memeorandum: Democrats grapple with the fear factor (David Paul Kuhn/The Politico)

11:05 AM ET, October 3, 2007

Top Items:

Clinton Widens Lead in Poll — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has consolidated her place as the front-runner in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, outpacing her main rivals in fundraising in the most recent quarter and widening her lead in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Captain's Quarters, The Caucus, The Carpetbagger Report, BuzzMachine, the talking dog, New York Times, Oliver Willis, Newsweek and TIME

Quinnipiac University News and Events:

October 3, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani By 11 Points In New York State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Favorite Son And Daughter Dominate Party Primaries — Sen. Hillary Clinton leads the Republican front-runner, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani 52 - 41 percent in the 2008 …

Discussion: MSNBC, The Swamp, The Daily Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog and GreenMountainPolitics1

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Edwards says Obama using stolen ideas — Former Sen. John Edwards's (D-N.C.) campaign widened its sights Tuesday to include Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and his foreign policy speech commemorating the five-year anniversary of his first speech against the Iraq war.

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Air America Radio

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Parsing the Polls: Inside the Clinton Surge — It doesn't take a polling expert to understand that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's showing in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll is a major moment in the campaign. — Clinton, as the Post's Anne Kornblut and Jon Cohen write in today's newspaper …

Discussion: Open Left, The Carpetbagger Report and Raising Kaine

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Clinton Steals Obama's Fund-Raising Thunder — A major dynamic behind the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination — fund-raising — shifted yesterday as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign announced that it had beaten Senator Barack Obama in donations since July …

Discussion: The Politico

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Limbaugh Latest Victim in War of Condemnation — Having abandoned for now their effort to force President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq, Democrats are not giving ground against a lesser nemesis: Rush Limbaugh. — With the help of liberal advocacy groups, the Democrats in Congress …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, All Spin Zone, The BRAD BLOG, Seeing the Forest, QandO, Think Progress, MyDD, Sister Toldjah and Wizbang

Byron York / National Review Online:

Limbaugh Makes His Case — On Monday evening, September 24, Rush Limbaugh was struck by a story that appeared on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson. "A closer look tonight at phony heroes," Gibson said in his introduction to the report, which was about men who claim to be veterans but are not.

Discussion: Townhall.com, PrairiePundit, Betsy's Page and TigerHawk

Media Matters for America:

Limbaugh: VoteVets lied to soldier in ad, "strapp[ed] those lies to his belt," then sent him out "to walk into as many people" as he can — On the October 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh denounced a recent ad by VoteVets.org that featured Iraq war veteran Brian McGough …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Baltimore Sun, All Spin Zone, The Moderate Voice and Think Progress

Fox News:
Limbaugh Broadcaster Comes to Radio Host's Defense

Discussion: Right Wing News, Balloon Juice, Reason Magazine, Wake up America, Drudge Report, PSoTD, NewsBusters.org, Doug Ross, The Swamp, Army of Dude, Gateway Pundit and Macsmind

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:
Clear Channel Responds To Rush Protest Letter From Senate Democrats

Discussion: Think Progress, The Jawa Report, Power Line, The Politico and TBogg

Jonathan E. Kaplan / The Hill:

SCHIP slips as Dems trip over message — Democratic leaders on Tuesday moved quickly to shift public attention to President Bush's expected veto of a children's health insurance program from a surtax to pay for the war in Iraq. — Democrats had been reveling in their good fortune …

Discussion: Right Voices

CNN:

Bush vetoes child health insurance bill — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation expanding a children's health insurance program by $35 billion over five years. — Bush quietly exercised the veto at 10 a.m. before leaving the White House for a trip to Lancaster …

Discussion: The Gate and Think Progress

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: They Met A Tax They Didn't Like! — Wisconsin Rep. David Obey …

Chris Frates / The Politico:
SCHIP fans storm Capitol Hill

Discussion: The Swamp and Comments from Left Field

Mike Allen / The Politico: Senate, House Dems call for mortgage czar

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

Pakistan Seen Losing Fight Against Taliban And Al-Qaeda — PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's government is losing its war against emboldened insurgent forces, giving al-Qaeda and the Taliban more territory in which to operate and allowing the groups to plot increasingly ambitious attacks …

Discussion: The Swamp, CBS News, PrairiePundit, On Deadline, ParaPundit and Truthdig

New York Times:

From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths — It started out as a family errand: Ahmed Haithem Ahmed was driving his mother, Mohassin, to pick up his father from the hospital where he worked as a pathologist. As they approached Nisour Square at midday on Sept. 16 …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The RBC, Middle Earth Journal, rubber hose, The Atlantic Online, Three Wise Men and Brilliant at Breakfast

Associated Press:

North Korea agrees to disable nuke plant — BEIJING - North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31, actions that will be overseen by a U.S.-led team, the six nations involved in disarmament talks said Wednesday.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Outside The Beltway

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post: N. Korea Nuclear Accord Reached

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Thompson exceeds (low) expectations — DES MOINES, Iowa — A politician can go a long way in this country by being underestimated. — Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger all benefited from low expectations. — And few serious presidential candidates have enjoyed lower expectations than Fred Thompson.

Discussion: Quad City Times and Des Moines Register

CNN Political Ticker:
CNN Political Ticker AM

Discussion: The Swamp

Voice of America:

Iranian University Invites Bush to Speak — An Iranian university has invited U.S. President George W. Bush to speak about such issues as the Holocaust, terrorism and human rights. — Iran's Fars news agency reports Ferdowsi University in the northeastern city of Mashhad asked Mr. Bush …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Comments from Left Field, At-Largely and The American Street

Associated Press:

Soldiers hunt dissidents in Myanmar — YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers announced that they were hunting pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar's largest city Wednesday and the top U.S. diplomat in the country said military police were pulling people out of their homes during the night.

Discussion: Associated Press, Jules Crittenden, Blue Crab Boulevard, Truthdig and AMERICAblog