Jill Lawrence:
So what are the Democrats to do? Why not turn their attention to Republicans, particularly the multitude weighing presidential bids? It’s not like the GOP hopefuls have been delicate in their critiques of Obama, Clinton or Democrats in general. The Not-Hillary contenders, by turning the tables, could become a useful army for their party and at least try to raise their own profiles before Clinton’s expected launch next month....
O’Malley, Webb and Sanders are reveling in some attention — finally — as Democrats and the media realize that Clinton might not be invincible. As her disappointing press conference confirmed, there will not be a fresh new Clinton era. Hillary is still Hillary, a package deal in which Democrats must take the defensive, self-protective, lawyerly control freak along with the hard worker, serious policymaker, loyal partisan and potential pathbreaker. There’s plenty of time for the upstart trio, or other players to be named later, to mount an intra-party case against Clinton. Right now, instead of Democratic White House hopefuls making arguments against their GOP counterparts, there’s a void. They should fill it while they have a chance.
Gallup:
Hillary Clinton is one of a few potential 2016 presidential candidates to have a significantly higher favorable (50%) than unfavorable (39%) rating among the American public. And the 89% of Americans who are familiar enough with Clinton to have an opinion of her is more than any other potential 2016 presidential candidate. Clinton's relatively high scores on both dimensions give her a better starting position regarding her image than other competitors would have in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Juan Cole on the battle for Tikrit:
The Iraqi forces (one-third army, two-thirds Shiite militias) that are surrounding Tikrit 80 miles north of Baghdad are not just Iraqi forces. They are mostly Shiite, though some Sunni irregulars have joined them. More important, the Tikrit campaign is being directed as to its strategy by Qasim Sulaimani, the head of the Jerusalem Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.
News of the imminent fall of Tikrit on Tuesday were exaggerated. On the east bank of the Tigris, Iraqi forces took the town of al-Alam, 6 miles northeast of Tikrit, from Daesh (ISIL or ISIS). But Daesh fighters blew up the bridge over the Tigris, stranding a lot of Iraqi forces to the east. Iraqi troops and militiamen are also approaching from the south and west, but they are going very slowly because of the danger of booby-traps, car bombings, and so forth. So they are still not inside Tikrit, only on its outskirts.
But the ghost of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 looms over this campaign. Qasim Sulaimani got his military start fighting in the Iran-Iraq War. A non-ideological technocrat, Sulaimani only cares about winning battles, not about what Iranians call “the line of the Imam” or correct ideology.
AP:
Legislative efforts to increase pressure on parents to get their kids vaccinated failed in Oregon and Washington state Wednesday amid stiff opposition as a handful of other statehouses consider similar bills prompted by a measles outbreak at Disneyland.
Oregon's measure, which had the support of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, would have made the state the third in the country allowing exemptions from immunizations only for medical reasons, and no longer for religious, philosophical or personal reasons. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only other states that have comparable laws in place.
In Washington state, a similar effort to remove personal or philosophical opposition to vaccines as an authorized exemption from childhood school immunizations died in the state House after failing to come up for a vote before a key deadline. Religious and medical exemptions would have remained under that bill.
Washington state Rep. June Robinson, who had sponsored the bill, said she didn't have the votes she needed. The Democrat from Everett said the pushback from parents and others opposed to the change had an effect on some lawmakers.
"There was a very loud outcry, much of which was filled with false information," she said.
I've said many times there's not a constituency for public health. Here's an example, alas.
Tara Haelle:
The number of U.S. measles cases has continued climbing toward 200, with 173 cases noted in the CDC’s most recent report March 6 — but that’s only half the story. If you add in the cases multiplying north of the border, the outbreak nearly doubles in size.
Canada is also facing a major outbreak of the viral illness with more than 100 cases in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, all tracing back to two families who visited Disneyland in December, according to the CBC, Canada’s state broadcast news station. At a press conference Feb. 21, Quebec public health officials announced 21 measles cases. Less than three weeks later, the cases have climbed to 119 – all in unvaccinated individuals.
“The reason it’s spreading so rapidly is that that’s the nature of the virus,” said Mark Schleiss, director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “Measles is believed to be one of the most contagious infectious viruses known in human history.”
And that's why stronger public health measures are needed.
Charlie Cook:
While political reporters, activists, and aficionados may be quite well versed in, and genuinely disagree with, Bush's positions on specific issues, it is unlikely that many average Americans outside Florida are especially familiar with his stances at this point. It would seem, then, that Bush is simply not being seen by many people as an individual in his own right; he appears to have inherited negatives that he didn't particularly earn during his tenure as governor. The obvious conclusion is that he is being viewed as an extension of his brother—though that doesn't explain why he is less popular than George W.
Unquestionably, Bush is going to raise more money than any other Republican, and that gives him some advantages. But it is also clear that he faces political headwinds within his party, some related to his moderate positions on immigration and education, but some because he is somehow seen as more of a reflection of the past than Hillary Clinton is. Like an onion, this campaign is going to have lots of layers.
Dave Weigel on Netanyahu's problems at home:
This is surprising. The image of the speech was impressive. The impact of the speech has been that of a tremendous own goal, kicked right from the middle of the pitch. Since the speech, Netanyahu's Likud had fallen slightly behind the Zionist union led by Livni and Isaac Herzog. The prime minister's lost most of a lead he'd held over Herzog when voters were asked whom they preferred to see in the top job–something the speech to Congress was supposed to emphasize. In an interview Thursday, Livni felt comfortable enough about the backlash to the speech to say Netanyahu was boosting himself at Israel's expense. "I believe we know how to work better with the international community to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon," she told Gil Hoffman.
Livni and Herzog are benefitting from what turned out to be a sophisticated, far-sighted effort to undermine Netanyahu's speech. Democrats saw an opportunity in Boehner's opportunism. The speech was always understood as a Republican move to undermine the president's negotiations. Democrats, as a rump of them peeled off and boycotted the speech, warned that Netanyahu's willingness to be used made him a less effective voice. On Friday, Tennessee Representative Steve Cohen–who is Jewish– reacted to the new Likud ad by warning that the speech was always going to be an election gimmick, benefiting no one but Netanyahu.