OBAMA AGENDA: Watching the stock markets
The latest on the market drop, from the Wall Street Journal: "European stocks and U.S. stock futures fell sharply as a rout in Chinese shares accelerated, wiping out gains for the year. Oil prices continued to drop, while Treasurys gained as investors sought the relative safety of government bonds. Fears that China’s economy is slowing dramatically have sparked heavy selling around the globe in recent days. Beijing’s unexpected move to devalue its currency two weeks ago raised the alarm that the world’s second-largest economy may be in worse shape than many investors had thought. Since then, weak economic data have fueled worries that a drop-off in Chinese growth could cause a global slowdown."
From Bloomberg: "Chinese shares tumbled by the most since 2007, stocks in Germany headed for a bear market and commodities fell to a 16-year low. Russia’s ruble led a selloff in emerging-market currencies, while the yen strengthened and 10-year Treasury yields slid below 2 percent for the first time since April. Futures signaled U.S. equities will retreat for a fifth day."
Ex-cons say the president's talk on criminal justice reform doesn't always ring true when it comes to access to the White House.
Minority Leader Harry Reid will support the Iran deal.
By the way, here's an Iran deal whip count roundup from NBC's Frank Thorp
OFF THE RACES: Biden leaning toward jumping in?
BIDEN: From the WSJ: "Vice President Joe Biden, who has long been considering a presidential bid, is increasingly leaning toward entering the race if it is still possible he can knit together a competitive campaign at this late date, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Biden still could opt to sit out the 2016 race, and he is weighing multiple political, financial and family considerations before making a final decision. But conversations about the possibility were a prominent feature of an August stay in South Carolina and his home in Delaware last week, these people said."
He huddled privately with Elizabeth Warren in Washington D.C. over the weekend.
Writes Bloomberg: "Vice President Joe Biden is gearing up for a packed September schedule in his day job that could showcase him as the politician best poised to carry on President Barack Obama’s policies -– or open him up to new lines of attack if he stumbles. These include mid-September votes in Congress on an Iran deal that Biden has been deeply involved in promoting; visits to Washington by Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping; a looming budget showdown; and administration efforts on climate change, renewing the Export-Import Bank’s charter, criminal justice reform and closing the terrorism detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."
POLITICO reports on how Obamaworld is reacting to the Biden buzz: "“If he decides to go on with this,” echoed a former senior Obama campaign official, “there will be a lot of people who make heart-and-gut decisions as opposed to head decisions.”
BUSH: He had to deal with an embarrassing mailer goof over the weekend.
CHRISTIE: Here's what he said about the markets in China: "To strengthen our economy, we don't need to worry about China. We need to worry about what's happening in the United States of America. Our taxes are too high, the tax code is rigged for the rich—not for everyday working folks."
He's out with a new ad highlighting his record as a "strong law enforcer."
CLINTON: Her message in Iowa has gone hyperlocal, writes the AP.
CRUZ: His pitch to evangelical voters is getting more aggressive, reports the Washington Post: "More than 100,000 pastors received e-mail invitations over the weekend to participate in conference calls with Cruz on Tuesday in which they will learn details of the plan to mobilize churchgoers in every congressional district beginning Aug. 30. The requests were sent on the heels of the Texas Republican’s “Rally for Religious Liberty,” which drew 2,500 people to a Des Moines ballroom Friday."
FIORINA: CNN's debate criteria could spell bad news for Carly Fiorina.
JINDAL: NBC's Vaughn Hillyard reports on Bobby Jindal's stop Sunday in Oskaloosa: "The idea of America is slipping away from us. What do I mean by that? Think about what we have seen these last seven years. Things you and I never thought we would see. 18 trillion dollars in debt. Obamacare when we can’t afford the entitlements we’ve got today. The EPA trying to regulate the water in your backyard. Planned Parenthood taking your tax dollars and dismembering babies and selling their organs across the country."
WALKER: Here's his quote to ABC on birthright citizenship: ""My point is any discussion that goes beyond securing the border and enforcing the laws are things that should be a red flag to voters out there, who for years have heard lip service from politicians and are understandably angry because those politicians haven’t been committed to following through on those promises."
TRUMP: He's taking on hedge fund managers: "The hedge fund guys didn't build this country. These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky."
George Will in the Washington Post: "It has come to this: The GOP, formerly the party of Lincoln and ostensibly the party of liberty and limited government, is being defined by clamors for a mass roundup and deportation of millions of human beings. To will an end is to will the means for the end, so the Republican clamors are also for the requisite expansion of government’s size and coercive powers."
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron Hall speaks with Daily Beast senior politics editor Jackie Kucinich about the latest political headlines, Emanuel Skarlatos, Father of American hero Alek Skarlatos who thwarted a gunman on a train bound for Paris from Amsterdam, and Actor Ron Perlman discusses his new The Amazon Original Series: Hand Of God.
*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Luke Russert fills in for Andrea and will interview Rep. Mike McCaul, Fmr. Ambassador Chris Hill, Draft Biden’s Josh Alcorn, Univ. of Teas Center for Mexican American Studies’ Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and Karen Tumulty and NBC’s Ian Williams, Claudio Lavagna and Chris Jansing.
*** Monday’s “Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: Thomas interviews Christine Coons, a passenger on the train and Former Sr. British Officer Michael Kay about American heroes who took down an attacker in France, Former Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) about VP Joe Biden meeting with Elizabeth Warren and weighing a 2016 run, Attorney Raul Reyes about Jeb Bush’s visit to the border today and whether Donald Trump is backing him into a corner on immigration, and The Hill columnist Judy Kurtz about Melania Trump as a potential first lady.