memeorandum: Doolittle may drop reelection bid (John Bresnahan/The Crypt's Blogs)

6:45 PM ET, January 7, 2008

Top Items:

TALK OF HILLARY EXIT ENGULFS CAMPAIGNS — Facing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?!

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Clinton fights back tears: 'It's not easy' — Exhausted and facing the prospect of losing the second test of her primary campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton fought back tears as her voice broke at the close of a sedate event in a Portsmouth coffee shop. — She expressed the sheer difficulty …

Discussion: The New Republic, TPM Election Central, Taylor Marsh, Riehl World View, The Carpetbagger Report, Talking Points Memo, Liberty Pundit, Blogs of War, Blue Crab Boulevard and Donklephant

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:

Clinton Gets Emotional on Campaign Trail — ABC News' Kate Snow Reports: Campaigning in New Hampshire one day before the first-in-the-nation primary, Senator Hillary Clinton got emotional and had tears in her eyes as she spoke with voters about how hard it is to balance a busy campaign life and her passion for the country's future.

Discussion: WSJ.com, Power Line, MSNBC, Captain's Quarters, TalkLeft, michellemalkin.com, NewsBusters.org, Bookworm Room, Open Left, Oliver Willis, Tammy Bruce, The Sundries Shack, Salon, QandO, Outside The Beltway, L.A. Times, On Deadline and Boston Globe

Michael Elmore / Political Radar:

Rivals Reacts to Teary Clinton — ABC News' David Muir, Raelyn Johnson and Sunlen Miller Report: Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., on the tail end of his 36-hour campaigning marathon in New Hampshire on day before the primary vote, reacted to rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's emotional moment Monday.

Discussion: Althouse, Taylor Marsh, Spin Cycle, Macsmind and Feministing

Robert Shrum / NY Daily News:

Sen. Clinton's massive mistake - and the final chance to fix it — Be Our Guest — If (although I strongly suspect the right word is “when") Hillary Clinton loses tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, there will be a few proto-obituaries for her campaign and many more stories about how it will be “shaken up” or “relaunched.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, New York Magazine, The Politico, The Belmont Club, The Democratic Daily, The Trail, HazZzMat, Talking Points Memo, Outside The Beltway, Liberal Values, Weekly Standard, Riehl World View, The Moderate Voice, Blue Crab Boulevard and Washington Post

CNN:

Clinton gets emotional at New Hampshire stop — PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (CNN) — Hillary Clinton became visibly emotional at a New Hampshire campaign event today after a friendly question from a voter. — At the close of a Portsmouth campaign stop, Marianne Pernold-Young, 64, asked Clinton: “How do you do it?

Discussion: UNCoRRELATED, NewsBusters.org, TIME: Swampland and The Page

Emily Friedman / ABCNEWS:
Can Clinton's Emotions Get the Best of Her?

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Cogitamus and Making Light

The Anchoress:
Will 2008 finish what 1968 began?

Discussion: Power Line and Associated Press

Mike Allen / The Politico:
HRC retrenches in face of Obama surge

Discussion: Spin Cycle

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
EMOTION ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder and Attytood

USA Today:

Gallup: Clinton-Obama tied nationally; Huckabee leads GOP — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama each drew 33% of the support from Democrats surveyed in its latest national poll, Gallup just announced. — In mid-December, well before Obama won last Thursday's Democratic caucuses in Iowa …

Discussion: Liberal Values, MyDD, Pollster.com and TPM Election Central

CNN:

Romney: I can ‘post up against Barack Obama’ — STRATHAM, New Hampshire (CNN) — Mitt Romney has been shifting his message to focus on change following Barack Obama as the likely Democratic nominee. — Romney said Republicans need a nominee who can compete with Obama.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Huckabee, Obama Gain at National Level

Discussion: TIME

Zogby:
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby New Hampshire Tracking Poll: Big “Mo-bama” …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central and Donklephant

Atrios / Eschaton:

Conservative Victims — From Red State. This is pretty hilarious even for them. … There's more, but you get the idea. It's the fault of liberals that they can't run their website because... hell I don't know.

Discussion: Redstate, Corrente, The Supreme Irony of Life and Angry Bear

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

RedState Tells Readers Scoop Developers Are All Liberals, So Fork Over $25 Grand — I realize that there's one born every minute, but in a letter to RedState readers, Erick Erickson says that their readers need to raise $25,000 in order to keep them from being overrun by a liberal plot:

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal

Michael O'Hanlon / Wall Street Journal:

Obama and Iraq — One of Sen. Barack Obama's many strengths is his ability to inspire beyond party lines. Because he lacks the baggage of the past, and because his melodic message of hope speaks to many, he garnered much more support from independents in Iowa than either Hillary Clinton or John Edwards.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Matthew Yglesias, Commentary, democracyarsenal.org, JustOneMinute, Captain's Quarters and toohotfortnr

Think Progress:

O'Hanlon Mourns That Obama Was Right On Iraq — Brookings fellow Michael O'Hanlon continues his abysmal record of staking out the wrong positions on Iraq in an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal, criticizing presidential candidate and Illinois Senator Barack Obama's position on the war.

Discussion: Center for American …, Matthew Yglesias and Cogitamus

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Ron Paul Supporters Confront Frank Luntz — It's always great when Fox News calls for civility. After excluding Ron Paul (who is, per some polls, in a statistical tie for third in the GOP New Hampshire primary) from the debate last night, Fox's official pollster Frank Luntz's feathers …

Discussion: New Haven Independent, Crooks and Liars and The Supreme Irony of Life

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Sean Hannity Flees from Ron Paul Supporters

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister and You Decide 08!

The Corner:
How Shameful — Ron Paul supporters harrassed Sean Hannity in Manchester last night.

Discussion: The Radio Equalizer and News Hounds

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Blog: Doolittle Won't Seek Reelection — Say it ain't so, John! — The California Majority Report reports that Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), one of the long-time subjects of the Jack Abramoff investigation, “will announce that he will not seek re-election.”

Discussion: Wonkette

John Bresnahan / The Crypt's Blogs:
Doolittle may drop reelection bid

Discussion: Daily Kos

Steven Maviglio / The California Majority Report:
CMR EXCLUSIVE: This Time It's For Real: Doolittle to Drop Out …

Discussion: Hotline On Call

Michelle Malkin:

Duncan Hunter to make an announcement; Update: He's staying in, blasts media “knuckleheads” — Update 2:38pm Eastern. Rep. Hunter is staying in the race. He blasted “knucklehead, arrogant” TV execs at ABC and Fox for excluding him from the presidential debates this weekend.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, TVNewser, Los Angeles Times, The Belmont Club, Ground Game, Hot Air, Say Anything, Outside The Beltway and BLACKFIVE

CNN:
Struggling GOP candidate to stay in the race

Discussion: TIME, D-Day, The Campaign Spot and Wake up America

Ali Akbar Dareini / Associated Press:

Iran plays down Gulf incident with US — TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that a confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf over the weekend was “something normal” and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels.

Discussion: Reuters, juancole.com, The Lede, American Footprints, Jules Crittenden and The Newshoggers

New York Times:
U.S. Describes Confrontation With Iranian Boats

Discussion: CNN, MSNBC, Hot Air, FP Passport, The Blotter, The Belmont Club and Prairie Weather

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Clinton and Obama, Johnson and King — Clinton rejoined the running argument over hope and “false hope” in an interview in Dover this afternoon, reminding Fox's Major Garrett that while Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on behalf of civil rights, President Lyndon Johnson was the one who got the legislation passed.

Discussion: FOX Embeds, Jack and Jill Politics, AMERICAblog, Oliver Willis and Slog