Some of the meetings have been requested by the Democratic hopefuls, while others have come to fruition because Obama has kept in touch with the attendants since leaving office. The latter category includes Biden and Holder, both of whom worked in his administration.<doc-sep>When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox It is understood the meetings have taken place at Obama’s personal office on the third floor of the World Wildlife Fund building, and have included discussions on the future of the Democratic Party. Mr Sanders, who lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democrats’ primaries, has more respect for Obama and his former administration than most believe, sources told Politico. And it is understood the Democrat requested a meeting with the former president in mid-March. Meanwhile Ms Warren has met with Mr Obama on at least two separate occasions since he left office in January 2017. The first was in the spring of 2017 after Warren revealed she was “troubled” by the $400,000 Obama received after speaking at Wall Street investment firm. She also met with the former US President for a 90-minute chat in April after she told CNN's Jim Acosta in March: ”I am not running for president in 2020.”<doc-sep>Barack Obama has in recent months met with at least nine prospective 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Deval Patrick, pulling them in for one-on-one sessions at his Washington office. All the meetings were arranged quietly, without even some close advisers to the people involved being told of the conversations, in part because of how much Obama bristles at his private meetings becoming public knowledge. All have been confirmed to POLITICO by multiple people who have been briefed on the secretive sit-downs. The meetings have been at Obama’s personal office on the third floor of the World Wildlife Fund building in D.C.’s West End neighborhood, and they show how a stream of ambitious, searching politicians are looking for guidance and support from the man who has remained the reluctant leader of the Democratic Party, eager to be involved, though not directly. He's not making any promises of support, though, and is not expected to endorse in the 2020 race until after a nominee has emerged. Obama so far has avoided direct conflict with President Donald Trump — save for a few public statements criticizing his moves attempting to dismantle the Iran nuclear deal, Obamacare and the protection program for Dreamers, though without naming Trump. But Obama is concerned about how his own party is responding, and how it can be best positioned to win in the midterms and in the next presidential cycle to beat back the president and his politics. Morning Score newsletter Your guide to the permanent campaign — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He doesn’t see himself as the person to come up with the plan, people who know about the meetings say, but he is eager to be a sounding board and counselor to the Democrats he sees as playing a role in shaping the party’s future. Obama’s office declined comment on all the meetings. Sanders, who has more respect for Obama and the work of his administration than is often portrayed, requested his meeting with the former president, held in mid-March, people told about that conversation confirmed. They talked about the future of the party and their different roles in it. They talked about what the party should be focused on, and what would be distractions. Obama discussed his views on the differences between idealism and practicality, and Sanders responded with his. They did not get into a specific discussion about whether Sanders would run again for president in 2020. The meeting with Warren was Obama’s second since leaving office, according to people who know about both encounters. The first was in the spring of 2017 after Warren said she was “troubled” by the $400,000 Obama was getting to speak at a Wall Street investment firm, describing it as an example of the influence of money that she called “a snake that slithers through Washington.” Obama responded by inviting her in. They heard each other out. She did not apologize, but she acknowledged what she’d kicked up with the comment, and they talked about keeping that conversation in mind for the future. The second meeting, warmer from start to finish, came just this past April and ran well into 90 minutes. They talked about Richard Cordray, the former head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who is now the Democratic nominee for governor in Ohio. They reminisced. They talked about Trump. Obama and Biden remain personally close and speak by phone, and the former vice president also came by for an in-person meeting in January. He’s waiting until after the midterms to make a decision on 2020, though many people see him as leaning toward it. The 2020 race and what Biden’s going to do haven’t come up in those discussions, though, with Obama waiting on his friend to make a decision, according to people who have been briefed on their conversations. Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor and personal friend whom Obama and many in his inner circle are eager to see get into the 2020 race — and who has recently been making rumblings that he very well might — has been in to the office too. Patrick, though, is on the board of the Obama Foundation, giving them at least an outward reason for the meeting beyond politics. “The president was generous with his time and advice, and he was excited to talk about the future,” said one person familiar with one of the meetings. Many of the conversations have circled around Obama holding forth about how much Democrats should be heading into the midterms talking about the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election versus focusing on kitchen table issues. Don’t chase the shiny objects, he tells them. Don’t hyperventilate over the flash of any tweet. Think about what’s going to stick in the long term. This has all happened against the backdrop of Obama’s continuing work on his memoir, which he fell behind schedule on writing and for which he does not yet have a release date. He’s also been doing major fundraising for his foundation, and building out a stronger sense of what sort of programs it should have to fulfill his vision of it as a social organizing engine for creating more good in the world. And he’s continued to make those very well-paid speeches. On the road and over the phone, major donors and other panicked Democrats have been pushing him to take on a bigger public role in the fight against Trump. He has demurred on that — for now — keeping to his plan of waiting until the fall to begin making endorsements and campaign appearances. In private, it’s a different story. He’s urged donors to contribute to the Democratic National Committee.<doc-sep>(CNN) — There’s no debate within the Democratic Party about who its most popular politician is: It’s Barack Obama, by a lot. So it’s not terribly surprising that as ambitious Democratic candidates begin the arduous process of considering whether to run against President Donald Trump, they are seeking Obama’s counsel. Already 10 potential 2020ers have huddled privately with Obama to talk through the state of the country and the state of the party, according to CNN’s Dan Merica. (Here’s the list: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; former Vice President Joe Biden; former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Peter Buttigieg; former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander; and former Attorney General Eric Holder.) “He has been very clear about the need for the Democratic Party to rebuild and part of that is lifting up the next generation of leaders,” a Democratic source told Merica. “So if people want advice or a gut check or just to come in and look at the challenges we face, he is happy to do that.” It’s a near-certainty that Obama won’t endorse any candidate in what promises to be a massive 2020 Democratic field. (Unless, of course, his wife, Michelle, runs.) Remember that Obama chose to remain neutral in the 2016 primary fight between Sanders and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He only endorsed Clinton after the last primary votes had been cast, in early June 2016. Simply because Obama isn’t likely to offer a formal endorsement of a candidate doesn’t mean candidates won’t be trying like hell to give off the impression that the former president likes them and their ideas best. You can imagine, say, Cory Booker in Iowa in December 2019, saying something like: “When I sat down with former President Obama, he and I agreed that etc. etc. etc. …” Then there is the inevitable tea leaf-reading that goes with former high-ranking Obama staffers or major donors signing on with one of the 2020 candidates. That – the stuff on which the so-called “Invisible Primary” largely depends – was almost totally absent during the 2016 race because almost everyone who was anyone in Obamaworld was on Clinton’s side. There is no Clinton – or Clinton-like front-runner figure – in the race this time. If Biden runs – and all signs point to that he will – he will likely scoop up a number of donors and senior staff who aided Obama. But Biden has his own universe of political types and it predates his time as Obama’s veep, meaning that simply assuming the former Delaware senator will be “Obama’s guy” in 2020 may well miss the mark. The Point: That Obama is taking meetings with presidential aspirants at all belies the idea prevalent in some Democratic circles that he had little interest in shaping the party – and, potentially, the presidency – going forward. Obama is clearly interested. We just don’t know yet in whom. Read Monday’s full edition of The Point newsletter, and sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox!<doc-sep>
Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren participate in the Democratic debate co-hosted by CNN and The New York Times in Westerville, Ohio, on Tuesday, October 15. CAMBRIDGE, MA - OCTOBER 20: Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law professor, is at center of controversy over the proposal to create a national Consumer Financial Protection Agency. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Jim Morgan, chairman of the New Hampshire Log Cabin Republicans (left), and his husband, Paul Michael Freitas, leave an event hosted by the Rockingham County Young Republicans, on January 18, 2020, in Brentwood, New Hampshire. If only one can win the nomination, why do so many run? CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 25: Democratic presidential candidates (L-R) former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Tom Steyer participate in the Democratic presidential primary debate at the Charleston Gaillard Center on February 25, 2020 in Charleston, South Carolina. Seven candidates qualified for the debate, hosted by CBS News and Congressional Black Caucus Institute, ahead of South Carolina's primary in 4 days. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Former U.S. President Barack Obama answers questions at the Gates Foundation Inaugural Goalkeepers event on September 20, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images) (CNN) — Barack Obama has met with several Democrats considering running for president in 2020, a Democrat close to the former president tells CNN, offering them advice on running in the Trump era and discussing how to position the party going forward. The meetings come as the former president charts his future political life and evaluates how he can best help a Democratic Party that is working to figure out how to run with President Donald Trump in the White House. Some Democrats accused Obama of neglecting the Democratic Party apparatus while in the White House, but people close to the former president argue he is fully invested in the future of the party and the bench of talent looking to run on 2020. To date, according to the Democrat, Obama has met with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; former Vice President Joe Biden; former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Peter Buttigieg; former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander; and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Add CNN's 2018 elections calendar Stay up to date on key election dates and other events, such as town halls and debates, as they get added throughout the year. Subscribe on your Google or Apple calendar. Democrats are anticipating a large 2020 field, and there are still several notable potential candidates – California Sen. Kamala Harris, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe among them – who have not yet discussed campaign plans with Obama. The Democrat did not describe these meetings as sessions where Obama gave each candidate specific advice about running for president – “This is not about where you put your Sioux City, Iowa office,” the source joked. Instead, the source said, Obama spends “much more time on how to respond to the President, positioning and broader challenges with the party.” “He has been very clear about the need for the Democratic Party to rebuild and part of that is lifting up the next generation of leaders,” the Democrat said. “So if people want advice or a gut check or just to come in and look at the challenges we face, he is happy to do that.” The meetings, which were first reported by Politico, are part of a number of conversations Obama regularly has with top political leaders in Washington from his office in the World Wildlife Fund building in northwest DC. Obama has also met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi about the future of the party and Congress and has also spent time with Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Chris Coons of Delaware. Obama has also had conversations with several Republicans, namely the ailing Arizona Sen. John McCain, who Obama beat in the 2008 presidential election, and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who has become the most vocal Republican opponent to Trump.