memeorandum: PROBABLY? — From today's lead story in the Washington Post: (David Kurtz/Talking Points Memo)

2:00 PM ET, January 28, 2008

Top Items:

Team Obama Is Courting Everybody But the Press — GREENVILLE, S.C. — When reporters filed onto Barack Obama's press plane after his acrimonious debate with Hillary Rodham Clinton last week, one thing was noticeably missing amid the wine and snacks on the Boeing 737.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Providence Journal, Boston Globe, Jon Swift, Comments from Left Field, Jules Crittenden and Washington Monthly

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Gains, But Still Lags In Big States — Barack Obama's overwhelming weekend victory in South Carolina's Democratic primary gives him new momentum in the run-up to the near-national nominating contest a week from tomorrow, known as Super Tuesday. — But Mr. Obama heads into the 22-state showdown as the underdog.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Swamp, Boston Globe, The Caucus, TIME, Balloon Juice, Outside The Beltway, protein wisdom, Real Clear Politics, Donklephant, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft and Truthdig

Carolyn Lochhead / San Francisco Chronicle:

Obama takes big risk on driver's license issue — (01-28) 04:00 PST Washington — Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, michellemalkin.com and ImmigrationProf Blog

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Clinton's Camp Seeks Gentler Role for Ex-President

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, TownHall Blog, New York Post, Captain's Quarters, Right Wing Nut House, NY Daily News, Comments from Left Field, Spin Cycle, MSNBC, Jules Crittenden, Sister Toldjah, The Huffington Post, Gateway Pundit, GINA COBB, Connecting.the.Dots, QandO, Needlenose and The Moderate Voice

Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:
Super Tuesday looks close for Democrats

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

William Kristol / New York Times:
Desperate Husband — In the run-up to Saturday's South Carolina …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Carpetbagger Report, The Campaign Spot, The Corner and Washington Monthly

Quinnipiac University News and Events:

January 28, 2008 - McCain, Romney Tops In Florida GOP Race, As Giuliani Fades, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Clinton Has 20-Point Lead Among Democrats — Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are running neck and neck among Florida likely Republican voters …

Discussion: FOX Embeds and The Trail

Hindrocket / Power Line:
A RUN ON THE BANK — Every indication is that Rudy Giuliani …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Gateway Pundit and Democracy Project

Washington Times:
Giuliani falls far behind in Florida

Discussion: Commentary and The Raw Story

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
McCain hits Romney hard on Fla. radio

Discussion: The Swamp

CNN:
Huckabee challenges Romney over fried chicken

Discussion: Firedoglake

Nitya / Political Radar:

Author Toni Morrison Endorses Obama — ABC News' Rick Klein and Sunlen Miller Report: Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison — who famously declared Bill Clinton to be the nation's “first black president” in a 1998 essay — today endorsed Barack Obama for president, via letter from Morrison to the Illinois senator.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Swamp, Brad Warthen's Blog, Confederate Yankee, TalkLeft, The Heretik, The Carpetbagger Report, TPM Election Central, Wonkette, Classical Values, Shakespeare's Sister, The Strata-Sphere and Sister Toldjah

IMAO.US:
Just So Someone Says It Publically

Discussion: Althouse and Feministe

Sam Graham-Felsen / my.barackobama.com:
Toni Morrison endorses Barack Obama

Discussion: Washington Wire and The Trail

Beth Reinhard / Naked Politics:

Janet Reno endorses Clinton — Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who served in Bill Clinton's administration, is backing his wife in Tuesday's presidential primary. — Reno, who ran for governor in 2002 and served as Miami-Dade State Attorney, is one of Florida's best-known politicians.

Discussion: The New Republic, Spin Cycle, JammieWearingFool and Riehl World View

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Lessons of 1992 — It's starting to feel a bit like 1992 again. A Bush is in the White House, the economy is a mess, and there's a candidate who, in the view of a number of observers, is running on a message of hope, of moving past partisan differences, that resembles Bill Clinton's campaign 16 years ago.

Discussion: Wonkette, HillaryClinton.com, Angry Bear, Middle Earth Journal, The Crone Speaks, TalkLeft and A Chequer-Board of Nights …

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Jackson: Not Upset by Clinton Remarks — The Rev. Jesse Jackson said late Sunday that he was not offended by comments on Saturday by former President Bill Clinton, who brought up Mr. Jackson's name in response to a question about Senator Barack Obama. — Mr. Clinton had noted that Mr. Jackson …

Discussion: D-Day, Political Punch and TPM Election Central

Jacob Weisberg / New York Times:

The Bush Who Got Away — AS George W. Bush prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address, it's worth revisiting the first speech he gave to a joint session of Congress. His valedictory words tonight will provide an opportunity to reflect on the kind of president Mr. Bush was.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Washington Post, Corrente, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Heretik, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Mahablog and TBogg

Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:
Economy, War To Dominate State of Union

Discussion: The Politico, CNN, New York Times, Washington Wire, Eschaton, Blog entry, Associated Press, AlterNet.org, NewsBusters.org, Captain's Quarters, Wonkette, Power Line, Shakespeare's Sister, Gateway Pundit and The Gate

Roger Runningen / Bloomberg:
President Bush to Curtail Congressional Earmarks

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Outside The Beltway and Blue Crab Boulevard

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
PROBABLY? — From today's lead story in the Washington Post:

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Political Machine and The Garlic

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

What's at stake today in the Senate's FISA filibuster vote — Last August, the Democratic Congress amended FISA when it passed the Protect America Act because the Bush administration and Mike McConnell shrilly warned — literally — that the country would be attacked by The Terrorists if they didn't do so immediately.

Discussion: Think Progress, TPMmuckraker, Washington Times, The Garlic, CREDO Action and Open Left

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Hillary Clinton Statement on FISA

Discussion: Daily Kos and CREDO Action

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
FISA Action: Calls And FAXes Needed

Discussion: Daily Kos, Group News Blog and Open Left

CBS News:

Interrogator Shares Saddam's Confessions — (CBS) For a man who drew America into two wars and countless military engagements, we never knew what Saddam Hussein was thinking. But you are going to hear more than has ever been revealed before. — After his capture, Saddam met every day with one man …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Cato-at-liberty

CBS News:
Interrogator Shares Saddam's Confessions

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org and PrestoPundit

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
McCain's ‘secret plan’ on bin Laden

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Wire and The Right's Field

John Fund / Wall Street Journal:

Winging It — John McCain has a golden opportunity to make peace with conservatives. Will he take advantage of it? — John McCain has to decide just how comfortable he wants the conservative base of the Republican Party to be with his candidacy. Although he touts his conservative credentials …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Corner, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, New York Times, The Campaign Spot, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Taylor Marsh and The Volokh Conspiracy

Michael J. Totten:

The Final Mission, Part I — FALLUJAH - At the end of 2006 there were 3,000 Marines in Fallujah. Despite what you might expect during a surge of troops to Iraq, that number has been reduced by 90 percent. All Iraqi Army soldiers have likewise redeployed from the city.

Discussion: BLACKFIVE, The Strata-Sphere and Gateway Pundit

Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:

CIA Largely in the Dark on Interrogation Tactics — In a bucolic field two miles north of Mount Vernon, beside a baseball diamond in Fort Hunt Park, Va., about 20 veterans of a secret World War II intelligence unit gathered together last year for the first time since 1946.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, TPMmuckraker, toohotfortnr and Unfogged

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

BREAKING: Hillary Clinton To Vote “No” On Cloture Tomorrow UPDATE: Barack Obama Will Be There Too — According to the Clinton campaign, Hillary Clinton will be in the Senate tomorrow to vote “no” on cloture on the Intel version of the FISA bill. The vote is scheduled to take place at 4:30 pm tomorrow.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, CREDO Action, Open Left, DownWithTyranny!, TalkLeft, Brilliant at Breakfast, UrbanGrounds and Hullabaloo

Christopher Caldwell / Financial Times:

In defence of the right to offend — The Netherlands has spent the past several weeks in a political crisis out of a novel by Borges. People are worried that a politician might say something he has already said. And they are divided over how to interpret a film that may not exist.

Discussion: Media Blog