Michael Bloomberg won’t run for president, raising speculation that he will run for president. On this day in history, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone, which forever revolutionized the way Ted Cruz scares people about Marco Rubio’s amnesty plan. And we’re entering the Life Alert portion of the primary, both in that a number of candidates have fallen and can’t get up, and that they’re all making strong plays for old people in Florida. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, March 7th, 2016:
BLOOMBERG WON'T RUN FOR PRESIDENT 
[Bloomberg (both man and outlet)]
Howard Wolfson shared a would-be Bloomberg campaign video with the Times and it's even more boring than the former mayor.
WHITE HOUSE'S SCOTUS SHORTLIST - Amy Goldstein, Jerry Markon and Sari Horwitz: "The White House is considering nearly a half-dozen relatively new federal judges for President Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court, focusing on jurists with scant discernible ideology and limited judicial records as part of a strategy to surmount fierce Republican opposition...Based on interviews with legal experts and others, including some who have spoken in recent days with Obama administration officials involved in the vetting process, the president is leaning toward a sitting federal judge to fill the vacancy -- and probably one the Senate confirmed with bipartisan support during his tenure. These insiders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, noted that the administration is winnowing its list of candidates -- but that it could add more. The candidates under consideration include two judges who joined the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2013, Sri Srinivasan and Patricia A. Millett; Jane L. Kelly, an Iowan appointed that year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit; Paul J. Watford, a judge since 2012 on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit; and a lower-court judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed in 2013 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia." [WaPo]
@MrT: I mourn the death of First Lady Nancy Reagan, who was Very Special to me….
SURELY THIS WILL DAMAGE THE TRUMP BRAND - Foreign diplomats complaining… Mark Hosenball, Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick: "Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials. Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified. 'As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world,' said one of the officials. The three officials declined to disclose a full list of countries whose diplomats have complained, but two said they included at least India, South Korea, Japan and Mexico." [Reuters]
MIKE LEE IS KINDA PULLING A JIM BUNNING ON THE FLINT BILL - Sen. Mike Lee doesn't think the U.S. Congress needs to get involved with the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
The Utah Republican is preventing a vote on bipartisan legislation that would help cities get loans for infrastructure repairs if they face similar conditions. "The only thing Congress is contributing to the Flint recovery is political grandstanding," Lee said. "The people and policymakers of Michigan right now have all the government resources they need to fix the problem."...Democrats have heaped blame on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who has apologized repeatedly. In January, Democrats proposed $600 million in direct assistance to Flint, but have since negotiated with Republicans on a $220 million measure that would make loan credits available to any city facing a water emergency. A spokeswoman for Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the Republicans who worked on the measure for weeks, said Monday that the senator is still negotiating. "Inhofe is working to address concerns from all parties involved and to find a responsible path forward for this fully paid-for solution, which allows all states to seek a loan to help their communities that are facing dangerous repercussions from aging water infrastructure," she said. [HuffPost]
DELANEY DOWNER - Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters didn't like Bernie Sanders' response to her question about lead pipes during Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate in Flint. But she really didn't like Hillary Clinton's response. "I hated Hillary Clinton's answer," Walters, 38, told The Huffington Post on Monday. "It actually made me vomit in my mouth." Walters, an early whistleblower in the Flint water crisis, had asked whether as president, Clinton and the Vermont senator would promise to require public water systems in the United States to remove lead pipes. Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders did not give direct answers. Instead, Clinton proposed getting rid of all lead sources, including paint and dust, within five years. "We will commit to a priority to change the water systems and we will commit within five years to remove lead from everywhere," Clinton said. To Walters, five years is an unacceptable timeline. [HuffPost]
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CRUZ TO PROVE THAT HE HAS FRIENDS THIS WEEK - But is it good for the Cruz? Yes. Elaina Plott: "Ted Cruz’s colleagues may loathe him, but they seem to have found somebody else they dislike more. With the prospect of Donald Trump’s nomination looming over the GOP, Cruz is set to unveil endorsements from more than four senators this week, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Until now, Cruz had failed to earn the endorsement of even a single Senate colleague, a fact Trump and other presidential rivals have been quick to use against the Texas freshman. But as many senators see Marco Rubio’s prospects dimming, some are beginning to make peace with Cruz, convinced that he’s the only candidate who can stop Trump. If Rubio can’t clinch his home state of Florida on March 15, yet more may come forward to back the devil they know." [National Review]
CRUZ LOOKING TO DESTROY RUBIO IN FLORIDA - Shane Goldmacher: "One of Ted Cruz’s super PACs says it is aiming to take out Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida.
And the super PAC has prepared an array of new attack ads hitting Rubio -- on sugar subsidies, on his tax plan, on amnesty and on national defense -- with plans to air them in the Sunshine State. 'We had so much fun winning Sen. Cruz’s home state by 17 points, we thought why not repeat that in Sen. Rubio’s home state?' said Kellyanne Conway, the Republican strategist who heads Keep the Promise I, which created the ads." [Politico]
TRUMP DOING GREAT HISPANIC GOTV - Hispanics really do love him [for energizing them to engage in our democratic institutions thereby infusing them with the satisfaction that only comes from being a good citizen]! Julie Preston: "Over all, naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14 percent during the six months ending in January, according to federal figures. The pace is picking up by the week, advocates say, and they estimate applications could approach 1 million in 2016, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years." [NYT]
HOW RUBIO JEB!'D - Somewhere, in some GOP office or campaign HQ, there's a PowerPoint presentation that has a bullet point that says "Fewer Dick Jokes." Ed O'Keefe, Robert Costa and Paul Kane: "Party leaders, donors and other supporters of Rubio portray a political operation that continues to come up short in its message, in its attention to the fundamentals of campaigning and in its use of a promising politician. The failures have all but doomed Rubio’s chances of securing the GOP nomination, leaving him far behind Trump and Cruz in both delegates and states won…'They have no infrastructure,' said Scott Reed, who is unaffiliated with any campaign but serves as the chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 'His campaign hasn’t been able to keep up with his candidacy. . . . They don’t have the operation in the states to help him get over the top. He should be a finalist going all the way to California, and he’s not'" [WaPo]
Nothing spells success quite like "failed vice presidential candidate who can't win his home state" - "Earle Mack, a Brooklyn-born businessman and former ambassador under President George W. Bush, is the major force behind a 'super PAC' that is attempting to draft the Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and speaker of the House, as the party’s presidential nominee. Mr. Mack said in an interview that he would spend up to $1 million on 'The Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan,' which was formed last week, but has kept its backers secret until now. Mr. Ryan has disavowed the group, which is plowing ahead anyway." [NYT's Maggie Haberman]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some cats opening doors.
COMFORT FOOD
- The most hard-won advertisement in history.
- Bruce Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" over 41 years.
- One day, science will make human whack-a-mole the only way rich people can differentiate themselves.
TWITTERAMA
quinnbowman: Trump's new anti-
Rubio ad zooms dramatically on photo of US House floor when talking about the Senate
@MEPFuller: You know someone has bucks when you google their name and the first autofill is "net worth."
@dylanlscott: Whenever I go on a Gannet website, I feel like I’m under attack.
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