memeorandum: McCain's Support Soars, Democratic Race Tightens (Pew Research Center)

6:20 PM ET, February 3, 2008

Top Items:

Breaking News: Pro-Clinton push poll erupts in California — Ed Coghlan was just starting to prepare his dinner in the northern San Fernando Valley the other night when the phone rang. The caller was very friendly. He identified himself as a pollster who wanted to ask registered independents …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Truthdig, Liberal Values, Calitics and culturekitchen

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — Two days before the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, Gallup Poll Daily tracking data show Hillary Clinton (46%) and Barack Obama (44%) in a statistical dead heat …

Discussion: USA Today, Talking Points Memo, bustardblog, Hot Air, Liberal Values, Open Left and Buck Naked Politics

John Wildermuth / San Francisco Chronicle:

State poll shows huge gains by Obama, McCain — A startling surge of support for Barack Obama has catapulted the Illinois senator into a virtual tie with Hillary Rodham Clinton in California's Democratic presidential primary, a Field Poll released Saturday shows.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The New Republic, MSNBC, All Spin Zone, politburo diktat 2.0, Marc Ambinder, Commentary, Booman Tribune, The Swamp, protein wisdom, The Politico, Associated Press, Pajamas Media, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Dean's World and Washington Post

Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:

Zogby: Obama, Romney Ahead In California — A new Zogby poll in California — a state that may well decide the direction of the Democratic race — shows Barack Obama taking a small lead over Hillary Clinton, within the margin of error. Obama has 45% to Clinton's 41%, with Obama's 20-point …

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Monthly, Political Machine, TalkLeft, The New Republic, rubber hose, Talking Points Memo and Gateway Pundit

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Clinton, McCain lead in bellwether Super Tuesday states — WASHINGTON — Republican John McCain leads in all four corners of the country heading into a rush of primaries on Tuesday, while Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a close struggle for delegates coast to coast …

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, The Carpetbagger Report and Open Left

CNN:

Romney predicts conservatives will stop McCain — (CNN) — Mitt Romney predicted Sunday his party's conservative base will rally behind him on Super Tuesday in order to prevent John McCain from winning the Republican nomination. — “What I have to do is continue to see what's been happening …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, DownWithTyranny! and CBS News

Pew Research Center:

McCain's Support Soars, Democratic Race Tightens — Obama Gains Among Whites, Moderates and Middle-Income Democrats — Summary of Findings — Barack Obama and John McCain have made significant gains in support as the field of candidates has narrowed in both parties.

Discussion: Hot Air, Talking Points Memo and American Power

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
The Conservative Minority — I feel like I'm beating a dead horse …

Discussion: protein wisdom, American Power, Riehl World View, Balloon Juice, The Other McCain, Middle Earth Journal, PoliBlog (TM), Power Line and Daily Pundit

Evan Thomas / Newsweek:
What These Eyes Have Seen — He's endured the unendurable, and survived.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Patterico's Pontifications, TBogg and Macsmind

Ellen Wulfhorst / Reuters:
Clinton, Obama in dead heat ahead of big vote

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Oliver Willis, Open Left, Sister Toldjah, Donklephant, All Spin Zone and NY Daily News

Robert D. Novak / Townhall.com:
Bush Against Romney — WASHINGTON, D.C. — While President …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, michellemalkin.com and Power Line

Carl / The Reaction:

Because I'm B.A.D., ya know it! — Today is the anniversary of a dark day in Blogtopia (© Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo). — One year ago, Atrios (also known as Duncan Hunter), proprietor of the feebly-written (except for his co-bloggers) blog, “Eschaton,” decided to trim his blogroll for...well, his own reasons.

Discussion: The Impolitic, World-O-Crap, The Garlic, rubber hose, Buck Naked Politics, pygalgia, Writhe Safely, Mike the Mad Biologist, The Mahatma X Files, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Undeniable Liberalism

Blue Gal:

Happy Blogroll Amnesty Day — Happy Blogroll Amnesty Day! Today is the day the small blogosphere celebrates itself by giving each other a little lurve. I'm going to pick just a couple bloggers to mention but in my ever expanding blogroll is over there (yeah every time I try to cull …

Discussion: litbrit, The Barefoot Bum, Pharyngula, All Spin Zone, Pen-Elayne on the Web, State of the Day, Make Them Accountable and Liberal Values

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Unbelievable and Assaultive Strip Search on an Innocent Woman — Raw Story: (h/t Existentialist Cowboy)

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Chuck for, ThePoliticalCat and Balloon Juice

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Bill Kristol: White women are a problem — The neocon warmonger speaks. With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton locked in a very good battle leading up to Super Tuesday, Kristol makes this misogynistic quote: — BILL KRISTOL: Look the only people for Hillary Clinton are the Democratic establishment …

Discussion: Media Matters for America and protein wisdom

Simon Jenkins / Times of London:

Fall back, men, Afghanistan is a nasty war we can never win — Britain's commanders ignored every warning that the Taliban were the toughest fighters on earth — The American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, flies to Britain this week to meet a crisis entirely of London and Washington's creation.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Jules Crittenden, Samizdata.net and Comment Central

Jason Burke / Observer:
Taliban attacks on allied troops soar

Discussion: The Seminal

Matt Stoller / Open Left:

Lipinski Attacks OpenLeft, Pera Donors, With a Barrage of Cliches — Rich Perlstein has a great piece on how we're not about to get beyond the 1960s. Apparently Dan Lipinski's campaign read the article, because here's a flyer they are circulating attacking us as dirty hippies.

Rick Perlstein / Washington Post:
Getting Past the '60s? It's Not Going to Happen.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Sideshow and Booman Tribune

Kate Michelman / The Huffington Post:

Why I'm Endorsing Barack Obama — The question I have been asking myself and others during my entire life in public policy and throughout this 2008 presidential Campaign — the question which tens of millions of women and men have also been asking — is how do we best bring America together …

Discussion: Political Radar

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:

Ron Paul Flatlines — Ron Paul's ability to attract enthusiastic support among young people, especially online, has been quite impressive and unexpected. The degree to which that has translated into fundraising capability has been nothing short of spectacular. — But look at the national polling trend lines for the past year:

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, Donklephant and PoliBlog (TM)

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

The Latest on Gore — According to a source close to Al Gore, multiple people in the former VP's orbit are in touch with him on a regular basis to urge an Obama endorsement. According to this source, Gore's hesitation is three-fold: — 1.) The memory of the ill-fated Dean endorsement looms large for him.