memeorandum: Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections (Saeed Shah/McClatchy Washington Bureau)

9:45 AM ET, January 1, 2008

Top Items:

New Iowa Poll: Obama widens lead over Clinton — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has widened his lead in Iowa over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards heading into Thursday's nominating caucuses, according to The Des Moines Register's final Iowa Poll before the 2008 nominating contests.

CNN:

2 days to go and poll shows Iowa all tied up — DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — With two days to go until the Iowa caucuses, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll out Tuesday shows both the Democratic and Republican presidential nomination races tied at the top. — But with a quarter …

Discussion: Southern Political Report, On Deadline, Pollster.com, TIME and TIME: Swampland

Jonathan Roos / Des Moines Register:

GOP poll: Huckabee maintains lead over Romney — Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister riding a wave of support from fundamentalist Christians, tops Mitt Romney for first place in a new Des Moines Register poll of Iowans planning to attend Thursday's Republican caucuses.

Discussion: The Trail, Mike Huckabee for President, The New Republic, TIME, michellemalkin.com, TPM Election Central and GreenMountainPolitics1

Los Angeles Times:

Democrats angle for second place — On Iowa caucus night, backers of candidates who don't make the cut will be freed up. The front-runners are ready. — DES MOINES — The top three Democratic presidential candidates have begun focusing intensely on becoming the second choice among supporters …

Discussion: The Caucus

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs: DMR poll analysis: Huck hanging on, Fred fading, McCain rising

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Saying He Pulled Negative Ad, Huckabee Shows It

Discussion: The Politico, The Swamp, The New Republic, Opinions You Should Have, Cliff Schecter and Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Saeed Shah / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections — NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Jules Crittenden, Outside The Beltway, PBD, Emptywheel, Cliff Schecter, The Moderate Voice, The Galloping Beaver and New York Times

Claude Salhani / UPI:
Analysis: Military slew Bhutto — sources

Discussion: Power Line

Middle East Times:
OP-ED: Thomas Houlahan

Discussion: Power Line, Political Machine, protein wisdom and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Associated Press:

ABC, Fox News cutting low-polling presidential candidates out of debates — NEW YORK: ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox's case infuriating supporters of Republican Ron Paul.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Washington Wire:
Paul Supporters Target Fox News

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal

CNN:
Protesters block Huckabee

Discussion: MSNBC

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
YEP, IT'S AN OUTRAGE

Discussion: Miss Beth's Victory Dance, The Swamp and Hullabaloo

John Distaso / New Hampshire Union Leader:
FOX, ABC to reduce debate fields

Discussion: Marc Ambinder

Peter Graff / Reuters:

In a safer Baghdad, Iraqis party for 2008 — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - On New Year's Eve Ridaa al-Azzawi squeezed into his pointy snakeskin boots, his tight black sweater and his snazzy corduroy flared jeans, hustled down to a Baghdad hotel ballroom and partied for peace.

Discussion: Fausta's blog, Sweetness & Light and Sister Toldjah

Aseel Kami / Reuters:
For hopeful Iraqis, New Year's parties at last

Discussion: IraqPundit, Democracy Project, Captain's Quarters and The Anchoress

David Brooks / New York Times:

Road to Nowhere — The most impressive thing about Mitt Romney is his clarity of mind. When he set out to pursue his party's nomination, he studied the contours of the Republican coalition and molded himself to its forms. — Earnestly and methodically, he has appealed to each of the major constituency groups.

Discussion: National Review and Crunchy Con

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
THE UNDEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES ARE A TERRIBLE WAY TO CHOOSE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal, Political Machine and protein wisdom

Zogby:
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Daily Tracking Poll: Clinton Leads But Loses …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Nader throws support to Edwards — MUSCATINE, Iowa — Ralph Nader unleashed on Hillary Rodham Clinton Monday - criticizing her for being soft on defense spending and a chum of big business - and expressed his strong support for John Edwards. — In an 11th hour effort to encourage liberal Iowans to …

Discussion: TIME, New York Times, DownWithTyranny!, Connecting.the.Dots and THE LIBERAL JOURNAL

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
What if Iowa Settles Nothing for Democrats?

Discussion: Editorial RSS, The Swamp and The New Republic

Ron Fournier / Associated Press:

ON DEADLINE: Did Huckabee go too far? — DES MOINES, Iowa - Mike Huckabee may have finally gone too far. — After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strange race to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor topped himself Monday …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Firedoglake and Power Line

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:
Huckabee's Remarkable Play

Bloomberg:

Defaults on Insured Mortgages Rise 35% to Record — Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — Defaults on privately insured U.S. mortgages rose 35 percent in November to a record, an industry report today showed, adding to evidence the U.S. housing slump is deepening. — The number of insured borrowers falling …

Spiegel Online:

Muslim Minority Marches Against German Crime Show — The popular German TV series “Tatort” has provoked an uproar within a segment of its Turkish community. Alevi Muslims, who practice a tolerant offshoot of Shiism, say the show has revived a centuries-old incest libel and may inflame immigrant tensions in Germany.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Kim Smith / Arizona Daily Star:

UA law student, beauty queen faces kidnapping and robbery charges — A University of Arizona law school student and beauty queen has been indicted on charges that say she and three others held her former boyfriend captive for 10 hours while torturing and robbing him.

Discussion: Dr. Helen