OFF TO THE RACES: Polls galore!
A new FOX News poll shows Trump and Carson still leading, with all other candidates in single digits.
And a new Quinnipiac poll shows Trump down 3 points since August, while Carson and Fiorina have seen big gains.
CLINTON: From the Wall Street Journal: "A new front is opening in the battle over Hillary Clinton’s emails from her time as secretary of state, with at least one senator asking for an independent review of the deleted messages the FBI is now recovering from the private server she used while in office."
(Our question: But would the FBI hand over materials in an ongoing investigation? Seems doubtful, no?)
Clinton's been interviewed by Lena Dunham, POLITICO writes.
FIORINA: She first met Clinton at Chelsea's graduation from Stanford.
GRAHAM: He's looking forward to warring with Rand Paul over the legislative fight over Planned Parenthood, writes POLITICO.
O’MALLEY: He’s taking on Clinton over the issue of Syrian refugees.
RUBIO: Some potential supporters in New Hampshire say Rubio is missing opportunities by not working more strategically in the state.
TRUMP: After Rich Lowry skewered him on FOX News last night, he tweeted: "Incompetent @RichLowry lost it tonight on @FoxNews. He should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him!"
And he's defending calling Hillary Clinton "shrill."
The New York Times writes on Trump's "clear signs of discontent" -- including the empty seats at his rally in Charleston last night.
From CBS Miami: "A CBS4 News review of U.S. Labor Department records found that Trump businesses have requested hundreds of visas in recent years claiming they were unable to find Americans willing to do even the most basic tasks. And that is particularly true at Trump’s famed Palm Beach estate called Mar-A-Lago. Every year since at least 2008, Mar-A-Lago has requested anywhere from 70 to 90 visas to bring foreign workers into the country as cooks, waiters and housekeepers. The starting pay is between $10 and $12 an hour."
OBAMA AGENDA: Cooking the intel books?
From the New York Times: "As the war in Iraq deteriorated, a senior American intelligence analyst went public in 2005 and criticized President George W. Bush’s administration for pushing “amateurish and unrealistic” plans for the invasion two years before. Now that same man, Gregory Hooker, is at the center of an insurrection of United States Central Command intelligence analysts over America’s latest war in Iraq, and whether Congress, policy makers and the public are being given too rosy a picture of the situation."
A 13 year-old conservative activist says that he's been blocked from the White House Twitter account, a claim the White House says is not true.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports live from Capitol Hill with Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Homeland Security Chair Rep. Mike McCaul, Georgetown University Theology Professor Chester Gillis, Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and Anne Gearan, and NBC’s Anne Thompson and Kelly O’Donnell.