OFF TO THE RACES: 2016 candidates react to San Bernardino shootings
Here's our wrap from yesterday of how 2016 candidates reacted to the San Bernardino shooting.
President Obama called for more gun control legislation in the wake of the tragedy.
Here's the latest on the suspects in the massacre - U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27. The two allegedly killed 14 people and wounded more than a dozen others at a holiday party at a social services center.
The Daily News goes there on calling out politicos for offering "thoughts and prayers."
Yesterday's big 2016 picture, from the Washington Post: "In a seven-page confidential memo that imagines Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee urges candidates to adopt many of Trump’s tactics, issues and approaches — right down to adjusting the way they dress and how they use Twitter."
Republican presidential candidates are set to court big Jewish donors at a crucial forum in Washington DC.
CARSON: Ben Carson is facing a backlash from anti-abortion activists who don't like that he said that both sides in the abortion debate "should tone down their rhetoric."
CLINTON: Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez is endorsing Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post calls him "one of President Obama's top emissaries to liberal, labor and Latino constituencies."
Here's more on the endorsement, from the Des Moines Register.
She also won the endorsement of the Women's Chamber of Commerce.
In Florida, she said Trump is "making racism and hatred the hallmarks of his campaign."
TRUMP: POLITICO notes that Trump hasn't yet released his medical records. He would be the oldest person ever to ascend to the presidency, at 70. But he tweeted Thursday morning that he plans to release the records in two weeks.
He talked about Mideast peace during an interview with the AP: "Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, he'll know within six months whether he can achieve an elusive peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians, one of the world's most vexing challenges. But the Republican presidential candidate says he has doubts about each side's commitment to the peace process." He also said he is a "big, big fan" of Israel but mentioned that it's not clear to him that either side in the conflict is committed to the peace process.
CONGRESS: 9/11 first responders push McConnell
Frank Thorp, Luke Russert and Alex Moe report on yesterday's efforts by 9/11 first responders to push Mitch McConnell into allowing a vote on a measure aimed to help provide them with health care.
From the AP: "Republicans are pushing toward Senate approval of legislation demolishing President Barack Obama's signature health care law and halting Planned Parenthood's federal money, setting up a veto fight the GOP knows it will lose but thinks will delight conservative voters."
"On Wednesday morning, a group of doctors in white coats arrived on Capitol Hill to deliver a petition to Congress. Signed by more than 2,000 physicians around the country, it pleads with lawmakers to lift a restriction that for nearly two decades has essentially blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from conducting research on gun violence," writes the Washington Post. "Joined by a handful of Democratic lawmakers, the doctors spoke about the need to view gun violence as a public health epidemic and research ways to solve it – as the country would with any disease causing the deaths of thousands of Americans each year."
OBAMA AGENDA: More Secret Service problems!
The Washington Post, with yet more Secret Service lapses: "In a critical report to be released publicly Thursday, House investigators describe the once-elite force as an “agency in crisis” that has failed to fix many of the deeply ingrained problems exposed last year amid a string of humiliating security lapses, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Washington Post."
British war planes have started bombing ISIS targets in Syria.
A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Americans are more worried about homegrown jihadists than refugees or radicalized foreign visitors.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: Today at 12p ET Andrea Mitchell will have the latest developments on the massacre in San Bernardino, CA with our team of reporters; plus former FBI Exec. Asst. Director Shawn Henry; former ATF Special Agent in Charge Jim Cavanaugh; former FBI agent and criminal profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole; plus KNBC photographer Alex Vasquez.