memeorandum: FBI working to bolster Al Qaeda cases (Josh Meyer/Los Angeles Times)

3:10 AM ET, October 21, 2007

Top Items:

A tale of two polls — It could be an episode of Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story." Mitt Romney was announced from the podium Saturday afternoon as the winner of the Family Research Council's "Values Voter Straw Poll," narrowly edging Mike Huckabee. — But it turns out that the 5 …

Discussion: Redstate, My Man Mitt.com, Oliver Willis, skippy the bush kangaroo, Booman Tribune and TIME: Swampland

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:

Huckabee likens abortion to a holocaust — (CNN)-Speaking before a gathering of Christian conservative voters, GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said legalized abortion in the United States was a holocaust. — "Sometimes we talk about why we're importing so many people in our workforce," the former Arkansas governor said.

Discussion: MyDD, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, The Right's Field, Macsmind, Chuck Adkins, Cliff Schecter and Paul Krugman

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Perkins: Giuliani supports marriage amendment — Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, told The Hill Saturday that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) would support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. — Perkins said Giuliani told him in a private meeting …

Discussion: The Politico, Unqualified Offerings, Pam's House Blend, The Daily Background, AMERICAblog and alicublog

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Religious right straw-victors: Romney, Huckabee — by Mark Silva, updated with full results — Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and a late-comer to the anti-abortion cause, claimed a narrow victory today in a straw poll of Christian conservative voters assembled in Washington and collecting votes from members online.

Discussion: CNN, The Reaction, Macsmind, DownWithTyranny!, The Caucus, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, The Carpetbagger Report, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Talking Points Memo and The Mahablog

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Romney wins Values Voters Straw Poll

Discussion: Reason Magazine, TIME: Swampland and The Swamp

The Corner:
And the Winner Is Huckabee — By a Lot [Byron York]

Discussion: Daily Kos, MSNBC and Hot Air

Michael Luo / New York Times: Religious Right Divides Its Vote

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:
Romney wins in conservative voters poll

Discussion: Riehl World View

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Giuliani asks Values Voters to trust him

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Stop The ACLU, Truthdig and The Swamp

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:
Poll finds Thompson appeals to churchgoers

Discussion: Right Wing News and Say Anything

David M. Kennedy / New York Times:

Malefactors of Megawealth — Paul Krugman is a justly renowned professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University. His abundant accolades include the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded biannually to an outstanding economist under the age of 40 — a distinction said to be predictive of …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and PrestoPundit

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog:

Obama to do gospel tour with radical right singer who crusades against "the curse of homosexuality" — From the NYT: … Yes, sucking up to anti-gay bigots and joining them on stage - no, giving them a stage - is certainly defying conventional wisdom as to how a Democrat becomes president.

Discussion: Open Left, Agitprop, Pacific Views and The Caucus

Earl Ofari Hutchinson / The Huffington Post:

Obama Should Repudiate and Cancel His Gay Bash Tour, and Do it Now — Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama ripped a page straight from the Bush campaign playbook with his announced upcoming three date barnstorm tour through South Carolina with notorious gay basher, gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.

Melinda Deslatte / Associated Press:

Indian immigrants' son new La. governor — BATON ROUGE, La. - U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal became the nation's youngest governor and the first nonwhite to hold post in Louisiana since Reconstruction when he carried more than half the vote to defeat 11 opponents. — Jindal, the Republican 36-year-old son …

Discussion: Townhall.com and Gay Patriot

Del Simmons / FreeSpeech.com:

Obscure, violent left-wing blogger threatens murder for hire! — Sadly, Mr. Chuck Adkins of Lincoln Park, Michigan has now taken his rude behavior a step too far. Tonight I posted a respectful comment (no profanity or anything) to his blog asking him to explain to me how Limbaugh had "mocked" the Frost kid.

Discussion: BitsBlog, Chuck Adkins and Cold Fury

Lisa W. Foderaro / New York Times:

Old Enough Now to Ask How Dad Died at War — LANCASTER, N.Y. — CamerynLee was only 3 years old when her father, Lance Cpl. Eric J. Orlowski, a Marine Corps reservist, was killed in an accidental shooting during the first days of the Iraq war. Now 8, she is suddenly hungry for information …

Discussion: Cliff Schecter

Josh Meyer / Los Angeles Times:

FBI working to bolster Al Qaeda cases — The U.S. is concerned that evidence obtained from CIA interrogations will be inadmissible at war-crimes tribunals. — WASHINGTON — The FBI is quietly reconstructing the cases against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and 14 other accused Al Qaeda leaders …

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:

J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character — NEW YORK (AP) - Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, Buck Naked Politics, Brilliant at Breakfast, The World Wide Rant and IMAO

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

State Department Struggles To Oversee Private Army — The State Department Turned to Contractors Such as Blackwater Amid a Fight With the Pentagon Over Personal Security in Iraq — Last Christmas Day in Baghdad, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad received a furious phone call from Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Discussion: Think Progress

Newsweek.com:

Yankees — The record-breaking autumn heat wave finally broke—just in time for Mr. Global Warming to snare the Nobel Peace Prize. Hot! — Hillary — The good times keep rolling. But even her aides say it won't be as easy as the CW now suggests. — Thompson