OBAMA AGENDA: “A greener world”
Buzzfeed reports that the Obama administration will push trade deals by highlighting the upside for the environment, saying that the agreements will bring "a greener world."
A1 headline in the Washington Post: "Iraq's strategy shows signs of unraveling." MORE: "The fall of Ramadi amounts to more than the loss of a major city in Iraq’s largest province, analysts say. It could undermine Sunni support for Iraq’s broader effort to drive back the Islamic State, vastly complicating the war effort."
Is the country's problem with rail safety a consequence of budget moves? The New York Times talks to experts who say yes.
Vice President Joe Biden's son Beau has been hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center.
CONGRESS: Conservatives say they’re winning Export-Import fight
Conservatives say they're winning the fight over reauthorization of the Export-Import bank.
"Both houses of Congress are moving to guarantee greater access to contraceptives for women in the military, actions that lawmakers say are prompted in part by concern about unplanned pregnancies in the armed forces," writes the New York Times.
Division in the GOP means that Congress is close to ending the NSA surveillance program.
OFF TO THE RACES: Hillary to delay her big kickoff speech
CLINTON: "When Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, her staff scrutinized politically sensitive documents requested under public-records law and sometimes blocked their release, according to people with direct knowledge of the activities," the Wall Street Journal writes.
She’s delaying her promised big-picture announcement speech, POLITICO reports.
Jack Shafer writes in POLITICO that Hillary Clinton isn't running FOR president, she's running AS president.
Iowa Democrats are resolved that she's the best candidate for the job, even if they can't cite too much about her accomplishments, a Bloomberg focus group found.
The AP reports on Clinton's low-key campaign strategy, which is getting criticism from the press and from voters. (See this kicker quote from an Iowa Democrat: "People in Iowa and people across the country want to know the specifics on all of these issues, including TPP," Schwartz said, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "We have a right to have our questions answered.")
HUCKABEE: National Journal makes an important point about his latest campaign: "This time, Huckabee will return to his roots—an approach deliberately designed to broaden his appeal and, more importantly, take advantage of a restructured Republican primary calendar that places a far greater emphasis on the very states and voters that he has spent his political career serenading. Because for the first time in the modern history of the Republican Party, the path to its presidential nomination takes an early and potentially decisive detour through the South."
JINDAL: Soon after it died in the state legislature, he issued an executive order to enact a religious freedom measure that critics say legalizes discrimination against same-sex couples.
O’MALLEY: He’ll announce in Baltimore’s Federal Hill on May 30.
And around the country...
KENTUCKY: The Lexington Herald-Leader: "After 214,187 votes were counted, Louisville businessman Matt Bevin held an 83-vote lead over Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer, but Comer said late Tuesday night that he owed it to his supporters to ask for a recanvass."
More, from the Courier-Journal: "Battling the other Republicans and claims by a former girlfriend that he abused her while they were in college, Comer was in third place for much of the night before gaining ground in Western Kentucky. In the end, it didn't appear to be enough."
And on the Democratic side: "Attorney General Jack Conway isn't waiting any longer to see which Republican he will face in the fall election for governor. On Tuesday, hours before the polls closed, the Democrat was meeting with small business owners in Lexington and kick-starting his campaign after months of watching the combative GOP primary."
FLORIDA: Alan Grayson tried to have his estranged wife arrested for using his credit card, POLITICO reports.
NEVADA: From Roll Call: "Nevada Republican Rep. Joe Heck has told some Nevada Republicans he is close to deciding to run for Senate, a source told CQ Roll Call Tuesday, and the conversations have prompted speculation among Nevada Republicans that an announcement could come sooner rather than later."
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell will interview Sen. Tim Kaine, HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Walmart Senior Director of Military Program Brigadier General (Ret.) Gary Profit, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, the Atlantic’s Molly Ball, Sirius XM’s Evan Cohen and NBC’s Tom Costello and Hallie Jackson.