memeorandum: Fall back, men, Afghanistan is a nasty war we can never win (Simon Jenkins/Times of London)

2:10 PM ET, February 3, 2008

Top Items:

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, MSNBC, The Swamp, protein wisdom, politburo diktat 2.0, The New Republic, Washington Post, Marc Ambinder, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Liberal Values, Booman Tribune, Pajamas Media, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Dean's World and DownWithTyranny!

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, TalkLeft, The New Republic, Talking Points Memo, Political Machine 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

Fareed Zakaria / Newsweek:

The Wrong Experience — Clinton has immense experience and is an attractive candidate. But she is terrified to act on her beliefs. — The Democratic Party's two remaining candidates have become so cordial toward one another that you could easily believe there are few substantive differences between them.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Huffington Post

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: Open Left and Hot Air

David Wiessler / Reuters:

Clinton, Obama in dead heat ahead of big vote — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a near dead heat two days before the biggest presidential voting so far while John McCain tried to nail down the Republican nomination for the White House.

Discussion: Oliver Willis, Althouse, Sister Toldjah and Donklephant

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

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

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:

The Glenn and Helen Show: Mitt Romney Talks Super Tuesday — We've already done our big get-to-know-you interview with Mitt Romney, but with Super Tuesday coming up in a couple of days and the race tight, we thought we'd catch up with him again. We asked him about gun control …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Classical Values, Riehl World View, Dr. Helen and Gateway Pundit

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 …

Mark Steyn / National Review:
STAY SANE THROUGHOUT 2008: SUBSCRIBE TO NR (50% OFF!) HERE.

Discussion: Townhall.com

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!, Samizdata.net, Jules Crittenden and Comment Central

Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:

Evangelicals a Liberal Can Love — At a New York or Los Angeles cocktail party, few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama's race or Hillary Clinton's sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee's religious faith. — Liberals believe deeply …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Sideshow, Unqualified Offerings, Rising Hegemon, The Crone Speaks, The Carpetbagger Report and Connecting.the.Dots

Ronald Reagan / Newsweek:

Crackup? Not So Fast. — Calm down. The GOP's demise isn't as imminent as some would have it. — “We are at the end of the Reagan era.” Or, at least, that is the claim of voices as diverse as Newt Gingrich and Ed Rollins on the right and Sen. Chuck Schumer and pollster Stanley Greenberg on the left.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Flopping Aces, American Power, Macsmind, Washington Post, Jules Crittenden and The Raw Story

Barbara Ehrenreich / Washington Post:

The Boom Was a Bust For Ordinary People — I t begins to sound a bit naughty — all this talk about the need to “stimulate” the economy, as if we were discussing how to make a porn film. I don't mean to trivialize our economic difficulties or the need for effective government intervention …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Middle Earth Journal

Peter Wehner / Washington Post:

Why Republicans Like Obama — Barack Obama is not only popular among Democrats, he's also an appealing figure to many Republicans. Former GOP House member Joe Scarborough, now a host on MSNBC, reports that after every important Obama speech, he is inundated with e-mails praising the speech …

Discussion: Althouse

Evan Thomas / Newsweek:

What These Eyes Have Seen — He's endured the unendurable, and survived. Inside the mind and heart of John McCain. … During the 2000 election, Republican smear artists trying to stop the presidential campaign of John McCain spread rumors that the former POW was “nuts” because he had been …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Patterico's Pontifications

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: Pharyngula, pygalgia, The Mahatma X Files, Mike the Mad Biologist, rubber hose and The Garlic

Marc Ambinder:

Obama Begins To Air 2/12 Ads? — Eagle-eyed Patrick Ruffini twittered last night that he'd just seen a Barack Obama ad in the DC market aimed at the 2/12 Potomac Primary... (with the campaign's SMS code appended.)

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Jeff Stein / CQ Politics:

State Secret Abuses Come to a Boil — Imagine members of a Mission Impossible team listening to their assignment. They get the usual warning about the government disowning them if they're caught. Then the voice on the tape casually adds, “If we screw up, don't even think of complaining, much less suing.”

Discussion: Firedoglake and Daily Kos