memeorandum: Edwards quitting presidential race (CNN)

1:40 PM ET, January 30, 2008

Top Items:

John Edwards to Quit Presidential Race — John Edwards will end his presidential bid today, a source close to the Edwards campaign confirmed. — The former North Carolina senator is scheduled to speak in New Orleans this afternoon — an appearance billed as an anti-poverty speech …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The 7-10, Washington Monthly, Liberal Values, Middle Earth Journal, Scobleizer, Rox Populi, Comments from Left Field, Taylor Marsh, The Reaction, skippy the bush kangaroo, Greatscat! and Tom Watson

CNN:

Edwards quitting presidential race — (CNN) — Former Sen. John Edwards is dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, CNN has learned. — Edwards has told top advisers about his decision. It is expected he will announce it at a speech in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Discussion: TalkLeft, MoJoBlog, Shakespeare's Sister, The Corner, The Crone Speaks, The Sideshow, The Carpetbagger Report, The Democratic Daily, Booman Tribune, Open Left, Wake up America, Outside The Beltway, Cadillac Tight, QandO and PoliBlog (TM)

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

John Edwards to quit presidential race — DENVER - Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies, The Associated Press has learned.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, The Newshoggers, The Campaign Spot, Crooks and Liars, BuzzFlash.org, The Impolitic and Blue Crab Boulevard

Dick Morris / The Hill:

McCain may win, Romney can't — Some may agree with Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) positions on his myriad of causes and enthusiasms. Others may embrace Mitt Romney's record as governor and his experience in business. But one fact remains pre-eminent — McCain has a much better chance …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Open Left

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Edwards' Departure & A New Democratic Race — Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) will end his bid for the presidency today in New Orleans, bringing to a close a five-year quest for the nation's highest office. — Edwards will be joined by his wife, Elizabeth, as well as his three children on stage.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, The New Republic, Power Line, The Carpetbagger Report and Sister Toldjah

Associated Press:

John Edwards to Drop Out of Presidential Race — Former Senator's Campaign Adviser: 'It Just Became Clear It Wasn't Going to Happen' — Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., will drop out of the Democratic presidential race on Wednesday. — “It just became clear it wasn't going to happen …

Discussion: The Swamp, Scholars and Rogues and PoliGazette

Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:

Giuliani to exit presidential race — ORLANDO, Fla. - Rudy Giuliani told supporters Wednesday he's abandoning his bid for president and backing Republican rival and longtime friend John McCain. — Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and adviser to Giuliani, said the former mayor called him this morning to tell him of his plan.

Discussion: D-Day, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool, MSNBC, Pantagraph and First Draft

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Why John Edwards Won — John Edwards ends his presidential candidacy today. This is not surprising news: He finished third in every single contest except for Iowa, where he narrowly beat Hillary Clinton. Going forward, he doesn't have the money or the organization to compete with either her or Barack Obama.

Discussion: The Caucus and Matthew Yglesias

New York Times:
For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
The Heart Of The Democratic Party

Discussion: The New Republic

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

What Part Of Not Authorized Did Khalilzad Not Understand? — The State Department reacted angrily to the appearance of UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on a panel at the Davos Economic Forum, along with two members of the Iranian government. The US restricts diplomatic contacts with Iran …

Discussion: Think Progress, Power Line and The Newshoggers

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
US AND THEM....You already knew this, but the Bush administration is nuts.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Benny Avni / New York Sun: U.N. Envoy Speaks on Panel With Iran Officials, Angering Rice

Michelle Malkin:

20% of GOP votes cast by non-Republicans? Updated — Update: Ed Morrissey has your answer: … Yesterday afternoon, I noted reports of independents voting in the closed Florida Republican primary and pointed out the state law requiring that voters establish party ID by registering 29 days before an election.

Discussion: Washington Post, joshua.treviño.at, HorseRaceBlog, Don Surber, Hot Air, Riehl World View, Gateway Pundit and Right Voices

The Corner:
It's All Over — Assuming there is no shocking revelation …

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
On Closed Primaries — A number of commenters in my threads …

Discussion: Suitably Flip, Outside The Beltway, Kiko's House, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Wake up America and michellemalkin.com

Philip Shenon / New York Times:

Mukasey Offers View on Waterboarding — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said Tuesday that the harsh C.I.A. interrogation technique known as waterboarding was not clearly illegal, and suggested that it could be used against terrorism suspects once again if requested by the White House.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, JustOneMinute, CNN, Comments from Left Field, The Crone Speaks, The Heretik, The Politico and At-Largely

Think Progress:
Mukasey On Waterboarding: ‘I Would Feel That It Was’ Torture ‘If It Were Done To Me’

Discussion: The Corner, The Raw Story and Democratic National Committee

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

Compassionate to the End — When President Bush took his final walk to the rostrum of the House chamber, his speech and manner conveyed little nostalgia. He views both meditation on the past and speculation about his legacy with equal suspicion, preferring to live in the urgency of the now.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Shakespeare's Sister, Suburban Guerrilla and If I Ran the Zoo

National Review:

The Right Guy? — It's looking more and more like John McCain could be the Republican nominee. What can he do to rally conservatives? Can he? — ALVIN S. FELZENBERG — Well, the identity of the Republican nominee for president appears even more settled than it did a week ago.

Discussion: Democratic Strategist and Macsmind

Donald Lambro / Washington Times:
Talk radio impugns McCain's liberal record

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Time, The Sundries Shack, The Strata-Sphere, Talking Points Memo and RADAMISTO

The Politico:

Rudy defeat marks end of 9/11 politics — Rudy Giuliani's distant third-place finish in Florida may put an end to his bid for president, and it seems also to mark the beginning of the end of a period in Republican politics that began on Sept. 11, 2001. — Giuliani's national celebrity …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Commentary, Comments from Left Field, TIME and Right Voices

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Top Edwards Adviser Joe Trippi: Hillary And Obama Are “Banging Down The Doors” For Our Endorsement — Top Edwards adviser Joe Trippi just confirmed to me by phone that the Hillary and Obama campaigns are already working overtime to woo Edwards to their sides — even before his official dropout speech.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Open Left and The Page

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:

Fox News is in for a very rough 2008 — My guess is that Fox News guru Roger Ailes has been reaching for the Tums more often than usual early in the New Year, and there are lots of reasons for the hovering angst. — Let's take an extended multiple choice quiz.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Wall Street Journal:

Terminated — Arnold Schwarzenegger's “universal” health-care plan died in the California legislature on Monday, in what can only be called a mercy killing. So let's conduct a political autopsy, because there are important lessons here for the national health-care debate.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and Commentary

John Derbyshire / The Corner:

On To The McCain-Kennedy Ticket — Oh, stop whining. So what if the likely GOP nominee believes in restraints on free speech, higher taxation, bigger government, open borders, and 100-year U.S. armies of occupation everywhere from Albania to Zimbabwe? Romney believes in those things too …

Discussion: Crunchy Con, LewRockwell.com Blog and Vox Popoli

Ross Douthat:

Fortune's Favorite — For the first six months of this presidential campaign, everything went wrong for John McCain, putting him in a position where to win the nomination, he needed just about everything else to go his way. And with the exception of the Michigan primary, that's exactly what's happened.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The New Republic and National Review