memeorandum: Is There an Iran-Iraq Arms Link? (Greg Tinti/The Political Pit Bull)

1:35 AM ET, January 25, 2007

Top Items:

Kerry won't run for president in '08 — WASHINGTON —Senator John F. Kerry plans to announce today that he will not run in the 2008 presidential race, and will instead remain in Congress and seek reelection to his Senate seat next year, according to senior Democratic officials.

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Kerry Bows Out of 2008 Race — Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who narrowly lost the presidency to George Bush in 2004, stepped away today from what he had described as an almost all-but-certain second bid for the White House, bowing to a Democratic Party that was clearly unreceptive …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily, the talking dog, The BRAD BLOG and neo-neocon

CNN:

Source: Kerry decides against 2008 presidential run … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, won't make a second bid for the White House, sources familiar with Kerry's thinking said Wednesday. — A source close to Kerry …

Discussion: Pollster, MyDD, Sirotablog, Liberal Values, The Carpetbagger Report, Political Animal, A Blog For All and TalkLeft

David Espo / Associated Press:

Kerry bows out of '08 presidential race — WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democrats' losing presidential candidate in 2004, said Wednesday that he won't run for the White House again in 2008. — "I've concluded this isn't the time for me to mount a presidential campaign," Kerry said.

Discussion: Donklephant, The Democratic Daily, Pam's House Blend and Blue Crab Boulevard

Adam Nagourney / The Caucus:
2008: Kerry Not Running

Discussion: Blinq and Wonkette

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Transcript: CNN Interview with Cheney — We've just received the transcript for Vice President Cheney's interview with Wolf Blitzer this morning. It's posted in full below the fold. — Q And joining us now, the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney. Mr. Vice President, thanks very much for doing this.

Discussion: AMERICAblog, King of Zembla, CANNONFIRE, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, The Carpetbagger Report, Suburban Guerrilla and Horses Mouth

Drudge Report:

CHENEY CALLS BLITZER QUESTION ON DAUGHTER'S PREGNANCY 'OUT OF LINE' — In an interview taped to air for today's 'Situation Room' on CNN, Vice President Cheney responded sharply to anchor Woilf Blitzer's line of questioning regarding the pregancy of Cheney's lesbian daughter:

Discussion: Hot Air, Right Voices, NewsBusters.org and Andrew Sullivan

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:
Cheney Spars with Blitzer Over Criticism of Iraq, Mary's Pregnancy

Discussion: Attytood, The Agonist and Hullabaloo

Faiz / Think Progress: VIDEO: Cheney Dismisses Questions Of His Credibility As 'Hogwash'

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Hagel: "There Is No Plan" — Here's Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) barnburner of a speech this morning during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on the resolution against the president's troop increase in Iraq. — An excerpt: … Update: We've added a complete transcript of this portion of his remarks below.

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Reaction, Angry Bear, Suburban Guerrilla and skippy the bush kangaroo

Washington Post:

Senate Panel Votes Against Bush on Iraq — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today passed a nonbinding resolution opposing a troop surge in Iraq, rebuffing the key element of President Bush's new strategy to end the 46-month-old war, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. service members.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Crooks and Liars and News Hounds

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:
Senators eye rejection of Bush war plan

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, CNN Political Ticker and Outside The Beltway

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Rivals CNN and Fox News Spar Over Obama Report — A disputed report on the Web site of a conservative magazine about Senator Barack Obama's childhood schooling kicked off a pointed exchange this week between the rival cable news networks CNN and Fox News, when CNN seemed to make an overt effort …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hot Air, NewsBusters.org, News Hounds, CBS News, Daily Kos, TVNewser and Media Blog

Nico / Think Progress:

Fox's Gibson: CNN Reporter Who Debunked Obama Smear Probably Went To The Same Madrassa — Last week, Fox News highlighted a right-wing report alleging that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attended an Islamic "madrassa" school as a 6-year-old child. In a memo released today, Obama's office specifically called …

Discussion: The Reaction, Liberal Values and Unfogged

David Stout / New York Times:

Minimum Wage Bill Suffers Setback in Senate — WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 — Prospects for an increase in the minimum wage suffered a setback today in the Senate, where a move fell short, at least for now, to raise the minimum by $2.10 an hour without tax breaks for small businesses

Discussion: The RBC and Shakespeare's Sister

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:
Tax break talks slow minimum wage hike

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Bob Geiger:
Senate Republicans Block Minimum Wage Increase

Discussion: MyDD, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Reaction, Left in the West and KnoxViews

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:
Tax breaks sidetrack minimum wage bill

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Redstate, Donklephant and DownWithTyranny!

Hugh Hewitt / Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog:

Take The Pledge — Take the pledge. This is the temporary site. The full-service site will be up soon. — If you are a blogger who has taken the pledge and linked to the site, please send me a note so I can add your support here. — I interviewed Tony Snow at the top of the program today …

Discussion: Democracy Project, Captain's Quarters, Riehl World View, The Jawa Report, Blue Crab Boulevard, Instapundit.com, Bill Hobbs, INSTAPUTZ, TBogg, Drumwaster's Rants, Wizbang and Oliver Willis

WRAL-TV:

Nifong Faces More Serious Ethics Charges — RALEIGH — The North Carolina State Bar Wednesday filed new and more serious ethics charges against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, accusing him of withholding DNA evidence and misrepresenting the truth to the judge in the Duke lacrosse case.

Discussion: Hot Air, Durham-in-Wonderland and Sister Toldjah

The Smoking Gun:
New Ethics Charges For Nifong

Discussion: ABCNEWS, A Blog For All, Scared Monkeys and Right Voices

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

IT'S THE POLICY, STUPID....Ruth Marcus on the Bush health plan: … Now, Marcus concedes that Bush has no one but himself to blame for this state of affairs. But at the same time, she also seems flatly unwilling to believe that opposition to Bush's plan might actually be based …

Discussion: MaxSpeak, Media Matters for America, The Mahablog, The Sideshow, Grasping Reality …, The Carpetbagger Report, Eschaton and Washington Post

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
The Knee-Jerk Opposition — If George W. Bush proposes something, it must be bad.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Political Animal, urban.org, Ezra Klein, Grasping Reality …, The Mahablog, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, Eschaton, Winds of Change.NET, Polimom Says and Opinion Journal

Reuters:

China's Hu vows to "purify" Internet — BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao has vowed to "purify" the Internet, state media reported on Wednesday, describing a top-level meeting that discussed ways to master the country's sprawling, unruly online population.

Discussion: The Belmont Club

Redstate:

They all suck. Let's just admit it. Every one of the thus far announced Republican candidates for President sucks. From the lecherous adulterer to the egomaniacal nut job to the flip-flopping opportunist with the perfect hair to the guy who hates brown people to the guy we've never heard …

Discussion: The Sundries Shack and Liberal Values

Michael J. Gerson / Newsweek:

Exceeding Expectations — Bush's former speechwriter on what the president did right—and on Jim Webb's wobbly wordcraft. — All the commentary leading up to the State of the Union noted the president's historically low poll ratings and unpopular Iraq strategy.

Discussion: The Reaction, TIME and The RBC