By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
BREAKING -- “Trump blasts delegate fight as ‘crooked deal,’” by Nick Gass: “Donald Trump vented Monday over the delegate fight on which his campaign has been repeatedly outfoxed, slamming the situation in Colorado as a ‘crooked deal.’ ‘Well it really started with Colorado, and the people out there are going crazy — in the Denver area and Colorado itself — and they’re going absolutely crazy because they weren’t given a vote, this was given by politicians. It’s a crooked deal, and I see it,’ ... [Trump told] ‘Fox & Friends.’ ... [W]e keep fighting, fighting, fighting and then you have a Colorado where they frankly, where they just get all of these delegates, and it’s not a system. There was no voting. I didn’t go out there to make a speech or anything.’” http://politi.co/1qDkMan
Good Monday morning. HILLARY ad, off embargo at 6 a.m. -- “Stronger Together,” airing in NYC this week – Narrator: “He says we should punish women who have abortions ... that Mexicans who come to America are rapists ... and that we should ban Muslims from coming here at all. ... With so much at stake, she’s the one tough enough to stop Trump.” http://bit.ly/23o0Rhe
AMAZING STAT from CNN’s Brian Stelter: “A Sunday morning without Donald Trump for the first time in 5 months ... first time since November that Trump did not take part in the Sunday morning TV interview circuit.” Not even call-ins or pre-tapes! http://cnnmon.ie/1TM0tms
**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/1M75UbX
IF YOU READ ONLY 1 THING -- N.Y. Times A1, bottom of page, “Where the Poor Live in America May Help Determine Life Span,” by Upshot’s Neil Irwin and Quoctrung Bui (online: “The Rich Live Longer Everywhere. For the Poor, Geography Matters: “[T]he gap in life spans between rich and poor widened from 2001 to 2014. The top 1 percent in income among American men live 15 years longer than the poorest 1 percent; for women, the gap is 10 years. These rich Americans have gained three years of longevity just in this century. ... Poor Americans had very little gain as a whole, with big differences among different places. ...
“The affluent seem to live in healthier ways. They exercise more, smoke less, feel less stress and are less likely to be obese. ... [I]t may go the other direction as well, because people who are healthy are better able to hold down a demanding job ... Life expectancy for the poor is lowest in a large swath that cuts through the middle of the country, and it appears in pockets in the rest of the country, in places like Nevada.
“David M. Cutler, a Harvard economist and an author of the paper, calls it the ‘drug overdose belt,’because the area matches in part a map of where the nation’s opioid epidemic is concentrated.” With charts of “Where the Poor Live the Longest” and “ Where the Poor Live the Shortest,” each broken down by men and women http://nyti.ms/22o2Egl
MOST MEMORABLE PHRASE in the papers this a.m.: Speaker Ryan “mirage candidacy.”
RYAN RISING – N.Y. Times A1, above fold, “On Edges of G.O.P. Race, Ryan Wages His Own Policy Campaign,” by Jennifer Steinhauer (online: “Ryan, a Mirage Candidate, Wages a Parallel Campaign”): “Ryan is creating a personality and policy alternative to run alongside the presidential effort — one that provides a foundation to rebuild if Republicans splinter and lose in the fall. ... He is shaping an agenda that he plans to roll out right before the convention, a supplement of sorts to the official party platform. ... His policy positions on immigration and trade, which have contributed to his mirage candidacy, are in great tension with the views of many Republican primary voters. ...
“His office is adept at using social media to further Mr. Ryan’s agenda — and deepen speculation about his ambitions. During a winter snowstorm, the speaker’s Snowcam drove record traffic to his website, especially new visitors. Then there was his ‘I am definitely not running’ campaign-style video, another big draw, as well as the SpeakerSelfie and in-video captions designed to accommodate the autoplay features on Twitter and Facebook that keep people watching.” http://nyti.ms/22o3ud2
--N.Y. TIMES Quotation of the Day -- PETE WEHNER, a former Bush administration official, on the role Speaker Paul D. Ryan might play if Donald J. Trump wins the Republican nomination: “I don’t think he would use his position as the stick in the eye of Trump or taunt him. But I don’t think Ryan would be at all shy about laying out the agenda of the Republican Party, because, remember, there are a lot of people voting against Trump out there.”
GREAT QUOTE in NYT A1er, "Amid Cheers, Some Scholars See an Airbrushed 'Hamilton,'" by Jennifer Schuessler -- Annette Gordon-Reed, a professor of history and law at Harvard and the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of “The Hemingses of Monticello,” on the blog of the National Council on Public History, “Imagine ‘Hamilton’ with white actors ... Would the rosy view of the founding era grate?” http://nyti.ms/1SYQhoB
INSIDE THE WEST WING -- “Obama’s Supreme Court charm offensive: The president personally reached out to several Republicans — to no avail,” by Seung Min Kim, with John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett: “Obama has personally called nearly a dozen Republican senators before and immediately after nominating Garland ... [E]ither the president or a White House official has contacted every senator or their aides on the Supreme Court vacancy since Scalia died. ... Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) met with Obama in the Oval Office on March 1, and then heard from the president again just over two weeks later, when he was informed that Obama would be choosing Garland. ‘It was a very pleasant conversation,’ Grassley said. ‘And a very short one.’
“McConnell, who also attended the Oval Office meeting with Grassley, hasn’t spoken to either Obama or Biden about the Supreme Court vacancy since that sit-down, during which the conversation veered off into other topics, such as the opioid epidemic and even basketball. Obama’s conversation about the vacancy with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) seemed to steer off elsewhere too — pivoting mostly to criminal justice reform, a shared interest of the two men.” http://politi.co/1VhMHd6
PICS -- Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche): .@BernieSanders eating a hotdog at Nathan’s w/ his wife and Michael Stipe of REM. Apparently Bernie is a fast eater.” http://bit.ly/1S4Cmgz ... @JohnKerry: “Honored to be 1st Sec State to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum & Park. Here is what I wrote in the guestbook.” http://bit.ly/1N3vWz4 ... @jonkarl: “In the @ThisWeekABC green room: @BernieSanders watches @johnpodesta” http://bit.ly/1VhIsgQ
--“Mike Bloomberg, Marco Rubio chat at equestrian event” – N.Y. Post Page Six: “Bloomberg was spotted [with] Marco Rubio at this weekend’s Longines Global Champions Tour in Miami. Michael was there to watch daughter Georgina compete in the equestrian event, where she owns the team Miami Glory ... Rubio was ... with his daughters in a VIP area.” http://pge.sx/1SsoBoQ
FIRST LOOK -- Top Spotify Playlists of Capitol Hill: “Speaker Paul Ryan’s playlist appropriately leads off with Queen’s ‘Under Pressure,’ Sen. Cory Booker’s 101-song playlist and Sen. Mike Lee’s 231-song playlist are signs of music lovers who couldn’t limit their list. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s ‘Running List,’ Rep. John Conyers’ ‘Jams’ and Rep. Will Hurd’s ‘Deep Tracks’ all offer listening enjoyment for different moods and activities.” Top 20 Spotify playlists of Capitol Hill http://bit.ly/1VhtDvn
TIM MILLER: Hillary could beat Trump “from jail”! In Glenn Thrush “Off Message” podcast, Our Principles PAC advisor and former Jeb Bush adviser Tim Miller, part of the #NeverTrump effort, says “it’s crazy” how unpopular and disliked Trump is by the general electorate. http://apple.co/1KRm0m0
CNN FAMILY TOWN HALLS with Trump, Cruz, Kasich: “CNN will host three Anderson Cooper 360º Town Halls in New York City with GOP presidential candidates and members of their families. [Tonight,] ... Ohio Governor John Kasich, will be joined by his wife Karen and daughters Reese and Emma. On Tuesday, Trump will be joined by his wife Melania and children Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. On Wednesday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz will be joined by his wife Heidi. Each candidate and his family will speak with Anderson Cooper and take questions from an audience of registered Republican voters. The Town Halls will air each night at 9-10PM ET.”
CLICK DU JOUR: “Hillary/Bernie New York Primary Diary,” by Barry Blitt in a “Sketchbook” in The New Yorker http://bit.ly/23wsotn
COMING ATTRACTIONS? “Permanent White House Staff ... on Edge About the 2016 Presidential Race,” by Kate Andersen Brower, author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies”: “Perhaps no one is watching the 2016 presidential race more closely than the nearly 100 permanent-residence staffers who work in the White House. ... (Clinton’s aides say that if she wins, First Gentleman Bill Clinton will not take on all of the traditional duties of the First Lady, which include picking out floral arrangements and china; instead, Clinton will choose a very experienced social secretary to do the job.)” http://bit.ly/1S0mbyF ... $20.29 on Amazon http://amzn.to/1UY80A8
DAILY DONALD – WashPost 1-col. lead, “Portrait of Trump as donor emerges: NO GIFTS ON MOGUL’S OWN MONEY ON LIST – Giving appears tied to business, political aims,” by David Fahrenthold and Roz Helderman: “Trump has said that he gave more than $102 million to charity in the past five years. To back up that claim, Trump’s campaign compiled a list of his contributions — 4,844 of them, filling 93 pages. ... Not a single one of those donations was actually a personal gift of Trump’s own money. ... [M]any of the gifts ... were free rounds of golf, given away by his courses for charity auctions and raffles.” http://wapo.st/1VhLwu3
TRUMP v. CLINTON – “AP-GfK Poll: Clinton has edge over Trump on range of issues,” by AP’s Julie Pace and Emily Swanson: “In a stark warning for Donald Trump as he eyes a possible general election showdown with Hillary Clinton, Americans trust the Democratic front-runner more than the Republican businessman to handle a wide range of issues — from immigration to health care to nominating Supreme Court justices. Even when asked which of the two candidates would be best at ‘making American great’ — the central promise of Trump's campaign — Americans are slightly more likely to side with Clinton [33-28] ... Trump is nearly even with her on whom Americans trust to handle the economy.” http://apne.ws/23ogIfv
TOP TALKER -- WSJ p. A1, above fold, “Interest Heats Up for Yahoo: Britain’s Daily Mail talks to buyout firms about bid for news and media assets,” by Lukas Alpert and Doug MacMillan: “A takeover of Yahoo’s news properties would markedly increase the Daily Mail’s presence in the U.S., where it launched a version of its website in 2012. Since then, the publisher’s aggressive mix of news aggregation and celebrity and scandal coverage has made it a top-ranking news site ... Other firms that have expressed interest in Yahoo include Time Inc. and private-equity firms TPG and KKR & Co. Microsoft Corp. has held discussions with private-equity firms about helping to finance a buyout.” http://on.wsj.com/23wJirV
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Director Brennan: CIA Won’t Waterboard Again — Even if Ordered by Future President,” by NBC News’ Richard Engel and Richard Windrem: “CIA Director John Brennan ... [said] that his agency will not engage in harsh ‘enhanced interrogation’ practices, including waterboarding, which critics call torture — even if ordered to by a future president. ‘I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I’ve heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure,’ Brennan said. ... When asked specifically about waterboarding Brennan could not have been clearer. ‘Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again.’” http://nbcnews.to/1qip7PH
SNEAK PEEK – “The Assad Files: Capturing the top-secret documents that tie the Syrian regime to mass torture and killings,” by Ben Taub in The New Yorker: “In the past four years, people working for the [Commission for International Justice and Accountability] have smuggled more than six hundred thousand government documents out of Syria, many of them from top-secret intelligence facilities.” http://bit.ly/1oPNTWr
SPOTTED: Bob Schieffer boarding AA1460 DCA-DFW. Seated in First Class seat 4A, wearing a sport coat ... DNC political director Raul Alvillar, last night at RedRocks pizza in Columbia Heights.
--SEND YOUR SPOTTINGS to dlippman@politico.com.
STATE OF THE ART – American Bridge is doing two ads on Facebook/Instagram using man on the street interviews they from Iowa, South Carolina, CPAC -- all Republicans ripping on the idea of a contested convention. Targeting RNC headquarters on First Street SE. http://bit.ly/1NcTe0d ... http://bit.ly/25OMvoF
TRANSITIONS: Amy Taylor, political veteran at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, starts today as Senior Vice President for Community and Youth Engagement at the Truth Initiative, the foundation dedicated to reducing teen smoking.
OUT AND ABOUT – The White House Historical Association gathered friends and VIP guests in the “Silver Slugger Suite” to watch the Nationals game yesterday against the Marlins as a new visiting Racing President, “Herbie,” was announced. The Nats won 4-2. The 2016 Official White House Christmas Ornament also has a Hoover connection: It’s a vintage fire truck design commemorating the 1929 Christmas Eve four-alarm fire of the West Wing.
--SPOTTED: Kim Kingsley, Kim Oatis, Stewart McLaurin, Ellie Schafer, Melissa Brown, Anita McBride, Amy Weiss, Josh Walker, Steve Thomma, Italian Amb. to the U.S. Armando Varricchio, Manuel Roig-Franzia and Ceci Connolly, John Dalton, Martha Joynt Kumar, Mike McCurry. Pic of the two Kims with Herbie http://bit.ly/1N3xBVr
SPOTTED at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual meeting in Las Vegas: Govs. Greg Abbott, Charlie Baker, Rick Scott, and Scott Walker, Sens. Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, former Sen. Norm Coleman, Ari Fleischer, Reps. Ed Royce, Ron DeSantis, and Lee Zeldin, Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, Ex Canadian PM Steven Harper.
JOSH EARNEST’s baseball prediction: Opening Day edition of Battery Mates, a baseball podcast by and for campaign alums and politicos, features America’s second highest profile K.C. Royals fan (and White House Press Secretary,) Josh Earnest. Judging by the 40 campaign vets who sent in predictions, Josh has a good chance of seeing his Royals make the World Series, but the consensus is that it’s going to be the Cubs’ season. http://bit.ly/1oPOIi3
WEEKEND WEDDINGS – Andy Oare, an Obama alum now VP of interactive account strategy at The Glover Park Group and Cara Stevens, an official of the U.S. Institute of Peace, were married on Saturday in Chicago at the Chicago History Museum. They met in Chicago in 2012 when he was working for the Obama campaign. Lots of team Obama/HRC folks in attendance. www.whenredswed.com ... Pic http://bit.ly/1WmRuZO
SPOTTED: Jeremy Bird, Betsy Hoover, Michael Halle, Tara McGowan, Nate Lubin, John Schueler, Lauren Kidwell, Chris Wyant, Amanda Litman.
-- “Bridget Coyne, Aaron Myers” – N.Y. Times: “Coyne, 29, is keeping her name. She is a senior partnerships manager in Washington for Twitter, where she helps government officials and political candidates create content strategies. ... Myers, 37, is the director of digital strategy in Washington for the Aspen Institute.”With pic http://nyti.ms/1MoWVVZ
BIRTHDAYS: The great Ethel Kennedy is 88 ... Alex Phillips, who keeps the HFA Comms shop running (h/t Brooklyn) ... Ed Skyler, former NYC Deputy Mayor for Operations, and currently Citi’s EVP for global public affairs (h/t Kamran Mumtaz) ... Erika Masonhall, VP for comms. at NBC News (h/t Maggie Steenland) ... Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee … J.D. Harrison, senior editor of digital content for the U.S. Chamber (h/t Blair Latoff Holmes) ... former Rep. Mark Kennedy (R–Minn.), director of G.W.’s Graduate School of Political Management … Missi Tessier, managing principal at the Podesta Group ... Marcia Hale, president of Building America’s Future and a Clinton WH alum ... David Wofford, VP at Meridian Group International ... Sydney Rubin, deputy director at WomenStrong International (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Michele Ballantyne, SVP for federal gov’t relations at Recording Industry Association of America ... Raelyn Johnson, senior producer at MSNBC and an Al Jazeera, CNN and ABC alum ... Laura Braden Quigley, owner of LBQ Strategies ... Abigail Sigler, comms. director for Rep. Robert Hurt (R-Va.) ... Christian Science Monitor fellow Henry Gass ...
... Politico’s Hillary Alvaré ... Manuel Ortiz, shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and a Quinn Gillespie alum ... Donna Borak, Federal Reserve reporter at the American Banker ... Chris Gates, Broncos fan, senior fellow at California Forward and former president of the Sunlight Foundation ... Kevin O’Neill, director for lead generation at Clarabridge and an Edelman alum ... Marc Ross, co-founder of Caracal Strategies ... Nina Verghese ... Linda Lipsen, CEO at AAJ, the American Association for Justice (h/t Randy White) ... Julie Tarallo, Sen. McCain’s press secretary running her third Boston marathon a week from today -- she absolutely crushed the last two (h/t Kevin McAlister) ... 3 Bush 43 alums: Sarah Beth Lowe ... Nancy Yacoub, VP for corporate and institutional affairs at the International College in Beirut ...
... Jacob Peterson, director of Latino affairs for Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, is 31 ... Kim Aagaard, policy analyst with the international sector at Podesta Group, and Aspen Institute alum (h/t Daniel Wolman) ... Julie Westfall, real-time news editor at L.A. Times ... Jim Parenti ... Jamie Sterling ... Adam Kramer ... Elliott Suthers ... Bob Fois is 54 ... William Hamby ... Gil Gross ... Beth Osborne, DOT alum, now president of Transportation and Development Strategies … Bret Funk, co-founder and CEO of Ruby Recruiting and Billy Long alum ... Sharon Haselfhoff ... Sara Norris ... Teresa Thomas-Boyd ... Danny Vega (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ...Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman is 75 ... actress-dancer Kaitlyn Jenkins is 24 (h/ts AP)