Top Items:
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Death Knell May Be Near for Public Election Funds — The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate initiative hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died over the weekend.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Matthew Yglesias, Outside The Beltway, Don Surber, DownWithTyranny! and The Moderate Voice
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Washington Post:
Clinton Bid Heralds Demise of Public Financing — The public financing system designed to clean up presidential campaigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal may have died on Saturday when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced her bid for the White House.
CBS News:
Poll: Bush Approval Rating At New Low — On Eve Of State Of Union, President's Approval Rating Falls To 28%, A New Low — (CBS) President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night to a nation that's strongly opposed to his plan for increasing troops in Iraq …
Discussion:
GregsOpinion.com, Democrats.com, Off the Kuff, The Democratic Daily, Balloon Juice, Democratic Underground, CANNONFIRE, Liberty Street and MyDD
CNN:
CNN debunks false report about Obama — JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Allegations that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a "madrassa" are not accurate, according to CNN reporting. — Insight Magazine, which is owned by the same company as The Washington Times …
Discussion:
Riehl World View, Informed Comment, Crooks and Liars, The Reaction and Rumors On The Internets
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Nico / Think Progress:
CNN Debunks False Obama 'Madrassa' Smear — Last week, Fox News and other Rupert Murdoch outlets amplified a right-wing report alleging that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attended an Islamic "madrassa" school as a 6-year-old child. One Fox News caller questioned whether Obama's schooling means that …
New York Times:
Key Republican Senator Offers Bipartisan Call to Reject Bush Plan for More Troops in Iraq — Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, one of Congress's leading authorities on the military, presented a bipartisan proposal on Monday that soundly rejected President Bush's plan to send more American troops …
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David Stout / New York Times:
Three More Senators Say They Oppose More Troops in Iraq — Three senators offered a new resolution today against President Bush's Iraq policy, in which they declared their opposition to Mr. Bush's plans to increase the American troop force there by 21,500. — The resolution …
SITE Institute:
Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri Addresses U.S. President Bush's Baghdad Security Plan in Video Speech from as-Sahab, "The Correct Equation" - 1/2007 — Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two, presents a speech titled: "The Correct Equation," in a 14:11 minute video produced by the group's multimedia arm, as-Sahab.
Discussion:
Hot Air
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Liz Cheney / Washington Post:
Retreat Isn't an Option — Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war.
New York Times:
Bush, at Low Point in Polls, Will Push Domestic Agenda — Carrying some of the worst public approval ratings of any president in a generation, President Bush is heading into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night seeking to revitalize his domestic agenda but facing stiff resistance …
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Mark Murray / MSNBC:
Nearly two-thirds in U.S. have given up on Iraq — NBC/WSJ poll: Bush 'really in the cellar of public opinion' — WASHINGTON - When President Bush delivers his next-to-last State of the Union address Tuesday night, he will confront this reality, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll …
Daniel Freedman / New York Sun:
Can I Be President? — "No person except a natural born citizen ... shall be eligible to the Office of President." — Forget Giuliani, McCain, Romney, Obama, and Clinton. There is only one candidate that every American envisions in the White House: oneself.
ABCNEWS:
Bush Hails Abortion Foes at Annual Rally — Bush Gives Pep Talk to Opponents of Abortion Rights, Targets Embryonic Stem-Cell Advances — President Bush marked the 34th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision Monday, telling thousands of abortion foes he shares their goal of seeing …
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Pierre Thomas / ABCNEWS:
Details Emerge About Possible Terror Threat — Suspects, Reportedly Tied to Al Qaeda in Iraq, Sought Student Visas — Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States …
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:
New Coalition Aims to Keep Dems in Check — WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers who stray too far from the party line could find themselves facing primary opponents financed by unions, trial lawyers and political activists eager to put the new congressional majority to the test.
Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Supreme Court Constrains Judges' Power in Sentencing — The Supreme Court invalidated California's criminal sentencing law on Monday, ruling that the 30-year-old statute gave judges authority that the Constitution places with juries. — The 6-to-3 decision will require the California courts …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
FBI Faulted for Inaction in Foley Scandal — Justice IG Also Says Officials Misled Media About Group That Provided Messages — The FBI should have acted last summer to protect underage congressional pages after it was given "troubling" electronic messages sent by then-Rep. Mark Foley …