POLITICO Playbook PM: Bloomberg fills the Obama vacuum Presented by

Former President Barack Obama is welcomed by Mike Bloomberg before speaking at the US Africa Business Forum in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. | Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

TEA LEAVES -- THE PRESIDENT granted clemency to Eddie DeBartolo Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. More from Myah Ward

-- JUST FYI: “Roger Stone sentencing still on for Thursday,” by Darren Samuelsohn and Josh Gerstein: “Roger Stone’s sentencing will go forward as planned on Thursday, despite the longtime Donald Trump associate’s Hail Mary attempt to get a new trial and ongoing presidential haranguing about a miscarriage of justice.

“U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson decided during a brief teleconference Tuesday that there was no reason to continue delaying sentencing for the convicted GOP operative while she considers holding a hearing on a new-trial motion. Stone faces up to 50 years in prison after being convicted last November on seven felony charges, including lying to Congress and obstructing lawmakers in their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.” POLITICO

TOMMY VIETOR, a Barack Obama alum of Crooked Media fame, made this point on Twitter this morning (@TVietor08): “It’s jarring to see all these Bloomberg ads that suggest Obama has endorsed him, especially considering how...perfunctory his endorsement of Obama was back in 2012.”

IF YOU LISTEN TO THE ANTI-BLOOMBERG WING of the Democratic Party, the former Republican-turned-independent NYC mayor is illegitimately claiming the Obama mantle. We’ve gotten a slew of emails echoing VIETOR’S point this morning after we ran the most recent BLOOMBERG-OBAMA ad.

BUT … Who is to stop BLOOMBERG -- or any candidate -- from positioning himself as the heir to the OBAMA legacy if Obama himself is quiet on the sidelines? IT STANDS TO REASON, since Obama has been neutral on the presidential primary front for years. But it does allow someone like Bloomberg to step into the void.

SCOOP … KYLE CHENEY: “Top intel office lawyer who handled Ukraine whistleblower complaint resigning”: “Jason Klitenic, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, will depart early next month, according to an agency spokeswoman. His exit comes as the acting DNI, Joseph Maguire, nears a March 11 deadline to depart as well. Federal law prevents Maguire from serving in an acting capacity beyond that date, meaning a new director must be nominated and confirmed by then, or Trump must pick a new acting official.

“No official reason for Klitenic's departure has been provided. But he became the subject of scrutiny in September when he consulted with the Justice Department and determined that a whistleblower complaint deemed ‘urgent’ by an internal watchdog would not be provided to Congress.” POLITICO

NEW … WE LINKED THIS MORNING to Chris Cadelago and Sally Goldenberg’s story about MIKE BLOOMBERG’S debate prep. One more detail that we’ve ferreted out of New York: BRADLEY TUSK is running the process for TEAM BLOOMBERG.

PUNDIT PREP … WATCH SOME OF BLOOMBERG’S mayoral debates: 11/1/2001 … 10/30/2005 … 10/27/2009

-- MUTUALLY ASSURED BENEFITS … BLOOMBERG CAMPAIGN MANAGER KEVIN SHEEKEY (@ksheekey): “The opposition research on @BernieSanders could fill @realDonaldTrump’s empty Foxconn facility in Wisconsin. It is very damaging, perhaps even disqualifying.”

WOWZA … BY THE NUMBERS -- @Ad_Analytics: “[email protected] is the highest spending presidential candidate of all time. According to our data, he has spent $338.7M on traditional media, surpassing @BarackObama's 2012 record of $338.3M. #Election2020”

-- MCCLATCHY’S @davecatanese: “On call with reporters, @MikeBloomberg adviser [Dan Kanninen] says there are just 3 viable candidates left with the chance at becoming president next year: Bloomberg, Bernie + Trump. Adds Bloomberg is the only one who can beat Trump.”

HOW DEMS ARE PLAYING IMPEACHMENT -- SENATE MAJORITY PAC is launching a five-figure ad buy on Facebook and YouTube today against GOP Sen. SUSAN COLLINS in MAINE. It’s the group’s first post-impeachment ad. Instead of hitting Collins on health care or some other kitchen-table issue, it plays off her comments that she hoped President DONALD TRUMP “has learned a pretty big lesson.” The ad

-- LOOK FOR SMP and other Dem groups to use messaging in key Senate races that GOP lawmakers voted to acquit Trump because they were trying to protect him and the Republican Party, not because he was innocent of an impeachable offense.

Good Tuesday afternoon.

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SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) announced that he met with Iranian Foreign Minister JAVAD ZARIF in Munich. Murphy’s Twitter thread describing the meeting

THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY … CARLA MARINUCCI in Turlock, Calif.: “Rural California's delegate gold mine suddenly matters in Democratic primary”: “Vast farm regions once considered California flyover country have suddenly become stopover country for presidential campaigns two weeks before Super Tuesday.

“Fresh off a strong showing in New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg landed in this small Central Valley city of 74,000, addressing an excited crowd of 700 Stanislaus County Democrats at their ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ Valentine’s Day gala dinner. Many said [they] couldn’t believe their luck, not after decades of presidential candidates ignoring California's inland areas.

“‘I’ve lived in California my whole life, and I’ve never seen a presidential candidate,’ said Kathy Causey, a retired child protective services worker and lifelong Democrat who lives in the foothills area of Twain Harte.

“Buttigieg’s road trip into the region John Steinbeck once described as ‘America’s Breadbasket’ underscores how candidates are going to far-flung regions of the state to mine for delegate gold in a competitive Democratic primary.

“‘California is no longer a strategic consideration. It’s a tactical consideration,’ said GOP strategist Mike Madrid. He noted that California's primary rules award delegates proportionally by congressional district, meaning that candidates know they must essentially run their ground game essentially ‘in 53 different states,’ the number of congressional districts in California.” POLITICO

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BILLIONAIRES BATTLE … LETTER TO THE FT: “George Soros: Remove Zuckerberg and Sandberg from their posts”: “Mr Zuckerberg appears to be engaged in some kind of mutual assistance arrangement with Donald Trump that will help him to get re-elected. Facebook does not need to wait for government regulations to stop accepting any political advertising in 2020 until after the elections on November 4. If there is any doubt whether an ad is political, it should err on the side of caution and refuse to publish. It is unlikely that Facebook will follow this course.

“Therefore, I repeat my proposal, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg should be removed from control of Facebook. (It goes without saying that I support government regulation of social media platforms.) … George Soros, Paris, France”

NEW SANCTIONS -- “Trump administration targets Russian oil company for helping Venezuela skirt sanctions,” by Caitlin Oprysko: “The Trump administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions on Russian oil company Rosneft for helping Venezuela skirt sanctions on oil exports meant to pressure the Maduro regime.

“The sanctions are the latest Trump administration effort to pressure Venezuelan President Nicholás Maduro by choking off the flow of money to his government. The penalties will target both assets of the company within the U.S. and global partners of Rosneft, which is run by Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladmir Putin. The new sanctions will include a 90-day wind down period for those involved with Rosneft to disentangle their interests with the company.” POLITICO … Treasury’s press release

IMMIGRATION FILES -- “Homeland Security waives contracting laws for border wall,” by AP’s Elliot Spagat in San Diego: “The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will waive federal contracting laws to speed construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Department of Homeland Security said waiving procurement regulations will allow 177 miles (283 kilometers) of wall to be built more quickly in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

“The 10 waived laws include requirements for having open competition, justifying selections and receiving all bonding from a contractor before any work can begin. The acting Homeland Security secretary, Chad Wolf, is exercising authority under a 2005 law that gives him sweeping powers to waive laws for building border barriers.” AP

CORONAVIRUS LATEST -- “Quarantine on cruise ship in Japan comes under question,” by AP’s Maria Cheng and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo

CENSUS WATCH -- “Census Bureau spends millions on ads combating citizenship question scare,” by Maya King: “In response to widespread fear among immigrants and activists over the Trump administration’s failed drive to put a question about citizenship status on the 2020 census, the Census Bureau is investing millions of dollars in an advertising campaign underlining the fact that participants’ information will not be shared with local or federal authorities.

“The handful of citizenship-focused advertisements are part of a massive, $500 million ad campaign the Census Bureau plans to roll out over the next five months, including $50 million on content targeting Latinos, according to Culture ONE World, a Washington, D.C.-based advertising agency. The Census Bureau is also spending $40 million on ads directed at African Americans and $20 million targeting Asian American census participation. The ads will run on TV and in print and digital media.” POLITICO … Ad campaign details

INSIDE TEAM WARREN -- “Elizabeth Warren’s Allies Claim ‘Erasure’ As They Seek To Reignite Campaign,” by NYT’s Astead Herndon in Reno, Nev.: “She is not cratering or surging, neither the most likely to win nor at risk of immediately dropping out, a 40-degree day surrounded by candidates who are hot and cold. Her staff members and plenty of allies argue that as a result, she is being ignored by the news media and some voters during a pivotal moment in the primary, and she is at risk of becoming less relevant in the nominating process — something her campaign is now trying to reverse. …

“When her caucus-night speech in Iowa was cut off, her campaign aides complained privately to cable networks. When her speech after the New Hampshire primary was not carried live at all, they took their criticism public. ... If the campaign is trying to rally supporters at a time when Ms. Warren’s candidacy hangs in the balance, it is also trying to move on from some recent political events: Her much-touted campaign organization did not show a dramatic payoff in the first two contests, and polling in Nevada, South Carolina and Super Tuesday states has shown little improvement among the black and Latino Democrats she once thought could spring her to the nomination.” NYT

BIG BIDEN READ -- “The war in Afghanistan shattered Joe Biden’s faith in American military power,” by WaPo’s Greg Jaffe: “Vice President Joe Biden decided to make one more last-minute push to convince President Obama that the advice his generals were giving him was disastrously wrong. It was Thanksgiving weekend 2009, and Obama was on the verge of committing 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan. … There was little in Biden’s past that could have predicted that he would stake out such a hard position in his first months as vice president.

“Today, Biden’s role in the Afghanistan debate offers perhaps the clearest indication of how as commander in chief he would use America’s unrivaled military power to defend the country and allay the world’s worst human suffering. Biden talks about America in grand, almost Reaganesque, terms. It’s ‘an idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant,’ he has said.

“But inside the Obama administration Biden was a consistent voice of caution. The mismatch is a product of an approach to foreign policy that is guided largely by impulse and feeling rather than abiding philosophy. And it reflects a decades-long career in which Biden has been all over the map on the biggest questions of war and peace.” WaPo

THE POLICY PRIMARY -- “How Bloomberg would make community college free and overhaul student loans,” by Michael Stratford: “Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg on Tuesday released a new $700 billion higher education plan that calls for free community college and doubling Pell Grants for low-income students.

“The former New York City mayor's proposal would significantly increase federal spending on higher education and aims to target those subsidies to lower-income families. It doesn’t go as far as proposals by other Democrats to eliminate tuition at public, four year universities for large swaths of students or provide student loan forgiveness on the scale that progressives have sought.” POLITICO … The plan

-- “Bloomberg distances himself from Wall Street with tough new plan,” by Victoria Guida: “Bloomberg, who earned his multibillion-dollar fortune in the finance world, says he would restore restrictions placed on banks after the 2008 crisis that have been loosened under the Trump administration, including a regulation that bans banks from making speculative gambles with depositors’ money.

“The plan is peppered with ideas that Wall Street opposes, such as taxing individual financial transactions, providing financial services through the U.S. Postal Service, and decreasing the extent to which banks can rely on debt to fund their operations.” POLITICO ... The plan

AD WARS ... ZACH MONTELLARO: “Democrats launch $10M campaign bashing Trump in 3 key swing states”: “The Democratic super PAC American Bridge is putting eight figures behind its latest ad campaign, a multimedia barrage aimed at softening up President Donald Trump in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin …

“The new campaign, which was shared first with POLITICO, will include $10 million in spending over the next nine weeks, starting on Wednesday in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The Michigan portion of the buy will begin after the state’s Democratic presidential primary on March 10. … The ad campaign, which includes TV, radio and over-the-top advertising (which includes services like Hulu and other apps), features a former National Guardsman who was deployed to Kuwait. He voted for Trump in 2016 but is no longer supporting him.” POLITICO … Pa. ad 1 … Pa. ad 2 … Wis. ad 1 … Wis. ad 2

HEADS UP -- “Comedians Kenan Thompson, Hasan Minhaj to headline WHCD,” by Quint Forgey: “Kenan Thompson of ‘Saturday Night Live’ will serve as host for the 2020 iteration of the annual gala and Netflix's Hasan Minhaj will return to the awards banquet as the evening’s featured entertainer, the White House Correspondents’ Association announced Tuesday.” POLITICO

SPOTTED: Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) in coach on American Airlines flight 5075 from DCA to Manchester, N.H., this morning. … John Bolton in the Delta Sky Club in the Nashville airport this morning.

MEDIAWATCH -- Alex Presha is joining ABC’s Washington bureau as a multiplatform reporter. He previously was a political reporter at KNSD-TV in San Diego.

TRANSITION -- Tom Benjamin has launched Assemblage Public Affairs. He previously was partner and health care practice lead for DDC Public Affairs.

ENGAGED -- Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Sydney Barron, a legislative representative at the National Association of Realtors, got engaged this weekend on a trip to Ireland, where Gallego popped the question at a small restaurant in the historic city of Limerick. The couple met through mutual friends at the 2018 Congressional Baseball Game. Pic

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Brent Blevins, senior policy adviser for House Science ranking member Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), and Emily Gibson, a science policy analyst at the National Science Foundation, got married Monday on Poipu Beach in Kauai, Hawaii. They met in July 2018 at a United Launch Alliance reception in honor of the launch of the Parker Solar Probe. Pic

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