memeorandum: Rudy and The Undocumented Multitudes (Marc Ambinder)

10:15 AM ET, December 14, 2007

Top Items:

S.C. poll: Huckabee bolts to top of GOP; Obama cuts into Clinton lead — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee surged to the top among Republican presidential candidates in South Carolina, while Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead over Sen. Barack Obama among Democrats narrowed since July in that state, according to a new poll.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Comments from Left Field, PoliBlog (TM) and Riehl World View

Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:

The Pulpit and the Potemkin Village — Would Reagan survive in today's GOP? And is Mrs. Clinton in for a fall this winter? — What is happening in Iowa is no longer boring but big, and may prove huge. — The Republican race looks—at the moment—to be determined primarily by one thing, the question of religious faith.

Discussion: Political Machine, No More Mister Nice Blog and Eunomia

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:

Code Huckabee — Is the thought of Mike Huckabee as president just vaguely scary? Or have we learned enough about the man that we should be hair-on-fire alarmed at the prospect, still pretty remote, that he could actually win? — True, none of his opponents for the Republican nomination inspires much confidence.

Discussion: TownHall Blog and Connecting.the.Dots

Houston Chronicle:

Paul foots bill for Huckabee critics' trips — LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Two former Republican legislators from Mike Huckabee 's home state are in Iowa this week criticizing Huckabee's record on immigration and taxes on trips paid for by Ron Paul, one of Huckabee's Republican presidential rivals.

Discussion: RIGHTWINGSPARKLE, Below The Beltway and The Campaign Spot

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

An Overdose of Public Piety — Mitt Romney declares, "Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Barack Obama opens his speech at his South Carolina Oprah rally with "Giving all praise and honor to God. Look at the day that the Lord has made."

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, QandO, Right Wing Nut House, Eunomia, race42008.com and Below The Beltway

Sean Hackbarth / Fred File:
Fred Thompson Campaign Apologies

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, First State Politics, The American Street, The Swamp, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, The Campaign Spot, Political Machine, Los Angeles Times, Redstate, Hot Air and Riehl World View

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Homespun Meets Hard-Line

Discussion: The New Republic, The Corner and Eunomia

Stuart Rothenberg / Real Clear Politics:
Is Huckabee the None of the Above Candidate?

Discussion: Eunomia

Anthony Salvanto / CBS News: Analysis: Iowa Polls Drove Huckabee Surge

Sean Lengell / Washington Times:

Senate passes energy bill without oil tax increase — Senate Democrats yesterday bowed to Republicans and stripped a proposed tax increase for oil companies from a broad energy bill, clearing the way for passage of the measure that includes the first increase in vehicle gas-mileage standards in 32 years.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Plan B For Pelosi And Reid

Discussion: Bark Bark Woof Woof

Booman Tribune:
Sen. Reid Setting Us Up on FISA

Discussion: West Virginia Blue and Suburban Guerrilla

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Harry Reid's FISA games

Discussion: Firedoglake and Open Left

David Hazinski / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Unfettered 'citizen journalism' too risky — You're beginning to get a lot more news ... from you. — It ranges from the CNN YouTube debates to political blogs to cellphone video of that sniper who opened fire at an Omaha Mall. These are all examples of so called "citizen journalism," …

Stephen Grey / The Blotter:

Exclusive: Eyewitness Account of Huge Taliban Defeat — Afghanistan's government flag was raised Wednesday on what had been one of the biggest strongholds of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan and a leading world center of heroin production. — The town of about 45,000 people was secured …

Discussion: USS Neverdock, The Strata-Sphere and Instapundit.com

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

Hundreds of Taliban Killed By Salmonella And Combined Arms, But Mostly Combined Arms — The US Military had a "temper tantrum," I guess ABCNews would say. — A wonderful temper tantrum. "Hundreds killed," not the 50 or so reported earlier. … Now you may wonder why a major victory in the …

Discussion: The Newshoggers and The Corner

Sarah Liebowitz / Concord Monitor:

Obama edges Clinton in poll — Romney well ahead in 'Monitor' survey — December 14. — Barack Obama has come from behind to turn the Democratic presidential race in New Hampshire into a toss-up, according to a new Monitor opinion poll. The results - which show Obama with a one-point edge …

Discussion: MSNBC, Taegan Goddard's … and Blue Hampshire

Reuters:

Vuitton-clad Venezuela minister spouts socialism — CARACAS (Reuters) - A video of a Gucci- and Louis Vuitton-clad politician attacking capitalism then struggling to explain how his luxurious clothes square with his socialist beliefs has become an instant YouTube hit in Venezuela.

Discussion: Dr. Sanity, Say Anything, Fausta's blog and Blue Crab Boulevard

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

Did meeting lead to Shaheen ouster? — From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan — JOHNSTON, IA — In the spin room after today's debate, Obama adviser David Axelrod said that Obama had told Clinton today that "leadership came from the top" in regards to negative attacks and campaigning.

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The RBC and Taylor Marsh

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Hardball fun — Hardball tonight was great political TV …

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

The Huffington Post:

Protecting Hillary: Bill Clinton Severs Business Ties With Billionaire Buddy Burkle — Bill Clinton has severed business ties with Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle, fearful that their deals could erupt into bad publicity damaging his wife's presidential bid, according to sources who know both men.

Discussion: The Caucus

Marc Ambinder:

Rudy and The Undocumented Multitudes — The Romney campaign this a.m. is dropping this video....

Washington Post:

Poll Shows More Optimism on War — After Record Lows, Bush Gains With Republicans, Independents — A year after approval of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq dipped to an all-time low, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds discontent toward the war easing slightly …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

Washington Post:

House Passes Bill to Ban CIA's Use of Harsh Interrogation Tactics — The House approved legislation yesterday that would bar the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, drawing an immediate veto threat from the White House and setting up another political showdown over what constitutes torture.