However Monday night’s caucuses turn out, Biden said he doesn’t see those results defining the race – at least for him if he doesn’t win. “It’s not as consequential in one sense as it has been in years past,” he said. New Hampshire will be “a real uphill race as it always is for a non-New Englander.” Both Sanders and Warren are from neighboring states.

The calendar becomes more favorable to him after that. “I feel very strongly that we have a great firewall in South Carolina. I think we’re in a position where we’ll do very well in Nevada,” he said.

In addition to teasing a strong fundraising announcement as January comes to a close, Schultz big-name Democratic fundraisers who have joined Biden’s finance committee, including Pritzker, the former U.S. Commerce Secretary; former Ambassadors Jane Hartley and Rufus Gifford; Lasry, chairman and CEO of Avenue; Mark Gallogly, managing principal and co-founder of private equity firm Centerbridge Partners; Blair Effron, co-founder of investment banking firm Centerview Partners; and Alex Heckler, founding and managing partner of LSN Partners, a Miami Beach-based consulting firm.