Top Items:
New York Times:
Clintons Move to Tamp Down Criticism From Blacks About Recent Comments — WASHINGTON — The Clinton campaign moved Friday to try to quell a potentially damaging reaction to recent comments by Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton that have drawn criticism from African-Americans …
Discussion:
The Politico, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Swamp, TalkLeft, TIME: Swampland, Political Machine, Booman Tribune, American Street, Jules Crittenden, Outside The Beltway, News Hounds, Connecting.the.Dots, Macsmind, TPM Election Central, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Bookworm Room, Althouse, Irish Trojan in Tennessee and Marc Ambinder
RELATED:
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Obama Giving Clinton a Race in Her Backyard — With Senator Barack Obama vowing to challenge Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on her home turf, the Democratic presidential primary in New York on Feb. 5 is shaping up as the state's most competitive since 1992, when Bill Clinton took up a rival's mantra …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Captain's Quarters, New York Daily News Blogs, Stumper and Prairie Weather
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Edwards Will Face a Moment of Truth After South Carolina Primary — John Edwards is the forgotten man in the race for the Democratic nomination, but he's not an inconsequential candidate. — Edwards, the angry populist of Iowa who may become a Southern-fried Democrat as the South Carolina primary unfolds …
Discussion:
The Politico, The Caucus, The Sideshow, Blue Crab Boulevard, Prairie Weather and The Huffington Post
Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
MINORITY REPORTS — After New Hampshire, a hint of racial politics. … The brief interregnum between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary may be remembered as a time when it appeared that the magical qualities ascribed to Barack Obama included an ability to suspend all the ordinary rules of politics.
CNN:
SC's Republican governor praises Obama candidacy — (CNN) - The Republican governor of South Carolina wrote an op-ed in the state's largest paper Friday in which he spoke admiringly of Democratic candidate Barack Obama's candidacy, and urged voters to think about the significance …
Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Iraq to reinstate Saddam party followers — BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament voted Saturday to allow some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs and said others could receive pensions but could not return to work. President Bush said the legislation was “an important step toward reconciliation.”
RELATED:
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
De-Baathification Reform Law Passes In Iraqi Parliament — Note: I'm leaving this post on top for the morning; newer posts are below. — Those who claim that the surge strategy in Iraq has paid no dividends because it hasn't met Congressional benchmarks may wish to skip to the next post.
Navy Times:
‘Filipino Monkey’ may be behind radio threats, ship drivers say — The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”
RELATED:
Rudyg / Stumper:
Blumenthal On the Boil — Sidney Blumenthal plays hardball. A longtime confidante and adviser to the Clintons, he has zealously defended them through any number of scandal investigations. Along the way, Blumenthal has shown an affinity for the sharp counterattack.
Paul Vitello / New York Times:
A Combative Thompson Sways Voters — MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — John and Ann Berenberk dutifully watched the umpteenth Republican presidential debate on television on Thursday night and had an epiphany. It was about the candidate they had previously referred to as the tall, silent one. Fred D. Thompson.
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Joe Won't Be The Veep Pick For McCain — Unlike in the 2004 campaign, when a still-angry McCain allowed rumors of a second-slot deal with John Kerry to percolate just a little before denying them, the McCain campaign wants to scotch rumors of a similar deal with Senator Joe Lieberman.
Steve Friess / New York Times:
Teachers Sue to Block Hotel Workers' Union Vote in Nevada Caucus — LAS VEGAS — Nevada's state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state's huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.
Vanderleun / AMERICAN DIGEST:
Cutting Through the Katrina Krapola — “You've got a mouth full of gimme, a hand full of much obliged." — Bessie Smith, Gulf Coast Blues — I don't know about you but I have had it with the legions of hustlers, grifters, drunks, junkies, pathics and drooling layabouts that keep waddling …
Meghan Daum / Los Angeles Times:
Hillary's gotta have it — In courting the voters, maybe she should play by 'The Rules.' — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may have clawed her way out of an abyss in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, but the shadows over her campaign are a reminder that the path she's forging is still in the deep woods.
Discussion:
Unqualified Offerings
New York Times:
Bush and Congress Seen Pushing for Stimulus Plan — WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and Congressional leaders, increasingly concerned about a possible recession, are moving closer to agreeing that an economic stimulus package is needed soon, Washington officials said Friday.