The Note: Grill On The Hill
— -- NOTABLES
--MARATHON DAY OF TESTIMONY: Democratic presidential front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to spar at 10 a.m. this morning with Republican members of the House Select Committee investigating the September 11, 2012 Benghazi terror attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, ABC's JUSTIN FISHEL reports. The pressure is on Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy to produce results or information that differ from Clinton's full day of Congressional testimony on the attack nearly three years ago. The lead-up to today's testimony has seen vicious political sniping from Democrats on the committee, who have seized on remarks in recent days from two Republican congressman and one former committee staffer, each of whom suggested publicly that the committee has disproportionately focused its attention on attacking Clinton. Gowdy has vehemently denied those claims, calling on his colleagues to "shut up" about what they don't know. http://abcn.ws/1XlNozU
--WHAT GOWDY WILL SAY: Last Sunday Gowdy said in an interview with CBS he plans to question Clinton about her role in denying requests to increase security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi prior to the attack. He says thousands of previously unseen emails to and from the Ambassador Chris Stevens obtained by his committee will help inform those questions. http://abcn.ws/1XlNozU
--WHAT CLINTON WILL SAY: The Clinton campaign has released a preview of what Clinton will say during her opening remarks at the hearing today, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes. She will focus on honoring the lives of the 4 Americans killed in the Benghazi attack and will say that we must continue to learn from the tragedy, her campaign says.
--BOTH CLINTON AND GOP VIEWED NEGATIVELY ON BENGHAZI: More than half of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll disapprove of Hillary Clinton's handling of questions on the Benghazi attack -- yet as many also say the Republicans in Congress are investigating it chiefly to damage her politically, according to ABC's CHAD KIEWIET DE JONGE. With Clinton on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi today, 54 percent disapprove of how she's dealt with questions on the issue. But 53 percent also think the ongoing investigation mainly reflects Republican efforts to harm her reputation. Just 35 percent say that Republicans are raising legitimate concerns about the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. http://abcn.ws/1QTGQoj
--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: Hillary Clinton lost one potential opponent on Wednesday. But she gained another who's even more familiar than Joe Biden: herself. Hillary vs. Hillary is a long-running contest, and might have always been the central drama of the 2016 presidential race. Now, though, it's on with urgency -- in time for the most anticipated political (with apologies to Trey Gowdy and Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson dinner) date of the fall. Bernie Sanders may still be a threat to Clinton in the early states and possibly beyond. But the nomination has always been Clinton's to lose. No Biden in the race means no one filling an establishment, heir-to-Obama lane except for Clinton. The questions and concerns around her candidacy will be hers to answer, implicitly and explicitly, in front of the Benghazi committee and beyond. She knows this opponent, though that's not the same as being ready to face this opponent down.
POLLING NOTE: BEN CARSON LEADS DONALD TRUMP 28-20 IN NEW IOWA POLL. Donald Trump's dominance in Iowa just took a hit, ABC's RYAN STRUYK notes. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has climbed to an 8-point lead over the real estate mogul in the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus state, according to a new poll this morning from Quinnipiac University. It marks the first time Trump has trailed in an Iowa poll in more than three months. Carson garners 28 percent support from likely Republican caucus-goers in the Hawkeye state, climbing 8 points over the last month to his highest support there yet. Trump earns 20 percent, dropping 7 points in the last month. Carson's new lead in Iowa comes mostly thanks to growing support among women. While Trump and Carson each receive roughly the same amount of support from men, Carson earns 33 percent of women compared to only 13 percent for Trump. http://abcn.ws/1LpwfjC
TODAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Ben Carson continues his book tour in Oklahoma and Missouri. This afternoon he stops in Tulsa, Oklahoma and storm-ravaged Joplin, Missouri. This evening he stops in Springfield, Missouri. Carly Fiorina speaks at the Arkansas GOP Lincoln Day Dinner in Springdale this evening. Mike Huckabee and Martin O'Malley are both in South Carolina today. John Kasich and Lindsey Graham are both in New Hampshire. Kasich attends a town hall anchored by the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this afternoon at Dartmouth University. It will air on Friday. This evening he holds a town hall in Newport. Graham has a packed day with four events. Bobby Jindal is in Iowa. This afternoon he stops in Ottumwa followed by an evening town hall in Indianola.
THE BUZZ
with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ
WHY JOE SAID NO. Vice President Joe Biden is not running for president in 2016, he announced in a Rose Garden address yesterday, saying the window for a realistic White House bid closed before his family was able to work through the grieving process surrounding the May death of son Beau. "As the family and I have worked through the grieving process, I have said all along and time again what I have said to others; that the process by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president. That it might close. I have concluded it has closed," Biden said, with President Obama and his wife, Jill Biden, standing by his side. Though Biden said his family is far enough into their grief to handle the rigors of a presidential campaign, there's too little time to make the prospect viable. "Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time; the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination," Biden said. ABC's JORDYN PHELPS and ARLETTE SAENZ have more. http://abcn.ws/1Gij45e
CLINTON, TRUMP, SANDERS REACT TO BIDEN'S DECISION. After much speculation, the wait is finally over: Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday he would not join the race for the White House. "Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination," Biden said. The announcement came as a surprise to many ABC's PAOLA CHAVEZ and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI report the reactions of top presidential contenders and other major political players. http://abcn.ws/1M6Ussf
HOW BIDEN NAVIGATED THE LONG ROAD TO NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. Would he or wouldn't he run for president? That had been the question swirling around Vice President Joe Biden, which has now been answered. Biden announced Tuesday that he won't be seeking the presidency. Biden has run for top office twice, during the 1988 presidential election and in 2008. Biden, then a senator from Delaware, talked openly about considering another run. ABC's PAOLA CHAVEZ and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI have more on Biden's long and winding decision-making process through Wednesday, when he announced his final decision. http://abcn.ws/1MTLG5N
TRUMP SAYS BIDEN 'DID THE SMART THING'. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump brought his message to Southeastern Iowa Wednesday telling a crowd of 2,500 that he doesn't think Vice President Joe Biden would have gotten the Democratic nomination and "frankly, I really want to run against Hillary." "Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time; the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination," Biden said Wednesday afternoon in the Rose Garden, flanked by his wife Jill and President Obama. Referring to the world as a "tinderbox", Trump attacked Clinton's record and explained to the crowd why he wants to face her, ABC's JOSH HASKELL and JOHN SANTUCCI report. "You know, when you have a baseball team or a football team, you sort of get your heart set on something," said Trump. "That's the one we want to go against because you go against that record....we're going to win, we're going to win big." http://abcn.ws/1KpuaAj
DONALD TRUMP STILL LOVED BY REPUBLICANS WHO CALL HIM DIVISIVE AND SOMETIMES 'AN IDIOT' A dozen Republicans spent two hours Tuesday evening telling a pollster in Indianapolis that they thought Donald Trump would make a great leader, even though he was "sometimes an idiot." They also said they could picture Ben Carson as their grandfather and why they wanted an outsider in the White House. ABC's BEN GITTLESON has more on some of the key takeaways of the evening. http://abcn.ws/1PAZYtM
STRONG ORGANIZATION IN IOWA BY 2016 DEMOCRATS. Michael Beasley has spent the last two months volunteering seven days a week in southeastern Iowa for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The 23-year-old is one of over 7,000 volunteers the Sanders campaign says is working throughout the state to reach out to potential caucus-goers leading up to the Feb. 1 caucus. "I really just do whatever I can. I have my degree in art so I make a lot of signs. I make a lot of phone calls. I do data entry from our events. We just have a lot of fun," Beasley said, ABC's JOSH HASKELL notes. http://abcn.ws/1hTtADW
WHO'S TWEETING?
@davidaxelrod: .Benghazi was terrible tragedy and demanded review. But would Congress be holding hearings 3 yrs later if @HillaryClinton were not running?
@ABCLiz: John Podesta spotted wandering through halls of the Longworth building at the Capitol
@WaPoSean: Rubio lagging behind Cruz and Carson in small donors: http://wpo.st/s_Bi0
@nationaljournal: House speakers have increasingly come from the more ideological wings of their party http://njour.nl/s/91166?oref=t.co ...
@HotlineJosh: Club for Growth slams Carson: "impossible for the Club for Growth to conclude that Dr. Carson would be a pro-growth president."
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