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Good Thursday morning from Washington, where Senator Ted Cruz of Texas followed Jeb Bush‘s recent outreach to Hispanic voters, and the Senate is using a bit of subterfuge to address the nuclear deal with Iran. But, with the news that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was joining presidential the race, attention turns to how Hillary Rodham Clinton might respond.

The entrance of Mr. Sanders into the Democratic presidential primary presents Mrs. Clinton, who is working hard to highlight her progressive bona fides, with both potential pitfalls and opportunities.

Mr. Sanders, the wispy-haired independent of Vermont, has become Mrs. Clinton’s first official opponent from the left, positioning himself as a vessel for liberal Democrats who are trying to shape the likely nominee’s policy stances.

Even with Mr. Sanders consolidating some of the non-Clinton vote in places like New Hampshire and Iowa so far, some close to Mrs. Clinton see him as a potentially useful foil. And many of Mrs. Clinton’s allies believe she will benefit from some early competition.

What’s more, given that Mr. Sanders is a self-described socialist, some of her supporters believes she’ll appear more center-left by contrast, even as her language is consistently being compared to that of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Mr. Sanders will also provide an early test for how much of a vacuum exists to Mrs. Clinton’s left. He and former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland are vying to occupy what right now totals less than 40 percent of the primary vote in early polls. (Democracy for America, the Vermont-based organization founded by Howard Dean, released a statement late Wednesday that its leaders still hope Mrs. Warren runs; she has said she won’t.)

Mr. O’Malley, on the other hand, could try to present himself as a fresh face in contrast to both Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton.

Still others argue that Mrs. Clinton may need to tread carefully with Mr. Sanders and Mr. O’Malley. Progressives argue that the party’s demographics and what moves its core constituency in a general election are different now than they were 20 years ago, when Bill Clinton was elected president.

— Maggie Haberman

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Mr. Bush, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, are among the speakers at the National Review Institute’s 2015 Ideas Summit meeting, where the theme will be, “Why the future is conservative.”

President Obama will participate in a “virtual field trip” and live discussion with students about “his favorite books, how books have influenced his life and the importance of technology in classrooms and libraries.”

Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Khaled Khoja, the leader of Syria’s Western-backed opposition group.

The Senate on Thursday will resume its crucial debate of the closely watched “Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act,” a measure with far-reaching foreign policy implications.

You’ve never heard of the big firefighters bill? Well, that is actually the title of the legislation being used in the Senate to consider the bipartisan measure giving Congress the authority to review any deal with Iran over its nuclear abilities.

Here’s why: The Constitution clearly states that all revenue bills must originate in the House. Since the Iran deal concerns financial sanctions, it counts as a revenue bill. But congressional leaders wanted the Senate to deal with it first, so they employed the firefighters bill to act as a shell for the Iran legislation, which is formally pending as a substitute to the poor firefighters bill that will, at some point, disappear.

The bill’s original intent was to make sure that volunteer firefighters were not counted as employees under the new health care law. As for the Iran bill, Senate consideration appears headed into next week.

— Carl Hulse

Mrs. Clinton on Wednesday lamented the recent deaths of young black men and called for overhauling the “out of balance” criminal justice system.

While she was widely lauded for the crime speech, her ties to foreign donations made to the Clinton Foundation continued to face scrutiny with news that a Canadian partnership of the foundation shielded the identities of donors.

And a question during arguments at the Supreme Court hinted that a gender bias issue could tip Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. into ruling for same-sex marriage without having to revise constitutional standards.

Mr. O’Malley finds his “zero tolerance” brand of policing as Maryland governor now under scrutiny with the Baltimore riots and his presidential run.

A look at where Mr. Sanders stands on the issues and his potential path forward as a candidate.

The Huffington Post reports that House Republicans held a hearing “on whether the U.S. should continue the longstanding practice of granting citizenship to all children born here.”

Reuters says a poll shows that a majority of Republicans say they would attend the same-sex marriage of a loved one.

Bloomberg tracks Mrs. Clinton through “every American accent east of Mississippi” in her political career.

Politico looks at the wealthy Clinton Foundation and campaign donors who are accompanying Bill and Chelsea Clinton on their trip to Africa.

The Atlantic says Baltimore’s mayor, the news media, and community leaders share some of the blame for what has happened there.

News that Mr. Sanders was going to announce a run for president generated excitement in his home state and among progressive Democrats.

But many readers had concerns with First Draft’s coverage of Mr. Sanders’s candidacy. It was not the content of the reporting that ruffled feathers, however, but rather that The Times called him Bernard.

“Calling Sanders ‘Bernard’ is the equivalent of calling the famous Yankees ballplayer ‘Joseph’ DiMaggio,” one reader from Middlebury, Vt., wrote in an email. “Sanders campaign signs in Vermont say nothing but ‘Bernie.’ ”

According to The Times’s stylebook, formal first names are required on first references unless a well-known figure wishes to be identified by a nickname.

We took the question to Team Sanders, and without hesitation, they said that the senator prefers to be called by the more colloquial version of his given name.

So from now on, Senator Bernie Sanders it is.

— Alan Rappeport