memeorandum: Mortgage crisis takes a bite out of states and cities (Stephanie Simon/Los Angeles Times)

5:30 PM ET, December 31, 2007

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

Huckabee won't air negative ads — In a surprise move, Mike Huckabee said today that he won't air negative ads against Mitt Romney. — Claiming that he changed his mind this morning, Huckabee told reporters gathered in anticipation of seeing the spots that he would no longer attack Romney off the air …

Discussion: Riehl World View, The Carpetbagger Report, The Page, PoliGazette, TIME and GreenMountainPolitics1

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

Huck's instant classic — Mike Huckabee's move to not run ads hitting back at Mitt Romney is a risky move that could rejuvenate his fading campaign — or ensure his defeat on Thursday. — >> Check out the press conference slideshow — That Huckabee still showed the spot to dozens …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland:

Huckabust — Just when you think the Republican presidential race can't get weirder...Mike Huckabee holds a press conference here to announce that he'd just made a last minute decision not to air a negative TV ad slamming Romney. — And then he airs the ad (Video courtesy of Mark Halperin who was setting in the row behund me).

Discussion: MSNBC

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Huckabee's Remarkable Play — DES MOINES — Talk about political jujitsu! — Mike Huckabee is holding a press conference right now in which he was supposed to unveil a new negative ad against arch rival Mitt Romney. — But Mr. Huckabee came to the press conference and announced …

Discussion: Blogs of War, QandO and Hot Air

Marc Ambinder:

Huckabee Decides Not To Air Those Nasty Ads...And Then Airs A Nasty Ad — The Romney campaign is already calling this a “meltdown." Whatever it is, it's a little bizarre. — So Mike Huckabee schedules a news conference to talk about the negative ads he's decided to run against Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Iowa Independent, Firedoglake, MyDD and The American Mind

Nancy Cordes / CBS News:
Huckabee's Morning Run

Discussion: Mike Huckabee for President

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Huck picks up more priceless pics

Discussion: Hot Air

Glenn Thrush / Newsday:

Hillary says she risked life on White House trips — VINTON, Iowa - Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back. — On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, michellemalkin.com, Sweetness & Light, Patterico's Pontifications, Macsmind, Wizbang and JammieWearingFool

Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:

Chelsea Clinton Guards Her Words — VINTON, Iowa (AP) - It's one thing for Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign to turn down interview requests for the candidate's daughter, Chelsea. But can't a 9-year-old reporter catch a break? — Sydney Rieckhoff, a Cedar Rapids fourth grader and …

Discussion: Don Surber, Macsmind, PunditGuy, Big Head DC and JammieWearingFool

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Hillary, The Geraldo Of National Politics

Elizabeth Drew / The Politico:
First what? — In all the excitement over the prospect …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Stuart Rothenberg / Real Clear Politics:

In Iowa, Will Edwards Divide and Conquer? — While the Democratic race has often, and quite accurately, been described as a choice between change (Barack Obama and John Edwards) and experience (Hillary Rodham Clinton), it has, in the final days before Iowa, become another kind of choice as well.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Betsy's Page, MyDD, The Strata-Sphere, Blue Crab Boulevard, New York Times and Primary Monitor Blog

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

Decoding the Obama Conference Call — Like other people on that Obama conference call today, I noticed campaign manager David Plouffe spending an awful lot of time talking about why a vote for John Edwards is essentially a wasted vote, since (Plouffe claimed) he doesn't really have the resources …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Marc Ambinder and PoliGazette

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Report: Obama Takes “Dig” At Edwards' Trial Lawyer Past

Discussion: The Trail

Peter Galbraith / Guardian:

Pakistan may not make it — The country's future now depends on a power struggle between the army and Bhutto's son — With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's survival depends on the outcome of a struggle between the army and Bhutto's Pakistan People's party, now headed by her 19-year-old son Bilawal.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice and Prairie Weather

New York Times:

Looking at America — There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Wonkette, TBogg, American Power, Brilliant at Breakfast, Rook's Rant, Firedoglake, Hullabaloo and Prairie Weather

Jack Elliott Jr / Associated Press:

Miss. congressman replacing Sen. Lott — JACKSON, Miss, - Gov. Haley Barbour on Monday announced his choice for Trent Lott's replacement in the Senate: Rep. Roger Wicker, a conservative congressman. — Barbour said it was important to select a person with Lott's “conservative values” …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Redstate and Wonkette

Martin Kady II / The Crypt's Blogs:
Barbour taps Rep. Wicker to replace Lott

Discussion: Mississippi Governor …, The Swamp, New York Times and Think Progress

Douglas Feiden / NY Daily News:

Bedbug epidemic attacks New York City — A bedbug epidemic has exploded in every corner of New York City - striking even upper East Side luxury apartments owned by Gov. Spitzer's father, the Daily News has learned. — The blood-sucking nocturnal creatures have infested a Park Ave. penthouse …

Discussion: Gothamist and Wizbang

New York Post:

HOIST BY THEIR OWN PETARD — For the past 20 years, the Media Research Center has been compiling its list of notable quotables. The quotes, from prominent members of the mainstream news media, provide a clear window into the leftist mindset that pervades most of America's large news organizations.

Discussion: Wake up America and Blue Crab Boulevard

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Great Divide — Yesterday The Times published a highly informative chart laying out the positions of the presidential candidates on major issues. It was, I'd argue, a useful reality check for those who believe that the next president can somehow usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, BitsBlog, Washington Post, My Left Wing, Donklephant, The Carpetbagger Report, Interesting Times, The Mahablog, Norwegianity, Prairie Weather, TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars and Liberal Values

Stephanie Simon / Los Angeles Times:

Mortgage crisis takes a bite out of states and cities — Tax revenue is down considerably across the nation, creating budget shortfalls and forcing hard choices on what to cut. — DENVER — Dozens of states, counties and cities across the nation will enter the new year facing deep …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Suburban Guerrilla

William Safire / New York Times:

The Office Pool, 2008 — THIS is the 34th annual office pool in this space, a New Year's tradition that has become the most excruciating multiple-choice prediction test in world media. Nostradamus himself couldn't score over 50 percent. Last year, despite a good bet on surging optimism in Iraq, I was mistaken 12 times out of 15.

Discussion: The Glittering Eye, Daimnation! and The Campaign Spot