Top Items:
Scott Helman / Boston Globe:
McCain closing gap with Romney — In N.H. poll, Obama inches ahead of Clinton — Senator John McCain of Arizona, whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination was all but dead this summer, has made a dramatic recovery in the Granite State 2 1/2 weeks before the 2008 vote …
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, PoliBlog (TM), Wake Up America, Wake up America, Riehl World View, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, The Caucus, The Swamp, Raising Kaine, Examining Presidential …, AMERICAblog, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber, Hotline On Call, PoliGazette, TPM Election Central, New York Times, Pollster.com, MSNBC, Booman Tribune, The Ruckus and The New Republic
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Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Election-Winning GOP Coalition Could Splinter Amid Wide-Open Presidential Race — Is the winning coalition that not just held the Republican Party together in recent years, but impressively sprung into action during Presidential campaigns about to splinter?
Discussion:
Rick Howell Speaks, Buck Naked Politics, PBD, skippy the bush kangaroo and All Spin Zone
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
Obama Moving Up in New Hampshire — The Democratic half of that Globe poll I just mentioned shows Obama pulling ahead in New Hampshire—he edges Hillary 30 to 28. (He's up nine points and she's down seven since early November.) Two things jump out at me in the Globe's write-up.
Washington Post:
Splintered GOP Seeks Unifying Presence — DES MOINES — For three decades, the Republican presidential nominating contest has served to unify the national party's coalition of social, economic and foreign policy conservatives in advance of a general election fight with Democrats.
Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press:
Racial Undercurrent Is Seen in Clinton Campaign — It has unfolded mostly under the radar. But an important development in the 2008 Democratic battle may be the building backlash among African Americans over comments from associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that could be construed as jabs at Sen. Barack Obama's race.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
Representative Ron Paul / MSNBC:
Dec. 23: Ron Paul — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Our Meet the Candidates 2008 series continues, an exclusive interview with Republican Ron Paul. He has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 18 years. In 1988 he was the Libertarian Party candidate for president.
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David Weigel / Reason Magazine:
Ron Paul on Meet the Press: Liveblogging — 10:32: Russert points out that the income tax repeal would cost $1 trillion. Paul: “That's good." — 10:33: How much would we save if we pull our troops out of every overseas post? The first of many gotchas, but Paul is ready: More than a trillion dollars.
The Quad-City Times / Quad City Times:
Times Democratic caucus endorsement: Hillary Clinton passes the test — Hillary Clinton passes test after test after test. This Clinton arrived for the caucus campaign with much, much more experience than the first Clinton to stump across Iowa. In campaign speeches and in an interview …
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Amanda / Think Progress:
Giuliani Claims It Would Have Been ‘Impossible’ To Give 9/11 Firefighters Working Radios — Today on ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos pushed former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani on why the radios for the 9/11 firefighters didn't work. Giuliani dodged the question …
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Little Green Footballs:
Daily Kos Supporting the Troops for Christmas — As I write, this is currently the number one recommended diary at Daily Kos: a long exercise in crackpot moral equivalence that compares US troops holding Bibles with a Palestinian female suicide bomber holding a Koran.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit
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Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
SUNNI AWAKENING UPDATE....I've mentioned a few times before that our “bottoms up” strategy of supporting Sunni tribes in the provinces surrounding Baghdad carries a number of risks. The biggest risk, I suppose, is that once the tribes finally feel safe from the threat of al-Qaeda in Iraq …
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Washington Post:
In Britain, A Respected, If Rowdy, Holiday Ritual — LONDON — Just before midnight, the well-dressed, 25-year-old financial trader arrived by ambulance at the makeshift hospital tent pitched at a train station in central London. Blood oozed from his scalp, staining his elegant pink-striped shirt.
Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:
William “The Bloody” Makes His New Year's Predictions — Somebody has been hitting the eggnog really hard. William “The Bloody” Kristol makes his predictions for the coming year. They would be scary if they weren't just so completely ridiculous, but at least Kristol is continuing his habit of being completely and utterly wrong.
Rsinderbrand / CNN Political Ticker:
Obama continues attacks on Edwards for third-party ads — WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama continued his attacks on rival John Edwards for alleged ties to 527 groups airing ads on his behalf. Obama said his opponent's inability …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Rush responds to Huck peace offering — Rush Limbaugh — responding to Mike Huckabee's peace offering — said today that he doesn't need to talk with the former Arkansas governor. — “I saw his comments and accept them as honest, sincere and genuine,” Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail.
Discussion:
Hot Air