My must read of the day is "The Clintons fight back, signaling a new phase in 2016 preparations," in the Washington Post:
But this week, she [Hillary Clinton] and her husband have jumped into partisan combat. Under fire from Republicans over her record as secretary of state and her health, Hillary Clinton gave a robust defense Wednesday of her tour as the nation’s top diplomat. Bill Clinton reveled in mocking Karl Rove for his suggestion that Hillary Clinton may have suffered brain damage from a fall in late 2012, while a Clinton spokesman said Rove’s remarks revealed that Republicans are "scared of what she has to offer."
The efforts to shore up Clinton’s reputation and address GOP criticism suggest that Clinton is moving into a new phase in preparing for a possible 2016 presidential campaign.
Next month, she will embark on a cross-country book tour that aides say is a precursor to hitting the midterm campaign trail this fall and that some Democratic insiders consider a trial run for a White House bid. [...]
Answering questions onstage from journalist Gwen Ifill of PBS, Clinton defended his wife on Benghazi. "Hillary did what she should have done," he said. But he was unwilling to engage further. Pressed by Ifill, he said, "You just want to get me into a political fight and I’m not doing that."
There’s actually a lot going on in the hypothetical Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign. Clinton is releasing "Hard Choices" on June 10, and the book tour provides an opportunity for a "mini-campaign" tour, but it might not be all rosy.
Clinton currently has a 59 percent approval rating, and while it’s higher than other potential 2016 challengers, it has dropped slightly.
Clinton is a front-runner in the Democratic field by a significant margin, but she’s still going to face hurdles, and we’ll likely see them begin to play out as she promotes her new book. That already seems to be occurring, and Benghazi is an example of it—Bill might not have wanted to address it, but Hillary will have to.
According to a social-media tracking firm, every 12 seconds Benghazi is mentioned in a tweet. When Benghazi isn’t a big headline in the news it’s still mentioned in about 5,000 tweets per day.
Her record as Secretary of State is going to come up as she promotes this book, and we’ll see if she’s able to defend herself and maintain a high approval rating. It could be a challenge, and as political writers have noted, Clinton has seen high favorability before, only to see it drop once she began a campaign. This book tour will likely give insight into how the public will perceive her once she’s actively campaigning.