memeorandum: Around the World, the U.S. Campaign Is Close to Home (Alan Cowell/New York Times)

8:00 PM ET, January 25, 2008

Top Items:

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — We begin, as one always must now, again, with Bill Clinton. The past week he has traveled South Carolina, leaving discord in his wake. Barack Obama, that “fairytale,” is low, sneaky. “He put out a hit job on me." The press is cruelly carrying Mr. Obama's counter-jabs.

Discussion: Tapscott's Copy Desk, Outside The Beltway, QandO, Macsmind, Comments from Left Field, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Plank, Preemptive Karma and The Strata-Sphere

John Kerry / CNN:

Kerry blasts Bill Clinton for ‘abusing truth’ — WASHINGTON (CNN) — John Kerry, the Democratic Party's 2004 nominee for president, took aim at Bill Clinton Friday, telling the National Journal the former president does “not have a license to abuse the truth.”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Liberal Values and Gateway Pundit

CNN:

Bill Clinton: John McCain and Hillary are ‘very close’ — (CNN) — If Hillary Clinton and John McCain become their party's presidential nominees, the general election race is likely to be a love-fest. — At least according to Bill Clinton. — Campaigning in Spartanburg, South Carolina …

Discussion: URGENT AGENDA and Truthdig

NationalJournal.com:

Transcript: John Kerry On Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton And More — National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with John Kerry for “National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation. — Q: I'd like to introduce Sen. John Kerry, former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, United States senator now.

Discussion: The Field, Spin Cycle, Washington Post, Boston Globe and Marc Ambinder

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Bill Clinton Takes on the ‘Polarizing’ Issue — SPARTENBURG, S.C.- Bill Clinton just staged a passionate defense of his wife here, after a voter asked how Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton could unite this country when it is so split, politically and racially, and when she is such a polarizing figure.

Discussion: politburo diktat 2.0 and Hot Air

Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Peggy Noonan: “George W. Bush Destroyed The Republican Party”

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Norwegianity, Captain's Quarters, American Street and DownWithTyranny!

The Raw Story:

UPDATE: ‘No way of knowing’ who whispered, MSNBC says — The whisper that could be heard just before an answer from Mitt Romney at Thursday's Republican debate was the result of a microphone malfunction, an MSNBC spokesman tells RAW STORY, but its source remains a mystery.

Discussion: Dirt Rhodes Scholar, The Jawa Report, The Strata-Sphere, AfterDowningStreet.org, D-Day, Daily. Gay. News. and Wonkette

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Was that a whisper in Romney's Ear? — What's a debate without a little blogging fun? During the GOP Presidential Debate on MSNBC, a very curious thing happened during a Tim Russert question to Mitt Romney. You can hear what seemed like an on air-whispered answer directed at Romney …

Discussion: Democrats.com, The Raw Story, National Review and CANNONFIRE

P.M. Jaworski / The Shotgun:
“Psst: He raised taxes”

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and PoliGazette

NEWSRADIO - 1290 WJNO:
Bizarre Whisper During Romney Debate Answer

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and Shakespeare's Sister

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Mystery whisper at the debate!

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Riehl World View and Confederate Yankee

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone: The Romney Whisper Mystery

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC: THAT TAXES WHISPER — From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

CLINTON TRIES TO REINSTATE MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA'S DELEGATES. — This is a very, very, very big deal. From the Clinton campaign: … This is the sort of decision that has the potential to tear the party apart. In an attempt to retain some control over the process and keep the various states …

Discussion: The Opinionator, Marc Ambinder, The Edge of the American West, Say Anything, QandO, Blue Crab Boulevard and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

NO WAY — The Clinton camp really needs to be shut down on this new gambit of theirs to muscle the party and the other candidates into seating the Michigan and Florida delegate slates. — And let me be very clear about what I mean. It was very debatable decision whether the DNC …

Discussion: TalkLeft, HillaryClinton.com, TPM Election Central and Matthew Yglesias

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Exclusive: Sen. Bill Nelson To Endorse Hillary Clinton

Discussion: TPM Election Central and The Page

Michelle Malkin:

John McCain's open-borders outreach director: The next DHS secretary? — Dr. Juan Hernandez, McCain Hispanic outreach director: “We must not only have a free flow of goods and services, but also start working for a free flow of people." — Last month, I received an e-mail from a concerned reader.

Discussion: Hot Air, Wizbang, The Corner, Ankle Biting Pundits, Lonewacko, The Sundries Shack, Cold Fury, Pat Dollard, Say Anything, Patterico's Pontifications and Gateway Pundit

Michelle Malkin:
Meet the open borders family: McCain, Hernandez, Soros, and the “Reform Institute”

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Hot Air and Riehl World View

Jerome R. Corsi / WorldNetDaily: McCain aide touts ‘Mexico first’ policy

Scott Horton / Harper's:

The Illustrated President — W.H.D. Koerner, “A Charge to Keep” (1916) — George W. Bush is famous for his attachment to a painting which he acquired after becoming a “born again Christian." It's by W.H.D. Koerner and is entitled “A Charge to Keep." Bush was so taken by it …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Pharyngula, CREDO Action, Political Machine, Daily. Gay. News. and democracyarsenal.org

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
The unintentional humor of ‘A Charge to Keep’

Discussion: Think Progress

The Huffington Post:

Reid Issues Ultimatum: More Time Or No Wiretaps — At a State of the Union preview speech today at the National Press Club, Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a dramatic ultimatum to President Bush: either sign an extension of the Protect America Act (which sets conditions …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos

Rasmussen Reports:

Attorney General Edwards? — An Inside Report by Robert Novak — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration. — Installation at the Justice Department …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Political Machine, Hot Air, Don Surber and QandO

Zogby:

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: Obama's Lead Shrinks in SC — Edwards continues to advance, nips at Clinton's heels — UTICA, NY - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's lead over New York Sen. Hillary Clinton narrowed yet a little more in South Carolina with just two days to go before the primary …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Rasmussen Reports, Reuters, The State, Marc Ambinder, Political Machine, Facing South, American Street, Donklephant, TalkLeft, Outside The Beltway, MyDD, Open Left, Cliff Schecter, PoliGazette, TPM Election Central and Taegan Goddard's …

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Losing Ugly — There's losing. There's losing honorably.

Discussion: Power Line, Betsy's Page, Blue Crab Boulevard, Riehl World View, Fausta's blog, Captain's Quarters, Redstate and democracyarsenal.org

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:

A Revealing Poll — The latest SurveyUSA Florida poll shows McCain at 30 percent, Romney at 28 percent, Rudy at 18 percent and Huckabee with 14 percent. Some interesting internal numbers jump out. First, with Hispanic voters, McCain leads 60 percent to 16 percent over Rudy, while Romney draws only 10 percent.