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Let Me Start: May 5, 2015

The Republican race for the White House in 2016 heats up as Mike Huckabee throws his hat into the ring.
Potential Republican 2016 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua
Potential Republican 2016 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua, New Hampshire...

Let me start with the 2016 race and one more Republican entering the field. 

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee made the announcement Tuesday during an event in Hope, AR, that he is running for president in 2016.  Huckabee delivered a preview of coming attractions in a video he released Friday, not shying away from an attack on the Clinton Camp. 

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza broke down why you may want to pay attention to Huckabee in this race.  Cillizza writes: "The message is clear: [Huckabee] beat the Clintons once, and [he] can do it again."

 Meanwhile on the Democrats' side of 2016, Hillary Clinton heads to Las Vegas.  She will be participating in an event focusing on immigration reform.  This as a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows Clinton's favorability slipping. She's now at 42% favorable, 42% unfavorable versus 44%-36% back in March.

READ MORE: Hillary takes a hit, but still bests GOP competition

In Capital Hill news, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he will block President Obama's trade bill until the Senate votes on surveillance reforms and highway funding, according to the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim.  Not surprisingly, Sen. Reid's stance is said to annoy members in both parties.

And finally, NBC News has learned that ISIS officially claimed responsibility for the attack on a "draw Muhammad" cartoon event in Garland, TX, on Sunday.  The claim was announced in an ISIS radio broadcast and heats up the discussion of preventing and finding homegrown ISIS cells within the United States.

READ MORE - Garland shooting: What we know

 Tune into "Hardball with Chris Matthews" at 7pm/et for more on all the day's political headlines.