a former or current governor, people who have done successful things in their states, who have taken on big reforms, who are ready to move America forward.”

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) was in New Hampshire last night where he “made an aggressive and at times impassioned case for executive leadership, framing his approach as mayor of Baltimore, and the ‘Believe’ campaign he launched there more than 10 years ago, as a strategy that should be applied at the national level,” Ruby Cramer reports.

“Before O’Malley took the dais, he was introduced by a three-minute glossy black-and-white video… that described the Baltimore campaign… The video, produced by Jimmy Siegel, Eliot Spitzer’s longtime ad man, looked like a campaign spot, just as easily as O’Malley’s talk sounded like the platform of a national campaign in the making. The speech, focusing almost exclusively on Baltimore, was a major departure from O’Malley’s previous political appearances.”

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