memeorandum: Poll: Clinton establishes sizable lead over Obama (USA Today)

2:55 PM ET, June 18, 2007

Top Items:

Republican, Democratic Presidential Contests Strikingly Similar — Sen. Fred Thompson surges into tie with John McCain for second in GOP contest — PRINCETON, NJ — With no incumbent president or vice president running for the 2008 presidential nominations, it is perhaps not surprising …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Captain's Quarters, Mouth of the Potomac, Townhall.com, Taegan Goddard's …, Connecting.the.Dots, Pajamas Media, The Swamp and Central Sanity

Andrew J. Bacevich / Los Angeles Times:

More troops, more troubles — Candidates who call for beefing up our armed forces to deter terrorism show a profound misunderstanding of the Mideast. — IS THE U.S. Army too small? — The Democrats vying to succeed George W. Bush think so. Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Jules Crittenden, Middle Earth Journal, The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway and The Mahablog

USA Today:

Poll: Clinton establishes sizable lead over Obama — WASHINGTON — New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has regained a double-digit lead over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll two weeks after the survey found the Democratic presidential rivals essentially tied.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Salon, Associated Press, New York Times, The Atlantic Online, Los Angeles Times, The Swamp, The Politico, Oliver Willis, Pollster.com and Washington Post

Chicago Sun Times:

Rezko cash triple what Obama says — During his 12 years in politics, Sen. Barack Obama has received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his associates than he has publicly acknowledged, the Chicago Sun-Times has found.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, MSNBC, JammieWearingFool, Los Angeles Times and New York Times

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
Richardson Is Counting on Nevada, a State He Has to Himself

Discussion: The Caucus, Liberal Values, The Carpetbagger Report and CNN Political Ticker

Think Progress:

Investigation Uncovers 'Extensive Destruction' Of RNC Emails, Violations Of Records Act — House investigators have learned that the Bush administration's use of Republican National Committee email accounts is far greater than previously disclosed — 140,216 emails sent or received by Karl Rove alone …

Discussion: CREW and The Agonist

Jesse Lee / The Gavel:

Interim Report on RNC Emails and the Presidential Records Act — The Oversight Committee has been investigating whether White House officials violated the Presidential Records Act by using e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney '04 campaign for official White House communications.

Discussion: All Spin Zone, The Newshoggers and The Carpetbagger Report

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

The Use of RNC E-Mail Accounts by White House Officials — The Oversight Committee has been investigating whether White House officials violated the Presidential Records Act by using e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney '04 campaign for official White House communications.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Daily Kos

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

Fallout — While the RNC has been hitting the delete button for an estimated 51 out of 88 total White House officials who have been using the outside RNC e-mail accounts - you read that correctly, destroyed e-mail records for 51 White House officials by the RNC the real world implications for this misconduct have already begun.

Matthew Pennington / Associated Press:

Pakistan condemns Rushdie honor — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Monday condemned Britain's award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie as an affront to Muslim sentiments, and a Cabinet minister said the honor provided a justification for suicide attacks.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Gateway Pundit and Daimnation!

David Lat / New York Times:

The Supreme Court's Bonus Babies — AFTER the Supreme Court's term ends this month, the nine justices will go their separate ways for the summer. A few weeks later, their 36 law clerks — the young legal geniuses who spend a year assisting the justices in selecting cases for review …

Discussion: Abovethelaw.com, Althouse and The Volokh Conspiracy

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
FIVE TO FOUR … As George W. Bush staggers toward the conclusion …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Rob / Say Anything:

Calling Michael Moore's Socialist Bluff — Sicko, Michael Moore's new movie about America's health care system (the one that glorifies the socialized medicine of Cuba) hasn't even hit theaters yet, but already it's been leaked to the internet. — Asked what he thought of that, Moore …

Discussion: Reuters, The Jawa Report, Comments From Left Field, Central Sanity, Wizbang, The American Mind, Hot Air and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

Petraeus: Iraq 'Challenges' to Last for Years — Conditions in Iraq will not improve sufficiently by September to justify a drawdown of U.S. military forces, the top commander in Iraq said yesterday. — Asked whether he thought the job assigned to an additional 30,000 troops deployed …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog, Democratic National Committee, Washington Times, All Spin Zone, The American Street, The Impolitic, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Heretik, Suburban Guerrilla and Say Anything

Andrew Adam Newman / New York Times:

Pigs With Cellphones, but No Condoms — IN a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men's room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog and Feminist Law Professors

Washington Post:

Little Relief on Ward 53 — At Walter Reed, Care for Soldiers Struggling With War's Mental Trauma Is Undermined by Doctor Shortages and Unfocused Methods — On the military plane that crossed the ocean at night, the wounded lay in stretchers stacked three high.

Discussion: INTEL DUMP, Air America Radio and The Democratic Daily

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

U.S. Restates Support for Embattled Musharraf — Official Hails Pakistani Leader's Anti-Terror Record as Crowds Demand Ouster — Top U.S. officials visiting Pakistan on Saturday reiterated their confidence in the country's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, even as thousands of people took to the streets to demand his ouster.

Discussion: Financial Times and TPMmuckraker

Lisa Goldman / Pajamas Media:

AN ISRAELI IN RAMALLAH — "The five-star Fatah refugees from Gaza wearing Ralph Lauren polo shirts and speaking fluent Hebrew told hair-raising stories of teenage boys presumed loyal to Fatah being flung from the fourteenth floor of office buildings, their hands shackled and their mouths taped shut.

Discussion: National Review and On the Face

New York Times:

Taking On Big Donors, McCain Takes a Big Risk — A ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee like Senator John McCain could normally bank on a bonanza of campaign contributions from the defense industry, especially if he was under pressure to raise money fast.

Discussion: The Politico, CBS News, Outside The Beltway, MSNBC, TIME and TIME: Swampland

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:

An Interview With National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman, John Ensign — On Friday, I got together for a phone interview with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman, John Ensign. Unfortunately, we spent more time than I anticipated debating particular parts of the bill …

Discussion: Heading Right, Captain's Quarters and Tammy Bruce