“For politicians planning or tempted to run for the presidency in 2016, the to-do list is formidable. What’s striking is how methodically most of them are plowing through it while they pretend nothing of the sort is going on,” the AP reports.

“Somehow, it has been decreed that politicians who fancy themselves presidential timber must wear a veil concealing the nakedness of their ambition. They must let the contours show through, however — more and more over time — while hoping everyone doesn’t tire of the tease.”

The New York Times notes California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) “is enjoying a degree of success and authority he and his opponents could scarcely have imagined when he returned to Sacramento to begin a second tour as governor in 2010.”

“The state’s budget problems are largely resolved, at least for the short term. Mr. Brown is the dominant figure in Sacramento, strengthened by overwhelming Democratic control of the Legislature and the decline of the Republican Party. He has pushed through major initiatives on education financing and prison reorganization. Even Republicans say his re-election next year seems considerably more than likely.”

“Brown is not saying whether he will seek re-election, but it seems
nearly unthinkable that he will not. He does not appear to be even
slightly worried about his prospects.”

“It simply means I was invited to a wingding, and I think anything in Iowa makes a wingding out of a wingding, and that is all it is.”

— Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), quoted by ABC News, saying no one should assume she’s interested in running for president because of a trip to Iowa.

“Anthony Weiner may be lagging in the race for New York City mayor, but he is winning in another area — hot dog marketing,” ABC News reports.

“The delicious combination of Anthony Weiner’s name and his sexually suggestive Twitter antics were apparently too good to pass up for one Florida marketing man, who has joined forces with an Illinois hot dog company to create a hot dog brand called Carlos Danger Weiners, which he has incorporated into the company Carlos Danger LLC.”

“Before he married his wife, former Congressman Anthony Weiner had a previously undisclosed relationship with an on-again-off-again congressional and campaign aide nearly two decades his junior,” Politicker reports.

“In pushing back against the publication of this story, the spokeswoman for his current mayoral campaign, Barbara Morgan, phoned The New York Observer‘s editor in chief. Partially confirming the relationship, she said the two “had a personal relationship.” (At that point, Ms. Morgan stopped mid-sentence to request the conversation be continued off the record.)”

“Republican insiders say the next presidential campaign season may see some star power from the hard-core conservative crowd, via debates moderated by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity,” the Washington Times reports.

Said one GOP insider: “It makes a lot of sense. We’d get a huge viewership, they’d make a lot of news and maybe have some fun, too.”

John Fund: “Just as the media landscape has offered more choices to consumers with
the advent of new players, so too would presidential debates appeal to
more viewers if they moved beyond the formats and cast that seem to have
been ordained over a half century ago, during the Nixon-Kennedy
confrontations. Everything else in the media is changing, so why not the
fusty and frozen format of debates?”

The AP has a rundown of all the possible 2016 presidential candidates and what they’re already doing to prepare themselves for a campaign.

“It’s a time to get to know donors, to get the public to know you on TV and social media, to visit big primary states, network with the activists and ideologues, produce a vanity book, polish a record, deflect personal baggage, take a stand, develop a world view and scout for advisers and political organizations that can power up a campaign team. All this, for the season of harvest to come. And all while sounding coy about running.”

The Casper Star Tribune notes that Liz Cheney (R) “is in campaign mode, speaking at events, collecting contributions, sending out press releases and advertising in the state.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Enzi (R) “is traveling from town to town for ‘listening sessions,’ meetings he regularly schedules during congressional recess periods, where he lets constituents ask him questions and express their concerns for the country.”

“Despite the travel, the three-term senator has yet to kick his campaign into gear. He’s scheduled to speak to conservative donors and activists next month in New York, but he’s still without a campaign website, bumper stickers, advertisements and campaign staff. He said he has a full-time job representing Wyomingites in Washington and hasn’t announced when he will unveil a campaign team in the state.”