memeorandum: Polls show Dem race tightening in Iowa and New Hampshire (CNN Political Ticker)

3:00 PM ET, November 30, 2007

Top Items:

Man Takes Hostages At Clinton Campaign Office — ROCHESTER, N.H. — ROCHESTER, N.H. An armed man has taken two campaign workers hostage at the Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, police said. — Officials with the campaign confirmed that there were two workers taken hostage …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, On Deadline, TPM Election Central, UrbanGrounds, Wake up America, The Trail, The American Pundit, The Caucus, AMERICAblog, Daily Kos, IMAO.US, Outside The Beltway and THE LIBERAL JOURNAL

WCVB-TV:

Hostages Taken At Clinton Campaign Office — Police Unclear As To How Many People Involved — BOSTON — An armed man took at least two workers hostage Friday at a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in New Hampshire, police said. — The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Friday at 28 Main St. in Rochester.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, The Swamp, Crooks and Liars, Open Left and The Carpetbagger Report

MSNBC:

Hostages taken at Clinton office — 'He showed us a bomb strapped to his chest,' says woman who was freed — ROCHESTER, N.H. - A man claiming to have a bomb walked in to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign offices Friday and took hostages, police and witnesses said.

CNN:

Reports: Hostages held at Clinton campaign office — (CNN) — Two people are being held hostage by an armed man at Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, police said Friday. — The man walked into the office at about 1 p.m., Maj. Michael Hambrook …

Discussion: Blogs of War

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

CNN Admits Holes in Screening of Questioners — CNN expressed regret yesterday for allowing a Hillary Clinton adviser to ask a question at Wednesday's Republican presidential debate, even as controversy swirled about two other questioners who have declared their support for Democratic candidates.

Discussion: Redstate, The Newshoggers, TownHall Blog, New York Times, TBogg, The Impolitic, Power Line, Think Progress, Balloon Juice, Captain's Quarters, AMERICAblog and michellemalkin.com

Michelle Malkin:

Report: Armed man takes hostages at/near Hillary NH office; WMUR confirms two being held — Update 2:29pm Eastern. Reports: Hostage-taker is demanding to talk to Hillary. Edwards' office evacuated. — Update 2:15pm Eastern. FNC's Major Garrett reporting that Hillary Clinton has canceled …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

WCVB-TV:

Hostages Held By Armed Man At Clinton Office — An armed man, possibly with a bomb, has taken people hostage at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, N.H. — Clinton, who is not in New Hampshire, is attending a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia.

CNN Political Ticker: Report: Armed man takes two hostages at Clinton office

Amanda / Think Progress:
Hostages held at Clinton's NH campaign office.

Discussion: Associated Press

Helen A / Daily Mail:

Thousands of Islamic fanatics wielding knives demand jailed teddy bear teacher is executed — Thousands of Islamic fanatics wielding clubs and knives are marching through the streets of Khartoum demanding the execution of teddy bear teacher Gillian Gibbons.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Slog, Telegraph, AMERICAN DIGEST, The American Street, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Jihad Watch, The Sundries Shack, GINA COBB, Hot Air, A Blog For All, Scared Monkeys, Daimnation! and Blue Crab Boulevard

Mohamed Osman / Associated Press:

Calls in Sudan for Execution of Briton — KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, The Corner and QandO

CNN Political Ticker:

Murtha clarifies surge remarks — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Following a headline-grabbing uproar, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, moved swiftly Friday to clarify earlier remarks that seemed to suggest the Iraq surge policy was working. — The surge, he said in a statement …

Discussion: The American Street and QandO

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

Murtha's surge comments a problem for Dems — Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the "surge is working." This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders …

The Politico:
Democrats: Voters shifting focus from Iraq

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Bloomberg, Washington Post and Wake up America

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Mandates and Mudslinging — From the beginning, advocates of universal health care were troubled by the incompleteness of Barack Obama's plan, which unlike those of his Democratic rivals wouldn't cover everyone. But they were willing to cut Mr. Obama slack on the issue, assuming that in the end he would do the right thing.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Des Moines Register, The Page, The Huffington Post, JustOneMinute, The Atlantic Online, Ezra Klein, MSNBC, Brilliant at Breakfast, Taylor Marsh, Norwegianity, The Nation, Open Left, Balloon Juice, The Carpetbagger Report and TIME

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Clinton wants Obama health care ad down

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Page, Trailhead and TPM Election Central

CNN Political Ticker:
Obama's 'false' healthcare ad draws fire from Clinton

Discussion: The Swamp

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others — Relationship persists even when controlling for other variables — PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Newshoggers, The Swamp and Wake up America

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Stem Cell Vindication — "If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough." — A decade ago, Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Last week, he (and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka) …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, Redstate, Daily Kos, Don Surber, National Review Online, PoliPundit.com and If I Ran the Zoo

Michael Kinsley / Time:
Why Science Can't Save the GOP

Discussion: The Corner, The Opinionator and Moonbattery

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

The Candidate's 'Catch Me if You Can' — Reporters Following Hillary Clinton on the Campaign Trail Are Covered in Dust — CONCORD, N.H. — ABC correspondent Kate Snow was ready to push through the crowd and ask Hillary Clinton a question until an aide blocked the path of Snow's sound man …

Discussion: Boston Globe, Wonkette, Stubborn Facts, Suburban Guerrilla and The Caucus

CNN Political Ticker:
Polls show Dem race tightening in Iowa and New Hampshire

Discussion: The Swamp

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The NYT's Michael Cooper demonstrates what real reporting is — (updated below - Update II) — In an online chat yesterday, The Washington Post's Lois Romano defended her newspaper's neutral stenographic coverage of the factually false right-wing smear campaign against Barack Obama …

Discussion: The Trail, Sadly, No! and Jihad Watch

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:
Hallelujah! New York Times Does An Epic Fact-Check Of Rudy's Multiple Falsehoods

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Newshoggers, The Moderate Voice, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report and The Heretik

Faiz / Think Progress:

Card Rejects Rove's Claim That Congress Pushed Bush To War: 'His Mouth Gets Ahead Of His Brain' — Karl Rove asserted on the Charlie Rose show recently that it was Congress that pushed the Bush administration into war with Iraq. "The administration was opposed" to voting for a war resolution in the fall of 2002, Rove claimed.

Discussion: The Politico, The Reaction and The Next Hurrah

John Tierney / TierneyLab:

A New Debate on Female Circumcision — Should African women be allowed to engage in the practice sometimes called female circumcision? Are critics of this practice, who call it female genital mutilation, justified in trying to outlaw it, or are they guilty of ignorance and cultural imperialism?

Discussion: The Corner and Sweetness & Light