The Note: Waiting To Hear From Hillary
— -- NOTABLES
--HILLARY CLINTON HASN'T ANSWERED A PRESS QUESTION IN 21 DAYS: Today is the one month anniversary of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. It also marks 21 days since she has answered a question from the press, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes. During this "ramp up" phase of her candidacy, Clinton has kept her distance from the media, answering only a handful of questions from the reporters following her on the campaign trail. By ABC News' count, Clinton has responded -- in one way or another -- to a grand total of eight questions from reporters since she launched her campaign last month. Most recently, on April 21 she answered a question from a reporter about her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement. Clinton has not answered any questions from reporters since, though she has fielded her fair share from voters in events her campaign has organized. http://abcn.ws/1H0uIvc
--HERE'S HOW CLINTON CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN JESSE FERGUSON EXPLAINED THE APPROACH: "The focus of our ramp up period is to hear from voters about the issues they care about. She's enjoyed engaging in hours of public question and answers sessions and, as the campaign progresses, looks forward to more engagement with voters and the press as well."
--CLINTON'S OPPONENTS HAVE BEGUN TO TAKE NOTICE: Likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush took a shot at Clinton for not taking questions, saying in an interview with Fox News last night that he wants to run a campaign where he doesn't "have a protective bubble." And last weekend, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina rolled out a fresh attack line. "Like Hillary Clinton, I'm also running for president, but unlike her, I'm not afraid to answer questions about my record," Fiorina noted at the South Carolina Freedom Summit. "She's answered seven on-the-record questions since April 12th; I've answered over 200 on the record since Monday." http://abcn.ws/1H0uIvc
--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: Liberals aren't winning much these days, either on the policy or presidential front. (No, Elizabeth Warren still isn't running for president.) But give progressives credit for seizing a moment to talk policy and shape, if not dominate, the coming debates. The liberal "Contract with America" being unveiled Tuesday by Mayor Bill de Blasio, with the support of Sen. Warren and a raft of other liberal voices, is a marking point for the emerging debate over income inequality, timed for the 2016 campaign. It's the left taking ownership of an area all candidates -- in both parties -- are talking about, with policy proposals that match Democratic visions. The goals aren't necessarily those of Hillary Clinton, but it's hard to see how they won't become them. That's the real point de Blasio -- who once managed Clinton's Senate campaign -- will be making in the coming weeks, though rarely explicitly. The whole Democratic nomination campaign could wind up being less a competition than a conversation, aimed at shaping the eventual nominee. In that context, contracts matter.
YOUR JEB BUSH SPEED READ. Not-yet-but-soon-to-be-declared presidential candidate Jeb Bush recently sat for an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, which aired last night. Here are some highlights, courtesy of ABC's CHRIS GOOD:
--WOULD'VE INVADED IRAQ: "I would've," Bush said. "And so would've Hillary Clinton...so would've everybody who was confronted by the intelligence they got." BUT... Bush went on to say the intelligence "was faulty, and in retrospect once we invaded and took out Saddam Hussein we didn't focus on security first" and left Iraqis in an "insecure environment."
--SHOT AT CLINTON: Bush talked about running a campaign where he doesn't "have a protective bubble" -- a direct shot at Hillary Clinton taking only a few questions from the press and only from campaign-selected roundtable participants. "I go do town hall meetings, don't screen the questions, don't have a protected bubble like Mrs. Clinton does, don't have town hall meetings or roundtable discussion where I pick who gets to come and I screen the questions, and the press has to behave a certain way."
--STILL DEFIANT ON IMMIGRATION: Bush is cutting a path for himself as the GOP's pro-comprehensive-immigration-reform candidate, against the consensus among conservatives in his own party. Last night he said that "a lot of people can be persuaded, to be honest with you" and, on explaining that to his own party, that "dealing with Putin is a heck of a lot harder than going to New Hampshire and describing your views on immigration."
THE BUZZ
with ABC's MICHELLE MANZIONE
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY TO BE BUILT IN CHICAGO. President Obama has chosen the Windy City to be the home for his presidential library, ABC's JORDYN PHELPS reports. The Barack Obama Foundation, the president's non-profit organization established in 2014 to oversee the process of selecting and building the library, made the announcement official this morning following months of speculation and media reports that Chicago was to become the likely place from competing bids that included New York City and Hawaii. "All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago," Obama says in a video message announcing his decision. "That's where I was able to apply that early idealism to try to work in communities in public service. That's where I met my wife. That's where my children were born." http://abcn.ws/1EwzmAE
--BACKSTORY: The Obama Presidential Center will include a library, museum, offices and meeting space, according to the announcement. It will partner with the University of Chicago, where Obama taught law school between 1992 and 2004. The Foundation said it would "maintain a presence" at Mr. Obama's alma mater, Columbia University, in New York City. Officials also planned to develop a "lasting presence," perhaps in the form of a satellite institute or university partnership, in Hawaii, Obama's birthplace. The Obama Foundation said that "economic development opportunities, community interest and engagement and the potential for academic and programmatic collaboration," were key factors in the decision-making process. The final decision was made personally by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. http://abcn.ws/1EwzmAE
WHY NEW YORK MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO IS GOING NATIONAL. In November, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had a message for the Democratic Party looking for answers after losses in the midterm elections: Find your backbone. "Bold, progressive ideas win elections," he declared in the Huffington Post. As the 2016 presidential race ramps up, de Blasio is announcing a slew of such ideas in Washington today, ABC's BEN SIEGEL notes: A 13-point progressive blueprint for economic inequality and tax reform. The agenda is the culmination of de Blasio's efforts to take his progressive agenda nationwide. It includes proposals, such as universal pre-kindergarten, which he has implemented in New York, and others -- such as higher taxes on wealthier Americans -- that have been less successful. De Blasio has denied personal interest in the 2016 presidential race but he has designs on influencing the election. He plans to hold a bipartisan presidential forum on income inequality and withheld an early endorsement of Hillary Clinton -- whose Senate campaign he managed in 2000 -- until learning more about her platform.
HAPPENING ON THE HILL: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S PROPOSED TRADE DEAL FACES ITS FIRST TEST IN THE SENATE. We expect a vote today on whether to move forward on legislation giving President Obama "fast-track" trade authority to make trade deals -- reducing Congress' role to approve or reject the entire deal, ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS notes. The trade debate has blurred traditional political lines: Senate Republicans are aligned with President Obama, while many of his loyal Democrats oppose it. "It's incredibly important for American workers that we pass this bill," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday. "We need strong and fair trade legislation that expands Congress' oversight over the administration and sets clear rules and standards for its trade negotiators."
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: RAND PAUL CAMPAIGN STAFFER LICKS DEMOCRATIC TRACKER’S CAMERA. A Democratic tracker got a licking Monday while attending a Rand Paul campaign event in New Hampshire. A campaign staffer for the Republican presidential candidate licked the camera lens of a tracker from the Democratic opposition research super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, while recording the event. And the tracker caught it all on tape. When asked about the incident, Paul's campaign avoided it. "Senator Rand Paul visited New Hampshire today to accept the endorsement of twenty New Hampshire State Representatives who support his run for the White House, and to visit with and take questions from the voters of NH," campaign communications director Sergio Gor said in a statement. "It was a great day of events." ABC's JORDYN PHELPS and CHRIS GOOD have more: http://abcn.ws/1FggbRj
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
MEET 2016'S MILLENNIAL WHISPERER: 7 PREDICTIONS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE. What do young voters want in a presidential candidate this election? Trust, leadership, an evolving foreign policy stance, someone who reaffirms faith in the criminal justice system and more, according to pollster and "millennial whisperer," John Della Volpe. For years, Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard's Institute of Politics, has worked to shed light on the way young Americans vote. In a recent interview with "Power Players," in conjunction with the release of the Spring 2015 Harvard Public Opinion Project poll, the largest poll of young people in America, Della Volpe and Harvard student Ellen Robo shared some of their notable recent findings. Here are the top seven takeaways, courtesy of ABC's RICK KLEIN and ALI DUKAKIS: http://abcn.ws/1EudzcR
WHO'S TWEETING?
@PhilipRucker: Good look at budget standoff in Wiscy that's complicating Walker's prez run, from @wpjenna in Madison http://wapo.st/1IyxdZV
@GeraldFSeib: Five months after Jeb Bush fired the starter's gun, a look at his assets and liabilities: http://on.wsj.com/1IwTWWg via @WSJ
@markknoller: VP Biden this evening addresses the annual Top Cops Awards Dinner, sponsored by the National Assn of Police Organizations.
@peterbakernyt: Obama to talk about poverty and race today at Georgetown with @RobertDPutnam and @arthurbrooks and @EJDionne http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/us/obama-race-poverty-georgetown-university.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150512&nlid=1811197&tntemail0=y @shearm
@thehill: The Top 10 fiercest Senate races of 2016: http://hill.cm/hapP83T