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Jim Ash / News Press:
Poll: Romney slightly ahead in Florida — TALLAHASSEE — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a slight edge in Florida over his closest GOP rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, with just five days to go before Tuesday's presidential primary, according to a poll released today.
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RushLimbaugh.com:
Let's Hear Some Straight Talk — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: A new California poll taken just after Fred Thompson's withdrawal from the Republican primary shows Mitt Romney as leading big over McCain in California when it comes to which candidate best represents the Republican Party.
Steven Stark / Real Clear Politics:
Who Said Freddy's Dead? — The Republican race is coming into focus. Well, sort of. If John McCain can win the Florida primary on January 29, he'll be the clear front-runner heading into Super Tuesday a week later. — But Florida is hardly a sure thing for McCain.
MiamiHerald.com:Poll: McCain rising, Giuliani fading
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Michael Luo / New York Times:Romney Leads in Ill Will Among G.O.P. Candidates
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Moderate Voice, Commentary, The Carpetbagger Report, Wonkette, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shakespeare's Sister, The Plank, GINA COBB, Hot Air, Big Lizards, DownWithTyranny!, Outside The Beltway, Say Anything, JustOneMinute, AMERICAblog, PrestoPundit, Riehl World View and Pandagon
Chuck Todd / MSNBC:Let the sunshine in — If the other GOP candidates don't stop McCain now, they never will
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Jay Rockefeller's unintentionally revealing comments — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — As the Senate takes up “debate” today over granting the President new warrantless eavesdropping powers and granting immunity to lawbreaking telecoms, the individual who joined forces …
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Courage Campaign:Sen. Dianne Feinstein's amendments to FISA
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David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Tentative Deal on Economic Stimulus Plan — WASHINGTON — House leaders and the White House on Thursday reached a tentative agreement on an economic stimulus package of roughly $150 billion that would pay stipends of $300 to $1,200 per family and provide tax incentives for businesses to encourage spending.
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Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
THE STIMULUS DEAL....Apparently a fiscal stimulus package has been tentatively agreed to by both sides: … I guess it could have been worse. Virtually everyone who paid payroll taxes will receive $300 and the $150K household cutoff will prevent at least some of the wastage we'd get from giving money …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Zogby:
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: Obama's SC lead slipping but still wide — Edwards makes gains amid shifting voter preferences — Utica, NY - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's lead over New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has shrunk by four points overall and by nine points among black voters …
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Washington Post:Some in Party Bristle At Clintons' Attacks
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John Aravosis / AMERICAblog:
The Dems just gave away your stimulus check — According to AP, congressional leaders have reached a deal on those economic stimulus checks. And rather than being geared towards helping the economy, they're apparently geared towards redistributing wealth (that would be our wealth) to the poor.
Robert A. Guth / Wall Street Journal:
Bill Gates Issues Call For Kinder Capitalism — Famously Competitive, Billionaire Now Urges Business to Aid the Poor — Free enterprise has been good to Bill Gates. But today, the Microsoft Corp. chairman will call for a revision of capitalism. — In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos …
Azi Paybarah / New York Observer:
Source at Fund-Raiser: Edwards Calls McCain ‘Crazy’ and Says Hillary Thinks There's More on Rezko — Before John Edwards let David Letterman mess up his hair on the Late Show last night, the former Senator was at a private fund-raiser in midtown Manhattan, also attended by Kevin Bacon …
Ian Austen / New York Times:
Canadian Military Has Quit Turning Detainees Over to Afghans — OTTAWA — The Canadian military secretly stopped transferring prisoners to Afghanistan's government in November after Canadian monitors found evidence that they were being abused and tortured. — The suspension, which began Nov. 5 …
Discussion:
Comments from Left Field
Paul Krugman:
Stimulus disappointment — If this description is correct, the stimulus bill will be a real disappointment. As I pointed out in an earlier post, economic theory — Milton Friedman's theory! — suggests that if we want stimulus funds spent, they should go to people in temporary economic difficulty …
Robert Novak / Real Clear Politics:
Business as Usual GOP — WASHINGTON, D.C. — When House Republicans convene behind closed doors today (Thursday) at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., they have a chance to make two bold moves to restore their reputation for fiscal responsibility.
TVNZ:
Venezuelan troops seize food — Venezuela's top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tonnes of food from its trucks as part of President Hugo Chavez's campaign to stem shortages. — The leftist Chavez this week created a state food distributor and loosened …
Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner:
Clinton and his God Nemesis — Everyone remembers the Greek concept of Nemesis ("the giver of what's due"), and the chain of events that invites her to intervene: a fatal character flaw that leads to hubris that in turn incurs divine retribution, culminating in personal ruin.
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