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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.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Dish, Riehl World View, DownWithTyranny!, PoliGazette, MiamiHerald.com and The Politico
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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.
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.
MiamiHerald.com:
Poll: McCain rising, Giuliani fading
Poll: McCain rising, Giuliani fading
Discussion:
CNN, Captain's Quarters, NYT, Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, The Carpetbagger Report, MSNBC, The Heretik, Political Punch and PoliBlog (TM)
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
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's amendments to FISA
Discussion:
United States Senator …, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, Calitics, CREDO Action and D-Day
David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Tentative Deal on Economic Stimulus Plan — WASHINGTON — House leaders and the White House on Thursday announced 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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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.
Washington Post:
Some in Party Bristle At Clintons' Attacks — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign aired a new radio ad here Wednesday that repeated a discredited charge against Sen. Barack Obama, in what some Democrats said is part of an increasing pattern of hardball politics by her and former president Bill Clinton.
Discussion:
The Opinionator, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, MCDAC, The Daily Dish, TIME: Swampland, The Politico, The Caucus, Greenville News, Weekly Standard, michellemalkin.com, JustOneMinute, MSNBC, Commentary, Trailhead, Dick Polman's American Debate, Classical Values, Norwegianity, The Campaign Spot, TIME, Wizbang, Real Clear Politics, Hot Air, The Heretik, GINA COBB, The Strata-Sphere, Riehl World View, Captain's Quarters, Marc Ambinder, Blue Crab Boulevard, Redstate, politburo diktat 2.0, The Page, New York Times, CNN, Reuters and The Australian
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Peter Wallsten / Los Angeles Times:
Obama said oops on 6 state Senate votes — He pushed the wrong button, he asserted at the time. Two of the admitted flubs were on hotly contested issues. — Barack Obama angered fellow Democrats in the Illinois Senate when he voted to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago's West Side.
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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 …
Gail Collins / New York Times:
Editing Hillary's Story — Last summer, I asked Hillary Clinton if she had any reservations about using her husband in her campaign. She said no, that having Bill on the team was “a great gift. I have always believed you should get the very best people to advise you." — I never really made use of the interview.
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.
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
Rich Lowry / The Corner:
The Rudyification of Romney and the Romnification of Rudy (or Something Like That) — It's interesting how Romney and Rudy have swapped strategies recently. Initially, before his ads failed in New Hampshire and he pulled out of the early states entirely, Rudy's strategy was to do respectably in the early states.
Discussion:
Ross Douthat
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.