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01/14/2019 10:00 AM EDT

By ZACH MONTELLARO (zmontellaro@politico.com; @ZachMontellaro)


Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Score is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Campaigns subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here.
QUICK FIX
- Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard became the latest Democrats to officially get into the presidential race. With little national name recognition, they face a steeper climb than some other candidates.

- The Justice Department was aware in early 2018 of allegations of election fraud in North Carolina's 9th District stemming from a previous election.

- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) appears to be getting close to a presidential bid. She has hired senior staff and reportedly told a small group of women that she is running.

Good Monday morning. The Patriots are still an evil empire. Email me your thoughts at zmontellaro@politico.com or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.

Email the great Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com, jarkin@politico.com, and lbarron-lopez@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @lbarronlopez.

Days until the 2019 election: 295

Days until the 2020 election: 659
THE TOPLINES
THE FIELD EXPANDS - Two more Democrats jumped into the Democratic presidential primary. Castro officially announced his campaign on Saturday. His "bid is a play for the Obama coalition, the amalgamation of diverse constituencies - young, African-American, Latino, Asian - that the party sees as its future in a demographically changing America," POLITICO's Nolan McCaskill wrote. "Castro's potential appeal to the voters who elected Barack Obama to two terms is obvious, even if his path to victory is harder to envision."

Another Democrat who tossed her name into the ring: Hawaii's Gabbard. She told CNN's Van Jones that she'll make a formal announcement within the week and that she'll base her platform around foreign policy. "There is one main issue that is central to the rest, and that is the issue of war and peace," Gabbard, an Iraqi War veteran, said.

Both represent a class of candidates whose path to the nomination isn't as clear as some of the top-tier would-be candidates, like former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Bernie Sanders, because they (as of now) lack a national platform and have limited name recognition. In a recent POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, zero percent of voters said they'd vote for Castro to be the Democratic nominee, and Gabbard didn't make the poll.

This is not a death knell. But, even two years out, the Castros and Gabbards of the world have a lot of ground to make up in a field already littered with candidates who have spent years building a national following, from grassroots fundraising networks to allies in Washington and more.

- Intense scrutiny of lesser-known candidates' past is also coming. Case in point: CNN's Andrew Kaczynski reported about Gabbard's anti-LGBT activism in the early 2000s, which helped launch her political career. Gabbard has since renounced those views and apologized for them.
IN THE TRENCHES
NC-09, CONTINUED - The Justice Department was informed of allegations of election fraud against McCrae Dowless, the independent contractor at the center of the election fraud scandal in the midterms, months before the 2018 election, The Washington Post's Beth Reinhard reported. In early 2018, Justice Department officials met with North Carolina state officials and also received a memo detailing allegations against Dowless from the 2016 elections.

PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has hired some top staffers: Dan McNally as campaign director, Meredith Kelly as communications director and Emmy Bengtson and deputy communications director, POLITICO's Elena Schneider reported. Gillibrand also told a small group of influential women over the weekend that she will run for president, BuzzFeed New's Darren Sands reported.

- Sanders is staffing up his digital operations, bringing in Sanders 2016 alumni and recruiting the production team that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) used in her upstart bid. POLITICO's Holly Otterbein reported that Means of Production, which produced Ocasio-Cortez's viral campaign video, is in talks for a major role if he runs in 2020. Sanders is also poised to bring on Tim Tagaris and Robin Curran, who were key members of his 2016 team.

- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will make her first stop in South Carolina at a gala on Jan. 25, POLITICO's Christopher Cadelago reported.

- As Washington Gov. Jay Inslee mulls a presidential bid, he's getting no love from New Hampshire after the DGA abandoned the state while he was chair. "Inslee's decision while he chaired the Democratic Governors Association not to invest in New Hampshire's competitive governor's race last year still burns some of the state's leading Democrats," POLITICO's Natasha Korecki and Daniel Strauss report. "Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chair, said the move was so surprising that state Democrats assumed Inslee had abandoned any 2020 aspirations."

- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for overhauling the criminal justice system in her first swing through New Hampshire, POLITICO's Stephanie Murray reported.

- Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said he'd self-finance if he ran, via the AP's Will Weissert.

- The most 2020 event ever: Oprah Winfrey will interview former Rep. Beto O'Rourke at a live event in New York on Feb. 5, POLITICO's David Siders reported.

- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said "I never rule things out" when asked by CNN's Jake Tapper if he was considering a run.

PRIMARY WATCH - Justice Democrats, the progressive wing of the party that helped recruit Ocasio-Cortez, named Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) as its top primary target. The group launched a fund to raise money and bashed Cuellar for not backing a litany of progressive policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal and for not supporting other policies embraced by the Democratic Party at large. Our own Laura Barrón-López reported last month that Cuellar was on the group's early target list.

- Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, has already moved the Democratic Party to the left and doesn't plan on giving up her platform any time soon. The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher: "In an interview, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez rejected 'the general notion of, "Oh, you're here and need to be quiet and keep your head down." 'For me, especially as a member who won her seat via a primary election against another Democrat, my constituency was telling me the exact opposite thing,' she said."

THE CASH DASH - Several freshmen lawmakers have set up leadership PACs. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the list includes Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) andJosh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Greg Pence (R-Ind.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas). For those curious about the Ocasio-Cortez (who is a prolific small-dollar fundraiser who has shunned corporate PACs, like many freshmen Democrats) leadership PAC: the CRP's Karl Evers-Hillstrom and Raymond Arke reported, citing an anonymous source, that the leadership PAC won't accept corporate or lobbyist money and was not set up with the primary function to primary other Democrats. A request for
comment to Ocasio-Cortez' campaign and congressional office went unreturned.

UP NEXT - Kansas Republican Kris Kobach, whose name has been floated as a potential 2020 Senate candidate, ended last year with his failed gubernatorial bid in the red. The Kansas City Star's Jonathan Shorman reported that Kobach's campaign had a negative cash on hand balance of over $29,000 at the end of 2018, but his campaign manager said his next report will show that the books have balanced.

- Democrat Stacey Abrams met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and DSCC chair Catherine Cortez Masto as she mulls a Georgia Senate run, Campaign Pro's Daniel and James Arkin report.

DECROWNED? - House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy promised that "action will be taken" against Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), after King's latest defense of white nationalism. "I'm having a serious conversation with Congressman Steve King about his future and role in this Republican Party," McCarthy said to CBS' Margaret Brennan, saying he's meeting with King today.

CODA - SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE OF THE DAY: "Anthony Scaramucci joins 'Celebrity Big Brother' cast," from Page Six.

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