Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos... Pope Francis has arrived in the United States for a historic visit, so American politicians of all ideological stripes are pausing their partisan fights and reflecting on the common humanity that unites us. Actually, that's not true. They're going to argue all week and someone will probably call the Pope a "pathetic loser" or whatever.
Get The Lid straight to your inbox each afternoon -- click here to sign up.
'16 at 30 THOUSAND
Another day, another spate of stories about the potential timing of a Joe Biden run. Here's what he said in an interview recorded late last week and released on Monday: "It's not quite there yet and it may not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed because there are certain windows that will close."
Speculation aside, here are a few dates to keep in mind when Biden talks about a run being "feasible." First, the opening Democratic debate is on October 13, a first opportunity to contrast himself with the rest of the field that he'd pass up if he's not in the race three weeks from now. Then there's the question of filing dates: submitting paperwork to get on the ballot in each state starts as early as November 6. One other hard date to keep in mind? Clinton's testimony to the House Benghazi committee on October 22. (And, all that aside, there's also the money-raising issue: For Biden to raise $50 million before the Iowa caucuses, he'd have to be socking away $373,000 per DAY starting now.)
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- Breaking just now: Hillary Clinton says that she opposes the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Ben Carson blamed “P.C. culture” for the outrage over his comments about Muslims on “Meet The Press,” one of us wrote.
- As other rival candidates surge, Donald Trump attempted to regain the spotlight by reigniting his feud with Fox News.
- With the pope now on U.S. soil, NBC contributor Dante Chinni looks at just how important the Catholic vote will be in 2016.
- NBC’s Doug Adams reports on one hurdle that could have more GOP candidates dropping out before the end of the month -- the fee to file for the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina.
- From First Read this AM: Who gains from Scott Walker’s loss?
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
CLINTON: Two major unions will delay endorsements in the presidential race, citing in part questions about whether Joe Biden will jump into the Democratic primary.
CARSON: Ben Carson said in 2012 that the big bang theory is one of the “fairy tales” promoted by “high-falutin’ scientists.”
SANDERS: The Democratic presidential candidate joined a protest of low-wage government workers on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning.
WALKER: The New York Times has a robust look at how even Walker’s well-funded super PAC couldn’t save his flagging campaign.
TRUMP: The New York Times looks back at Donald Trump’s boyhood neighborhood in Queens.
FOR THE RECORD…
“This machine, this tweeting thing, that's like the worst thing you could give Donald Trump.”
Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on the TODAY show Tuesday
TOMORROW’S SKED
Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee are on the campaign trail in South Carolina.
Ben Carson is in Michigan while Lindsey Graham is in New Hampshire.
Jeb Bush and his wife attend mass with Pope Francis at The Basilica in Washington, D.C.
