The Note: Will Hillary Hit Back?
— -- NOTABLES
--TODAY ON THE TRAIL WITH ABC'S CHRIS GOOD:Hillary Clinton is in New Hampshire today and Tuesday, making her second foray onto the trail and her first trip to the Granite State for roundtables with students, educators, employees and small businesses, plus meetings with elected officials and community leaders. Today, she'll tour children's furniture maker Whitney Brothers in Keene and hold a roundtable with employees this afternoon. Carly Fiorina headlines the Indiana GOP's Lugar Series Luncheon today at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown. Scott Walker speaks at a luncheon for New York GOP donors at the Union League Club in New York City. ABC's JON KARL on the latest from the 2016 presidential campaign trail: http://abcn.ws/1yK4Wh5
--GRANITE STATE BACKSTORY:Despite all the attack lines leveled against Hillary Clinton over the weekend, she is still arriving for her two-day swing through the Granite State on friendly turf. Dating back to 1992, when Bill Clinton famously dubbed himself "The Comeback Kid" after his second-place finish in the New Hampshire presidential primary, Granite Staters have always shown strong support for the Clintons, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes. And, in turn, the Clintons have always felt a personal connection to the state. During the 2008 presidential primary, New Hampshire was the place that essentially resuscitated Hillary Clinton's first presidential bid, after she came in third in the Iowa caucus. It's the state where she nearly broke down in tears during a 2008 campaign stop at a local diner. And it's the state where she and Barack Obama chose to hold their first joint rally together -- symbolically, in a town called Unity -- after Clinton conceded the presidential nomination to the then-senator.
--'YOU LIFTED ME UP': "In 2008, during the darkest days of my campaign," she said during a midterm election campaign rally in New Hampshire last year, "you lifted me up; you gave me my voice back. You taught me so much about grit and determination. I will never forget that and I want to thank the people of New Hampshire."
--CLINTON IS BEING GREETED IN THE GRANITE STATE with Web video from the Republican opposition research group, America Rising: https://youtu.be/8k1-PdKfKX0 According to WMUR's John DiStaso, it's "targeted to the Keene and Concord areas, the two cities in which Clinton intends to hold public events over the next two days. Web users in those areas have begun to see the ad on Facebook feeds, as "pre-roll" on YouTube and in Google searches. It will be online through Tuesday, the group said." http://bit.ly/1IuAIyz
ANALYSIS
ABC's RICK KLEIN: A new Quinnipiac Poll out Monday portrays, again, the immense damage done to Gov. Chris Christie's reputation over the past year-plus. His approval rating in New Jersey is down to 38 percent, and voters in his home state say 65 to 29 percent that Christie would not make a good president. That's the baseline Christie is working from in trying to rebuild himself toward presidential credibility. There were flashes of the old Christie -- the blunt style that wins converts -- during his recent trip to New Hampshire. And there are plenty of pro-Christie strategists ready to make the case that others with less magnetism than Christie have used New Hampshire to resuscitate campaigns. But it sure was crowded in the Granite State the last few days. Christie, of course, has a job to do back in New Jersey's state capital, Trenton, too, even as he awaits indictments in the Bridgegate scandal. There may yet be a comeback path for the New Jersey governor, but it may take a long while yet to begin to materialize. John McCain didn't have to compete for attention with a dozen other viable candidates.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK: WILL THE SENATE FINALLY CONFIRM LORETTA LYNCH AS THE NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL? It all depends on whether Republicans and Democrats are able to resolve their differences on the anti-human trafficking bill, ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ notes. Over the weekend, senators hinted they have made progress in the trafficking logjam that has held up Lynch's nomination. It has been more than five months since she was nominated to replace Attorney General Eric Holder -- the longest delay for an attorney general nominee in modern history. NOTED: Last week, Jeb Bush advocated for confirming Lynch -- a position that put him at odds with many Republicans in the Senate. His argument: The longer you wait to confirm Lynch, the longer Eric Holder is in office.
THE BUZZ
with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS FIND ENDLESS WAYS TO ATTACK HILLARY CLINTON: Nineteen Republican presidential prospects gathered in New Hampshire this weekend and largely aimed their fire not at each other, but rather at Hillary Clinton, who's declared her candidacy for the Democratic nomination. Clinton, who plans to arrive Monday in the Granite State for two days of events, was a ripe target for the GOP hopefuls -- a few who have already jumped into 2016 presidential race and others who appear to be getting ready to run. ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE and ARLETTE SAENZ look at some of the sharpest attack lines -- and laugh lines -- aimed at Clinton as she prepares to begin her second full week as a presidential candidate. http://abcn.ws/1zvhp2Z
5 STORIES YOU'LL CARE ABOUT IN POLITICS THIS WEEK: From Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign announcement and van trip to Iowa, to Republicans closing out the week at a big summit in New Hampshire, the week in politics was a blur of Chipotle stops and Jeb Bush eating pie. Which means the 2016 campaign has finally arrived. ABC's CHRIS GOOD highlights the five stories the ABC News political team will be tracking in the week ahead. http://abcn.ws/1OXGPPR
HILLARY CLINTON'S FACEBOOK INTERACTIONS NEARLY 90 TIMES GREATER THAN MARTIN O'MALLEY'S IN IOWA: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemingly won Iowa when compared to former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley -- a potential opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 -- on at least one platform: Facebook. According to Facebook, which provided the data to ABC News, the number of interactions from April 8 to April 14 related to Clinton were 268,000, while the number of interactions related to O'Malley were 3,000. Facebook defines "interactions" on the social platform as posts, comments, likes and shares. According to the Facebook data, 57 percent of the interactions related to Clinton were positive, while 82 percent of the interactions related to O'Malley were positive. ABC's BENJAMIN BELL has more.
MARCO RUBIO FOLDED ON IMMIGRATION REFORM, SAYS SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL: Coming to the defense of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill took aim at recently declared Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, saying he folded on immigration reform after coming under pressure from the conservative wing of his party. "If you look at Marco Rubio's record, he took a principled, courageous stand on immigration reform and we passed a comprehensive bill in the Senate," she said Sunday on "This Week," ABC's BENJAMIN BELL and ADAM TEICHOLZ report. "Then, the minute his party's base started chewing on him about it, the minute Rush Limbaugh criticized him, he folded like a cheap shotgun."
IN THE NOTE'S INBOX
MIKE HUCKABEE's NOT RUNNING (YET), BUT A TOP AIDE IS:Mike Huckabee's communications director, Alice Stewart, ran in today's Boston Marathon. It's Stewart's 5th Boston Marathon and 14th marathon total. "The Boston Marathon is an amazing race with fantastic crowd support," Stewart told The Note. "That town is not just Boston Strong, it is Boston unbeatable!" (She wore an "I like Mike" Huckabee shirt during the race.)
WHO'S TWEETING?
@sbg1:Quiet, please. Hillary's running.:@glennthrushhas his first 'Letter from 2016' on HRC's new press plan: containment http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clinton-2016-election-media-strategy-117118.html
@billburton: Seems that the headline/subhead of @glennthrush's HRC piece today has no connection to its content but for the word "Hillary."
@NRO:WATCH:@MarcoRubio's new #immigrationplan sounds pretty good ---->http://natl.re/1L13eA
@nationaljournal:Chris Christie's gambit to put himself right of the 2016 fieldhttp://t.co/PvshqXjgXu
@ABCLiz:Just drove into a strip mall with a Chipotle AND a Kohl's. Hello, New Hampshire!