memeorandum: State of the Unions — Once upon a time, back when America … (Paul Krugman/New York Times)

2:30 PM ET, December 24, 2007

Top Items:

State of the Unions — Once upon a time, back when America had a strong middle class, it also had a strong union movement. — These two facts were connected. Unions negotiated good wages and benefits for their workers, gains that often ended up being matched even by nonunion employers.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The New Republic, Publius Endures, Taylor Marsh, Open Left, Norwegianity, NO QUARTER and TPM Election Central

Jay Newton-Small / Time:

How Clinton Lost Her Invincibility — When Hillary Clinton launched her campaign nearly a year ago, the media buzz deemed it near impossible for the likes of Barack Obama and John Edwards to overcome her daunting campaign machine. The endorsements, the money, and the cream …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and The Heretik

Sasha Issenberg / Boston Globe:
In shifting race, Edwards aims for the gut

Discussion: Washington Post

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Clinton Sums It Up for Viewers in 2 States

Discussion: The Politico

Bruce Bartlett / Opinion Journal:

Whitewash — The racist history the Democratic Party wants you to forget. — In his new book, “The Conscience of a Liberal,” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman makes a strong case for his belief that the political success of the Republican Party and the conservative movement …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Blue Crab Boulevard, Marginal Revolution and Macsmind

Matthew Yglesias:

Wrong on Race? — Tyler Cowen describes Bruce Bartlett's new book Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past as “incendiary." — If this overview in The Wall Street Journal reflects the content, though, it seems fairly banal. As everyone with any awareness of American political history knows …

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

Romney Strategy in Peril With Huckabee's Ascent — Bid for Early States Appears in Jeopardy — DES MOINES — A year ago, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney gathered his campaign team for the first time at his suburban Boston home. There were PowerPoint presentations, and Ann Romney made sandwiches.

Discussion: TBogg, New York Observer, USA Today, PoliGazette, PBD, Macsmind, Los Angeles Times and TPM Election Central

Jack Kelly / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Thompson the tortoise

Discussion: Political Machine and BobKrumm.com

Maeve Reston / Los Angeles Times:
Romney's lead slipping in N.H. too

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Matthew Yglesias, New York Times and Political Machine

Yitzhak Benhorin / Ynetnews:

US report: Israel would weather nuclear war with Iran — Study compiled by US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), headed by a former Pentagon analyst, explores several hypothetical scenarios for unconventional warfare in our region. Authors find 'Israel's residents and economy could weather nuclear war with Iran'

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Wonkette

Elie Leshem / Jerusalem Post:

‘Israel could survive nuclear war’ — If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives - as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Roger L. Simon, Israel Matzav and PoliGazette

Peter Wehner / Washington Post:

Huckabee's Co-Pilot — Some of us — in my case, a political conservative and evangelical Christian — are getting a queasy feeling when it comes to the presidential campaign of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and much of it has to do with his use of faith in this political campaign.

Discussion: Whiskey Fire, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, All Spin Zone, Booman Tribune and INSTAPUTZ

Edwin Chen / Bloomberg:

Bush Seeks to Restore Tattered U.S. Image With Heavy '08 Travel — Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush's diplomatic passport will acquire a slew of new country stamps during his final year in office as he tries to rebuild the U.S.'s international standing and create a foreign-policy legacy beyond Iraq.

Discussion: Think Progress, Shakespeare's Sister, Booman Tribune and Wonkette

Jesse Wendel / Group News Blog:

The More Things Change... Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand Trashed At Christmas — For Being Pregnant — First term Congresswoman Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY20), in a highly-vulnerable district in New York's Hudson Valley, is being attacked, not for her politics, not for her stand against the Iraq war …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money

T.W. Farnam / Wall Street Journal:

A Web Troll's Toll on the Clinton Campaign — FORT MITCHELL, Ky. — In Norse mythology, trolls steal babies and leave their own shape-shifting offspring behind. On the Internet, they just steal attention. — As candidates increasingly use the Internet to build political bridges …

The Corner:

Atheist Demographics — Let's see ... 3 plus 2 plus 1 plus zero is, er, 6; and 6 divided by 4 is ... 2, right? Well, to one significant digit. — Sorry about that. A little too much Christmas spirit. I really should stay away from applied. The correct TFR for our Four Horsemen …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Josh Patashnik / The New Republic:

Palestinian Collaborators Then and Now — I've just finished a truly intriguing book. It is called Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948 and is the product of what is clearly a daring mind, that is the mind of Hillel Cohen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Discussion: Israel Matzav and Elder of Ziyon

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Bush Mulling Over The Earmark Question — George Bush will seriously consider the popular request of an executive order banning the funding of non-legislative earmarks by federal agencies, the Wall Street Journal notes in an editorial today. While some question whether the move will actually save …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Flopping Aces