memeorandum: Top Officer Calls U.S. Forces ‘Stressed’ (ABCNEWS)

9:30 AM ET, February 6, 2008

Top Items:

Clinton and Obama Trade Victories — N.Y. Senator Withstands Push By Surging Rival in Key Battlegrounds — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won victories over Sen. Barack Obama in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York last night, giving her presidential campaign a crucial boost.

Discussion: Firedoglake, State of the Day, Blue Crab Boulevard, Three Wise Men and DownWithTyranny!

New York Times:

Clinton and McCain Win in California; Obama Stays Close as G.O.P. Rivals Lag — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won primaries in New York, New Jersey and Arizona and captured the biggest prize of all, California, while Senator Barack Obama strung together nearly a dozen victories from Georgia …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Hill, Live Coverage, The Democratic Daily, State of the Day and The New Editor

The Politico:

Super Tuesday: A split decision — The clarity Democrats so desperately sought escaped them on Super Tuesday, as both candidates found cause to claim victory even as one of them cemented her front-runner status. — By winning critical contested strongholds in Massachusetts, New Jersey …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, NYT, NY Daily News and New York Daily News Blogs

The New Republic:

Who Won Super Tuesday? — It's hard to say, but if you put a gun in my head, I'd say John McCain and (very slightly) Hillary Clinton, but the elections revealed weaknesses in McCain and in both of the leading Democratic candidates. McCain blunted Mitt Romney's challenge, but he failed consistently to win over conservative voters.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Brendan Nyhan and American Street

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Obama claims delegate lead — In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night. — Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com and CNN

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Support Divided, Top Democrats Trade Victories

Discussion: New York Post, MyDD, Washington Post and Suburban Guerrilla

Los Angeles Times:
With no losers, the fight goes on

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Post, Norwegianity and New York Times

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Decisive California Wins for Clinton and McCain

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Third Super Tuesday Reesults Thread

Discussion: Calitics, California Progress Report, BizzyBlog and Burnt Orange Report

The Politico:

Berman's count: 606-534 — David Plouffe, on a conference call just now, offered the Obama campaign's estimate of where they stand at this moment in terms of delegates. — “We are, in terms of delegates, ahead currently: about 606 to 534, in terms of pledged delegates awarded tonight,” he said.

Discussion: Hot Air, American Street, The Strata-Sphere, protein wisdom, Attytood, The Reaction, Spin Cycle and Gateway Pundit

Ari Melber / The Nation:

OBAMA CAMPAIGN PROJECTS 72 DELEGATE LEAD (FOR NOW)... Barack Obama's presidential campaign is claiming an early lead in pledged delegates for Super Tuesday. — In a media conference call at 10:30pm, Campaign Manager David Plouffe estimated that Obama leads Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates by 606 to 534.

Discussion: MSNBC, Don Surber, Bark Bark Woof Woof and All Spin Zone

MSNBC:

Clinton wins Calif.; Obama wins in South — But party's delegate rules mean Democratic race to end up virtually tied — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton greets supports as she enters her Super Tuesday primary night rally in New York. — It's far from over — Feb. 5: NBC News Washington …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Publius Endures, The Carpetbagger Report, skippy the bush kangaroo, Taylor Marsh, The RBC, ABCNEWS, MoJoBlog, Liberal Values, abu muqawama, Truthdig, Daimnation!, The Democratic Daily and The Moderate Voice

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:

Democrats' Votes Display a Racial Divide — Yesterday's primary voting laid bare a profound racial and ethnic divide among Democratic voters, with African Americans overwhelmingly preferring Sen. Barack Obama and Latinos largely favoring Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Democrats' Identity Politics Getting More Sharply Defined

Michelle Malkin:
Where Hillary's Latino votes came from

Discussion: The American Mind

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

The Morning After — I think John O'Sullivan is right. There was an explicit anti-Romney vote in the South. A mere month ago, in the wake of Iowa and New Hampshire, I received a ton of e-mails from southern readers saying these pansy northern states weren't the “real” conservative heartland …

Discussion: Riehl World View, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, Washington Monthly, Betsy's Page and GINA COBB

CNN:

McCain piles up delegates while Dems split theirs — (CNN) — Sen. John McCain cemented his Republican front-runner status Tuesday, piling up big wins coast to coast, according to CNN projections. — Democratic voters remain evenly split on Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen Barack Obama for their party's nomination.

Discussion: FP Passport and PoliBlog (TM)

Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Arizona Senator Surges; Huckabee Strong in the South

Discussion: PoliGazette

The Campaign Spot:

Latest Exits Include One Massive ‘Wow.’ I Mean, ‘WOW.’ — Here's a later round of exits. It includes an absolute shocker that, I suspect, will have Hugh Hewitt jumping out of his chair... Arizona: McCain 36 percent, Romney 36 percent, Huckabee 7 percent.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Captain's Quarters, TIME: Swampland, PoliBlog (TM), The Moderate Voice, The Trail, Wizbang, Daniel W. Drezner, Patterico's Pontifications, Macsmind, Stop The ACLU, Comments from Left Field and AMERICAblog

The Campaign Spot:
The Great Big Early Exit Poll Report

Discussion: Open Left, Commentary, A Blog For All, Hotline On Call, Dyre Portents, Hot Air, MyDD, Don Surber, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salon, Wizbang, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Talking Points Memo, Comments from Left Field, AMERICAblog, Sister Toldjah, Riehl World View and Pollster.com

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

SUMMING IT UP — Before we give way to the night, let me try to pull together some rough thoughts on what happened here tonight. It's probably best to start with the indisputable facts. I haven't had a chance to look at the popular vote. But every estimate I've seen says this was close to an exact tie in delegates.

Discussion: Lance Mannion

Jonathan Weisman / The Trail:

Romney's Expenses Per Delegate Top $1M — Republican campaign operatives call it the Gramm-o-meter, the money a candidate spends per delegate won, in honor of Phil Gramm, the former Texas senator who spent $25 million and won just 10 delegates, or $2.5 million per, in 1996.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, who is willard milton romney? and RADAMISTO

ABCNEWS:

Top Officer Calls U.S. Forces ‘Stressed’ — Top Uniformed Officer Says U.S. Forces ‘Significantly Stressed’ by Iraq, War on Terror — The military's top uniformed officer says U.S. forces are “significantly stressed” by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan while simultaneously trying to stem the tide of violent extremism elsewhere.

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Aaron Bray / Yale Daily News:

Hill looks back on Giuliani's campaign — Following his decisive victories in a number of presidential primaries yesterday, many within the conservative establishment have turned their focus to Arizona Senator John McCain, who appears at this point to have the edge in securing his party's nomination …

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

NRCC probe scares GOP — Top House Republicans were told in recent days that a former employee of their campaign committee may have forged an official audit during the contentious 2006 election cycle and that they should brace for the possibility that an unfolding investigation …