memeorandum: Frontline Blogger Covers War in Iraq With a Soldier's Eyes (Richard Pérez-Peña/New York Times)

11:10 AM ET, January 21, 2008

Top Items:

GOP Field Readies for True Test In Florida — The Top Candidates Finally Go All-Out In a Closed Primary — Riding the momentum from his weekend victory in South Carolina, John McCain turned his attention Sunday to Florida and the high-stakes primary there that will test whether …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Time, DownWithTyranny!, Political Machine, MSNBC and The Page

John Fund / Wall Street Journal:

Base Runner — Huckabee tries but fails to win the votes of non-evangelicals. — Mike Huckabee tried his best to expand beyond his evangelical base in South Carolina and appeal to what his campaign called “Joe Six Pack” voters. Mr. Huckabee was the only candidate to pander to devotees …

Discussion: The Corner, Betsy's Page and Transterrestrial Musings

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post: Accessibility Opens Doors For McCain

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Republican Field Rides Full Force Into Florida Test

Discussion: TIME and Hold Fast

Washington Post:
This Time, McCain Defused Conservative Attacks

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, MSNBC, Outside The Beltway, PrestoPundit, The Corner, BlondeSense and Talking Points Memo

baldilocks:

It's On! — Other that the Kenya post—set last night to automatically post early this morning—I wasn't going to post today. However, this is bit of politicking is too delicious not to comment upon. In an interview that will run on ABC's “Good Morning America” tomorrow morning …

Discussion: The Glittering Eye

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Obama faces off against both Clintons — ATLANTA - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama launched Sunday what his top aides described as a more aggressive bid to challenge “unbelievable falsehoods” pressed last week in Nevada by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.

Discussion: The Hill, The Moderate Voice, Comments from Left Field, Agence France Presse, Liberal Values, Deadline USA, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Huffington Post, Political Machine, Truthdig, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Dish

Reuters:

EXCLUSIVE: Barack vs. Bill: Obama Hits Ex-Prez Over ‘Troubling’ Attacks — Vows to ‘Directly Confront Bill Clinton’ Over 'Statements That Are Not Factually Accurate' — Sen. Barack Obama says he's ready to confront former President Bill Clinton, calling his advocacy on behalf of his wife's presidential campaign, “troubling.”

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Debunking the Reagan Myth — Historical narratives matter. That's why conservatives are still writing books denouncing F.D.R. and the New Deal; they understand that the way Americans perceive bygone eras, even eras from the seemingly distant past, affects politics today.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Hold Fast, Make Them Accountable, The Sideshow, Hullabaloo, Prairie Weather, Brilliant at Breakfast, Middle Earth Journal and Economist's View

Pam / Pam's House Blend:

Obama addresses homophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia in MLK Ebenezer Baptist Church speech — Today Barack Obama zeroed in on equal opportunity bigotry — and why everyone should strive to not only elevate the political discourse, but to be honest about the base instincts, words and deeds that divide, not unite.

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Observer, Hold Fast, UrbanGrounds, The Carpetbagger Report, The RBC and New York Daily News Blogs

CNN: S.C. debate to highlight Democratic fight for black vote

Dan Hoover / Greenville News:
South Carolina to test Democrats next

Discussion: Washington Post, MSNBC, The Caucus and New York Times

Julie Bosman / New York Times:
After His Loss in Nevada, Edwards Keeps Marching

Discussion: Washington Post, John Edwards '08 Blog, MSNBC, Brendan Nyhan and Political Machine

Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:

Frontline Blogger Covers War in Iraq With a Soldier's Eyes — Michael Yon was not a journalist, and he wasn't sure what a blogger was. He had been in uniform but not in combat, and he wanted to keep it that way. He went to Iraq thinking he would stay for a month, and maybe find a way to write about the war after he got home.

Discussion: Michael Yon, Power Line, JammieWearingFool, TigerHawk and QandO

siena.edu:

Rudy Falls Behind McCain; Hillary Still Has 2-to-1 Lead — Spitzer Favorable Rating Edges Positive; Sees Gain in Job Performance — Voters Overwhelmingly Support Property Tax Cap and S-CHIP Expansion; — Also Support Higher Education Endowment with Lottery Sale or Lease

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Poll: Giuliani Loses Lead In New York

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Thereisnospoon / Daily Kos:

UPDATED (2): Widespread Cheating & Vote Suppression by Clinton Campaign in Clark County, NV — [UPDATE 2: Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe has now made the accusation in the Atlantic, with over 200 separate allegations of irregularities at caucus sites.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Heading Right, PoliGazette, QandO and my.barackobama.com

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Republicans Closing The Congressional Gap — After a disastrous 2006 election, Republicans lost control of Congress for the first time in twelve years. After a disastrous 2007 session, Democrats may have given Republicans a window of opportunity to take it back.

Discussion: Macsmind

Rasmussen Reports: Generic Congressional Ballot

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

Show About Nothing Attacked for Failing to Address Geopolitical Issues — I see the creator of the taxpayer-funded Canadian sitcom “Little Mosque On The Prairie” has criticized “Seinfeld” for “failing to deal with the contentious issue of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory".

Discussion: five feet of fury.

Associated Press:

Chavez to farmers: Sell within Venezuela or it's ‘treason’ — CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to take over farms or milk plants if owners refuse to sell their milk for domestic consumption and instead seek higher profits abroad or from cheese-makers.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, A Blog For All, Blue Crab Boulevard and michellemalkin.com

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Today's Must Read — We spent a good deal of time in the 2006 elections tracking the activity of third party groups on the right, groups with anonymous names like the Economic Freedom Fund. Funded by the most part by millionaire home-builder (and former Swift Boat patron) Bob Perry …

Discussion: Washington Post

New York Times:

Stocks Plunge in Europe and Asia on U.S. Recession Fear — PARIS — Global stock markets plunged on Monday as fears spread that the turmoil in United States mortgage markets is spreading. Indexes in Europe fell as much as 7 percent after a huge selloff in Asia.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Matthew Yglesias

Steve Goldstein / MarketWatch:

U.S. stock futures point to major decline on re-open — LONDON (MarketWatch) — If futures contracts traded on a day when U.S. stocks weren't even due to open are anything near accurate, then markets will be in for a major decline on Tuesday, with concerns about bond insurers and the health …

Discussion: Bob Cesca's Goddamn …