Let me start with the stories the Hardball Staff is talking about this morning.
MORE TROOPS TO IRAQ?
The New York Times reports that President Obama plans to send hundreds of U.S. "military trainers" to Iraq. The White House is expected to announce a plan later today that has been percolating behind the scenes ever since ISIS militants overtook the city of Mosul last year. The Times is reporting an additional 450 military trainers as well as the establishment of a new military base in the Anbar Province.
NBC News' White House Correspondent Kristen Welker says an administration spokesperson has said "As the president has noted, we are considering a range of options to accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces in order to support them in taking the fight to ISIL. Those options include sending additional trainers to Iraq."
RELATED: Taking the fight to ISIS
IS HILLARY CLINTON THE NEW ROOSEVELT?
Chris Matthews has been discussing Hillary Clinton's lean to the left in recent weeks, but now her progressive stance has earned her a comparison to none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Vox Chief Political Correspondent Jonathan Allen writes that FDR's "list of universal values, which included equality of opportunity, jobs, and a rising standard of living, read like a Democratic platform for the ages — and, for the most part, like the platform Hillary Clinton wants to project to fellow Democrats."
Politico also made the comparison, but the magazine took it a step further by saying Clinton also show shadows of Teddy Roosevelt in some of her stances and should stay the progressive course in her campaign. Josh Zeitz writes that Teddy Roosevelt's example "suggests that progressivism works best when its messengers speak the optimistic language of national unity rather than the shrill dialect of populism."