memeorandum: Chavez admits Castro gravely ill (BBC)

8:45 PM ET, January 20, 2007

Top Items:

Clinton Announces Step Toward '08 Bid — Six years after making history by winning a United States Senate seat as first lady, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this morning that she was taking the first formal step to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, The News Blog, Patrick Ruffini, PoliBlog (TM), Gothamist, The Democratic Daily, The Washington Note, Scared Monkeys, A Blog For All, PoliPundit.com and Blue Crab Boulevard

CNN:

Hillary Clinton launches White House bid: 'I'm in' … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton jumped into the fray as a 2008 presidential candidate with the words "I'm in" posted on her Web site. — "And I'm in to win," she added in a statement, announcing she has set up an exploratory committee …

Discussion: Redstate and the talking dog

New York Times:

Clinton Joins '08 Field, Fueling Race for Money — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, immediately squaring off against Senator Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic field in what is effectively the party's first primary, the competition for campaign donations.

Discussion: Political Insider

Political Insider:

Clinton Campaign Memo — Pollster Mark Penn released a memo showing how his client, Sen. Hillary Clinton, can win the 2008 presidential race. — People are always asking, can Hillary Clinton win the presidency? — Of course she can. In many of the polls out today, she is already winning.

Discussion: Ezra Klein and The American Street

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT?....So Hillary's in. John Podhoretz must be breaking out in a cold sweat right about now. Her decision to make the announcement on her website on a Saturday, rather than at a traditional press event on a weekday, was interesting, wasn't it?

Cillizzac / The Fix:

Post-ABC Poll: Clinton, Giuliani Lead Primary Fields — On the day that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton officially entered the 2008 presidential sweepstakes, a new Washington Post-ABC News survey shows her with a wide lead over her potential Democratic rivals. — Clinton took 41 percent …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Taegan Goddard's … and TalkLeft

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:

Let's Go to the Video: When and Where Did Hillary Tape 'I'm In' Announcement? — If the timing came as a bit of surprise, nothing could have been less unexpected than Hillary's "I'm In" announcement of today. — But have a look at the video of her announcement.

Discussion: Reason Magazine, Riehl World View, TPMCafe blogs, CQPolitics.com, The Political Pit Bull, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Reaction, The Hillary Spot and Oliver Willis

Associated Press:

Clinton launches 2008 White House bid — NEW YORK - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton embarked on a widely anticipated campaign for the White House on Saturday, a former first lady intent on becoming the first female president. "I'm in and I'm in to win," she said on her Web site.

Discussion: Democratic Underground, First Draft, Pandagon and digg

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Sen. Clinton Launches 2008 Campaign — New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) today announced she will establish a presidential exploratory committee, launching a 2008 campaign that could make her the first female president in history and the only former first lady to succeed her husband in the White House.

Discussion: QandO, Washington Wire, The Swamp, Blog P.I., The American Street, Hotline On Call, The Caucus, The Democratic Daily, Los Angeles Times, BobGeiger.com, Liberal Values, Centerfield, The Impolitic and Rox Populi

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Hillary's in; Update: Thatcher-esque, says McAuliffe!

Discussion: Time and Sister Toldjah

MSNBC: Clinton: 'I'm in and I'm in to win'

Nedra Pickler / ABCNEWS:
Richardson to Launch Presidential Bid

Discussion: State of the Day

Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:
Clinton Announces for '08 on Web

Discussion: Think Progress, Taylor Marsh and Daily Pundit

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Stop The Presses — Hillary Announces!

Discussion: Redstate, Blogs of War, Power Line and The Heretik

Hotline On Call: HRC: Raising Money For Primary AND General

Brian Braiker / Newsweek:

Dirge for a 'Surge' — In the latest NEWSWEEK poll Bush's approval rating remains at its all-time low as his plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq is met with widespread disapproval. Looking to '08, declared candidate Hillary Clinton is in a statistical dead heat with other potential nominees.

Discussion: Redstate, Balloon Juice, Middle Earth Journal, AMERICAblog, Prairie Weather and The Democratic Daily

George W. Bush / White House:

National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2007 — A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America — America was founded on the principle that we are all endowed by our Creator with the right to life and that every individual has dignity and worth.

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, Booman Tribune and Middle Earth Journal

Bob Geiger:
It's True: Bush Proclaims Sunday "National Sanctity of Human Life Day"

Discussion: Think Progress and The American Street

Nahal Toosi / Associated Press:

Former FEMA head in NYC: party politics played role in Katrina response — NEW YORK (AP) — Political storm clouds gathered again over the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina as former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown said party politics influenced decisions …

Discussion: MyDD

BBC:

Chavez admits Castro gravely ill — Cuban leader Fidel Castro is battling to save his life, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said. — Mr Chavez, a close friend of Cuba's left-wing leader, said he hoped Mr Castro would recover but admitted he faced a hard struggle.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and Matthew Yglesias

Little Green Footballs:

Media Blackout: "I Shot the Non-Muslim" — The assassination of Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink is being universally portrayed as ethnic strife, a political act by Turkish nationalists against an Armenian critic. — Call me Mr. Suspicious, but when I see the entire media monolith pushing …

Discussion: New York Times, Telegraph and Jihad Watch

CNN:
Turks grieve over journalist's killing

Discussion: Reuters, Pajamas Media and Larisa Alexandrovna's …

Kimberley A. Strassel / Opinion Journal:

Unbowed — Joe Lieberman: "It is critical that we take advantage of this opportunity to win." — WASHINGTON—The war in Iraq brings to Joe Lieberman's mind an old Mark Twain story. "When a cat jumps on a hot stove, the cat never jumps on the stove again because the cat always assumes the stove is hot …

Discussion: Pundit Review and Blue Crab Boulevard

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

Leading Senator Assails President Over Iran Stance — The new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday sharply criticized the Bush administration's increasingly combative stance toward Iran, saying that White House efforts to portray it as a growing threat are uncomfortably reminiscent …