WASHINGTON — If it’s Wednesday … Nikki Haley formally launches her presidential bid in Charleston, S.C., per NBC’s Ali Vitali. … NBC’s Craig Melvin interviews Haley in community unique to air Thursday on “Right now.” … Mike Pence visits Iowa. … Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., proclaims she received’t search re-election. … President Biden travels to Lanham, Md., to debate the financial system, deficit and debt. … And NBC’s Ken Dilanian confirms that the particular counsel investigating Donald Trump’s categorized paperwork is searching for to compel the previous president’s lawyer to testify earlier than a grand jury.

However first: Because the fictional Ricky Bobby declared, “For those who ain’t first, you’re final.”

And that “Talladega Nights” expression helps clarify a presidential-campaign phenomenon we’ve witnessed over the past couple of cycles: There’s a profit in being the primary main non-frontrunning candidate to announce a bid — like Nikki Haley is doing right now in South Carolina. 

You get just a bit extra consideration than the non-frontrunners who goes second, third or fourth.

Suppose again to the 2020 cycle, when Elizabeth Warren was the primary main Democrat out of the gates, saying earlier than Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. Guess what: Warren ultimately completed third in that race to frontrunners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. 

In 2016’s GOP presidential contest, Ted Cruz was the primary main Republican to announce, and he in the end completed second to Donald Trump. 

Backside line: For those who’re not Trump or Ron DeSantis in 2024, it helps to be the primary true non-frontrunner to get into the race. 

As for the remainder of the potential 2024 GOP area, Mike Pence right now is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, opposing transgender-affirming public college insurance policies.

Tomorrow, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., holds a Black Historical past Month occasion in Charleston, S.C. — the identical metropolis the place Haley launches right now — earlier than heading to Iowa subsequent week. 

And this week, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is delivering coverage speeches in D.C.

The 2024 presidential race — slowly, however certainly — is choosing up pace. 

Information Obtain: The variety of the day is … 5

That’s what number of outstanding Republican girls have run for president, with Nikki Haley turning into the fifth GOP lady to hunt the White House, in accordance with the Heart for American Ladies and Politics at Rutgers College. Total, Haley turns into the twenty fourth outstanding lady to run for president, per CAWP.

Greater than twice as many Democratic girls have run for president than Republicans, fueled largely by the crowded area of Democrats who ran in 2020. A complete of 13 outstanding Democratic girls have run for the White House in U.S. historical past, and 6 of them ran within the 2020 main.

Learn extra about previous feminine presidential candidates, and the way Haley careworn her gender in her marketing campaign announcement, on the Meet the Press Weblog. 

Different numbers to know:

6.4%: The annual improve in client costs in January, a slight lower month-over-month however above analysts’ predictions.  

11.3%: The annual improve in grocery costs in January, one thing that main grocery chains are attempting to deal with with their suppliers.

100:  The variety of President Joe Biden’s federal decide nominees the Senate has confirmed, hitting that mark on Tuesday with Appellate Court docket Decide Cindy Chung. 

$2.5 million: Not less than how a lot the missiles used to shoot down the Chinese language surveillance balloon and the three different unidentified objects value, in accordance with NBC Information’ Daniel De Luce and Mosheh Positive aspects. 

$10 billion: The potential price ticket of latest U.S. help to Ukraine as a part of a number of bulletins geared toward underscoring America’s dedication to the nation as its battle with Russia hits the one-year mark, per NBC Information’ Courtney Kube and Carol Lee. 

6,000: The approximate variety of Ukrainian kids who’ve been relocated and despatched to re-education camps by Russia, per an impartial research sponsored by the U.S. authorities that careworn the variety of Ukrainian kids “forcibly transferred” could possibly be considerably larger.

8: The variety of years Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led the nation earlier than she introduced her intent to resign on Wednesday.

$5 million: The budget surplus welcoming first-term Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, as she joins eight different newly-sworn governors throughout the U.S. going through document funds surpluses, Politico experiences.

Headline of the day

Eyes on 2024: Feinstein makes it official

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., lastly made the announcement Tuesday that Democrats in California had been ready for — she is not going to run for one more time period and can as a substitute retire on the finish of 2024. 

The writing had been on the wall. Distinguished California Democrats have already introduced they’re working for Senate (with extra on the way in which); former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed a candidate (Rep. Adam Schiff) in case Feinstein wasn’t working; and the 89-year-old senator raised simply $8,800 in 2021 and 2022, closing the yr with lower than $10,000 within the financial institution and a half-million in debt. 

However the certainty now formally clears the sphere for what’s certain to be some of the costly (if not the costliest) primaries within the nation. And it’s one much less query looming over the Senate map forward of the 2024 election. 

In different marketing campaign information:

Trump picks up one other endorsement: Freshman Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who defeated Liz Cheney in final yr’s GOP congressional main, is backing Donald Trump within the 2024 presidential race, per NBC’s Garrett Haake. 

New York mind-set: New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told The Gothamist that she had a “beautiful lunch” with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., amid rumors that the progressive congresswoman might problem the senator in a main. Gillibrand praised Ocasio-Cortez and mentioned she couldn’t “consider a greater adversary for [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene” on the Oversight Committee. 

Texas endlessly: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, instructed supporters he’s working for re-election to the Senate in 2024, and he’s not working for president, per the Houston Chronicle. 

Chatting about China: South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem will ship a speech responding to the “risk posed by the Chinese language Communist Celebration” at the America First Policy Institute. 

Present me your funds, I’ll present you your values: New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who’s weighing a presidential run, laid out his funds priorities throughout a Tuesday speech, focusing explicitly on training licensing reform, housing and raises for state staff, per WMUR.  

Second time a appeal?: Democrat Adam Frisch, who misplaced to Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado-03 by a number of hundred votes final yr, introduced he’s working once more. 

Ballot place: Senate Management Fund, an excellent PAC aligned with Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, released a poll of the West Virginia Senate race exhibiting GOP Gov. Jim Justice within the strongest place in opposition to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, per Politico.

Casey undergoes surgical procedure: Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., underwent surgical procedure for prostate most cancers on Tuesday, and a spokesperson mentioned Casey’s physician “experiences that, as anticipated, the process went properly and he confirmed that the Senator mustn’t require additional remedy.” Casey has not but mentioned if is working for re-election amid his most cancers analysis.

Assist for Florida man: Membership for Progress, a conservative group, is endorsing Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and plans to spend to help Scott’s re-election, per Politico. The group additionally took a swipe at McConnell, who has criticized Scott’s proposal to sundown all federal laws after 5 years except reapproved by Congress, together with Medicare and Social Safety.

ICYMI: What else is going on on the planet

Police are nonetheless struggling to determine a motive for why a gunman killed three and injured 5 on the campus of Michigan State College on Monday night time.

The U.Ok. and Qatar are serving to with oblique talks between the U.S. and Iran over a possible prisoner change, NBC Information’ Dan De Luce and Abigail Williams report.

The three unidentified objects shot down over North America in latest weeks had been possible business or benign, the White House mentioned on Tuesday.

President Biden tapped Lael Brainard to go the Nationwide Financial Council on Tuesday, a place that can require Brainard to resign her present put up on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.