memeorandum: Clarity Sought on Electronics Searches (Ellen Nakashima/Washington Post)

2:50 PM ET, February 7, 2008

Top Items:

Krooney / The Page:

Romney Quits Race — Says time of war is not the right time to continue GOP fight: “I feel I have to stand aside.” — Read full remarks at the CPAC conference here. — Did not endorse McCain. — AP: Decision effectively cedes nomination to McCain. — HALPERIN'S TAKE: TEN THINGS MITT ROMNEY COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

Discussion: Hotline On Call, Wizbang, Democratic Strategist, TownHall Blog, Taylor Marsh, Political Machine, LiberalLand, DownWithTyranny!, Donklephant, A Blog For All, race42008.com, Macsmind, All Spin Zone, rubber hose, New York Magazine, Liberal Values and Balloon Juice

John King / CNN:

GOP sources: Romney to suspend campaign — (CNN) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will suspend his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, GOP sources tell CNN. — Romney had won 270 delegates in through the Super Tuesday contests, compared with front-runner John McCain's 680.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Wire, American Street, Burnt Orange Report, Think Progress, The Carpetbagger Report, The Strata-Sphere, Buck Naked Politics, BizzyBlog, Middle Earth Journal, Citizen Orange, PoliGazette, Buckeye State Blog, The Glittering Eye and The Crone Speaks

Byron York / The Corner:

Romney Pulling Out? Campaign Doesn't Want “To Look Destructive At What Might Be The End.” — We are beginning to see signs that Mitt Romney might be preparing to pull out of the Republican race. — Everyone is looking for tea leaves from the campaign, and we'll know more about the governor's state …

Discussion: Boston Globe, Redstate, TIME, Power Line, PoliBlog (TM), BobKrumm.com, Sister Toldjah and Roger Ailes

Mark Halperin / The Page:

Transcript of Romney's Speech Withdrawing From the Race — Governor Romney's Address to the Conservative Political Action Committee - February 7, 2008 — I want to begin by saying thank you. It's great to be with you again. And I look forward to joining with you many more times in the future.

Discussion: The New Republic, Think Progress, The Daily Dish, Shakespeare's Sister, GINA COBB, Dick Polman's American Debate and Reason Magazine

Eric Pianin / The Fix:

Romney Announces He Is Dropping Out of GOP Race — Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content. — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney announced today that he will suspend his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Wire, The Carpetbagger Report, Comments from Left Field and Politics Plus

Michelle Malkin:

Live from CPAC: Romney speaks..."Frankly in this time of war, I cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror...I feel I need to stand aside" — Video here. And N.Z. Bear has pics/vid from the foot of the podium. — Talked to a couple of Romney staffers.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, The Newshoggers, You Decide 08!, Gateway Pundit and Wake up America

You Decide 08!:

ROMNEY DROPS PRESIDENTIAL BID, STUNS CPAC AUDIENCE — Mitt Romney suspended his presidential campaign Thursday, telling a stunned conservative group that continuing his uphill battle against John McCain would hurt the Republican Party and make it more likely that the Democratic candidate would win the general election in November.

Discussion: News Hounds, Stop The ACLU, A Second Hand Conjecture and Patterico's Pontifications

The Caucus:
Romney Quits Presidential Race

Discussion: The Plank, PrawfsBlawg, Where's the Outrage?, All Spin Zone, The Moderate Voice and About.com US Politics

The Truth Laid Bear:
Game Over for Mitt Romney

Discussion: Redstate, Outside The Beltway and The Campaign Spot

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Team Romney source hints that Mitt will drop out? …

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Inside Charm City, michellemalkin.com, The Corner, The Campaign Spot and The Sundries Shack

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
CPAC: Romney To Withdraw?

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Guardian and The American Mind

New York Times:

Romney Drops Out of Presidential Race — Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who sought to position himself as the true conservative choice for the Republican presidential nomination, announced Thursday afternoon that he had ended his campaign. — Mr. Romney, who had vowed …

Discussion: The Heretik

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Obama and Clinton Brace for Long Run

Discussion: JustOneMinute, USA Today, Washington Post, New York Post, Tom Watson, MSNBC, The Carpetbagger Report, Buckeye State Blog and BuzzMachine

The Politico:
Romney ends bid, eyeing 2012

Discussion: Hot Air

USA Today:
Romney suspends campaign

Discussion: protein wisdom and FP Passport

Mort Kondracke / Real Clear Politics:
McCain's Challenge: Democrats Hugely Outvoting GOP

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, About.com US Conservative …, Political Machine and Soccer Dad

Jennifer Parker / Political Punch:

And Obama Wept — Inspiration is nice. But some folks seem to be getting out of hand. — It's as if Tom Daschle descended from on high saying, “Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Corner, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, PunditGuy, Attytood, Taylor Marsh, Redstate and Wonkette

Joe Klein / Time:
Inspiration vs. Substance

Discussion: Firedoglake

Sam Graham-Felsen / my.barackobama.com:

Message from David Plouffe: Matching the Five Million — David Plouffe just sent out this email...

Discussion: New York Post, TPM Election Central, Threat Level, Personal Democracy Forum, MSNBC, Hold Fast, culturekitchen, The RBC, MyDD and The Daily Whim

Marc Ambinder:
Money Pours In For Clinton, Obama

Discussion: The New Republic

Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:

“EXCLUSIVE!” JOHN McCAIN CPAC SPEECH — A secret operative working for this website has gotten a hold of the speech John McCain will deliver to attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference. She says I shouldn't ask how she got it although she mentioned that she had a real …

Discussion: Jon Swift, Captain's Quarters, The Newshoggers, Cheat Seeking Missiles and Gateway Pundit

Bloomberg:

Obama Advisers Foresee a Delegate Draw With Clinton — Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama's advisers are anticipating the possibility of a Democratic presidential race deadlocked past the last primary, and the outcome may hinge on a fight over whether delegations from Florida and Michigan …

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Reason Magazine

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: DEADLOCKED — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro

Discussion: New York Times, Open Left, Easter Lemming Liberal News and Booman Tribune

Anne Schroeder Mullins / Anne Schroeder's Blogs:

CPAC to all CPAC-ers: Don't boo McCain — John McCain may have it easier than he expected today when he commandeers the podium at CPAC this afternoon. Conservatives from all over will predictably fill the room to the brim to listen to what the now GOP front-runner has to say, despite a hate/love relationship with the guy.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, The Impolitic, Hot Air, Macsmind and Riehl World View

BBC:

Sharia law in UK is ‘unavoidable’ — The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK “seems unavoidable”. — Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to “face up to the fact” that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Biased BBC, Tim Blair and Blue Crab Boulevard

Sonia Verma / Times of London:

Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man — A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Media Blog and Hot Air

Joe Pappalardo / Popular Mechanics:

Sun Stays Sluggish as Weathermen Fight for Anti-Ice Age Funding — Every day, scientists hoping to see — an increase in solar activity train their instruments at the sun as it crosses the sky. This is no idle academic pursuit: A lull in solar action could potentially drive …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Clayton Cramer's BLOG