memeorandum: Memo Blasts State Dept. Iraq Effort (Jonathan Karl/ABCNEWS)

7:40 PM ET, February 9, 2008

Top Items:

Brian Braiker / Newsweek:

McCain romps while the Dems divide in the NEWSWEEK poll. — Mr. Electable? McCain is the man to beat on the GOP side — Sen. John McCain, whose campaign to win the Republican Party's presidential nomination was all but declared dead last summer, has cemented a commanding lead …

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Liberal Values

CNN:

Huckabee scores dominant Kansas victory — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Kansas Republican caucuses Saturday. — With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Huckabee had 60 percent of the vote, compared with 24 percent for Arizona Sen. John McCain and 11 percent for Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Discussion: You Decide 08!, PrestoPundit, Gateway Pundit and AMERICAblog

CNN:

Romney edges McCain in conservative straw poll — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly beat John McCain, 35 to 34 percent, in a straw poll of conservative political activists gathered Saturday in Washington — a vote that is viewed as a barometer of support from that major GOP voting bloc.

Discussion: The Corner

Joy Lin / CBS News:

Texas Gov. Perry Asks Huckabee to Drop Out — From CBS News' Joy Lin: — COLLEGE PARK, MD. — Gov. Rick Perry. R-Texas, who has endorsed John McCain, called Mike Huckabee on Friday asking him to drop out of the race, according to a senior Huckabee campaign aide. Huckabee declined Perry's request.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

Washington Post:

Huckabee Beats McCain in Kansas — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee defeated Sen. John McCain in the Kansas Republican caucuses today, after resisting pressure to end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in favor of McCain. — With all precints reporting, Huckabee beat McCain …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

You Decide 08!:
DEMS LOOK FOR BOOST IN LEFTOVER WEEKEND CONTESTS, AFTER HUCKABEE WINS KANSAS

Discussion: Wake up America, The Strata-Sphere and Patterico's Pontifications

Ed Anderson / Updates:
Louisiana primary voters could hold sway

Discussion: The Caucus

Michael D. Shear / The Trail:
Huckabee Wins Kansas Caucus

Discussion: Classical Values and Commentary

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

How I Could Quit The Democratic Party — I am a Democrat. I am my own local precinct captain, and I hold a seat on the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee. Over the past four years, I have helped raise millions of dollars for Democrats. I believe in the primary process …

Discussion: Don Surber, American Street, The Strata-Sphere, Booman Tribune, Althouse, Donklephant and michellemalkin.com

Seattle Times:
Heavy turnout seen at Democratic and GOP caucuses

Discussion: Firedoglake, Ben Smith's Blogs and MyDD

Jill Miller Zimon / The Moderate Voice:
Superdelegate Issue Produces Threats of Quitting Democratic Party

Discussion: QandO, Viking Pundit and Redstate

The Politico:

Hillary rips MSNBC's Shuster — ORONO, MAINE — Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday morning ripped MSNBC over reporter David Shuster's suggestion that Chelsea Clinton was “sort of being pimped out” by the campaign. — “I found the remarks incredibly offensive,” Clinton told reporters in this snowy town outside Bangor.

Discussion: The Caucus, Taylor Marsh, Spin Cycle, Neptunus Lex, Cheat Seeking Missiles and The Page

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
NBC wimped out over “pimped out.”

Discussion: Tom Watson, TVNewser, Scared Monkeys, Hold Fast, FishBowlDC and The Moderate Voice

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
HE'S OUTTA HERE — We now know that MSNBC's David Shuster …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Chelsea Remark Earns MSNBC Correspondent A Suspension

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Reaction, Shakespeare's Sister, The Gun Toting Liberal™, PERRspectives Blog, The Radio Equalizer, Taylor Marsh, Outside The Beltway, Captain's Quarters, Political Punch, Gateway Pundit and The Politico

Ron Paul 2008:

Message from Ron — Whoa! What a year this has been. And what achievements we have had. If I may quote Trotsky of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked.

Discussion: You Decide 08!, L.A. Times, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Donklephant, Gateway Pundit and Reason Magazine

Ariel Alexovich / The Caucus:
Paul Concedes Race, Sort Of

Discussion: The Other McCain, DownWithTyranny!, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, PoliBlog (TM), A Blog For All and Don Surber

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Ron Paul appears to have Kucinich moment

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Jc Reindl / Toledo Blade:

Mayor to Marines: Leave downtown — He says urban exercises scare people — A company of Marine Corps Reservists received a cold send-off from downtown Toledo yesterday by order of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. — The 200 members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, based in Grand Rapids …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Wizbang, StephenBainbridge.com, michellemalkin.com, BLACKFIVE, NewsBusters.org, Atlas Shrugs, BizzyBlog, The Strata-Sphere, Instapundit.com and Little Green Footballs

Pajamas Media: Toledo to Marines: Drop dead

Matt Taibbiposted / Rolling Stone:

The Chicken Doves — Elected to end the war, Democrats have surrendered to Bush on Iraq and betrayed the peace movement for their own political ends — Quietly, while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been inspiring Democrats everywhere with their rolling bitchfest …

Discussion: Democrats.com, Hold Fast and Cadillac Tight

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Sanctioned States Put Democrats in Quandary — The clever people in Michigan who decided to get into a game of chicken with New Hampshire last fall over the timing of their Democratic primary should be having second thoughts this weekend. — Had Michigan Democrats not engaged in gamesmanship …

Discussion: protein wisdom, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wake up America, Jules Crittenden, Right Voices, Captain's Quarters, CNN, Dean's World, You Decide 08! and Blue Crab Boulevard

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Good News for Conservatives — We have a great opportunity in 2008. — What a moment! Having learned nothing from the left's Bush Derangement Syndrome, the conservative movement's big talkers spent the days before Super Tuesday indulging in a fiery display of McCain Derangement Syndrome.

Discussion: Macsmind and The Corner

Robynn Tysver / Omaha World-Herald:

Live updates from the Nebraska Democratic caucuses — It doesn't look good for Clinton at Monroe Middle School. — The line to the Clinton box is empty. The line to vote for Obama is about a half block long. — Order is finally being restored at Monroe Middle School.

Discussion: New York Times

Serge F. Kovaleski / New York Times:

Friends Say Drugs Played Only Bit Part for Obama — Nearly three decades ago, Barack Obama stood out on the small campus of Occidental College in Los Angeles for his eloquence, intellect and activism against apartheid in South Africa. But Mr. Obama, then known as Barry, also joined in the party scene.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report, Obsidian Wings, the talking dog, The Newshoggers, Outside The Beltway, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Reaction, Reason Magazine and MSNBC

Washington Post:

For the House in Maryland — Two able incumbents and a spirited challenger — TUESDAY'S DEMOCRATIC primary in Maryland's 4th Congressional District is a rematch of the 2006 contest between Rep. Albert R. Wynn and challenger Donna F. Edwards. In that face-off, just 17 months ago …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Open Left, Obsidian Wings, DownWithTyranny!, Baltimore Sun and TIME: Swampland