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.
Discussion:
MSNBC, USA Today, The Caucus, OPENERS, Dick Polman's American Debate, The Carpetbagger Report, New York Times, Wonkette, Las vegas sun Blogs, Sister Toldjah, TIME, Firedoglake, MyDD, Boston Globe, Ground Game, AMERICAblog, TPM Election Central, Hot Air, Taegan Goddard's …, The Page and Reno Gazette-Journal …
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Dan Savage / Slog:
OMG: A Reporter Not a Stenographer! — Romney lies and a reporter busts him—in real time, on camera. Romney says his campaign isn't run by lobbyists, and he doesn't have lobbyists “tied to” his campaign. Watch this: — The reporter sitting on the floor putting actual, tough …
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Jonathan Stein / MoJoBlog:
Mitt Romney's Lobbyist Connections — In a tense exchange with an AP reporter on Thursday, Mitt Romney insisted that even though a registered lobbyist is one of his senior advisers, lobbyists do not “run” his campaign. — The claim is part of Romney's new self-styled outsider message …
Jill Zuckman / Chicago Tribune:
Romney and reporter tangle at press conference
Romney and reporter tangle at press conference
Discussion:
American Prospect, TIME: Swampland, Reason Magazine, The Carpetbagger Report, Ground Game and Washington Monthly
Fred File:
The Constitution is Not a “Living, Breathing Document” — This morning I heard that one of the other candidates commented that the Constitution is a “living, breathing document." — Frankly, I assumed this came from Senator Clinton or Senator Obama. It is identical to what Al Gore …
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Bryan / Hot Air:
Video: Huckabee says the Constitution is a “living, breathing document” Update: Huck's website disagrees — The comment came during an interview with CNN this morning. — I'm not going to rant about this. I will point out that Huckabee's position doesn't square up well with the …
The New Republic:
McCain, You Depress Me — My colleague Leon has been “rather stirred” by many things about John McCain, including his “decency about immigrants." I'm rather stirred by that too — it is my favorite thing about McCain, his capacity to argue that it's a profoundly American imperative …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
The martyrdom of John McCain
The martyrdom of John McCain
Discussion:
The New Republic, Washington Post, Bloomberg, DownWithTyranny!, New York Post, The Swamp, NY Daily News, Tammy Bruce and MSNBC
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.
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Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Hillary Personally Slams Obama Over Reagan Comments — The Hillary campaign clearly made a decision to go all out on Obama's Reagan comments today. Hillary herself just lit into Obama over them in Las Vegas, according to a transcript provided by her campaign:
Discussion:
MSNBC, The Daily Dish, TalkLeft, Liberal Values, The Huffington Post, Spin Cycle, Too Sense and Gateway Pundit
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.
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.
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Kyle / KyleSmithOnline.com:
Chris Weitz on His “Golden Compass” Fiasco: Blame the Media — The writer-director of “The Golden Compass,” Chris Weitz, is peeved. The movie tanked so badly that the second and third installments are not going to be made (it did fairly well overseas, but unfortunately for New Line Cinema …
Robert Schroeder / MarketWatch:
Bush calls for ‘direct and rapid’ stimulus — Package envisioned by White House equal to about 1% of GDP — WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Bush urged Friday for “direct and rapid” tax relief for both U.S. consumers and businesses, calling such a plan the country's “most pressing economic priority.”
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Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
McCain Lies His Head Off; NY Times Asleep at Switch — One of the most common-supply-side talking points is that tax cuts always lead to higher tax revenues. It's not really true (revenues crashed after the 2001 Bush tax cuts) but even if it were, it's misleading: Tax revenues tend to rise …
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 …
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.
Nelson Hernandez / Washington Post:
Naval Academy Rite Might Slip Away — Safety of Lard-Slicked Herndon Climb Is Evaluated — In the name of safety, the U.S. Naval Academy is considering an overhaul of one of its most bizarre traditions: the annual ritual in which a thousand first-year midshipmen struggle to conquer …