memeorandum: Immigration, Black Sheep and Swiss Rage (Elaine Sciolino/New York Times)

How Clinton has built her lead — REASON TO SMILE: Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton greets residents in New Hampton, Iowa Sunday. Polls show her national popularity with Democrats growing. — Her base is voters who dominate the Democratic nominating process. But the presidential campaign season is still young.

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Examiner, Des Moines Register and Bloomberg

Shaun Mullen / The Moderate Voice:

Iowa Caucuses As Smoke-Filled Room — A minister, priest and rabbi walk into a 4-H club . . . I'll eat my straw boater if it turns out that the Iowa caucuses next January play a decisive role in determining who the Republican presidential sacrificial lamb will be, let alone who the Democrats nominate to be the next president.

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

The Way Primaries Work — We seem to have people who still misunderstand the primary system, both in our CapQ community and in the national political movements on the Right. Over the last couple of weeks, we have had grand ultimatums from a couple of factions which have demanded a particular type …

CNN Political Ticker:

CNN Political Ticker AM — Making News Today... Clinton's riding a high — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Last week, it was a major fundraising win, and now it's strong showings in two new polls. Sen. Hillary Clinton is riding a political high less than three months before the Iowa caucuses.

Discussion: The Politico

Des Moines Register:
Clinton takes lead for Democrats

Discussion: Democratic Strategist and The Carpetbagger Report

Hillary Rodham Clinton / The Trail:

Clinton's Iran Vote Prompts A Harsh Back-and-Forth — Randall Rolph said he came to New Hampton, Iowa, on Sunday to see Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) with an open mind about whether to support her candidacy. After a tough exchange over Iran, he left saying he had ruled her out.

Discussion: Unfogged

Chuck Todd / MSNBC:

Clinton gets snippy with Iowan over Iran — From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones — NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — At a campaign stop here, Hillary Clinton sparred verbally for several minutes with a man who pressed her on her recent vote to call Iran's army a terrorist organization.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, About.com Liberal Politics, The Politico, MyDD and The Atlantic Online

Geoffrey Wheatcroft / Washington Post:
Who Made Hillary Queen? — Among so much about American politics …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Eunomia, The Atlantic Online, The Reaction, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The American Street and Blue Crab Boulevard

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
Is America Now South Asia?

Discussion: Washington Post and Unqualified Offerings

Joshua Partlow / Washington Post:

Top Iraqis Pull Back From Key U.S. Goal — Reconciliation Seen Unattainable Amid Struggle for Power — BAGHDAD — For much of this year, the U.S. military strategy in Iraq has sought to reduce violence so that politicians could bring about national reconciliation, but several top Iraqi leaders …

Discussion: Rising Hegemon, Greatscat! and Truthdig

Nathaniel R. Helms / warchronicle.com:

Al Qaeda in Haditha: The battle the media ignored — Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter …

Discussion: Hot Air, Miss Beth's Victory Dance, Wake up America, The Sundries Shack, Stop The ACLU, PrairiePundit, Gateway Pundit and Take Our Country Back

Michelle Malkin:
Al Qaeda and Haditha bombshell: What the MSM didn't tell you

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Bluto / The Jawa Report:
Report: Haditha 'Massacre' Planned by al Qaeda

Discussion: protein wisdom

Michael J. Totten:

The Best Police Force in Iraq — RAMADI, IRAQ - In late July when I visited a police station in the town of Mushadah just north of Baghdad I worried that Iraq was doomed to become the next Gaza. As many as half the police officers, according to most of the American Military Police who worked …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Same Old Party — There have been a number of articles recently that portray President Bush as someone who strayed from the path of true conservatism. Republicans, these articles say, need to return to their roots. — Well, I don't know what true conservatism is, but while doing research …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, If I Ran the Zoo, All Spin Zone and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

As War Dragged On, Coverage Tone Weighed Heavily on Anchors — Charlie Gibson is a product of the Vietnam War era. When he was a television reporter in Lynchburg, Va., he had driven to Washington on weekends to march in antiwar demonstrations. And he had lost friends in that jungle war.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, NewsBusters.org and TVNewser

Washington Times:

Mexican 'House of Death — CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Fernando Reyes wasn't dying fast enough, so his killers wrapped his head in a plastic bag. It wouldn't be long before the brutally beaten and tortured drug smuggler would take his last breath. — An undercover informant working for U.S. authorities …

Discussion: Reason Magazine

Omar Fadhil / Opinion Journal:

Al Qaeda's War of Villages — Signs that the terrorists are losing in Iraq. — BAGHDAD—The latest chapter in al Qaeda's war manual in their war against the Iraqi people and the Coalition is this: raiding remote peaceful villages, burning down homes and slaughtering both man and beast.

Discussion: SWJ Blog

Elaine Sciolino / New York Times:

Immigration, Black Sheep and Swiss Rage — The posters taped on the walls at a political rally here capture the rawness of Switzerland's national electoral campaign: three white sheep stand on the Swiss flag as one of them kicks a single black sheep away. — "To Create Security," the poster reads.

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog