memeorandum: West Virginia Intrigue (Marc Ambinder)

4:50 PM ET, February 5, 2008

Top Items:

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, Balloon Juice, Eunomia, Commentary and New York Daily News Blogs

Marc Ambinder:

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: Reuters, TownHall Blog, MSNBC, DownWithTyranny!, Examining Presidential …, D-Day, Daily Kos, MyDD, The Caucus and Macsmind

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: protein wisdom, Confederate Yankee, PrestoPundit, Salon, Los Angeles Times, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Hot Air and Wake up America

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, Taegan Goddard's …, TigerHawk, Comments from Left Field, Donklephant, Cynics' Party, TIME: Swampland and Pajamas Media

CNN:

Huckabee scores a Super Tuesday win — (CNN) — Republican Mike Huckabee scored the first Super Tuesday victory, winning all 18 delegates at stake in West Virginia — partially with the help of Sen. John McCain's backers. — The former Arkansas governor won with the support of 52 percent …

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

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

Discussion: TownHall Blog, On Deadline and Assorted Babble

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

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, TalkLeft, MyDD, The Moderate Voice, Raising Kaine, American Street, Reuters, Wonkette, PrestoPundit, The Carpetbagger Report, michellemalkin.com and Gateway Pundit

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 …

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

Chuck Todd / MSNBC:
Todd: Your hour-by-hour Super Tuesday guide

Discussion: The Fix, Election Projection, US News and The Caucus

Little Green Footballs:
Dreaming of Super Tuesday

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

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: Salon, Buck Naked Politics, The Jawa Report, D-Day and Prairie Weather

Randall Mikkelsen / Reuters:
CIA says used waterboarding on three suspects

Discussion: Born at the Crest … and The Galloping Beaver

Matt / Think Progress:
McConnell: When I Said Waterboarding Is ‘Torture,’ …

Discussion: Muckraker and The Lede

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

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

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

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Clinton Agrees to Fox Debate — On a conference call today, Howard Wolfson of the Clinton campaign has said that Hillary Clinton will appear in a Fox News debate on February 11 in Washington, DC. — After Roger Ailes made a joke comparing Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden, Harry Reid rightfully nixed a Democratic Fox debate in Nevada:

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, DownWithTyranny!, Open Left and AMERICAblog

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Clinton Accepts Fox News Debate

Discussion: FOX Embeds, The Carpetbagger Report, TVNewser and Sister Toldjah

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

Ben / Think Progress:

Anti-War Candidates Are Top Recipients Of '08 Donations From U.S. Troops — Conservatives opposed to redeployment in Iraq have consistently claimed that U.S. troops are on their side: … Yet U.S. troops disagree. Yesterday, the Center for Responsive Politics reported that members …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, The Carpetbagger Report and US Presidential race 2008 real …

OpenSecrets.org:
Cost of '08 Presidential Race Already Tops All Elections Prior to '04

Discussion: Political Punch

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.