memeorandum: N.J. lawmakers vote to ban death penalty (Tom Hester Jr/Associated Press)

9:05 PM ET, December 13, 2007

Top Items:

Mevanh / The Page:

Bill Shaheen Resigns from Clinton Campaign — New Hampshire pol, husband of former Gov. Jeanne, quits NH co-chair position over Wednesday's drug comment about Obama. — "I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down ...." Read his full statement.

John Distaso / New Hampshire Union Leader:

Bill Shaheen quits Clinton campaign — Bill Shaheen has resigned as a co-chair of Hillary Clinton's national campaign, UnionLeader.com has learned. — Shaheen last night apologized for telling a reporter that if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, Republicans will use his admitted past drug use against him.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Wake up America and New York Daily News Blogs

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Democratic Debate: Winners and Losers — DES MOINES, Iowa — The final Democratic debate before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses is in the books. — Rather than give Fix readers a roundup of what just happened (you can get that here from the AP's Nedra Pickler), we figured we would take a page …

Discussion: John Edwards for President

CNN:
Clinton aide resigns over Obama drug remarks

Discussion: MoJoBlog

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Democratic Debate Preview: Do or Die for Clinton?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Caucus and CNN Political Ticker

Marc Ambinder:

Democratic Debate: First Take — Everyone had a good debate. — (Campaign pull-quote compilers, take note.) — But who did best? The audience is undecided Democratic caucus goers. Who stood out? Who was different? Who seemed most presidential? Who parlayed their strengths?

Discussion: Spin Cycle, The New Republic, MyDD and Salon

Ben Smith / The Politico:

HRC struggles for points at last debate — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's shift from confident front-runner to scrappy, challenged candidate became clear at the final Democratic debate before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, as she strained against the limits of the staid event to draw contrasts with her rivals.

Discussion: The Swamp and CNN Political Ticker

Glenn Thrush / Newsday:
Clinton insiders question top aide's approach

Discussion: Washington Post, USA Today, RealClearPolitics, TIME: Swampland, Taylor Marsh, Salon, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias, AMERICAblog, TIME, TPM Election Central and Telegraph Blogs

Michelle Malkin:
The Iowa Democrat debate: Schoolmarm returns; Update: Schoolmarm …

Discussion: Hot Air, Riehl World View and Stop The ACLU

Rick Klein / Political Radar:
Live-Blogging during Democratic Debate

Discussion: TalkLeft, Reason Magazine, The Swamp, John Edwards for President and TPM Election Central

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

Judiciary approves contempt resolutions — The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved contempt resolutions against Karl Rove, the former top aide to President Bush, and Joshua Bolten, the current White House chief of staff. The vote was 12-8. — The criminal contempt resolutions now move …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, Washington Post, The Swamp, Wonkette, Neptunus Lex, macsmind.com/wordpress, Alternate Brain, The Debate Link and The Hill

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Two GOPers Join Dems in White House Contempt Vote

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG and The Carpetbagger Report

Thomas Ferraro / Reuters:
Lawmakers vote to hold Bush aides in contempt

Discussion: New York Times, michellemalkin.com and MSNBC

Pamela Hess / Associated Press: House OKs bill banning CIA waterboarding

ESPN:

Mitchell report: Baseball slow to react to players' steroids use — NEW YORK — George Mitchell's 20-month report into steroid use in professional baseball blamed both players and management for the problem. — Mitchell addressed the media and released his report Thursday.

Discussion: The New Republic, Taylor Marsh, Publius Endures, Crooks and Liars, Right Wing Nut House, Associated Press, LAist, Outside The Beltway, Patterico's Pontifications and THE LIBERAL JOURNAL

CNN:
Clemens, Pettitte named in baseball steroid report

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Swords Crossed

Martin Kady II / The Crypt's Blogs:
Mitchell, Major League Baseball big wigs called to testify on Hill

Discussion: The Swamp and WBBM-TV

Sean Hackbarth / Fred File:

Fred Thompson Campaign Apologies — From Karen Hanretty, Deputy Communications Director: — In light of Mike Huckabee's heartfelt apology to Mitt Romney for making reference to Romney's religion in the New York Times Magazine, we at the Thompson Campaign would like to offer Huckabee …

Discussion: Hot Air, Redstate, Riehl World View and The Campaign Spot

Charles Babington / Associated Press:

Pelosi: Republicans `like' Iraq War — WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lashed out at Republicans on Thursday, saying they want the Iraq war to drag on and are ignoring the public's priorities. — "They like this war. They want this war to continue," Pelosi, D- Calif., told reporters.

Discussion: Hot Air, Blue Crab Boulevard, BLACKFIVE, Gateway Pundit and QandO

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
After losing spending battle, Pelosi eyes '08 election

Discussion: Flopping Aces, michellemalkin.com, Daily Kos and Right Voices

ArkansasTimes:

Dumond goes viral UPDATE — Mike Huckabee's advocacy of rapist/killer Wayne Dumond's release has hit YouTube in a piece Talking Points Memo terms brutal in the course of looking into its provenance. The mother of Dumond's Missouri murder victim is featured. — An Arkansas Republican, Keith Emis, takes responsibility.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Redstate, Hot Air, The New Republic, eyeon08.com, Shakespeare's Sister, Matthew Yglesias, Democrats.com, race42008.com, Taylor Marsh and Corrente

Eve Fairbanks / The New Republic:
Huck's Sins — The Huckabee-as-really - good-guy meme? It doesn't wash.

Discussion: The Reaction, GregsOpinion.com, Examining Presidential … and The RBC

Melanie Mason / The New Republic:

Hillary's Parking Lot Obstacle — Adam Nagourney notes the Obama camp's vastly superior Iowa expertise. And in my experience, those guys do have a stunningly deep knowledge of the minutae of the state that dates back decades. — But Hillary has a much bigger problem on her hands.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, The Caucus and Viking Pundit

Jared Bernstein / The Coffee House:

Boy, Have We Got an Inequality Problem — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just updated their invaluable data series on income inequality and the results are startling. Income inequality among households, both before and after Federal taxes, grew more quickly over the last two years of the series …

Discussion: Angry Bear

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Military Leaders: Ignore Bush Veto Threat, Ban Waterboarding — Thirty retired admirals and generals have penned a letter to key Democrats, urging them to defy President Bush's veto threats and pass legislation requiring U.S intelligence agents to follow strict standards for detainee treatment.

Discussion: The Gavel, Daily Kos, ArchPundit, The Carpetbagger Report, Think Progress and Riehl World View

Scott Shane / New York Times:

C.I.A. Agents Sense Shifting Support for Methods — WASHINGTON — For six years, Central Intelligence Agency officers have worried that someday the tide of post-Sept. 11 opinion would turn, and their harsh treatment of prisoners from Al Qaeda would be subjected to hostile scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution.