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

11:50 PM ET, August 11, 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: eyeon08.com, Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny!, Patrick Ruffini, Obsidian Wings, The Impolitic and The Corner

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: The Atlantic Online, The Caucus, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, Ezra Klein, The Right's Field, Open Left and Iowa Voice

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

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: Talking Points Memo, Reason Magazine, Redstate, The Carpetbagger Report and JammieWearingFool

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 and Eschaton

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:

Ron Paul's wife hospitalized in Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — Rep. Ron Paul's wife was hospitalized Saturday morning, the Texas Republican's presidential campaign announced shortly before voting was to begin in the Ames GOP straw poll. — "Carol experienced an irregular heartbeat early this morning …

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

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

New York Times:

Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll by a Sizable Margin — In pickups, cars and caravans of buses, thousands of Republicans converged on the Iowa State University campus here Saturday for the Iowa Straw Poll, a part-carnival, part-political event. And Mitt Romney walked away with the first prize of the campaign.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

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, 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

Roger Simon / The Politico:
Romney pigs out at Iowa State Fair

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, CNN and Sister Toldjah

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Ron Paul's Camp May Catch Romney's Bus

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, JammieWearingFool, TIME and digg

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: Power Line, Confederate Yankee, Exurban League, Wake up America, Say Anything, Riehl World View and baldilocks

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: Outside The Beltway and The Newshoggers

Cernig / The Newshoggers:

Johnson & Johnson Jump The Shark — Via Raw Story, a tale of such mind-bogglingly venal corporate greed and stupidity as to make your jaw go thunk. Johnson & Johnson has sued the American Red Cross for using its trademark redcross on a white background emblem "for other than non-profit purposes".

Discussion: Comments From Left Field

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

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

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

THE BUNKER....When Rudy Giuliani finally agreed to build an emergency-command center in New York City back in 1996, the city's emergency management director recommended a site in Brooklyn: it was a safe location, had a low profile, and could be built quickly. Giuliani refused.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Pottersville, Comments From Left Field, New York Times and The RBC

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:
'HE HAD HIS OWN ELEVATOR' — Wayne Barrett has done …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Corrente and The Corner

Associated Press:

Church cancels gay vet's memorial — Texas congregation acted out of principle, not malice, pastor says — ARLINGTON, Texas - A megachurch canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay. — Officials at the nondenominational …

Discussion: Truthdig, The Impolitic, The Volokh Conspiracy, digg and Alternate Brain

canada.com:

Sign splits Lebanese, riles Jews — Members of the Jewish and Lebanese Christian communities in Windsor are outraged by the appearance of a billboard that appears to promote Hezbollah — an organization the Canadian government considers terrorist. — "That organization is banned in Canada …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Jihad Watch and Daimnation!