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Former President Barack Obama is getting ready to jump back into the political pool, former US Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.

Holder said he has been talking with Obama about different ways to help the new National Democratic Redistricting Committee, according to Politico. Obama asked Holder to be chairman of the group last year.

Hes ready to roll, Holder told reporters at a briefing.

Obama and other top Democrats are focusing efforts on state-level races and ending the reconfiguring of voting districts through the political process known as gerrymandering a combined effort to end Trump-ism and help their party regain control of Congress and legislatures across the country.

Politico reported that the group seeks to direct resources into winning certain state elections, push ballot initiatives for nonpartisan district-drawing commissions and wage legal wars over existing maps.

By accomplishing their goals, the group hopes it would put Democrats at a better advantage in state legislatures and the House of Representatives.

Obama indicated last fall before leaving the White House that his short-term, post-presidency focus will be on General Assembly races and redistricting after the 2020 Census. Voting districts are redrawn after a federal Census to reflect the changes in population and other demographic. Much of the redistricting across the country is done by the political party that controls the state legislature.

Marc Elias, a top election lawyer advising the group, said they expect states to file new lawsuits to change the districting maps and are guiding states on where they could see legal victories.

Holder said the fight will be more difficult with Jeff Sessions running the Justice Department. He added that the decision to throw out a challenge to voter laws in Texas was disheartening.

This is really a battle for our democracy, Holder said. The notion that people are denied their ability to cast a meaningful vote is inconsistent with who we say we are, inconsistent with what we say our democracy is about.

Fox News Joseph Weber contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fox News.

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Holder: Obama preparing to get back into political spotlight - New York Post

President Donald Trump used to be a reality TV star, but his predecessor got better TV ratings the first time he addressed a joint session of Congress.

An estimated 48 million people in 33.9 million households tuned in on Tuesday night to watch Trump deliver his speech for a rating of 28.7, according to Nielsen.

His address was carried on NBC, MSNBC, NBC Universo and eight other national television networks.

By contrast, some 52.3 million in 37.1 million households watched President Barack Obama speak to Congress for the first time in 2009, Nielsen reported.

Obama's speech was carried live on NBC , MSNBC and eight other national television networks for a rating of 32.5.

Trump did slightly better than President George W. Bush during his first congressional address in 2001. The 43rd President's speech was watched by 39.8 million viewers in 28.2 million households for a rating of 27.6.

But President Bill Clinton had more eyes watching him that all three of his successors when he addressed a joint session of Congress for his first time in 1993.

Some 66.9 million viewers in 41.2 million households tuned in for a rating of 44.3. according to Nielsen.

Clinton's speech was carried by just four national networks NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN.

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Trump Ratings On First Address To Congress Don't Beat Obama - NBCNews.com

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ID: 10623751

In one of the first public appearances of his post-presidency, Barack Obama will accept the Centennial John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award this spring for a career of grace under pressure and exceptional dignity and courage, receiving the honor on the special occasion of the 100th anniversary of Kennedys birth.

The 44th president was selected by a 14-member bipartisan committee at the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation comprised of figures in politics, media, and business, including Republicans Sen. Jeff Flake, former congressman Bob Inglis, and Viacoms Shari Redstone. The committee is chaired by Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt.

According to Hunt, the award will go to Obama not for one particular legislative or political act, but for an entire life that was really a testament to courage, he said.

Established in 1989 by the Kennedy family, the annual award is meant to honor the 35th presidents birth and specifically offer a tribute to Kennedys Pulitzer Prizewinning book, Profiles in Courage, a 1957 account of eight US senators throughout history who put principle above politics. Each year, the Kennedy Library Foundation picks a lawmaker who demonstrates the same willingness to, as a foundation official put it, take a stand for good in spite of political consequences.

Obama will be the third former president to receive the award. In 2001, Gerald R. Ford was honored for his 1974 decision, widely vilified at the time, to pardon Richard Nixon. In 2014, George H.W. Bush received the award for raising taxes, breaking with his own major campaign promise in order to address a deficit crisis.

Unlike past honorees, Obama will not receive the award for any one decision. To mark the centennial of Kennedys birth, the committee wanted to do something different this year if we could, Hunt said. We thought, OK, this is different.

After a lengthy discussion, said Hunt, the committee was in total agreement.

Obama will deliver a speech at the special centennial event, a ceremony on May 7 at Bostons John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Former ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the award.

The former president has kept a low profile since leaving office in January, very rarely weighing in on political developments. He is expected, however, to become a key player in a new redistricting effort led by his friend and former attorney general, Eric Holder. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, or NDRC, will work to reverse the Democratic Partys historic state and local electoral deficits and help regain an advantage over Republicans when it comes to district-drawing.

Obama, Holder told reporters this week, is ready to roll.

After attending Donald Trumps inauguration, the newly retired president took an extended vacation in Palm Springs, Calif., and on the private British Virgin Islands estate of billionaire Richard Branson. He was seen last week with daughter Malia and adviser Valerie Jarrett at a Broadway showing of Arthur Millers The Price, and this week signed a lucrative deal for a forthcoming book.

The May 7 appearance in Boston offers Democrats a prominent opportunity to hear from their former president just more than 100 days into what has so far been a tumultuous Trump administration and a challenging time for the opposition party.

The decision to honor Obama, said Hunt, had nothing to do with Trumps election.

Bill Clinton admires an autographed copy of Profiles in Courage in 2000. Mario Tama / AFP / Getty Images

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In a statement, Schlossberg outlined the ways in which Obama personifies the opening lines of Profiles in Courage: This is a book about that most admirable of human virtues courage. Grace under pressure, Ernest Hemingway defined it.

During his two terms as the first black president, Schlossberg said, Obama represented all Americans with decency, integrity, and an unshakeable commitment to the greater good amid unrelenting political opposition.

The committee received submissions for this years award nominee from a record 30,000 people up 5,000 from the year before, a foundation official said.

In a statement provided by the Kennedy Library Foundation, Obama said he is deeply humbled to receive the Profile in Courage Award. The late Kennedy, he said, asked us to cast aside our narrow self-interest and take up the chase of a greater ambition: our collective capacity to do big things, especially when its hard.

Amidst the noisy and too often trivial pursuits of the politics of our time, Obama added, its a summons to service that rings as loudly as ever.

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Barack Obama Will Return To National Stage For Award Honoring JFK's 100th Birthday - BuzzFeed News

MSNBC

Team Obama took steps to protect intel on Team Trump's Russia ties MSNBC Leading members of Team Trump, including the president and vice president, have insisted there were zero communications at the time, despite evidence to the contrary, and the New York Times reports that officials in President Obama's White House took ... and more »

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Team Obama took steps to protect intel on Team Trump's Russia ties - MSNBC

UPDATED, 8:17 AM: More numbers are coming in for Donald Trumps debut last night before a Joint Session of Congress, and they are looking good for the 45thPresident over his predecessors last State Of the Union.

Going low on the hyperbole and heavy on the history, the Presidents highly anticipated speech was a fairly polished performance on a very big stage that caught a lot of Americans attention around 22.7 million actually. Thats up over 25% from what Barack Obamas final SOTU drew among the Big 4 back on January 14, 2016.

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As was the case in the metered-market numbers earlier this morning, NBC was the highest-rated network to show the its f0rmer Celebrity Apprentice hosts 9-10:09 PM ET remarks, drawing a 2.0/7 rating among adults 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers. A strong lead-in by the highest-rated show of the night, The Voice (2.6/10), was no hindrance. ABC was next with a 1.2/4 rating and an audience of 5.13 million. CBS followed with a 1.0/3 and 6.59 million tuning in, and Fox had a 0.8/3 rating and 2.72 million watching between 9 and 10:30 PM.

Overall, the speech had a combined demo of 5.0 or 19% better than Obamas last SOTU last year.

NBC saw the biggest jump with Trumps speech over last years SOTU in the 18-49 demo with a 33% surge. ABC was up 20%, Fox rose 14%, and CBS stayed the same as Obama last official address to Congress among the key demo.There still are more adjusted ratings to come in and the cable newers of CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC need to be factored in before a final number for last nights speech can be asserted. (UPDATE: Read cable news ratings for the speechhere.) Apples to almost a decade ago, POTUS 44s first Joint Address of February 24, 2009, ended up with a total viewership of just under 52.4 million over 10 national reaching nets from NBC to Fox News Channel and Univision

With the cable news networks and a few others added in, Obamas final SOTU had a total audience of 31.3 million watching over 13 networks an all-time low.

In the meantime, there were a few other things on TV on Tuesday before the Presidents speech like anNCIS (0.9/3) encore on CBS. Fox had originals of New Girl (0.9/3) and The Mick (0.9/3), which were down a tenth and even from last week, respectively.

After its latest season premiere on Monday, NBC had more of The Voice on Tuesday at 8 PM. The singing competition series from Apprentice EP Mark Burnett dropped a not-so-bad 16% from the debut of the night before. Compared to the 8-10 PM Tuesday premiere of a year ago, which did not share the night with a POTUS, Voice declined 13%. Comedy led into Trumps remarks on ABC with out-of-their-regular-slots Fresh Off the Boat (1.2/4) and The Real ONeals (1.1/4). Both up from their February 21 shows, by a tenth and two-tenths, respectively. The CWs The Flash (1.1/4) had a good night with 10% demo rise over last week.

PREVIOUSLY, 7:38 AM: As Arnold Schwarzenegger can tell you, Donald Trump has never made any secret of his fascination with ratings. It was a bit too early in his term to call last nights speech a State of the Union but the 45th Presidents debut primetime Joint Address on Tuesday before members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs and more looks like a winner with Americans watching at home.

The wide-ranging, primarily upbeat, sometimes emotional and frequently GOP applauded 9 10:09 PM ET speech was up from President Barack Obamas last SOTU last year in the early numbers across almost all the Big 4 networks.

NBC was the highest rated network in metered market results to show the ex-Celebrity Apprentice hosts remarks with a 5.6/9 rating thats up 17% in the early numbers from Obamas last SOTU on January 14, 2016. CBS followed with a 4.5/7 MM result for Trumps speech in the 9 10 slot, basically steady with what Obama got on the House of Moonves last year. ABCs 3.8/6 was up 3% over the 2016 SOTU and Fox jumped up 11% from Obamas last SOTU of last year to a 2.1/3 MM result for Trump last night.

Well get a greater sense of the larger response when viewership and demo numbers come in later this morning. Right now, in an era of changing TV viewing habits, the best comparison for Trumps speech on Tuesday again is the final SOTU of President Barack Obama from January 12 last year. In the early ratings, the 44th POTUS snagged 18.1 million viewers and a cume demo of 4.2 in early 2016 an all-time low for the two-term Democrat.

With the cable news networks and a few others added in, Obamas final SOTU had a total audience of 31.3 million watching over 13 networks. That was also an all-time Obama SOTU viewership low by less than 2% from his 2015 address.

Coming just over a month after he was sworn in, Obamas Joint Address of February 24, 2009 had a total viewership of just under 52.4 million over 10 national reaching nets from NBC to Fox News Channel and Univision. George W. Bushs February 27, 2001 first speech to Congress, also not a SOTU, was watched by 39.8 million in total. In a very different era when FNC wasnt even on the air, Bill Clintons February 17, 1993 Joint Address hit a motherlode total audience of 66.9 million a number that only Ws pre-Iraq war 2003 SOTU approached in the last two decades with its viewership of 62.1 million.

Well update with more numbers for Trumps speech later on today, especially when the FNC, CNN, MSNBC and more numbers come in.

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Donald Trump's Speech Ratings Up Nearly 20% Over Obama's Last SOTU Update - Deadline