Bernie 2.0 turns out to be a lot like the old operating system.

Confounding media speculation that his current campaign for president would introduce revealing personal elements, the Vermont senator's speech at a Brooklyn College presidential campaign kickoff rally on Saturday consisted largely of themes he's been sounding for the past 40 years.

Sanders did pause 20 minutes into his 35-minute oration to offer “a few personal words.”

He spoke of his Polish immigrant father, a paint salesman “who worked hard his entire life but never made much money.” Most of Eli Sanders' family, the candidate noted, had been “wiped out by Nazi barbarism.”

Sanders also described growing up in a three-and-a-half-room apartment not far from the snow-covered college quadrangle where he was addressing an adoring crowd of about 10,000.

In the weeks following his reelection last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) continued to fundraise at a brisk pace, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Between November 27 and the end of December, Sanders collected close to $560,000 and spent nearly $250,000. He finished 2018 with roughly $9.1 million in his Senate campaign account.

Sanders, who is reportedly close to announcing a second run for president, could legally transfer the funds to a presidential campaign committee. A separate, mostly dormant account affiliated with his 2016 campaign had more than $4.7 million in it at the end of the year, according to another FEC filing. A third account under Sanders' control, the Progressive Voters of America political action committee, reported $125,000 in the bank.

Sanders' latest Senate campaign report shows that he kept his reelection team of roughly a dozen people on payroll at least through the end of the year. That included several people who are expected to play a role in a potential 2020 presidential bid: 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver, spokesperson Arianna Jones, Senate campaign manager Shannon Jackson and senior adviser Joshua Orton. (CNN reported last month that Weaver would not reprise his role as campaign manager but would likely serve in another capacity.)

The senator also paid a Des Moines political consulting firm $2,500 in December, according to the filing. The company, PAD Consulting, is run by Pete D'Alessandro, who was Sanders' Iowa campaign coordinator in 2016. D'Alessandro did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his current role.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday declined an opportunity to endorse Republican President Donald Trump for reelection in 2020. During his weekly press conference, Scott did not utter the name "Donald Trump." But in a series of brief answers to press inquiries, he implicitly rejected Trump as his party's 2020 standard-bearer.

When asked if he had a preference in the next election, Scott replied, "I do not have a candidate I favor for 2020."

Asked if he would like to see a competitive Republican primary, Scott said, "It wouldn't bother me." When asked if a contested primary would be a good thing, he said, "From my standpoint, I think it would be." He would not suggest any alternative candidates.

Scott refused to endorse Trump in 2016. Since then, Scott has repeatedly distanced himself from the president, sometimes drawing the ire of VTGOP loyalists for doing so.

Scott's criticism has often focused on Trump's style. "Leaders should unite, not divide," Scott said, during the final debate of his reelection campaign. He has drawn a contrast between the rough-and-tumble of national politics and his own efforts to maintain an atmosphere of civility in Montpelier. He has differed with Trump on numerous issues as well.

In 2017, Scott signed a bill that set limits on state or local law enforcement agencies' participation in federal immigration-enforcement actions. He has been critical of Trump's hard line on the issue and opposed the separation of immigrant families at the border with Mexico. He also slammed Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords. And he refused to sign a Republican Governors Association letter endorsing Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hasn’t announced that he's running for president in 2020, and members of his staff have been tight-lipped about his intentions. But if money talks, his campaign organization spoke up — loudly and suddenly — this month.

Friends of Bernie Sanders, the senator's campaign committee, spent big on Facebook ads in January after lying largely dormant for the last three months of 2018. The splurge hit a high of $45,908 last week, around the same time that Yahoo News reported Sanders will launch a presidential campaign "imminently."

The campaign's most recent big buy landed it in the top 20 for weekly political ad spending on Facebook, trailing companies such as ExxonMobil, advocacy groups such as MoveOn, and presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Sanders' campaign spent a total of $85,439 on Facebook ads over the past four weeks.

Friends of Bernie Sanders staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon.