memeorandum: Edwards Says He'll Take On Big Insurance Companies (Aaron Lewis/CBS News)

Romney should not be the next president — December 22. — If you were building a Republican presidential candidate from a kit, imagine what pieces you might use: an athletic build, ramrod posture, Reaganesque hair, a charismatic speaking style and a crisp dark suit.

Discussion: The Trail, Blue Hampshire, Chuck Adkins, Raising Kaine, AMERICAblog, Punditry and TPM Election Central

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Can't Anyone Play This Here Game? — If any presidential primary ever exemplified None Of The Above, it's the one inflicted on us now. According to Rasmussen, everyone gets a negative favorability rating in this race — and I mean everyone (via Memeorandum):

Discussion: Punditry

Rasmussen Reports:

For or Against Presidential Candidates — Clinton and Romney Have Highest Level of Core Opposition Among Leading Candidates — Among the leading Presidential candidates, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have the highest level of core opposition among voters.

Discussion: Chuck Adkins, Macsmind, eyeon08.com, The Ruckus, Riehl World View and Hot Air

Rsinderbrand / CNN Political Ticker:
Romney and McCain campaigns tangle over taxes

Discussion: The Swamp

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Mitt goes on the offensive with McCain

Discussion: race42008.com and Marc Ambinder

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

2 Candidates, 2 Fortunes, 2 Views of Wealth — By the final weeks of 1984, well before either turned 40, John Edwards and Mitt Romney had already built successful careers. But the two men were each on the verge of an entirely new level of financial success.

Discussion: Liberal Values, The American Street and The Corner

Chip Reid / CBS News:

Five Things I Learned in Ten Days With Edwards — From CBS News Capitol Hill Correspondent Chip Reid, who's covering the Edwards campaign: — SOMEWHERE ON THE ROAD IN IOWA — Like the other presidential candidates, John Edwards is heading home for a few days over Christmas, which means we embedded journalists can do the same.

Discussion: The American Street, Bleeding Heartland and Firedoglake

The Politico:
Obama-Edwards ad spat gets rough

Discussion: Pat Dollard, CNN Political Ticker and The Swamp

Christopher Cooper / Wall Street Journal:
Obama, Edwards Go Long

Discussion: The New Republic

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Obama hits Edwards on 527 group

Discussion: TalkLeft

Frank Rich / New York Times:

A Résumé Can't Buy You Love — WE can only imagine what is going on inside John McCain's head when he contemplates Mike Huckabee. It can't be pretty. No presidential candidate in either party has more experience in matters of war than the Arizona senator …

Discussion: Liberal Values and The Heretik

Aaron Lewis / CBS News:

Edwards Says He'll Take On Big Insurance Companies — From CBS News' Aaron Lewis: — NEVADA, IOWA — John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change …

Discussion: All Spin Zone, DownWithTyranny!, The American Street, Crooks and Liars and Brilliant at Breakfast

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All — CapQ readers want to have an eggnog with him, and now we know why. Fred Thompson just released the best Christmas ad in this cycle, one in which no one will find floating crosses, holiday fruitcake, downer lighting, and especially tone-deaf “gifts” …

Discussion: Punditry and Blue Crab Boulevard

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

Iran Cited In Iraq's Decline in Violence — Order From Tehran Reined In Militias, U.S. Official Says — The Iranian government has decided “at the most senior levels” to rein in the violent Shiite militias it supports in Iraq, a move reflected in a sharp decrease in sophisticated roadside bomb attacks …

Tim Weiner / New York Times:

Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950 — A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.

Discussion: The Mahatma X Files, The Mahablog, Middle Earth Journal, Power Line and Cliff Schecter

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Savior or Saboteur? — Once it was about Hillary, but now, of course, it's about Bill. — Our ubiquitous ex-president is playing his favorite uxorious game, and it goes like this: Let's create chaos and then get out of it together. You ride to my rescue or I ride to yours.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

David S. Bernstein / Talking Politics:

WHEN A CLAIM BECOMES OFFENSIVE — Two women contacted the Mitt Romney campaign this week, offering their memories of seeing Romney's father march with Martin Luther King Jr., in Grosse Point Michigan in 1963. Campaign officials were well aware that the women were mistaken.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Blue Mass. Group, Politics1 and eyeon08.com

Deacon / Power Line:

A CASE OF CLEMENCY THAT'S EASY TO EXPLAIN — It hasn't been apparent to me why Mike Huckabee favored the release from prison of Wayne Dumond, a patently dangerous rapist who, once released, committed murder. By contrast, it's easy to see why Mike Huckabee wanted to help Eugene Fields …

David Barstow / New York Times: A Request for Clemency Leads to a Political Issue for Huckabee

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

Pakistan's Islamic Parties Struggle for Support — 5 Years After Sweep In NW Province, Backers Frustrated — PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In 2002, Ibrar Hussein voted for an Islamic takeover. — Fed up both with Pakistan's military-led government and with the mainstream, secular opposition …

Discussion: Commentary

Press Association:

Blair converts to Catholicism — Tony Blair has converted to Roman Catholicism, sources close to the former prime minister said today. — He was welcomed into the church in a service last night. — The move comes after years of speculation that Mr Blair, whose wife Cherie and four children …

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Booman Tribune