Top Items:
Washington Post:
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:
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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.
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
John Edwards to Quit Presidential Race … DENVER (AP) - 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 but never diverted his campaign …
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.
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 …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Edwards' Departure & A New Democratic Race — Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) ended his bid for the presidency today in New Orleans, bringing to a close a five-year quest for the nation's highest office. — Edwards was joined by his wife, Elizabeth, as well as his three children on stage.
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.
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
US AND THEM....You already knew this, but the Bush administration is nuts. Here's exhibit #3,886: … It's dumb enough that we have a policy of refusing to speak to Iran in the first place, as if merely talking to them would give us geopolitical cooties. But to repeatedly get bent …
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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 …
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.
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New York Times:
For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall
For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall
Discussion:
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Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Jan. 27-29, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day average, and interviewing conducted …
Discussion:
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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:
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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.
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Donald Lambro / Washington Times:
Talk radio impugns McCain's liberal record
Talk radio impugns McCain's liberal record
Discussion:
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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:
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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.
Wall Street Journal:
The Daniel Pearl Standard — This week marks the sixth anniversary of the murder of my son Daniel Pearl, a reporter for this newspaper. It is a fitting occasion to step back and reflect on what this tragedy has taught us. — I am often asked why Danny's death has touched so many people and why he …
New York Times:
At White House, a Second Look at Iraq Troop Cuts — WASHINGTON — Four months after announcing troop reductions in Iraq, President Bush is now sending signals that the cuts may not continue past this summer, a development likely to infuriate Democrats and renew concerns among military planners about strains on the force.
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
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 …