First Read: “If he’s going to win, Biden has to shake things up, and that’s why we’re intrigued by the internet speculation that maybe he’s going to come out of the gates with a vice-presidential pick. (Is that why he met last week with Stacey Abrams?)”

“Of course, this kind of immediate VP move presents potential drawbacks. (Hello, Carly Fiorina…)”

“It suggests Biden can’t win by himself; it discourages alliances and endorsements from other 2020 candidates; and it eliminates the veepstakes speculation in the summer of 2020 (when a nominee-to-be is looking to raise his/her name ID, build a national infrastructure and rake in lots of money).”

“But it also acknowledges that Biden has to be unconventional if he wants to win – as Beto-mania, Pete-mania, and Kamala-mania are real things.”

“Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand defended her office’s handling of sexual harassment claims on Monday night, saying that an aide was ‘believed’ and that her complaints were ‘fully investigated,'” Politico reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign is off to a gangbusters financial start, raising $6 million in just 24 hours, more than even Bernie Sanders. As for Mr. O’Rourke’s reputation as a strong leader—on that presidential characteristic he needs work.”

“The former Texas Congressman’s first few days as a candidate have been one long apology tour. At several stops he used a stock campaign line that his wife, Amy, raised their three children, ‘sometimes with my help.’ He meant it to be a self-deprecating joke and a note of gratitude to his wife, but in today’s identity-politics hothouse he was quickly denounced for his male privilege.”

“The Texan’s problem is that he looks like a pushover for the left’s grievance caucus. His instinct is to apologize for anything and everything: for youthful misconduct, for harmless comments, for being a white male.”

“Going everywhere, writing nobody off, taking no one for granted, could care less . . . what party you belong to, to whom you pray or whether you pray at all, who you love, how many generations you’ve been here, whether you just got here yesterday. We’re going to define ourselves by our aspirations, our ambitions and the ability to bring this country together.”

— Beto O’Rourke, quoted by the Washington Post.

“The 2020 campaign has arrived on college campuses—and at a few high schools—as Democratic presidential candidates scramble to establish relationships with young people, aiming to cultivate volunteers and stoke enthusiasm before school lets out for the summer,” McClatchy reports.

Nate Silver: “Presumably, this was intentional on the O’Rourke campaign’s behalf. Having some good news in its pocket, it waited to announce its fundraising haul until a busier news cycle (Monday morning instead of Friday afternoon) and until the media narrative surrounding his launch had begun to overextend itself. O’Rourke’s $6.1 million in fundraising is important unto itself — more money allows a campaign to hire more staff, open more field offices, run more ads and compete in more states — but it sounded like an even bigger deal to journalists who had begun to hear whispers of fundraising totals that would fall well below that.”

“It could be more than a good troll, in fact, if it suggests that O’Rourke and his staff are learning to manage media expectations, something that had been a problem for the proto-campaign in its pre-launch phase. Expectations management is a key survival skill for a modern presidential candidate — one that could come in handy later on when the media is trying to interpret, for example, whether a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses was a good finish for O’Rourke or a bad one.”

Harry Enten: “O’Rourke’s campaign is off to a fast start. He reported raising $6.1 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign and has generated a lot of Google search interest.”

“Candidates who have done well on both metrics on launch day have seen a subsequent jump in the polls.”

Politico: “One great question surrounding Beto O’Rourke has been whether he could replicate the massive fundraising totals he mustered in the Texas Senate race last year.”

“On Monday, O’Rourke put any doubt to rest, announcing that in the first 24 hours of his campaign, he had raised a staggering $6.1 million.”

“In so doing, the Texas Democrat signaled that he’s in for a sustained campaign— with the fundraising capacity to last deep into the primary and to compete with anyone in the race.”

CNN: “As he prepares for a possible run, Biden has hunkered down for strategy sessions with a tight knit group of advisers and held meetings with top Democrats and elected officials. One subject of discussion has been the early selection of a running mate, which one aide said would help keep the focus of the primary fight on the ultimate goal of unseating Trump.”

“Last week, Biden stirred speculation as he met privately with Stacey Abrams, a Democratic rising star who ran for governor in Georgia last fall and is weighing another run for office — potentially even the presidency. Biden requested the meeting, according to a person familiar with the sit-down, which comes as the two mull their own respective political futures. Abrams also huddled with a half-dozen other Democratic presidential hopefuls, but her meeting with Biden takes on added weight because of his attempts to shore up support among black leaders amid lingering questions about his treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and his support for a sweeping crime bill two decades ago.”

“Biden’s team has started gaming out scenarios for what a campaign launch could look like with Wilmington, Delaware, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Biden was born, among several potential locations floated for an announcement rally, a source with knowledge of the discussions said. While the rest of the Democratic field settles into place, Biden’s allies say the former vice president is keenly aware of the attention any announcement will draw.”

Beto O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in his first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, according to his campaign, surpassing Bernie Sanders and every other 2020 Democrat who has disclosed their figures, NBC News reports.

Washington Post: “O’Rourke was a fundraising juggernaut during his U.S. Senate race in Texas last year, but there were significant questions about whether that would translate to a national campaign where he was running against fellow Democrats, not Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.”

“The answer appears to be yes.”

“This is the race I want to run.”

— Sen. Elizabeth Warren, quoted by the Associated Press, on running for president as an underdog.

CNN: “O’Rourke told reporters in Milwaukee on Sunday that he is ‘in talks’ with someone to become his campaign manager and has offered the job to one person. He did not say who that person is. O’Rourke’s campaign declined to comment, and Jen O’Malley Dillon did not return requests for comment.”

“O’Malley Dillon was the deputy campaign manager of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and a top political consultant for Justin Trudeau in Canada.”

New York Times: “As the primary process kicks into full swing, some Democrats are bypassing the kind of experienced Washington ‘wiseguys’ who operated in the caldron of beltway politics — famous strategists like David Axelrod, James Carville and, more recently, Robby Mook. Instead, campaigns are increasingly filling senior positions with a new generation of activist-driven operatives, whose political formation took place in grass-roots movements.”

“The shift has resulted in greater staff diversity than in previous cycles, but it has also influenced strategy, according to campaign officials. New voices are joining with election-cycle veterans to bring fresh ideas and political strategies to the presidential stage.”

Geekwire: Schultz has hired Instagram’s former head of analytics, Mike Develin, as his chief analytics officer, according to Develin’s LinkedIn profile. In addition, Schultz’s team on Friday posted nine new job openings, including several tech roles, such as Senior Front End Engineer, BI Developer Analyst, Marketing Operations Manager, IT Specialist, and Senior Front End Engineer.”

“Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan acknowledges that many Republicans nationwide who have heard about his potential presidential ambitions probably view him as a centrist with little hope of finding support in President Trump’s GOP,” the Washington Post reports.

“But amid growing tensions between Trump and Republican lawmakers over foreign policy and the president’s treatment of global alliances, Hogan is signaling that if he decides to wage an insurgent campaign for the GOP nomination, he would pitch himself as far more in tune with the party’s long-held values and worldview than Trump.”

Politico: “Four days into his presidential campaign, O’Rourke’s supporters are still stuffing themselves into coffee shops and living rooms across the Midwest to see the Democratic sensation as he motors east from Iowa to New Hampshire in a Dodge Grand Caravan. And O’Rourke by the weekend was moving deliberately to speak more specifically about policy, to hold more organized events and to mend his relationship with the media.”

“But for all the charisma and fundraising that could carry him far into the Democratic primary, a series of missteps in his campaign’s earliest days served as a reminder of how uncertain a prospect his star remains.”