Top Items:
Molly Ball / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
THE NEVADA CAUCUS: Poll: Nevada going to Clinton, Romney — Obama picks up no ground; Giuliani fades — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney have comfortable leads in Nevada going into Saturday's presidential campaign caucuses, according to a new Review-Journal poll.
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Zogby:
Reuters/Zogby Polls: McCain Retains South Carolina Lead; Clinton Leads Obama in Nevada — South Carolina — Arizona Sen. John McCain is holding on to his lead in South Carolina as the Republican primary election there approaches, a new Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby three-day telephone tracking poll shows.
Rich Lowry / Real Clear Politics:
Huck Hoax: Why He Won't Break Out — Mike Huckabee has pulled a neat trick.His appeal so far has been limited exclusively to evangelicals, yet the press has taken him seriously as a new populist force in the Republican Party who could at any moment “break out” to appeal to lower-income voters.
Ross Douthat:
The Limits of Huckabee — Rich Lowry's column is tough on him but largely fair, I think.
The Limits of Huckabee — Rich Lowry's column is tough on him but largely fair, I think.
Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Confederate Flag Takes Center Stage Once Again
Confederate Flag Takes Center Stage Once Again
Discussion:
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New York Times:
Bush Calls for $145 Billion Economic Aid Package — WASHINGTON — President Bush called on Friday for a $145 billion to $150 billion mix of tax rebates for American families and incentives for businesses to provide “a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy” and avert a slide into recession.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
The martyrdom of John McCain — COLUMBIA, S.C. - The national media thinks John McCain is under siege again, and his campaign is only too happy to help reporters file their stories. — At a rally Thursday, outside McCain's headquarters just down the street from the state capitol here …
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San Francisco Chronicle:
Mauling survivor said he yelled at tiger — (01-17) 18:05 PST SAN FRANCISCO — One of the two survivors of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack that left a 17-year-old dead told the victim's father that the three had yelled and waved at the animal while standing atop the railing of the tiger's exhibit …
USA Today:
Military: 75% of Baghdad areas now secure — About 75% of Baghdad's neighborhoods are now secure, a dramatic increase from 8% a year ago when President Bush ordered more troops to the capital, U.S. military figures show. — The military classifies 356 of Baghdad's 474 neighborhoods in the …
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Weekly Standard:
Misjudging McCain — He was right about the nuclear option. — JOHN MCCAIN HAS COME UNDER HEAVY FIRE from conservatives critical of his alleged apostasies. To be sure, several of his stances—on tax cuts, illegal immigration, campaign-finance reform—stand at odds with the current mainstream of American conservatism.
Discussion:
TownHall Blog
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Judicial Watch:
Judicial Watch Releases Records Re: Hillary's Health Care Reform Plan — Internal Memos Detail Creation of Government “Interest Group Database” to Collect Personal Data on Health Care Debate Activists — (Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates …
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Matthew Yglesias:
Placing the Candidates — Interesting chart from the Pew Center. One piece of bad news for liberals is that it seems that the self-assessed ideology of the American people is still somewhat right of center. It's also funny how unhinged Republicans' views of Hillary Clinton are.
Gudjon Helgason / Associated Press:
Chess master Bobby Fischer dead at 64 — REYKJAVIK, Iceland - “Chess,” Bobby Fischer once said, “is life." It was the chess master's tragedy that the messy, tawdry details of his life often overshadowed the sublime genius of his game. Fischer, who has died at the age of 64, was a child prodigy …
Discussion:
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Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Callous Conservative — After watching Fred Thompson debate his Republican rivals, I have often wondered why he is not in the top tier of candidates. He seems to have John McCain's honesty, without his razor-sharp edges, and Mitt Romney's conservatism, without his jaw-dropping inconsistencies.
Discussion:
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Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Obama Debuts New Act in Vegas — LAS VEGAS (AP) - The White House campaign has brought a new act to Vegas. Barack Obama has stepped up his campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he's trying to use humor to bring her down before this weekend's Democratic presidential caucus.
Discussion:
The New Republic
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
50 WAYS TO BE A LOSER — I know I've been hitting on the Rudy collapse story for a while. But it's just so vast there are a lot of points to cover. Remember that the Rudy ‘plan’ (which on many levels is a phony anyway) was to plan for a knockout blow on February by winning big states like California.
Discussion:
Rasmussen Reports
New York Post:
THE NEW ‘LEPERS’ — THE TIMES' TROUBLE WITH VETS — I'VE had a huge response to Tuesday's column about The New York Times' obscene bid to smear veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan as mad killers. Countless readers seem to be wondering: Why did the paper do it?
Los Angeles Times:
Clinton plays gaming card against Obama — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has embraced the gambling industry and its executives. Here, gamblers try their luck at the Desert Inn Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. — Democrats' gambling stances may be an issue beyond Nevada.
Byron York / The Hill:
The president of Florida — Just to be safe, I'm going to say right off the bat that Rudy Giuliani might be the smartest campaign strategist in many a year. — That way, if the improbable occurs and the former New York mayor wins the Republican presidential nomination, I can say I knew it all along.