memeorandum: Blast at Kabul Hotel (New York Times)

8:30 PM ET, January 14, 2008

Top Items:

Obama Damps Down Racial Controversy — ABC News' David Wright, Andy Fies, and Sunlen Miller Report: Sen. Barack Obama told ABC News Monday there is nothing in Sen. Hillary Clinton's record that would give him any cause for concern about her in terms of racial politics.

Discussion: The Caucus, Matthew Yglesias, ScrappleFace, protein wisdom, Ben Smith's Blogs, TalkLeft, Tom Watson, Hullabaloo and Booman Tribune

Matt Bai / The Caucus:

The Clintons and History — WASHINGTON — There's an old joke people here in the capital like to tell about Charles E. Schumer, the New York senator, and over the years I'm sure it's been used to describe other politicians, as well: The most dangerous place to stand in Washington …

Discussion: Firedoglake, MSNBC, Right Wing Nut House, God's Politics, Blue Crab Boulevard, Pandagon, Jack and Jill Politics and Captain's Quarters

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama, putting out the fire — Carrie Budoff Brown has some key quotes from an Obama avail this afternoon in Reno, where he tried to put to rest the racially-charged name-calling. … His surrogates and a spokeswoman have, it's worth noting, participated in the recent round of criticism of the Clintons …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder and The Page

CNN:

Bill Clinton compiles ‘list’ of Obama attacks — (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign came out swinging Monday against the latest complaints from her rival, with former President Clinton announcing he has “a list of 80 attacks on Hillary” by Senator Barack Obama's campaign.

Discussion: Horses Mouth and State of the Day

Frank James / The Swamp:

Clinton camp fires up blacks but not how they hoped — The fallout from comments about Sen. Barack Obama made by billionaire Robert Johnson of Black Entertainment Television fame on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton continues today. — Former President Bill Clinton put distance between himself …

Discussion: Washington Post and The Hill

Josh Gerstein / Latest Politics:

President Clinton Does More Damage Control on Black Radio — In an interview Monday, President Clinton mounted a less-than-vigorous defense of comments a prominent supporter of Senator Clinton's presidential bid, Robert Johnson, made which many interpreted as a reference to Senator Obama's admission …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, BitsBlog, Associated Press and Hotline On Call

Earl Ofari Hutchinson / The Huffington Post:

Obama Needs a History Lesson about Hillary and King — The Obama camp did it again. They manufactured yet another issue out of a non-issue when they pounded Hillary Clinton for supposedly defiling Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by minimizing his role in the civil rights struggle.

Discussion: PoliGazette

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama camp slams Clintons over drugs talk

Discussion: Spin Cycle

CNN:
Clinton complains about attacks from Obama

Discussion: NY Daily News, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Daily Dish

David Corn / MoJoBlog:
Clinton Smears Obama on Iraq — Again

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Daily Dish, Spin Cycle, MyDD, Comments from Left Field, David Corn, TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report and The Democratic Daily

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama Camp's Memo on Clintons' Politicizing Race

Anjeanette Damon / Inside Nevada Politics:

New Poll: Democratic race in Nevada a dead heat — A new poll by the Reno Gazette-Journal shows a neck-and-neck three-way race among Democrats for Saturday's caucus. On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. John McCain has taken his first lead in Nevada of the election season, and Mitt Romney …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Pollster.com, Daily Kos, The Agonist, The Fix, The Huffington Post, Open Left, MSNBC, The Caucus, Boston Globe and MyDD

USA Today:

USAT/Gallup Poll: McCain jumps to lead; Clinton regains advantage — Both winners in last week's New Hampshire primary now lead in the USA TODAY/Gallup national poll of the Republican and Democratic presidential nomination races. — Sen. John McCain has jumped ahead of the other Republican contenders.

Discussion: Quinnipiac University News …, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, Right Wing Nut House, Stop The ACLU, Los Angeles Times, Pollster.com, TPM Election Central and Classical Values

David Mark / The Politico:

Clinton holds solid lead in California — The poll of 384 likely Democratic primary voters, conducted by telephone Jan. 11-13, shows the New York senator at 47 percent, comfortably ahead of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's 31 percent and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' 10 percent.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Sean Hackbarth / Fred File:
Fred Thompson Surges in South Carolina

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Captain's Quarters, The Corner and Wizbang

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:

The Case Against Hillary Clinton — WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE CHOOSE TO PUT THE CLINTON FAMILY DRAMA AT THE CENTER OF OUR POLITICS AGAIN. — Seeing the name Hillary in a headline last week—a headline about a life that had involved real achievement—I felt a mouse stirring in the attic of my memory.

Discussion: Viking Pundit and Riehl World View

Eric Lipton / New York Times:
In Defending War Vote, Clintons Contradict Record

Discussion: Chicago Sun Times, Weekly Standard, Captain's Quarters, New York Post and The Corner

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Trust Huck into Mich, zinging Mitt — Trust Huckabee, the third-party group backing the former Arkansas governor, launched a round of automated phone calls into Michigan last night that reached one of Mitt Romney's most prominent supporters — Rep. Pete Hoekstra.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Matthew Yglesias:
Democrats for Romney

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Caucus, Althouse, Talking Points Memo, The RBC, Zogby and Jack and Jill Politics

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly: ROMNEY IN MICHIGAN....Kos is still pushing Democrats to cross …

Michael Hirsh / Newsweek:

Bothersome Intel on Iran — In public, President Bush has been careful to reassure Israel and other allies that he still sees Iran as a threat, while not disavowing his administration's recent National Intelligence Estimate. That NIE, made public Dec. 3, embarrassed the administration …

Discussion: Think Progress, Wall Street Journal, Hullabaloo, Emptywheel, SteveAudio, The Newshoggers, THE CUNNING REALIST, Corrente, The Carpetbagger Report and Make Them Accountable

Aaron Siegel / InvestmentNews.com Latest Headlines:

Financial advisers' No. 1 worry: A Democrat in the White House — Nothing worries financial advisers more than the prospect of a Democrat's being elected president in November, according to a quarterly poll by Brinker Capital Inc. — The fourth-quarter edition of the Brinker Barometer …

Discussion: bustardblog, The Newshoggers, WILLisms.com, Wake up America, Bookworm Room, TigerHawk, Wizbang, Macsmind and Don Surber

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: The Nightmare For Financial Advisers

Michelle Malkin:

McCain booed in Michigan...twice; Update: Video added — Update: Here's the vid of the booing at the Americans for Prosperity Summit event... Mr. Shamnesty-Short Fuse almost walked off the stage during a campaign event with the AFL-CIO in Michigan. Audience members didn't like his soft-on-illegal immigration blather.

Discussion: CNSNews, Hot Air, Riehl World View, Stop The ACLU and PunditGuy

Spengler / Asia Times:

Indiana Jones meets the Da Vinci Code — Islam watchers blogged all weekend about news that a secret archive of ancient Islamic texts had surfaced after 60 years of suppression. Andrew Higgins' Wall Street Journal report that the photographic record of Koranic manuscripts …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Jawa Report, ShrinkWrapped, The Belmont Club and Fausta's blog