OFF THE RACES: More polls!
Here's the latest Iowa poll from Quinnipiac University, showing Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in a statistical tie in the caucus state.
And here's the latest national poll from CNN/ORC, showing Trump at 32 percent support.
BIDEN: He's in Clinton Country today, notes POLITICO.
BUSH: The New York Times reviews his tax plan: "Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida challenged some long-held tenets of conservative tax policy on Wednesday by proposing to curtail valuable deductions that benefit businesses and the wealthy and eliminate a loophole that has benefited hedge fund and private equity managers for years. That an establishment Republican candidate has embraced such changes not only highlights how income inequality has altered the tenor of the presidential debate for the party, but also indicates the ideological pull Donald J. Trump’s candidacy is having on the Republican field after he made similar proposals."
And/but: The plan would add trillions to the deficit, notes the Washington Post.
CLINTON: The Washington Post looks at how her Iran speech Wednesday laid out a tougher worldview than Obama's.
JINDAL: He's promising to take on Donald Trump as an "unserious carnival act."
O'MALLEY: From msnbc.com's Alex Seitz-Wald: "In a major victory for underdog Democratic presidential candidates Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders, two top officials with the Democratic National Committee publicly broke with the party Wednesday night, calling for changes to the debate process that the candidates have advocated."
TRUMP: He says he was talking about Carly Fiorina's "persona" - not her looks - when he commented on "that face" in a new Rolling Stone magazine profile.
Here's the full Rolling Stone story.
WALKER: NBC's Shaq Brewster writes that Scott Walker is hoping to jumpstart his campaign with an appearance at Eureka College, the alma mater of Ronald Reagan.
CONGRESS: Revolt!
So here's what's going on with the Iran vote in Congress: "House GOP leaders were forced to delay and quickly rejigger their approach for voting on the deal after some Republicans rejected the initial plan. The House is now expected to vote this week on a series of three measures aimed at expressing their opposition to the nuclear deal and leaving the door open to a lawsuit against the White House on the issue."
And from the AP: "Conservative House Republicans have embarked on an eleventh-hour political maneuver to derail the Iranian nuclear deal, saying they can't vote on it until the president coughs up copies of side deals Tehran negotiated with atomic inspectors."
Also, there's no plan yet to avert a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Thursday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron Hall speaks with both Republican Strategist John Feehery and POLITICO Chief Political Columnist about the latest political headlines; Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Paul Solotaroff about his new piece on Donald Trump; Baltimore Sun Reporter Yvonne Wenger about the Freddie Gray hearing; and ESPNW Columnist Kate Fagan about the NFL season kickoff and ESPN’s report on spygate.
*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell will have exclusive interviews with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Rep. Steve Israel. She’ll also interview NBC’s Lester Holt, Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell, the AP’s Julie Pace, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Teamsters Pres. James Hoffa and NBC’s Lester Holt and Craig Melvin.
