memeorandum: Pharmaceutical giant sues Red Cross over its emblem (Agence France Presse)

1:15 AM ET, August 12, 2007

Top Items:

AMES: Romney WIns; Huckabee In Second — Gov Mitt Romney won the 2007 Ames straw poll, receiving 4516 votes, or 31%. — In a surprise, Gov. Mike Huckabee finished second with 2587 votes at 18.1% — 11. John Cox with 41 votes. — 10. John McCain with 101 votes. — 9. Duncan Hunter with 174 votes.

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Firedoglake, Charleston Daily Mail, Obsidian Wings, The Gun Toting Liberal™, DownWithTyranny!, Lonewacko, The Corner, The Politico, The Impolitic and Sister Toldjah

Des Moines Register:

Romney wins, Huckabee in 2nd — Ames, Ia. — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney emerged on top at Iowa GOP's straw poll Saturday in Ames. — The win boosted the former Massachusetts governor's standing as the party's frontrunner in Iowa, although attendance at this first show …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Caucus, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, The Next Hurrah, Ezra Klein and The Right's Field

The Atlantic Online:

Straw Poll Results Delayed Due To Voting Machine Malfunction — AMES — The announcement of tonight's straw poll results has been delayed due to what one informed source says was a voting machine malfunction. About 4,500 ballots had to be re-run. We are waiting....

Discussion: Reason Magazine, Redstate, The Carpetbagger Report and JammieWearingFool

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Analysis: Huckabee's 2nd-Place 'Win' in Ames — AMES, Iowa — The biggest political event of the 2007 calendar year gave former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a victory, but the biggest winner may well be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who placed a surprising second.

Discussion: The Corner and Connecting.the.Dots

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

Help Me Uncle Sam! — I'm on quasi vacation in the upper left-hand corner of the country (or at least the upper left hand corner of the lower 48, a distinction I offer in deference to my Alaskan relatives who surround me in abundance). I haven't followed the Iowa straw poll closely …

Discussion: Reason Magazine

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Straw Poll Expectations Setting — AMES, Iowa — It's finally here. — The Fix drove 45 minutes north from Des Moines this morning through land dominated by corn fields to arrive in this college town that, for today at least, is at the center of the political universe. — The atmosphere is like a carnival.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Political Radar, Hot Air, New York Times, Eschaton and TIME

The Atlantic Online:

AMES: A Low Turnout: About 14,000 — Campaign officials estimate that around 14,000 Iowans cast straw ballots today. That's about sixty percent of the 23,500 who voted in 1999. So, turnout is clearly low. But that's not surprising, given that three major candidates refused to attend.

Discussion: TIME and Donklephant

Patrick Ruffini / Townhall.com:

Huckabee! — Ames results are as follows: — Mitt Romney 4516 votes (31.0%) — Mike Huckabee 2587 votes (18.1%) — Sam Brownback 2192 votes (15.3%) — Tom Tancredo 1961 votes (13.7%). — Ron Paul with 1305 votes (9.1%) — Tommy Thompson 1,009 votes (7.3%) — Fred Thompson 231 votes (1.6%)

Discussion: Reason Magazine

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Huckabee Celebrates Second-Place Finish — (Photo: Keith Bedford for The New York Times) — AMES, Iowa - When the Republican Straw Poll results were announced tonight, Mitt Romney had this to say: "I'm pleased as punch that I won!" — He was, of course, expecting to win.

Reid Wilson / TIME: Real Clear Politics:

Iowa Dispatch: Instant Analysis — AMES — The instant analysis would seem to show two very clear winners: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. The two former governors took 31.5% and 18.1% respectively, and both are spinning the poll as nothing but a complete win.

Discussion: Time and Iowa Voice

Associated Press: Iowa Republican Party holds straw poll

Talking Points Memo: RESULTS FROM AMES — So, how'd things turn out in the Ames Straw Poll?

The Atlantic Online:
AMES: The Romney Victory

Discussion: race42008.com

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:
Ron Paul's wife hospitalized in Iowa

Discussion: The Politico, The Atlantic Online, New York Times, Donklephant, Iowa Voice, Captain's Quarters and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Eye / eyeon08.com:
Romney wins; conservatives split

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Open Left

New York Times:
Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll by a Sizable Margin

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Mark Preston / CNN: Romney wins Iowa GOP straw poll

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:
Iowa teens churn out activism in Ames

Discussion: The Politico

Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
Iowa straw poll may weed field

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Post, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report, The Glittering Eye and Attytood

Gail Collins / New York Times:
[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Republicans in the Straw

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Bill Roggio / Weekly Standard:

The Army Responds — I recently emailed Col. Steve Boylan asking for whatever information he could provide regarding the status of the investigation of Scott Thomas Beauchamp. Here is his response:

Discussion: Take Our Country Back, Confederate Yankee, baldilocks, Power Line, AMERICAN DIGEST, Wake up America, Exurban League, Jules Crittenden, Say Anything and Riehl World View

Agence France Presse:

Pharmaceutical giant sues Red Cross over its emblem — After more than a century of sharing the same emblem, a red cross on a white field, Johnson & Johnson has sued the American Red Cross for using its trademark for other than non-profit purposes. — J&J claims the ARC is marketing …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo

Cernig / The Newshoggers:
Johnson & Johnson Jump The Shark

Discussion: Comments From Left Field

New York Times:

How a 'Good War' in Afghanistan Went Bad — Two years after the Taliban fell to an American-led coalition, a group of NATO ambassadors landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, to survey what appeared to be a triumph — a fresh start for a country ripped apart by years of war with the Soviets and brutal repression by religious extremists.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money

Nathaniel Fick / Washington Post:
Fight Less, Win More

Discussion: The Newshoggers and Outside The Beltway

New York Times:

Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years — Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the United States engaged in Iraq for years. — John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Wake up America, JammieWearingFool, neo-neocon, The Atlantic Online, Prairie Weather and The CultureGhost

Associated Press:

Embattled AG Gonzales visits Baghdad — WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, under fire at home with calls for his resignation, is spending some time in Iraq. — The Justice Department said that Gonzales arrived in Baghdad on Saturday for his third trip to Iraq to meet …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Paul V. Dutton / Boston Globe:

France's model healthcare system — MANY advocates of a universal healthcare system in the United States look to Canada for their model. While the Canadian healthcare system has much to recommend it, there's another model that has been too long neglected. That is the healthcare system in France.

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo and Riehl World View

Mike Allen / The Politico:

New Iraq report to warn of attack — The Bush administration is finishing a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq that paints a sobering picture of a mature civil war unlikely to be snuffed out through political progress, according to officials involved in the report's preparation.