By MICHAEL FALCONE

NOTABLES

• TED CRUZ BETS JEB BUSH WILL 'SHATTER EVERY FUNDRAISING RECORD': Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may believe that Jeb Bush, one of his likely opponents for the Republican presidential nomination, will "shatter every fundraising record," but in an interview with ABC's JONATHAN KARL just hours after his presidential announcement yesterday he said that "on the money side we are going to surprise a whole lot of people," too. "The support we are seeing on the money side has been incredible, both small dollar donations that are pouring in, people are going to tedcruz.org, they are contributing right now and we are seeing heavy hitters supporting financially also," he said. Karl asked if he will be able to "compete with Jeb Bush" and Cruz acknowledged "nobody is going to manage to keep up," ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE and LIZ KREUTZ write. "He is going to shatter every fundraising record that's ever been set. He set the goal of $100 million this quarter, my guess is he blows past that goal, he ends up raising way more than $100 million," Cruz said. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1OtEpcu

• CRUZ ON CHANNELING HIS INNER JOHN LENNON: http://abcn.ws/1NaxzVP ON SIMILARITIES TO OBAMA: http://abcn.ws/1BKnzvJ

• 5 OBSTACLES BETWEEN TED CRUZ AND THE WHITE HOUSE: Speaking at the largest Christian university in the country on the fifth anniversary of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, Cruz officially announced his campaign for president yesterday, billing himself as the small-government, socially conservative antidote to the Obama administration. "It is a time for truth, it is a time for liberty, it is a time to reclaim the Constitution of the United States," Cruz said at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. But despite his appeal to the conservative, grassroots elements of the GOP, Cruz faces an significant challenges in the battle for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ and BENJAMIN SIEGEL highlight five obstacles standing between Cruz and the White House. http://abcn.ws/1LOouGI

• CRUZ COULD BE FIRST CANADIAN-BORN US PRESIDENT - HERE'S WHY: Most Americans learn early on that you can't be president of the United States unless you're born in America. But to the confusion of civics students everywhere, Cruz's presidential story begins in Canada, ABC's BENJAMIN SIEGEL notes. The Texas senator was born in Calgary, Canada in 1970. (Cruz even briefly mentioned Canada in his speech yesterday). So, why doesn't the Canadian-born US senator seem to be worried? Let's review: http://abcn.ws/1xdw1Zh

• OPTICS ALERT: Cruz no doubt wanted everything to be just right for his official presidential roll-out. He even went to the trouble of practicing everything from his wave to a kiss with his wife on Sunday. Enter a group of Rand Paul supporters. Several students wearing "Stand With Rand" shirts made their way into seats directly behind Cruz on stage yesterday morning. The students' shirts were blurry yet visible in many of the shots during Cruz's speech, according to ABC's A.J. FEATHER. PHOTOS: http://abcn.ws/1BIzlGU

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Sen. Ted Cruz hit something close to the news jackpot in the timing and the staging of his presidential announcement, with an added bump for being first out of the gate. In striking his optimistic tone - "imagine…" - he kicked off another, unofficial slice of the campaign: the Reagan primary. Virtually all Republicans in recent decades have idolized Ronald Reagan, and claimed to be his true heir. But in terms of ideological clarity, perceived purity, passion, and vision, Cruz has seldom been more explicit in his Reaganism as he was in his campaign launch. Cruz's challenge, of course, is that this will be a crowded space. He'll have to recast his own image, including his image inside his own party, to pull it off. But if the launch is an indication, Cruz's team has clearly put significant thought into reframing the candidate. It's not impossible to imagine.

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Last night Chris Christie was on his monthly radio call-in show "Ask the Governor," just hours after Ted Cruz became the first candidate to officially enter the 2016 presidential race, but when he was asked if Cruz's announcement would be a "factor" in his decision or timetable, he answered simply, "No." As for that timing Christie said it remains "late spring" or "early summer." He did say he's still deciding with his family, but is he closer to making up his mind? "Sure," he responded. Host Eric Scott asked if getting into the race now like Cruz or later could impact donors and Christie answered "it shouldn't" and again said it's "still early" for donors to have made up their mind. "That's kind of talking-head stuff from cable networks," he said. The host also asked Christie if he get asked if he can beat Hillary Clinton: "There's no reason to run unless you think you can," Christie said. "If I ran I wouldn't be in it for the experience."

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI

HILLARY CLINTON JOKES ABOUT EMAILS, PRAISES THE PRESS. At an awards ceremony last night in Washington, DC for the political-reporting prize named after the late New York Times reporter Robin Toner, Hillary Clinton joked about her sometimes adversarial with the press - and about her private email account, ABC's CHRIS GOOD notes. Clinton joked with the reporter-crowd that her relationship with the press has always been "complicated" and she is "well aware that some of you may be a little surprised" that she's here at this awards reception. "A new email address, why not a new relationship with the press," Clinton joked. She also offered up some sympathy for the press and analysis of changes for the industry. "Every day, you, the writers and reporters in this room are under even more pressure…from the market…and of course from our politics," Clinton said. "I think the stakes are really high. Too many of our most important debates occur in what I call an evidence-free zone."

NOTED: A TURNING POINT FOR HILLARY? Say goodbye to "private citizen" Hillary Clinton. After yesterday, the next time we may see Clinton in public could likely be when she is declaring her candidacy for president. For someone who usually has a packed calendar - with paid speeches and appearances booked months in advance - there is an obvious, glaring break in her schedule from now until mid-April. Thus, Clinton's two events Monday - a Center for American Progress roundtable and keynote at a journalism awards ceremony - could be her last as a non-candidate, according to ABC's LIZ KREUTZ.

NEUROSURGEON AND UN AMBASSADOR LEAD NCAA BRACKET AMONG 2016 HOPEFULS. Nearly all of the potential 2016 presidential candidates have graciously entered our NCAA tournament bracket pool, perhaps eager for some competition in this pre-campaign, exploratory phase of the 2016 presidential contest. So how are they doing? Although he's not ahead in the polls, neurosurgeon Ben Carson has a sizable lead in the ABC News 2016 presidential bracket pool. Carson's bracket is currently in the 85th percentile of all the brackets on ESPN.com, a solid rank in a year full of upsets, ABC's A.J. FEATHER and STACY CHEN note. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's not far behind, ranking in the 77th percentile. Though unlike the majority of candidates, Walker selected his home-state badgers to win the tournament, which sets him apart from the majority, who selected Kentucky. http://abcn.ws/1Imfkf8

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

OBAMA TALKS BRAINSTORMING WITH CAPE-CLAD KID SCIENTISTS. The 6-year-old inventors at Monday's White House Science Fair are "better brainstormers" than Obama - at least that's what the president thinks. During a tour of the winning science projects at the White House on Monday, Girl Scout Troop 411 told Obama they generated their idea for a Lego-based automatic page turner during a group "brainstorming session," ABC's ERIN DOOLEY reports. "Have you ever had a brainstorming session yourself?" one of the girls asked the president. "I have had a couple brainstorming sessions, but I didn't come up with anything this good!" the president said. "I came up with things like, you know, health care. Yeah, it turned out okay - but it started off with some prototypes." http://abcn.ws/1BnSiyN

WHO'S TWEETING?

@TheFix: All of our recent presidents have been losers. http://wapo.st/1HvV0qD

@Schultz44: CDC: Uninsured Drop by 11M Since Passage of Obama's Law - http://abcn.ws/1GPfWc6 via @AP

@EliLake: According to senior official in @adamentous story, it's ok for Israel to spy on Iran talks, but sharing intel w/ Congress crossed the line

@mateagold: . @JebBush takes his big money push to California next week. http://wpo.st/YEw90

@RealClearNews: From unknown to must-have, digital will dominate #2016election | @ASimendinger/ @CHueyBurnsRCP: http://bit.ly/1C3EZXX