OBAMA AGENDA: “Deeply concerned”
The White House said yesterday that the administration is "deeply concerned" about rhetoric from Netanyahu and his party.
In the wake of Netanyahu's reelection, there might be a silver lining for Palestinians, writes the New York Times: "With Mr. Netanyahu having dropped, for now at least, the pretense of seeking a two-state solution, the Palestinians can argue to Europe and the United States that they no longer have a negotiating partner, strengthening their case for full statehood and recognition in the United Nations, as well as membership in important international bodies."
The AP offers some analysis on how Netanyahu won.
The head of the Secret Service will push back today on reports that two agents crashed a car into a security barrier earlier this month.
Reuters: "The U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, a senior U.S. official said, as Washington considers slowing its military pull-out from Afghanistan to help the new government fight the Taliban."
CONGRESS: Pushing back
Senate Republicans are pushing back on the House GOP's budget with their own document, which maintains caps on defense spending.
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and James Lankford are moving to fight D.C. on two bills they consider an affront to religious freedom.
From POLITICO: "Here’s the reality: Practically any member of Congress can get away with what Aaron Schock did when it comes to official travel."
Rep. Joaquin Castro has a new title: chief deputy whip.
OFF TO THE RACES: Straw poll woes in Iowa
More straw poll woes, via the Des Moines Register. "Republicans are holding their Iowa Straw Poll at an expo venue that was originally supposed to be financed almost entirely by private sources. Instead, much of the debt has fallen on taxpayers. The nonprofit Central Iowa Expo in Boone has been unable to make payments on the loan it took out eight years ago to convert an empty farm site into a venue that could attract major shows and exhibitors."
From Nathan Gonzales: "Primaries can be expensive and divisive, but treating them like the plague — as party spokesmen are prone to do early every cycle — distorts electoral reality."
BUSH: The Washington Post reports on Bush's ties to now-fugitive health care entrepreneur Miguel Recarey Jr.
This isn't a good headline for Bush, from a Bloomberg focus group: "New Hampshire Republican Voters Laugh at Notion of Jeb Bush as Frontrunner"
The Washington Post reports on Bush's tension between embracing his famous family and wanting to be his "own man."
CARSON: In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, he had some odd answers that seemed to betray big gaps in his foreign policy knowledge.
CHRISTIE: The New York Times writes that the Christie administration's controversial deal with Exxon involved two years of a push for a settlement.
CLINTON: She's trying to shore up support from labor groups, notes the New York Times.
She’s already starting to slam the GOP – but her fire is centered on Congress rather than the 2016 candidates, so far.
TRUMP: He's in New Hampshire the day after announcing his presidential exploratory committee.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Thursday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron Hall speaks with Freelance Journalist on the ground in Tunisia Farah Samti about the latest on the terror attack at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis yesterday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee about the delay in the confirmation of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General, and documentary filmmaker Nicole Boxer about her new film “How I Got Over”.