memeorandum: Limbaugh Defends Clinton and Obama on Iraq (Josh Gerstein/Latest Politics)

4:00 PM ET, February 5, 2008

Top Items:

West Virginia Intrigue — After the first round of balloting in West Virginia, Mitt Romney was solidly in the lead with 41% of the votes, followed by Mike Huckabee with 33% and John McCain with 16%. — Since 50% is needed to win all 18 delegates, a second balloting is underway.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, MSNBC, D-Day, Daily Kos, MyDD, The Caucus and Macsmind

Mitt Romney For President News:

Campaign Manager Beth Myers On The West Virginia Convention — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Boston, MA - Today, Romney for President Campaign Manager Beth Myers issued the following statement regarding the outcome of West Virginia's Republican Party convention:

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Commentary and New York Daily News Blogs

You Decide 08!:

HUCKABEE WINS WEST VIRGINIA GOP CONTEST IN SECOND ROUND, WITH HELP FROM MCCAIN — Mike Huckabee won the first of 21 states being contested by the Republican presidential candidates on Super Tuesday, pulling out a victory in the West Virginia Republican convention.

Discussion: Salon, Confederate Yankee and Hot Air

Tom Searls / Charleston Gazette:

Huckabee wins W.Va. GOP convention — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee captured the 18 West Virginia delegates up for grabs at the state's Republican convention on Tuesday, the first of many presidential contests on Super Tuesday. — Huckabee won on the second ballot …

Discussion: Washington Wire, TigerHawk, Comments from Left Field, Cynics' Party, TIME: Swampland and Gateway Pundit

Michael Luo / The Caucus:
Romney at the West Virginia Convention

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Eunomia, On Deadline and Assorted Babble

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs: Romney loses West Virginia!

CNN:
Huckabee scores a Super Tuesday win

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Outside The Beltway and Balloon Juice

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

THE POLLS — There's one guarantee I can make right now about tonight's results. They are going take make either Zogby or SurveyUSA look like complete fools. Which one I'm not completely sure, but definitely one of them. — Consider this spread. Zogby has his final California number as Obama 49%, Clinton 36%.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Opinionator, Buck Naked Politics, Balkinization, MyDD, The Sideshow, Shakespeare's Sister and US Presidential race 2008 real …

Zogby:

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: McCain Dominates GOP Races; Dems Locked in Tight Contests As Super Tuesday Polls Open — UTICA, New York - The final day of polling before Super Tuesday was one of hardening positions in key races across the country, the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby survey work shows.

Discussion: MSNBC, Wake up America, TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, Raising Kaine, Reuters, American Street, Wonkette, PrestoPundit and Open Left

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Feb. 2-4, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain fairly closely matched in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences, although Clinton appears to have stopped Obama's momentum over the past two days.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Moderate Voice and The Washington Note

Election Projection:
Super-Duper-Mega-Jumbo Tuesday predictions and results

Discussion: US News, Outside The Beltway, Washington Post, Wizbang, Confederate Yankee, Captain's Quarters, Macsmind, Sister Toldjah, The Other McCain, The Strata-Sphere, michellemalkin.com and Redstate

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
8 Questions Super Tuesday Could Answer

Discussion: Salon, New York Times, Greatscat! and The Carpetbagger Report

Josh Gerstein / Latest Politics:

Limbaugh Defends Clinton and Obama on Iraq — Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is so exasperated about Senator McCain's surge in the Republican presidential contest that he is coming to the defense of Senators Clinton and Obama. — On Mr. Limbaugh's program today, he said people should not be rushing …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Political Radar, Hot Air, TownHall Blog, protein wisdom, The Jawa Report, Firedoglake, Weekly Standard, No More Mister Nice Blog, Buck Naked Politics, Think Progress, The Mahatma X Files, Donklephant, Angry Bear, RADAMISTO and The Politico

Bryan / Hot Air:

Rush Limbaugh endorses Mitt Romney — Levin, Hannity, Ingraham and now Nobel nominee Rush Limbaugh (membership req'd): Big talk radio swings unanimously for Mitt Romney. Rush makes several solid points that you've heard before, mostly regarding how McCain represents the GOP's national security wing …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and The Jawa Report

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Limbaugh on McCain: It's Better to Be Right All the Time — It may be the best sideshow in presidential politics: the nation's top radio talker trying to take down the Republican front-runner in today's Super Tuesday showdown. — Rush Limbaugh has been relentless in his criticism of John McCain …

Discussion: The Corner, The Moderate Voice, NY Daily News, Comments from Left Field, Political Machine, Dick Polman's American Debate, DownWithTyranny!, MSNBC, Center Face, New York Post, TIME, The Carpetbagger Report, PBD, michellemalkin.com and CNN

John R. Bolton / Wall Street Journal:

Our Politicized Intelligence Services — Today, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee (and Thursday on the House side) to give the intelligence community's annual global threat analysis. These hearings are always significant …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Newshoggers, Think Progress, Commentary, The Corner and On Deadline

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:

Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S. — WASHINGTON — The top American intelligence official said on Tuesday that Al Qaeda is improving its ability to attack within the United States by recruiting and training new operatives. At the same time, he said, the group's affiliate in Iraq …

Discussion: Think Progress, Salon, D-Day, The Jawa Report and Prairie Weather

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Clinton Accepts Fox News Debate — Risking the ire of progressive activists, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign announced that it has accepted a debate to air on Fox News on February 11, according to her chief strategist Mark Penn. — “There is an enormous interest in these debates an clamoring …

Discussion: FOX Embeds, The Carpetbagger Report and TVNewser

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Clinton Agrees to Fox Debate

Discussion: The Huffington Post, DownWithTyranny! and AMERICAblog

SurveyUSA:
Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #13325

Discussion: MyDD, Born at the Crest …, AMERICAblog and American Prospect

Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner:

Romney and Dole — Readers keep quoting me one line from the Romney-Doocy interview this morning, here's what he said, plus the video:

Discussion: American Spectator

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Limbaugh says McCain's camp manipulated Bob Dole: John Kerry …

Discussion: Ice Station Tango and The Fix

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Cooper Concerns — I'm not a Hillary-hater. She's been an outstanding senator. She hung tough on Iraq through the dark days of 2005. In this campaign, she has soldiered on bravely even though she has most of the elected Democrats, news media and the educated class rooting against her.