memeorandum: The Edwards Effect — So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. (Paul Krugman/New York Times)

4:25 PM ET, February 1, 2008

Top Items:

Ari Melber / The Nation:

MOVEON ENDORSES OBAMA... Today Barack Obama earned the endorsement of MoveOn, one of the largest grassroots membership organizations in the United States, after clobbering Hillary Clinton by 40 percent in Internet balloting. Obama led the final tally 70.4% to 29.6%, clearing the supermajority required for the endorsement.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Field, Group News Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog and Salon

Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:

Waiting for Gore — It feels official: Barack Obama has momentum. He won a resounding victory in South Carolina. He just posted another astonishing fundraising total. Gallup reports that he's pulled to within four points of Hillary Clinton. And Ted Kennedy's endorsement Monday had the feel of history about it.

Discussion: The New Republic, Wonkette and race42008.com

Doug Gordon / MoveOn.org:
MoveOn Endorsement Throws Progressive Weight

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Weekly Standard, Threat Level, The Politico, Daily Kos, Wake up America, Political Machine, Democratic Strategist, protein wisdom and Calitics

Matt Stoller / Open Left:
Breaking: Moveon Members Endorse Obama 71-29

Discussion: TalkLeft, Comments from Left Field, techPresident and The Nation

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
MOVEON, CA SEIU TO ENDORSE OBAMA

Discussion: The Caucus, MyDD and Raising Kaine

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

OBAMA'S “HARRY AND LOUISE” AD. — I was going to write a post about the health care exchange in last night's debate, noting that Hillary Clinton is basically arguing against Barack Obama's mandate from the wrong direction. The problem isn't that it leaves people out, but that it effectively closes off …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Street, TalkLeft and The Carpetbagger Report

Ben Smith / The Politico:

That health care mailer — The Clinton campaign convened a conference call with health policy experts to denounce Obama's new mailer, which attacks Clinton's plan for “forcing” Americans to sign up for insurance, and which features a couple at a kitchen table that recalls, for some …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Booman Tribune, AMERICAblog and toohotfortnr

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Edwards Effect — So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. By normal political standards, his campaign fell short. — But Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a campaign based on ideas. And even as his personal quest for the White House faltered …

Discussion: The New Republic, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Impolitic, Brilliant at Breakfast, Norwegianity, The Garlic, Sister Toldjah, Upper Left, The Crone Speaks, Make Them Accountable, John Edwards '08 Blog, American Street and FOX Embeds

Paul Krugman:

Obama does Harry and Louise, again — The Obama campaign sends out an ugly mailer. Sorry, but this is just destructive — like the Obama plan, the Clinton plan offers subsidies to lower-income families. And BO himself has conceded that he might have to penalize people who don't buy insurance until they need care.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The New Republic, The Fact Hub, Ben Smith's Blogs, Taylor Marsh and Total Information Awareness

Daily Mail:

Al Qaeda use two 'Down's syndrome' women to blow up 73 people in Baghdad markets — Two women thought to suffer from Down's syndrome may have been unwilling suicide bombers in twin blasts that killed up to 73 people at pet markets in Baghdad today. — The first bomber instantly killed 45 people …

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, michellemalkin.com, Associated Press, Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool, Pirate's Cove and Blue Crab Boulevard

CNN:
U.S.: ‘Demonic’ militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

Discussion: Hot Air, Associated Press, Instapundit.com and Jihad Watch

Michael Ledeen / The Corner:
Suicide (NOT) Bombers in Baghdad

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

New York Times:
Dozens Killed in Worst Baghdad Attack in Months

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Reaction, The Belmont Club, The Moderate Voice, Buck Naked Politics, Salon, American Street, The Washington Independent and Kiko's House

Hugh Hewitt / Townhall.com:

Romney v. McCain v. Coulter v. Obama — If Ann Coulter's declares again that she'd campaign for Hillary at CPAC, she will be booed and rightly so. Not only did her grandstanding on Hannity & Colmes divert attention from the real issue before conservatives —the need to abandon the idea …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Carpetbagger Report and Eunomia

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Has Ann Coulter Finally Jumped The Shark?

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
John McCain=Benedict Arnold?

Discussion: Macsmind, The Corner and Slate

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Jan. 29-31, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as close as they have been since the polling program started at the beginning of 2008.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The New Republic, The Strata-Sphere and Open Left

Wall Street Journal:

Romney's Convictions — Mitt Romney has emerged as the last Republican with a chance to stop John McCain, and there's no doubt he's a candidate from central casting: successful in business and politics, a family man, and quicker and more articulate than most.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, New York Times, American Power and Commentary

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Mitt Romney Conference Call

Discussion: Hot Air, Gateway Pundit and Riehl World View

The Campaign Spot:
Highlights From Mitt Romney's Conference Call

Discussion: Hot Air

Sandy / Junkfood Science:

No fat people allowed: Only the slim will be allowed to dine in public! — It has actually happened. Lawmakers have proposed legislation that forbids restaurants and food establishments from serving food to anyone who is obese (as defined by the State). Under this bill …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Wake up America, Feministe, Alas, a blog, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, LewRockwell.com Blog and Outside The Beltway

New York Times:

Senator Wants N.F.L. Spying Case Explained — The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to explain why the league destroyed evidence related to spying by the New England Patriots. — In the stretch of 12 days, from Sept. 9 to Sept. 20 …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Swamp, skippy the bush kangaroo and Emptywheel

ESPN:
Senator wants to know why NFL destroyed Patriots spy tapes

Discussion: The Corner and Redstate

Michelle Malkin:

McCain: “I'll rely on people to judge me by the company that I keep.” — The company John McCain keeps: — Russ Feingold. Teddy Kennedy. Lindsay Grahamnesty. Juan “Mexico First/Free Flow” Hernandez. Jerry “Spanish first” Perenchio. Geraldo Rivera. La Raza. Charles Keating. John Kerry.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Digger / Diggers Realm: Romney Appoints Hazleton Defender Kris Kobach To Advisor On Immigration

Philip Shenon / New York Times:

Times Reporter Subpoenaed Over Source for Book — WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to a reporter of The New York Times, apparently to try to force him to reveal his confidential sources for a 2006 book on the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the reporter's lawyers said Thursday.

Discussion: PERRspectives Blog, Think Progress, AMERICAblog and Romenesko

Wall Street Journal:

Buried WMD Scoop — Journalists are taught never to “bury the lead.” Yet it looks as if that's precisely what CBS's “60 Minutes” did in reporter Scott Pelley's fascinating interview Sunday with George Piro, the FBI agent who debriefed Saddam Hussein following his capture in December 2003.

Discussion: The Jawa Report