OFF TO THE RACES: Trump would “implement” Muslim-tracking system
NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard with the key quote from Trump on tracking Muslims: "I would certainly implement that. Absolutely," Trump said in Newton, Iowa, in between campaign town halls. "There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases," he added. "We should have a lot of systems."
Hillyard also outlines the Trump campaign's organizing efforts off the beaten path in Iowa.
A new NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll shows Trump leading at 28 percent support.
Many of the Republican presidential candidates will attend the Family Leader's presidential "family" forum in Des Moines tonight.
BUSH: On CNBC, Bush said Trump's statements on registering Muslim: "That's just wrong."
He also said on CNBC that the U.S. is already at war with ISIS.
CARSON: Here's our wrap of Carson's "mad dogs" comment yesterday.
CLINTON: A new Bloomberg poll has her 25 points up on Sanders.
CRUZ: He's started a new "national prayer team."
Kimberly Strassel writes in the Wall Street Journal that Cruz has a "national security agenda that is increasingly at odds with the public will."
KASICH: A pro-Kasich group is planning an ad blitz against Trump -- and the real estate mogul is fighting back on Twitter.
Leigh Ann Caldwell writes that he's a happy - but frustrated - warrior in the 2016 campaign.
RUBIO: He won the endorsement of Mia Love, NBC's Hallie Jackson reports.
SANDERS: Bernie Sanders has hit a high of 33 percent, but Hillary Clinton still dominates the Democratic presidential primary race, according to a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll.
OBAMA AGENDA: Watching the events in Mali
Overnight, in Mali: "Islamic extremists armed with guns and throwing grenades stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Friday morning, killing at least three people and initially taking numerous hostages, authorities said. The Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel group that operates the hotel said the assailants had "locked in" 140 guests and 30 employees."
From the Washington Post: "For much of the past seven years, President Obama has labored to move the United States off a war footing abroad and keep the threat of terrorism in perspective at home. The Paris attacks and their aftermath are testing the limits of that approach and the patience of a country that is questioning whether the president truly understands the terror threat. Obama’s response to the attacks also raises a more political question: Why hasn’t a man known for his rhetorical gifts done more to address the fear the attacks instill in ordinary Americans?"
The AP: "Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard has been released from prison, a U.S. government agency and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, culminating an extraordinary espionage case that occasionally complicated American-Israeli relations over nearly 30 years."
CONGRESS: House passes Syrian-refugee measure
NBCNews.com, on the House vote on Syrian refguees: "Lawmakers in the U.S. House voted Thursday to essentially halt a program aimed at resettling thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn homeland — a move that could potentially complicate President Obama's Middle East policy efforts."
More, from the New York Times: "The bill, which passed, 289 to 137, with nearly 50 Democrats supporting it, would require that the director of the F.B.I., the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the director of national intelligence confirm that each applicant from Syria and Iraq poses no threat. The bill’s fate is uncertain in the Senate. The White House called the demands “untenable” and said that the president would veto the bill if it reached his desk."
We're not out of the woods on a possible government shutdown, warns the Washington Post.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: Chuck Todd, MSNBC terror analyst Laith Alkhouri, Rep. Seth Moulton, and our team of NBC reporters covering the latest breaking news from Mali and Paris.