memeorandum: Romney Goes Dark In FL, South Carolina (Marc Ambinder)

7:15 PM ET, January 9, 2008

Top Items:

Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House? — DERRY, N.H. — When I walked into the office Monday, people were clustering around a computer to watch what they thought they would never see: Hillary Clinton with the unmistakable look of tears in her eyes. — A woman gazing at the screen was grimacing, saying it was bad.

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Obama Campaign Co-Chair Questions Hillary's Tears — The Tears are now officially an issue in Campaign 2008. — Obama's national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson, Jr., just went on MSNBC and appeared to question Hillary's tears, which he called “tears that melted the Granite State,” adding that those tears “moved voters.”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh, michellemalkin.com, AMERICAblog, The Democratic Daily, Angry Bear, Salon, Citizen Crain, Shakespeare's Sister, About.com US Politics and Too Sense

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

MoDo On Clinton — She gets the core narcissism at the heart of the Clinton machine: … My fear is that if you merely wound her candidacy, you are in danger. The Clinton machine is now poised to pull every partisan lever and deploy every cheap tactic: the gender card, the elderly card …

Discussion: bustardblog and protein wisdom

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

Media Analysis: The “Tweety Effect” Runs Rampant — As if an entire week's worth of Pundits Gone Wild idiocy weren't enough, this morning's Cuppa Joe on MSNBC sent me right over the edge. My own transcript here: … What is wrong with Chris Matthews? With all of these media people?

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Daily Howler, Think Progress, Hullabaloo, BartBlog, Media Matters for America, Tom Watson, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Daily Kos

ABCNEWS:

Woman Who Made Clinton Cry Voted for Obama — The New Hampshire Woman Who Sparked Clinton's Emotional Moment Voted for Obama — The woman whose empathetic question — “how do you do it?" — sparked uncharacteristic emotion Monday from Sen. Hillary Clinton ended up voting for Sen. Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary.

Discussion: The Swamp and Liberal Values

Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:
How Hillary Did It — Theories on a turnabout ... and what happens next.

Discussion: Comment Central, Los Angeles Times, Digital Rules, NewsBusters.org and The Texas Blue

Gary Langer / The Numbers:
New Hampshire's Polling Fiasco

Discussion: Gallup Guru, The Huffington Post, Pollster.com, Marc Ambinder, The Rothenberg Political …, Salon, American Power, Liberal Values, ABCNEWS, Citizen Crain, Commentary, Argghhh! and Truthdig

Paul Begala / The Huffington Post:

Fox News: We Report — Even if We Know It's False — I've been dealing with the media and politics for 25 years, but I've never had a more surrealistic day than January 8. Several times that day Fox News reported that I was joining Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Badtux the Snarky Penguin, The Carpetbagger Report, The 10,000 Things, AMERICAblog, TVNewser, Gawker, Daily Kos and Brave New Films blog

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Romney drops TV ads in key states — Mitt Romney hasn't extended his television presence into next week in South Carolina and Florida, an aide confirms. — Romney has been on TV for months in both, owning the airwaves long before his GOP rivals purchased their first spots.

Discussion: The Campaign Spot, The Moderate Voice, TIME, Hot Air, DownWithTyranny!, MSNBC, The Strata-Sphere, BobKrumm.com and CBS News

John Ellis / Real Clear Politics:
After NH, Race May Break Huckabee's Way

Discussion: The Opinionator, Marc Ambinder, Crunchy Con, The Daily Dish, Hot Air, Riehl World View and TownHall Blog

Marc Ambinder:
Romney Goes Dark In FL, South Carolina

Discussion: BizzyBlog

Anthony Boadle / Reuters:

CIA whistle-blower Philip Agee dies in Cuba — HAVANA (Reuters) - Philip Agee, a former CIA spy who exposed its undercover operations in Latin America in a 1975 book, died in Havana, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma said on Wednesday. — Agee, 72, died on Monday night …

Discussion: Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Will Weissert / Associated Press:

Ex-CIA agent Philip Agee dead in Cuba — HAVANA - Renegade former CIA agent Philip Agee, whose naming of agency operatives helped prompt a U.S. law against exposing government spies, has died in Cuba, his wife said Wednesday. He was 72. — Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Lede, Tim Worstall Tabloid Edition, MoJoBlog and Redstate

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
No One Will Miss You — Philip Agee has died in Cuba during surgery …

Discussion: Daily Pundit, BLACKFIVE and Babalu Blog

Hooman Majd / The Huffington Post:

It's a Fake — The Pentagon's version of the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday morning, involving U.S. Navy warships and Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats is, at the very least highly suspicious. On Tuesday, the Navy released video footage and an audiotape to back its claims …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, presstv.ir, Hot Air, American Street, Associated Press, Buck Naked Politics and The Newshoggers

Nazila Fathi / New York Times:
Iran Accuses U.S. of Faking Persian Gulf Video

Discussion: Emptywheel

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Voter ID Law — Indiana Law Requires Voters to Show Identification at Polls — A lawyer representing Democrats seeking to overturn Indiana's voter identification law faced tough questioning from Supreme Court justices this morning, with Chief Justice John …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Wake up America

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Commentary: The partisan elephant unnoticed in the room

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, New York Times, The Opinionator, D-Day, The Volokh Conspiracy and Election Law

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

One Day After Saying He'll “Never Underestimate Hillary Clinton Again,” Chris Matthews Says She's Only A Presidential Candidate Because Bill “Messed Around" — January 9, 2008 — 9:36 AM EST // link // — Normally Chris Matthews isn't worth the bother, because he serves up so much non-stop clowning …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Democratic Daily, Spin Cycle, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, Pam's House Blend, Shakespeare's Sister, The XX Factor and Cliff Schecter

Associated Press:

Study: 151,000 Iraqis died in 3 years after U.S. invasion — About 151,000 Iraqis died from violence in the three years after the United States invaded, concludes the best effort yet to count deaths — one that still may not settle the fierce debate over the war's true toll on civilians and others.

Jackie Kucinich / The Hill:

GOP officials urging embattled Calif. Rep. Doolittle not to seek reele — As speculation mounts about his future, Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) is being urged by friends and colleagues not to seek reelection. — Republican operatives fear that if Doolittle does not retire at the end …

Discussion: Think Progress and DownWithTyranny!