memeorandum: Obama's Contrast Mailing In New Hampshire (Marc Ambinder)

6:05 AM ET, December 18, 2007

Top Items:

Dodd's Filibuster Threat Stalls Wiretap Bill — Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance.

Think Progress:

Dodd filibuster threat causes Reid to withdraw FISA bill. — "Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance."

Discussion: Threat Level, TPM Election Central, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, protein wisdom, SteveAudio, Oliver Willis, Unqualified Offerings and Matthew Yglesias

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

BREAKING: REID PULLED TELECOM BILL — Harry Reid just pulled the telecom bill. The Senate will take it up again after the first of the year, but for now there will be no retroactive telecom immunity. — Karen Tumulty wrote over at Swampland earlier in the day: … I guess he did.

Discussion: Iowa Politics, Group News Blog, Burnt Orange Report, Mercury Rising, Ben Smith's Blogs, Hullabaloo, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Garlic, TIME: Swampland and The Impolitic

Matt Browner-Hamlin / Chris Dodd National Blog:

Constitution Protected...For Now — Majority Leader Harry Reid has just pulled the FISA bill from consideration in this session. It will be brought up at some point next month. — Without Senator Dodd's leadership today, it is safe to assume that retroactive immunity would have passed.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Scholars and Rogues, The Newshoggers, BlueOregon, Corrente, Daily Kos, The Agonist, Taylor Marsh, The Seminal, The Garlic, Salon, MyDD, Comments from Left Field, The Sideshow and Firedoglake

Senator Edward M. Kennedy / kennedy.senate.gov:

KENNEDY ON FISA — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Mr. President, I am troubled by the FISA bill that has come to the Senate floor. Since I introduced the original FISA legislation over 30 years ago, I've worked to amend the FISA law many times, and I believe that this bill is not faithful to the traditional balance that FISA has struck.

Matt Browner-Hamlin / Chris Dodd National Blog:
Dodd, Blogs Celebrate FISA Victory

Discussion: the talking dog, Blue Mass. Group and AMERICAblog

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Chris Dodd Does It. Reid pulls Telecom Immunity bill off the table

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Blue Girl, Red State and The Garlic

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Democrats Delay a Vote on Immunity for Wiretaps

Discussion: ACLU

Marc Ambinder:

Obama's Contrast Mailing In New Hampshire — Hillary Clinton _and_ John Edwards are included in the un-love from Barack Obama today. — Something new: the Des Moines Register reports that Obama said that he, not John Edwards, was the champion challenger to special interests.

Seattle Times:

"Muslim" issue resurfaces for Obama — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president Sunday but stirred a continuing controversy by noting her chief rival's name is "Barack Hussein Obama" and that Obama had Muslim ancestors.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, USS Neverdock and L.A. Times

Tom Curry / MSNBC:

Obama racial subtext surfaces in Iowa — Edwards parries a voter's question about Obama and the O.J. verdict — Presidential hopefuls former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., await the start of last Thursday's Des Moines Register Presidential Debate in Iowa.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Captain's Quarters, PoliGazette and Wonkette

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Kerrey digs a little deeper — Bob Kerrey, talking on CNN earlier today, dropped the observation that Obama had spent time in a "secular madrassa" ([which I'm not sure is a term that makes sense])*, which seems to play into critics' notion that he's trying to subtly raise questions about Obama:

Discussion: Political Punch, Taylor Marsh, CNN Political Ticker and Hot Air

Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register: Obama: I've fought harder against special interests

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Obama and Edwards Engage, Gently, on Special Interests

Discussion: The Politico and Blue Crab Boulevard

Think Progress:
Bob Kerrey: Barack Obama 'Spent A Little Bit Of Time In A Secular Madrassa'

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Brave New Films blog, MoJoBlog and Comments from Left Field

Peterhamby / CNN Political Ticker:

Bill Clinton: George H.W. Bush will help President Hillary — ORANGEBURG, South Carolina (CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the first thing his wife Hillary will do when she reaches the White House is dispatch him and his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush …

Discussion: TPM Election Central and Gateway Pundit

Spectator:

The blood runs cold — The lights are going out on liberal society - and it is the most liberal societies with their fingers on the 'off' switch. The thesis of Mark Steyn's book America Alone, that Europe was succumbing to an Islamist takeover, has been proved spectacularly correct …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Sweetness & Light, Atlas Shrugs, New York Post and The Corner

The Corner:
Re: Mark Steyn is losing

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Anthony Boadle / Reuters:

Castro hints he will not hold on to power — HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public for 16 months, suggested on Monday he might give up his formal leadership posts — the first time he has spoken of his possible retirement.

Discussion: PoliGazette and Weasel Zippers

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:

IT'S PERFECTLY REASONABLE TO REJECT A CANDIDATE BECAUSE OF HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS. — Just before this gets completely out of hand and becomes a mantralike repetition, let us please recall what the careful phrases of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution actually and very carefully and deliberately say:

Discussion: Kiko's House, Hot Air, Gothamist, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Reason Magazine and slacktivist

Matthew Flamm / Crain's New York Business.com:

Slow going for Rove memoir auction — Early reports had predicted a $3 million sale, but an auction for the Republican strategist's memoir has dragged on for a month. — December 17. — The auction for Karl Rove's memoir drags on a month after the Republican strategist made the rounds …

Discussion: SteveAudio and Corrente