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Warner's Statement: "I Have Decided Not To Run For President" — Nine months ago, I left the office of Governor in Virginia. I was immensely proud of what we had accomplished. We faced historic challenges and got real results. — Upon leaving office, I committed all my time and energy …
Discussion:
The Fix, Donklephant, FP Passport, The Democratic Daily, Volunteer Voters, The Political Pit Bull, AMERICAblog and The Daily Politics
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Warner Won't Run for Presidency in '08 — Former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) announced this morning that he will not seek the presidency in 2008, saying he wants to spend more time with his family. — In a statement released shortly before his 11 a.m. press conference here, Warner said …
Michael Barone / US News:
Mark Warner Bows Out — Mark Warner announced this morning that he's not running for president. As Prince Metternich asked when informed that the Russian ambassador had suddenly dropped dead, "What can have been his motive?" I suppose it was a calculation that he was just not going to overtake Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Tim Shipman / Daily Mail:
Army chief declares war on Blair: 'We must quit Iraq soon' — The head of the Army is calling for British troops to withdraw from Iraq "soon" or risk catastophic consequences for both Iraq and British society. — In a devastating broadside at Tony Blair's foreign policy …
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BBC:
General seeks UK Iraq withdrawal — The head of the British Army has said the presence of UK armed forces in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems". — In an interview in the Daily Mail, Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, is quoted as saying the British should "get out some time soon".
Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
Intelligence failure cited in Korean crisis — Recent U.S. intelligence analyses of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs were flawed and the lack of clarity on the issue hampered U.S. diplomatic efforts to avert the underground blast detected Sunday, according to Bush administration officials.
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Chris Bowers / MyDD:
BREAKING—New House polls will show looming Democratic landslide — I usually despise blog posts with the word "BREAKING" in the title, in all caps, but in this rare case I actually am the person breaking the story, so I think it is justiifed. — The new Majority Watch from Constituent Dynamics will be released in a few minutes.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, The Next Hurrah, The American Street, big_question, All Spin Zone, Democrats.com, NO QUARTER and ArchPundit
Larry J. Sabato / centerforpolitics.org:
A "Deep Blue Sea" in the 2006 Midterms? — Small Craft Advisory becomes Gale Warning for GOP — Just a few weeks ago, President Bush and the GOP appeared to be staging a remarkable comeback that would have enabled the Republicans to retain their congressional majorities.
NY Daily News:
Where I stand on Iraq — Sen. Clinton says how Bush went wrong and offers her prescription for the war — We have to deal with the Iraq we have, not the Iraq we wish we had. And the Iraq we have is a deteriorating, violent conflict that, if not technically a civil war, is about as close as you can get.
Washington Post:
Senate Report: Five Nonprofit Groups Sold Clout to Abramoff — Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued today.
The New Republic:
HOW ROVE TWISTED FOLEY'S ARM: — It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important …
Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Baker's Panel Rules Out Iraq Victory — WASHINGTON — A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials.
Associated Press:
Lawyer: Gov't workers got fake diplomas — SPOKANE, Wash. - At least 135 federal employees, including a White House staff member and National Security Agency employees, bought bogus online college degrees from a diploma mill, a lawyer in the case against the mill operators said.
Robert Cox / Examiner:
When will the right recognize the cost of conceding Web 2.0? — WASHINGTON - If you doubt the Internet is causing a sea change in politics, just ask "independent" Senate candidate Joe Lieberman, who came out on the wrong end of a blogger-fueled campaign for the Democratic nomination in Connecticut.
Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Times Editorial Page Editor Steps Down — Gail Collins, the first woman to run the editorial page of The New York Times, is stepping down Jan. 1 and will be succeeded by Andrew Rosenthal, the deputy editor of the page. Ms. Collins is taking a leave of absence from the paper to write a book …
Ezra Klein:
Christopher Hitchens Has Gone Mad — The latest New Yorker has a (sadly offline) profile of Christopher Hitchens by Ian parker. It's not clear to me why Hitchens, whose day of influence has decidedly passed, merits a profile, but it's hard to argue when the material is this good.