memeorandum: Report: Mississippi Rep. Roger Wicker Is Pick to Serve Out Retiring … (Associated Press)

3:10 PM ET, December 31, 2007

Top Items:

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, Captain's Quarters, michellemalkin.com, Patterico's Pontifications, Sweetness & Light and Macsmind

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

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Rep. Wicker Is Barbour's Choice

Discussion: Tupelo Daily Journal, Clarion-Ledger, Swing State Project and MyDD

Associated Press: Report: Mississippi Rep. Roger Wicker Is Pick to Serve Out Retiring …

Martin Kady II / The Politico:
Wicker named to replace Lott

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

Tariq Ali / The Independent:

My heart bleeds for Pakistan. It deserves better than this grotesque feudal charade — Six hours before she was executed, Mary, Queen of Scots wrote to her brother-in-law, Henry III of France: “...As for my son, I commend him to you in so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him.”

Discussion: D-Day, Matthew Yglesias, Gateway Pundit, AMERICAblog, Crooked Timber and Telegraph

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: The Moderate Voice and Prairie Weather

Jane Perlez / New York Times:
New Questions in Bhutto's Killing

This Is London:
BENAZIR BHUTTO'S SON TO HAVE 24-HOUR ARMED GUARD WHILE STUDYING AT OXFORD

Discussion: The Daily Dish

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: Booman Tribune, Open Left, The Strata-Sphere, Betsy's Page, Blue Crab Boulevard, New York Times and Primary Monitor Blog

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland:

Today in Iowa — Coupla thoughts, off the top—I've seen Huckabee and Romney; Obama, Clinton and Edwards in the past 48 hours and it just startling how different the quality is between the Democratic and Republican campaigns this year. The Republicans are total amateur hour, tiny crowds, half-crazed bickering among the candidates.

Discussion: Eschaton, Rising Hegemon and The Trail

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Clinton leads in Iowa but Edwards gains

Discussion: Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh and MyDD

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: Macsmind, PunditGuy, Big Head DC and JammieWearingFool

CNN: Prominent Clinton backer criticizes Iowa's role

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

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

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, American Power, TBogg, Brilliant at Breakfast, Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Rook's Rant and Prairie Weather

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

Nancy Cordes / CBS News:

Huckabee's Morning Run — From CBS News Correspondent Nancy Cordes, who's covering the Huckabee campaign: — DES MOINES, IOWA — Mike Huckabee has won the photo op battle of the day, and it's only 8am. He went for a jog around Gray's Lake in Des Moines flanked by some local doctors …

Discussion: Mike Huckabee for President

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

Discussion: Hot Air

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

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

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

Discussion: The Page and GreenMountainPolitics1

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Pro-Huck group sends out calls hitting Mitt on abortion

Discussion: The Swamp

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Michael Bloomberg: Trans-partisan savior — (updated below) — Following along in David Broder's excited footsteps, Sam Roberts in The New York Times reports that Michael Bloomberg “is growing increasingly enchanted with the idea of an independent presidential bid, and his aides …

Discussion: Power Line, The Huffington Post, Reason Magazine, Matthew Yglesias, CBS News, TalkLeft, Hullabaloo, Democratic Strategist, Ankle Biting Pundits, Outside The Beltway, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Middle Earth Journal and Bob Cesca's Goddamn …

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:
Memo To Bloomberg And Company: The Way To Reduce “Partisan Gridlock” …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Brendan Nyhan and Washington Monthly

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: The Corner

John Fund / Opinion Journal:

What's the Matter With Iowa? — The caucuses are anything but a Norman Rockwell exercise in small-town democracy. — The trouble with the Iowa caucuses isn't that there's anything wrong with Iowans. It's the bizarre rules of the process. Caucuses are touted as authentic neighborhood meetings …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Captain's Quarters, Betsy's Page and Blue Crab Boulevard

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

Iowans pick up on Clinton's silence — Iowa Falls, Ia. - Iowans have noticied that Democrat Hillary Clinton is not taking public questions from audiences during her final-push campaign rallies. — After her 40-minute monologue ended shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, Clinton immediately began …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Blue Crab Boulevard and BitsBlog