memeorandum: Huckabee Steps Back Into the Pulpit at Evangelical Church in N.H. (Perry Bacon Jr/Washington Post)

5:30 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, The Carpetbagger Report, Liberty Pundit, Riehl World View, Right Wing Nut House, Blogs of War and Blue Crab Boulevard

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: Captain's Quarters, Power Line, michellemalkin.com, TalkLeft, Bookworm Room, The Sundries Shack, Salon, QandO, Outside The Beltway, On Deadline and Boston Globe

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: The Politico, The Belmont Club, Weekly Standard, The Trail, The Democratic Daily, HazZzMat, Talking Points Memo, Outside The Beltway, Liberal Values, Riehl World View, The Moderate Voice and Washington Post

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: Too Sense, Feministing and Macsmind

Emily Friedman / ABCNEWS:

Can Clinton's Emotions Get the Best of Her? — N.Y. Senator's Recent Displays of Emotion Have Political Analysts Buzzing — How voters interpret Sen. Hillary Clinton's composure — emotional, cold or just plain tough — could be a deciding factor in her campaign for the presidency, political analysts told ABCNEWS.com.

Discussion: Cogitamus and Making Light

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: NewsBusters.org, The Page and TIME: Swampland

WSJ.com:

Emotional Moment for Clinton in N.H. — Amy Chozick reports on the presidential campaign from Portsmouth, N.H. — Speaking to an intimate group of undecided voters this morning at a cafe in Portsmouth, N.H., Sen. Hillary Clinton showed a rare emotional side.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, New York Magazine, The Caucus, Hot Air, Open Left, Talking Points Memo, Attytood, Tammy Bruce, Taylor Marsh, L.A. Times and Althouse

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

Discussion: Oliver Willis

The Anchoress:
Will 2008 finish what 1968 began?

Discussion: Associated Press

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
Clinton choked up at NH roundtable

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Media Blog

The Politico:

Romney dials down expectations hard — Mitt Romney, a dominant favorite in New Hampshire just weeks ago, said Sunday that a “close second” to Arizona Sen. John McCain would be a significant feat on Tuesday. — The almost frantic downsizing of expectations for the former Massachusetts governor came …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Hill, Hot Air, TIME: Swampland, Brainster's Blog, UNCoRRELATED, TBogg, TIME and GreenMountainPolitics1

Faiz / Think Progress:
Scarborough: The press ‘would love to marry’ McCain.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway and Shakespeare's Sister

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, 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:

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, Sadly, No!, JustOneMinute, Matthew Yglesias, Commentary, democracyarsenal.org, Captain's Quarters and toohotfortnr

Think Progress:
O'Hanlon Mourns That Obama Was Right On Iraq

Discussion: Center for American …

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Whoopsie! Kristol's First New York Times Column Attributes Quote To Wrong Author — So those critics who argued against the appointment of Bill Kristol as a New York Times columnist because of the quality of his work — rather than merely because of ideology — will now have yet more proof that they were on to something.

Discussion: Campaign for America's Future and The Plank

William Kristol / New York Times:
President Mike Huckabee?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Ross Douthat, Real Clear Politics, Matt Zeitlin, Hot Air, Power Line, Swords Crossed, James Fallows, New York Magazine, Publius Pundit, Wonkette, Shakespeare's Sister, Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, Sadly, No!, The Newshoggers and Horses Mouth

Michelle Malkin:
Quoted in the NYTimes, but... Bill Kristol's new column …

Discussion: Think Progress, Sadly, No! and The Opinionator

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, Ground Game, Hot Air and Say Anything

CNN:
Struggling GOP candidate to stay in the race

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, D-Day, The Campaign Spot and Wake up America

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: Crooks and Liars and The Supreme Irony of Life

Melissa Bailey / New Haven Independent:
“You are ignoring America's savior!”

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and Cameron's Corner

New York Times:

U.S. Describes Confrontation With Iranian Boats — WASHINGTON — In a brief confrontation in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, five armed Iranian fast boats took aggressive actions on Sunday around three United States Navy warships in international waters, according to a Pentagon spokesman …

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

Andrew Gray / Reuters:
Iranians threatened U.S. ships in Hormuz: Pentagon

Discussion: juancole.com, Captain's Quarters, The Lede, The Newshoggers, FP Passport, Jules Crittenden, Corrente, Booman Tribune, CALIFORNIA YANKEE, The Glittering Eye, Unqualified Offerings, Washington Times and Cold Fury

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:

Huckabee Steps Back Into the Pulpit at Evangelical Church in N.H. — A pastor from Texas was scheduled to deliver the sermon Sunday at a church here called the Crossing. — But instead this small evangelical congregation heard from a different special guest: Baptist minister …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Donklephant, PoliBlog (TM) and The Strata-Sphere

Mark R. Levin / Human Events:

Man of the Year: Rush Limbaugh — Rush Limbaugh's detractors never learn. They've tried everything to come between Rush and his more than 20 million listeners, intending to destroy his appeal and impact. But it's a hopeless, almost laughable endeavor. They led boycotts against his advertisers …

Discussion: The Corner, Think Progress and Redstate