“If Hillary runs, she walks away with the nomination and then beats whichever Republican. It’s lights out.”

— Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), quoted by the AP, on the 2016 presidential race.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has hired Allison Gollust, former head spokesperson at NBC Universal, as his new communications director, Azi Paybarah reports.

“Gollust may be a more out-front presence than her predecessor, particularly once Cuomo lifts his self-imposed virtual ban on non-New York media in the run-up to 2016. She is replacing Richard Bamberger, a personal-publicity-shy former television producer who is departing for a job in the private sector.”

The New York Times reports New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who is mulling a presidential bid in 2016, and his inner circle have their eyes fixed on Hillary Clinton, “whose already sky-high stature among Democratic activists was enhanced by her husband’s crowd-pleasing speech this month at the party’s convention in Charlotte, N.C., and who can count on broad support if she decides to run.”

“Mrs. Clinton complicates Mr. Cuomo’s ambitions in several ways. Despite the fact that she hails from Illinois, she is now viewed as a New Yorker and commands deep loyalty from the state’s Democratic establishment. And Mr. Cuomo, 54, reveres her husband, former President Bill Clinton; he views Mr. Clinton as a mentor who helped him begin a career in politics, according to Cuomo friends and associates.”

One Democrat close to Cuomo said “the situation was making the Cuomo camp cranky, in part because the governor, a skilled strategic thinker, did not like to be captive to others’ ambitions.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told NBC News he “absolutely” would consider another presidential run.

Said Perry: “Oh absolutely. There’s a long time until 2016 and a lot of good things can happen.”

A longtime adviser to Vice President Joe Biden “sketched out a surprisingly detailed strategy” to Noam Scheiber for a Biden presidential bid in 2016.

“First, Biden is going to extravagant lengths to ensure his boss’s reelection while putting his own ambitions on hold, in the hope that the Obama brass will reward this selflessness when the time comes… Biden’s inner circle believes the strategy will position him to inherit key players on President Obama’s political team.”

“Step two of the master plan is leveraging Biden’s deep ties to traditional Democratic constituencies, such as labor, trial lawyers, and African American, Jewish, and gay groups and donors, the last of which were thrilled by his plug for same-sex marriage this May.”

“I don’t think about it. I’m not motivated by it. It takes an
incredible amount of discipline and ambition. I’m not there yet in my life.”

— Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in a Meet the Press interview, on whether he’ll run for president in the future.

The Tampa Bay Times also has a very interesting interview with Bush.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “has studiously avoided talk of a 2016 White House run, but he has positioned himself on two fronts, amassing the nation’s largest gubernatorial war chest and organizing a series of August policy summits with Democratic leaders and academics,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Cuomo has raised nearly $1 million a month since he took office in January 2011 and has about $19.3 million to spend –more than 40 other governors combined… Meanwhile, just two weeks before his party gathers on Sept. 3 for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Mr. Cuomo is hosting a summit of his own, inviting Clinton administration veterans and others to Manhattan for a policy forum.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he’s open to running for president in four years if the job is open, the AP reports.

Christie says he hopes Mitt Romney beats President Obama and seeks re-election in 2016, but if the presidency is open, Christie says he’ll “certainly think about it.”

He added: “If there’s an opportunity for me to serve in another capacity and I think I have something to add to the mix, I don’t think I’d back away from it.”

Baltimore Sun: “None of the analysts is sure exactly when it happened. But they all agree that sometime in 2012, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley become a staple, if not a star, of Sunday morning public-affairs television. And for all the new media speaking to voters, that forum not only shapes the national debate, it also plays a major role in anointing politicians as national leaders worthy of White House consideration.”

“Why does O’Malley get invited to the shows seemingly every week while many other eager and able political leaders never get the call? People who host and book the shows say political savvy, TV skills, geography and a willingness to take off the gloves result in a combination that one veteran network producer describes as ‘the Chris Christie of Democrats.'”

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s favorable rating at 65%, the highest mark that the former first lady has ever reached in the history of the poll. Just 27% of respondents viewed Clinton unfavorably.

The Fix: “Great poll numbers and high-profile supporters don’t matter at all if Clinton has, in her heart of hearts, put away the idea of running for president again. If that door is left open even a crack, however, these are the sorts of developments that could push it open wider.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) told the CBS affiliate in Dallas that he’s going to give the “appropriate consideration” to running for re-election as governor in 2014 and said he was leaning toward running for president again in 2016.

Said Perry: “2016 is way down the road, but I’ll assure you one thing, if I decide to run for the presidency in 2016, I’ll be way in before the summer of 2016; 2015, even.”

Charles Mahtesian
believes that Rep. Allen West (R-FL), best known for his strong Tea
Party affiliation and controversial attacks on Democrats, is likely to
run for president in 2016 or 2020.

“The conservative congressman
hasn’t explicitly said as much, but he’s following a path blazed by
Michele Bachmann, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul… Thanks to Internet and
direct mail fundraising and the national platform offered by cable news
shows, even a House backbencher can now build a well-financed national
following. And Barack Obama’s victory, just four years removed from the
Illinois state Senate, suggests the boundaries surrounding the question
of office-holding experience have been erased.”

“In terms of me, I’ll be much more ready four years from now.”

— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, on whether he’ll run for president in 2016.

Alex Pareene: “Being that it’s still March 2012 and we have no way of knowing who will actually be president by the end of January 2013 (besides “not Ron Paul,” obviously), it would seem to be a bit premature to speculate as to how the 2016 presidential race will shake out. And yet political reporters, finally bored perhaps with the inevitable Republican nomination of Mitt Romney, are already spewing forth predictions…”

“But you see where we are, at this point: Randomly tossing out names. It’s like predicting the 2016 NFL Draft. Some of these kids are still in high school!”

The New York Times interviews Sandra Lee, girlfriend of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D):

Q. Chester Arthur was the last president to serve a full term as a single man. People without spouses don’t get elected president anymore. When are you two getting married?

A. That’s a loaded question. Andrew is focused on being governor. He’s not running for president. We’re happy in the relationship the way it is. Still, I can tell you that Andrew’s kids want us to get married. It’s very sweet.

Vice President Joe Biden “has quietly assembled an A-team of advisers who would, without doubt, be considered the nucleus of a presidential campaign — if only he wouldn’t be 73 in 2016,” Politico reports.

“Biden’s age would snuff the last embers of a presidential ambition that led him to a pair of crushing defeats in 1988 and 2008, or so many in Barack Obama’s camp thought when they first tapped him. But the old fire crackles yet. And Biden, spurred in part by those rumors about being replaced on the ticket by Hillary Clinton (who turns 69 in ’16), is campaigning with a young man’s tenacity in 2012 — with an eye toward keeping all of his options open.”

Chris Cillizza
kicks off the presidential speculation game for 2016 with a “The
Sweet 2016” bracket assuming that both parties have an open presidential
contest.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) get the #1 seed in their respective parties.

Howard Kurtz says Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) insists he’s not interested in a vice presidential bid in 2012, noting that his party can’t solve its Hispanic problem just by drafting “a person whose name ends in a vowel.”

However, while his aides welcome the veep chatter “because it gives him a larger megaphone,” they want “to preserve his option of running for president in 2016 — which Rubio would forfeit if his ticket beat President Obama this time around.”