memeorandum: Iranian ships ‘harass’ U.S. Navy, officials say (Barbara Starr/CNN)

1:15 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?!

Discussion: Power Line, Captain's Quarters, Outside The Beltway, PoliGazette, Macsmind, Wonkette, Atlas Shrugs, PunditGuy, Wake up America, Blogs of War, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Blue Crab Boulevard, Pajamas Media, Political Machine, Gateway Pundit and JammieWearingFool

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: Talking Points Memo, The Trail, HazZzMat, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Riehl World View, Outside The Beltway and Blue Crab Boulevard

Zogby:

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby New Hampshire Tracking Poll: Big “Mo-bama” Grabs Dems in Granite State; McCain Regains Lead Over Romney in GOP Battle — UTICA, New York - Democrat Barack Obama's dramatic post-Iowa momentum has come to full bloom in the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby New Hampshire daily tracking poll …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central and Pollster.com

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

In New Hampshire, Bill Clinton Finds Less Spark — DURHAM, N.H. — Is this what it would have been like had Elvis been reduced to playing Reno? — Former President Bill Clinton has been drawing sleepy and sometimes smallish crowds at big venues in the state that revived his presidential campaign in 1992.

Discussion: The Swamp, Washington Times, Times of London, The Moderate Voice, Captain's Quarters, Los Angeles Times, The Corner, Political Machine, TIME, Betsy's Page, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard, Sweetness & Light, Booman Tribune, DownWithTyranny! and Jules Crittenden

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Can you win on dull? — NASHUA, N.H. — Two candidates, one room, two days and two worlds apart. — That was Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at the Nashua High School North gymnasium Saturday and Sunday. — And the difference between the two candidates was never more apparent.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, JustOneMinute, Publius Endures, CBS News and Captain's Quarters

Dan / Riehl World View:

A Drudge Intrigue: Is Hillary Dropping Out? — Just as I finished writing about how Hillary is not done, Drudge shines the flashing light with some interesting verbiage. Note that it uses the plural “campaigns." It also cites Carville. One cannot be re-born until you die.

Discussion: Wonkette and New York Times

The Politico:
Romney dials down expectations hard

Discussion: The Hill, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, Brainster's Blog, Daily Pundit and Connecting.the.Dots

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Obama rockets past Clinton in New Hampshire

Discussion: The Caucus, The Reaction, American Street and Gateway Pundit

Walter Shapiro / Salon:
Heartbreak ahead for Hillary Clinton?

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and MSNBC

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland:
McCain's Lost Weekend

Discussion: Ross Douthat, UNCoRRELATED, Macsmind, The New Republic and PoliGazette

Allahpundit / Hot Air: Drudge: Hillary thinking of getting out before Super Tuesday?

Detroit News:
Uncommitted vote a threat to Clinton

Discussion: The Corner

Geoff Earle / New York Post:
HILL TRAILING AND FLAILING

Discussion: Don Surber

Andrew Gray / Reuters:

Iranians threatened U.S. ships in Hormuz: Pentagon — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five Iranian boats made aggressive maneuvers and showed hostile intent towards three U.S. Navy ships at the weekend in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route in the Gulf, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Newshoggers, FP Passport, michellemalkin.com, Booman Tribune, CALIFORNIA YANKEE, The Glittering Eye, Unqualified Offerings, Corrente and Washington Times

Jim Miklaszewski / MSNBC:

U.S. says Iran gunboats harassed warships — Officials describe incident as a 'significant provocative act' — WASHINGTON - Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats harassed three U.S. Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz Sunday, in what the U.S. military officials described as a “significant provocative act.”

Discussion: The Lede, Jules Crittenden, The Agonist, On Deadline and LewRockwell.com Blog

Pauline Jelinek / Associated Press:
Pentagon says ships harassed by Iran

Discussion: Cold Fury, Daily Pundit and Gateway Pundit

Barbara Starr / CNN:
Iranian ships ‘harass’ U.S. Navy, officials say

Discussion: Hot Air, The Raw Story, ThreatsWatch, Danger Room, Jihad Watch and Blogs of War

William Kristol / New York Times:

President Mike Huckabee? — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Thank you, Senator Obama. You've defeated Senator Clinton in Iowa. It looks as if you're about to beat her in New Hampshire. There will be no Clinton Restoration. A nation turns its grateful eyes to you.

Matthew Yglesias:

The Electable Huckabee — The trouble with having Bill Kristol as a New York Times columnist is not just that he's prone to saying substantive things about the issues that I disagree with. He's also the kind of guy who when he goes out on a weird limb and says Mike Huckabee would have a good chance …

Discussion: The Opinionator

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:

The Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States: The 2007 Edition — Honorable Mentions: ACLU, Barbra Streisand, Bill Clinton, Bill Moyers, Bill Richardson, Brian DePalma, CAIR, Chuck Schumer, Code Pink, Columbia University, David Gregory, Dennis Kucinich, Ellen DeGeneres, George Soros …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and UrbanGrounds

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

The Corner:

Mitt and Taxes — Another thing. When Huckabee said to Romney, “You opposed those Bush tax cuts in 2002,” and “Did you support or oppose the 2002 Bush tax cuts?" Romney said, “I never opposed the Bush 2002 tax cuts. I supported them. The first comment I made about the Bush tax cuts was that I supported the Bush tax cuts.

Discussion: Say Anything

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
From Hype to Fear — The unemployment report on Friday was brutally bad.

Discussion: Democratic Strategist, Prairie Weather and American Street

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 and Cameron's Corner

BBC:

Britons ‘richer than Americans’ — The average UK person will this year have a greater income than their US counterpart for the first time since the 19th Century, figures suggest. — Analyst Oxford Economics said the UK's GDP per head of population will reach £23,500 - £250 higher than in the US.

Discussion: PoliGazette and The Glittering Eye