SCHULTZ PREPARING. NYT. “Howard Schultz, the former chief executive of Starbucks and a self-described ‘lifelong Democrat,’ said Sunday he was preparing to run for president as an independent and had already begun the groundwork required to be on the ballot in all 50 states.”

500 REGISTERED. AJC. “While the 2020 U.S. presidential election is still more than a year away, many people are gearing up to run for the nation’s highest office — 482 people, to be exact.”

MAILER QUESTIONS. FN. “The Citizens for Waters report to the Federal Election Commission from Dec. 11 lists $183,022 in debt to her daughter Karen Waters, who is in charge of distributing ‘slate mailers.'”

ALLEGED CAMPAIGN FINANCE ISSUE. JS. “Federal campaign finance law prohibits foreign nationals from directly or indirectly making a ‘contribution or donation of money or other thing of value’ in connection with a U.S. election—and also prohibits any person from soliciting, accepting or receiving such a contribution.”

IL: PARTY ISSUES. CST. “Looking forward, one of the biggest questions facing Republican legislators is where will their campaign money come from. Not only did their primary contributor, Bruce Rauner, depart the scene, but after losing so many seats last year combined with the possibility that President Trump will be at the top of the ballot in 2020, who’s gonna give them any cash?”

RI: REPORTING NOTED. PJ. “Heading into a week of Senate confirmation hearings for Gov. Gina Raimondo’s latest batch of judicial nominees, a senator is raising questions about the fines that Raimondo’s nominee to the Family Court was required to pay the Board of Elections for repeatedly flouting the state’s campaign-reporting law.”

UT: WHO FUNDS. SLT. “Incoming Utah legislators collected only 6 percent of their campaign donations during the 2018 election year from voters who actually live in their districts.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.