The Sound of Silence

By MICHAEL FALCONE

NOTABLES

  • WEEKEND READ-IN - WHILE BILL CLINTON TALKS FULL DISCLOSURE, HILLARY AVOIDS HER OWN DISCLOSURE PROBLEM: Bill Clinton's message to a group of college students at an annual gathering for his foundation's Clinton Global Initiative over the weekend was simple: "Disclose everything." But he wasn't talking about the recent controversy over his wife's use of a personal e-mail account when she was secretary of state. Instead, the former president was defending the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation's haul of high-dollar contributions from foreign governments - an issue that has also dogged the Clintons in recent weeks. Bill Clinton said that donations from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, on the whole, had enabled the foundation to do "a lot more work than harm," according to ABC's LIZ KREUTZ. Meanwhile, in remarks just minutes before her husband spoke, Hillary Clinton avoided any mention of the e-mail flap swirling around her. http://abcn.ws/1A7E5qa WILL EMAILS HURT HILLARY'S CHANCES IN 2016? The "This Week" roundtable weighs in. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1C094uG
  • HILLARY CLINTON IS PROCEEDING WITH REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING: Over the weekend, Clinton participated in International Women's Day and sent her first-ever Snapchat ( https://vine.co/v/OEdQnAEFQXw). ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes that she also removed her profile picture on Twitter to raise awareness for "unseen" women around the world. This morning in New York City, Clinton will join her daughter, Chelsea, and Melinda Gates, to unveil the results of a much anticipated report on the status of women and girls worldwide. And this week, she is commemorating the 20th anniversary of her women's rights speech in Beijing.
  • ANALYSIS - ABC's RICK KLEIN: The shadow campaign has holes in it. At the very least they it has blind spots - and now it has friends pointing them out, too. The flood of coverage of Hillary Clinton's private email use has provided precious little light on the subject of why the personal account was created and used exclusively during Clinton's time as secretary of state. It's been an occasion for the vast network of supporters and organizations that populate the new Hillaryland to hone talking points and ready counterattacks. But it still hasn't been an occasion for Clinton herself - or Bill, for that matter - to speak publicly and with clarity on a topic that either has an easy explanation or no good explanation at all. "The silence is going to hurt her," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime Clinton friend, said Sunday. For an emerging campaign that's being built on lessons learned and not-to-be-repeated, it's got to feel eerily familiar to Democrats.
  • FIVE STORIES YOU'LL CARE ABOUT IN POLITICS THIS WEEK: ABC's RICK KLEIN highlights five stories the ABC News political team is tracking in the week ahead. http://abcn.ws/1HgFD69

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI

HUCKABEE QUESTIONS WHAT HILLARY CLINTON EMAILS COULD REVEAL ABOUT BENGHAZI. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says it is important to scrutinize Hillary Clinton's email correspondence during her tenure as Secretary of State, as lawmakers investigate what happened in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans were killed including the U.S. ambassador. Huckabee, who has said he is considering a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, made the remarks at the Iowa Agriculture Summit on Saturday, following revelations last week that Clinton violated State Department policy by conducting government business using a private email account. "Did those emails reveal things about Benghazi that she asked, 'What difference did it make?'" said Huckabee, referring to Clinton's 2013 testimony before the House Oversight Committee. "Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but we won't know until we find out. And so yes, I think it makes a huge difference." http://abcn.ws/1Ggi2Bp

POLITICIANS WOO IOWANS AT AGRICULTURAL SUMMIT. While Iowans were busy parsing potential presidential candidates' stances on agriculture policy at the first-ever Ag Summit in Des Moines, politicians tried ingratiating themselves to those living in the state who will be the first to caucus in 2016. This past weekend marked Jeb Bush's first appearance in the Hawkeye State in more than two years. But he made sure to remind Iowans that he had been to the land of pork and corn before. During his father's campaign, "I probably went to at least 50 of the counties, if not more," the former Florida governor told the audience. When discussing his family's "Sunday fun day," Bush managed to slip in a not-so-subtle reference to "Iowa beef" with a knowing smirk, ABC's ERIN DOOLEY reports. http://abcn.ws/1KGJqPn

IS THE BUSH NAME A LIABILITY? ABC's DAVID WRIGHT reports on Jeb Bush's weekend trip to the key caucus state. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1MkM76E

NOTED: JEB BUSH FACED KITCHEN SINK AT IOWA PIZZA RANCH. It wasn't your average night at a pizza joint. At Pizza Ranch in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was peppered with questions on everything from GOP strategy to Alzheimer's funding and flooding. Bush, who said he envisioned a "hopeful and optimistic" campaign - if he decides to mount one - told potential supporters that Republicans must "get outside of our comfort zone." "I want to win. I want our party to win," he said. "There are a lot of emerging voting groups in our country and we need to get at 'em." ABC's ERIN DOOLEY has more. http://abcn.ws/18sgQzA

COLIN POWELL STILL SEES 'DARK VEIN' OF INTOLERANCE IN GOP. Speaking on the day following the 50-year anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama, the first African-American Secretary of State Colin Powell said he still sees a "dark vein" of intolerance in the Republican Party, echoing comments that he made in 2013. "I still see it. I still see it in the Republican Party and I still see it in other parts of our country. You don't have to be a Republican to be touched by this dark vein," Powell told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS yesterday on "This Week." "We've come a long way, but there's a long way to go. And we have to change the hearts and minds of Americans. And I see progress, especially in the younger generation," Powell added. President Obama, along with former President George W. Bush and Rep. John Lewis, was in Selma Saturday to mark the anniversary of the seminal moment in the civil rights movement, ABC's BEN BELL notes. http://abcn.ws/1A8M2vg

WHO'S TWEETING?

@voxdotcom: Why Jim Webb thinks America should pay more attention to criminal justice and Alzheimer's http://vox.com/e/7925186?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter …

@Reince: See how @HillaryClinton's email may have threatened national security. http://gop.cm/6016F5yg

?@joshledermanAP: #Obama to wait to announce winning library site until after #Chicago's mayoral runoff - http://apne.ws/1wT5hxa

@thehill: Senate GOP seeks to divide Dems http://ow.ly/K5H78

?@csmonitor: How a ruling against Obamacare could leave both political parties in a bind (+video) http://trib.al/rsKnb0V