memeorandum: JOE LENSKI ON THE IOWA ENTRANCE POLL (Mark Blumenthal/Pollster.com)

7:50 AM ET, December 29, 2007

Top Items:

Bill Kristol To Become New York Times Columnist In 2008 — The Huffington Post has learned that, in a move bound to create controversy, the New York Times is set to announce that Bill Kristol will become a weekly columnist in 2008. Kristol, a prominent neo-conservative who recently departed …

Discussion: Blog P.I., The Anonymous Liberal, NewsBusters.org, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Washington Monthly, driftglass, Crooks and Liars, The American Street, Unqualified Offerings, Vox Popoli, Macsmind, Reason Magazine, State of the Day, TBogg, Bob Cesca's Goddamn … and Suburban Guerrilla

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Kristol To The NYT — He's obviously an extremely talented writer …

Discussion: alicublog, The Agitator and LewRockwell.com Blog

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

Gen. Clark on Obama's Attack on Hillary — Gen. Wesley Clark today: … Here's another tidbit of information. On December 12, 2007, Katie Couric asked the candidates which country frightened them the most. Barack Obama answered “Iran." Hillary answered “Pakistan." From the transcript (available on Lexis.com):

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Belmont Club and Lynn Sweet

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Dodd unloads on Obama and Clinton — DES MOINES, Iowa — Chris Dodd is a warm and friendly guy, a charmer, a hail fellow well met. But when he hits you, he wants to raise a bruise. — And he hit both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at an afternoon rally at his headquarters Friday, less than a week before the Iowa caucus.

Discussion: PoliGazette, CNN, JammieWearingFool, Hot Air and The Swamp

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Crisis Overseas Is Sudden Test for Candidates

Discussion: Brendan Nyhan

Agence France Presse:
Clinton demands international Bhutto probe

Discussion: Forbes, CTV.ca, Wizbang, TPM Election Central, Time, Power Line, Truthdig, Buck Naked Politics and BitsBlog

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Did Biden, Dodd and Edwards Kill Bhutto Too?

Discussion: Associated Press, Salon, Hot Air, The Democratic Daily and Taylor Marsh

Kagro X / Daily Kos:

Bush claims Senate's pro forma sessions don't count — That veto George W. Bush threatened of the Defense authorization bill? The one with the troops' pay raise in it? — He hasn't even got the stones to put his signature to it: … That's right, civics fans: Bush is claiming this is a …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Open Left

George W. Bush / White House:
Memorandum of Disapproval — Fact Sheet: National Defense …

Discussion: The Discerning Texan, Group News Blog, Prometheus 6, Taylor Marsh, Big Brass Blog and Flopping Aces

Office of the Speaker / The Gavel:
Pelosi and Reid Condemn Bush Plan to Veto of Defense Authorization Bill

Discussion: White House, Washington Post, The Democratic Daily, Buck Naked Politics, The Sideshow, Greatscat!, Emptywheel, New York Times, USA Today, Hullabaloo and Washington Monthly

John Dickerson / Slate:

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF JOHN MCCAIN'S SECRET ANTI-ROMNEY AD. — On Thursday, Mitt Romney put up a television ad knocking John McCain for not supporting tax cuts and offering amnesty to illegal aliens. The ad asks “John McCain, an honorable man. But is he the right Republican for the future?”

Discussion: The Caucus, MyDD, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, BobKrumm.com, Swords Crossed, The Campaign Spot, TPM Election Central, Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, TIME: Swampland, Donklephant, Hot Air, The Politico and The Page

Jill Zuckman / The Swamp:

McCain to Romney: ‘Try to relax, Mitt’ — Manchester, N.H. - The back and forth has been fast and furious since former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney attacked Sen. John McCain in an ad this morning, accusing him of voting against tax cuts and trying to give illegal immigrants Social Security benefits.

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Politico

Howard Kurtz / The Trail:
Romney Rips McCain on Senate Record

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Washington Wire, The Caucus and SCHotline Press Releases

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

John Edwards: Obama 'Living in Never-Never Land'? — Edwards Criticizes Rivals as the Campaign in Iowa Enters the Home Stretch — In a wide-ranging, free-wheeling interview with Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards with ABC News Friday afternoon, the former North Carolina senator labeled …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Associated Press and TPM Election Central

ABCNEWS:
John Edwards: Obama 'Living in Never-Never Land'?

Discussion: TalkLeft

John McCormick / The Swamp:
Edwards offers a 527 letter, too

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Ben Smith's Blogs and The Politico

Matt Bai / New York Times:

Invisible Blogger — The sidewalks of Harlem's main thoroughfares are wide and inviting, and in the 1960s the kids playing “boxball” shared the asphalt squares with some of the greatest orators in creation. The most famous spot for speechifying was the “Speakers' Corner” …

Discussion: American Street and Group News Blog

Michael Yon:

News flash for Osama bin Laden — Here's a news flash for Osama bin Laden, who earlier today released a call " to guerrilla forces in Mesopotamia. “ — I have directly observed how more and more Iraqis have grown to hate al Qaeda as much as Americans do.

Discussion: TigerHawk, Flopping Aces, Sister Toldjah and QandO

Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report:
New bin Laden Video on Islamic State of Iraq (Update: bin Laden MURDERED?)

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, QandO, Wizbang, The Long War Journal, Flopping Aces and Counterterrorism Blog

Lisa Lerer / The Politico:

Bolton denies he is a Huckabee adviser — In recent days, Mike Huckabee has tried to answer long-standing questions about who is on his foreign policy team. On Friday morning, he listed former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton as someone with whom he either has “spoken or will continue to speak.”

Discussion: Hot Air, The Discerning Texan, Flopping Aces, Lone Star Times, Power Line and TownHall Blog

Associated Press:

Activists want Bush, Cheney subject to arrest — MONTPELIER, Vermont (AP) — President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont: In one town, activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes. — A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Buck Naked Politics, The Jawa Report and Rook's Rant

New York Times:

Huckabee Sees Pakistan as Reason for Border Fence — DES MOINES — Mike Huckabee used the volatile situation in Pakistan Friday to make an argument for building a fence on the American border with Mexico and found himself trying to explain a series of remarks about Pakistanis and their nation.

Discussion: CBS News, CNN, Pam's House Blend, Stop The ACLU, MyDD, Left I on the News, The Trail, MSNBC, Political Radar, THE REACTION, Firedoglake, Say Anything, Hot Air, TownHall Blog, Feministe and Riehl World View

P.J. O'Rourke / Weekly Standard:

Dear Diary, I Think I'm in Love — The confessions of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. — Journals — This is a bad, vain, dull, repulsive book. Don't read it. I didn't. — Oops, have I committed the previous sentence to print? I've just broken the most sacred vow of book reviewers.

Discussion: DBKP

Keith Bradsher / New York Times:

China Lets Currency Appreciate a Bit Faster — HONG KONG — China's currency rose steeply against the dollar this week, feeding speculation that Chinese authorities, yielding to international pressure and economic realities at home, were allowing their currency to appreciate more rapidly.

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS