Top Items:

Amnesty Day for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — The Senate today — led by Jay Rockefeller, enabled by Harry Reid, and with the active support of at least 12 (and probably more) Democrats, in conjunction with an as-always lockstep GOP caucus …
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The FISA fight: Nutroots lose, America wins — I've been keeping you up-to-date on the FISA fight in the Senate (see here and here). This morning, a series of votes took place and you'll be happy to know that the defeatist Dems were defeated. — Carter Wood at the NAM's ShopFloor blog sums up the votes:

Senate OKs immunity for telecoms — WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to shield from lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. — After nearly two months of stops and starts …

Obama Unplugged — Lost without a Teleprompter. — USUALLY WHEN BARACK OBAMA gives a major speech, the overdone hosannas from the liberal commentariat follow as surely as night follows day. The American Prospect's Ezra Klein wrote of Obama's post-Iowa victory speech, “I've been blessed to hear many great orations.

Gov. ‘Blunt Talk’ Rendell (and other topics) — So many topics, so little space: — Gov. Ed “Don't Call Me ‘Fast Eddie’ ” Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget. But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs, The Field, Dick Polman's American Debate, Buckeye State Blog and Captain's Quarters
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Top Hillary Supporter: Some Whites In Pennsylvania “Are Not Ready” To Support Black Candidate — This explanation from a prominent Hillary supporter in Pennsylvania, regarding why he thinks Barack Obama could lose his state, seems a bit off message. — According to a columnist …

‘SUPER’ LATINO SLAMS CLINTON — A prominent member of the national Democratic Party has circulated a sharp e-mail saying the removal of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was disloyal to Hispanics and should give “pause” to superdelegates and voters.
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Inside the Clinton Shake-Up — Like so much involving Hillary Clinton, Sunday's departure of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, has gotten tons of attention, but its larger significance has been somewhat misunderstood. I've spent a fair amount of time over the last two years reporting on …

McCain still winner in updated WA GOP caucus results — OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Republican Party released additional results late Monday from last weekend's presidential caucuses, and declared Arizona Sen. John McCain the winner once again.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Wonkette, Boston Globe, MSNBC, DownWithTyranny! and Los Angeles Times
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John McCain's Top 24 Potential Picks For Vice-President — Predicting whom a particular candidate will take as Vice-President is always difficult because so many factors play into it. Do both candidates get along? Is the presidential nominee looking to carry a particular state, region …


Obama Che Guevara Flag ‘Scandal’ — The blogosphere is roiled up over the flag issue again. No, not that flag. This one: — That's the Cuban flag with the image of Ernesto Che Guevara superimposed on it. It's tacked onto the wall of an office in Barack Obama's Houston campaign headquarters.
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Cool on O'Bama — All this emoting over Barack Obama's wonderful, wonderful personality is starting to trigger my gag reflex. — What are we electing here, a faith healer? What is Obama's view of the executive power? How, exactly, does he propose to “bring us together”? Just by being half-black?
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The New Republic
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“Barack Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human …
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PrestoPundit

When Reality Bites — There's a big difference between the Republican and Democratic campaigns: The Republicans have split on policy grounds; the Democrats haven't. There's been a Republican divide between center and right, yet no Democratic divide between center and left.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, PERRspectives Blog, protein wisdom, Betsy's Page, The Glittering Eye and Cadillac Tight


Mortgage Crisis Spreads Past Subprime Loans — The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem. — As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans …
Discussion:
Associated Press, AMERICAblog, Think Progress, Make Them Accountable, Matthew Yglesias and Balloon Juice

Go with the tough guy — The new ‘axis of evil’ doesn't fear the U.S. McCain could change that. — Some conservatives are having conniptions over the rise of John McCain as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Personally, I am less interested in what Rush Limbaugh …


Finding 11-Day Sentence Not Too Little but Too Late — Matthew Sinor was in his second year of law school at Ohio State a couple of years ago when he heard that an Army buddy had gotten into trouble with the law. Mr. Sinor rescheduled two exams and flew to Mobile, Ala. …
Discussion:
TalkLeft

McCain and the Talk-Show Hosts — What a kerfuffle! Half a dozen talk-radio hosts whose major talent is that, like hairdressers, they can talk all day long to one client after another as they snip, have decided that the presumptive Republican nominee does not hew sufficiently close to their gospel.