memeorandum: Gallup Poll: Obama Opens “First Statistically Significant Lead” Against Clinton (Joe Gandelman/The Moderate Voice)

10:05 PM ET, February 16, 2008

Top Items:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on polling conducted Feb. 13-15, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — For several days, nationwide Democratic voters' preferences have been shifting toward Barack Obama in Gallup Poll Daily election tracking. Now, the Illinois senator enjoys …

Discussion: Political Punch, American Street and Hot Air

You Decide 08!:

TOP CLINTON ADVISER SAYS SUPERDELEGATES WILL DECIDE ELECTION, OBAMA'S VICTORIES ‘IRRELEVANT’ — A top Hillary Clinton adviser on Saturday boldly predicted his candidate would lock down the nomination before the August convention by definitively winning over party insiders and officials known …

Discussion: Hot Air, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard and Donklephant

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Gallup Poll: Obama Opens “First Statistically Significant Lead” Against Clinton — A new Gallup poll shows Illinois Senator Barack Obama widening his national lead against Senator Hillary Clinton in their increasingly heated battle for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination …

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
CLINTON CAMP: ALL THE WAY TO CONVENTION

Discussion: The Politico, The Field, Daily Kos, The New Republic, Spin Cycle and Ben Smith's Blogs

Sam Roberts / New York Times:

Unofficial Tallies in City Understated Obama Vote — Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem's 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, Hot Air, The Reaction, AMERICAblog, Redstate, Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Voting Malfunctions: Obama Votes in Harlem Not Counted

Discussion: Brave New Films blog

Sarah Baxter / Times of London:

Right slams Obama as ‘shady Chicago socialist’ — Republicans are out to crush Barack by painting him as a leftwinger with dubious support — LEADING Republicans believe they can trounce Barack Obama in the presidential election by tarring him as a shady Chicago socialist.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh and The Ruckus

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

Obama as the Next McGovern? — The TimesOnline says the right wing is set to attack Barack Obama s the ultimate “liberal socialist” in the mold of George McGovern. … Sample attack: … More... I was struck earlier by Obama's statement that the solution to the Florida primary election is to hold caucuses.

Discussion: progressive involvement

Andrew Romano / Newsweek Blogs:

Al Gore to the Rescue? — Stumper's Take: He foresaw global warming. He “took the initiative” on the Internet. And he knew exactly how Iraq would turn out. Who's to say that Al Gore hasn't known all along that the Democratic race would descend into some weird state of gridlock …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Wonkette and New York Times

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:
Clinton camp begins 11th hour effort

Discussion: Donklephant and Don Surber

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

F.B.I. Received Unauthorized E-Mail Access — WASHINGTON — A technical glitch gave the F.B.I. access to the e-mail messages from an entire computer network — perhaps hundreds of accounts or more — instead of simply the lone e-mail address that was approved by a secret intelligence court …

Discussion: The Seminal, Matthew Yglesias, Emptywheel, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather and The Volokh Conspiracy

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

These Kinds Of Sexist Remarks Are Not What I Am Looking For … In a campaign marked by news coverage unrelenting in its sexism and misogyny, especially from NBC, the last thing we can afford is sexism from the frontrunning candidate. Barack Obama needs to apologize for this remark.

Discussion: Obsidian Wings, Balloon Juice, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, The Newshoggers, The New Republic, Liberal Values and Lawyers, Guns and Money

T-Steel / The Moderate Voice:
This is sexist? Really? For real?

Discussion: TalkLeft and The Ruckus

Chris Walters / Consumerist:

Study Says Payday Lenders More Prevalent In Areas Of High Christian Conservative Power — A law professor and associate professor of geography set out to create the most comprehensive map of U.S. payday lenders to date. What they found, to their surprise, was “a surprising relationship between populations …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Emptywheel and unbossed.com

White House:

Myth/Fact: Five Myths About the House's Failure to Give Our Intelligence Professionals the Tools They Need to Monitor Terrorists Effectively — House Leadership's Decision To Block A Vote On A Bipartisan Senate Solution Will Create Unacceptable Risks To Our National Security

Discussion: unbossed.com, Daily Kos, michellemalkin.com, National Review, Brian Beutler, Macsmind, The Carpetbagger Report and Stop The ACLU

Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner:
“At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning …

Discussion: Once Upon a Time, Hot Air, Salon and Israel Matzav

White House:
President's Radio Address

Discussion: Think Progress

Sadaqat Jan / Associated Press:

Pakistan campaign rally bombing kills 37 — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a crowd following a rally for a candidate allied with the opposition, killing 37 people and heightening fears of Islamic militant violence during Monday's crucial parliamentary elections.

Discussion: Sweetness & Light, The Moderate Voice and The Huffington Post

Zeeshan Haider / Reuters:
Bomb kills 37 on last day of Pakistan vote campaign

Discussion: Roger L. Simon and The Seminal

Robin Wright / MSNBC:
U.S. scrambled to find Pakistani vote observers

Discussion: American Footprints, The Newshoggers and Comments from Left Field

Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:

Margaret Carlson's Anti Hillary Email — Nice email, huh? A reader sent it to me. Really exposes the arrogance of Bloomberg News's Margaret Carlson, doesn't it? Op-ed columnists, however, can say whatever they want, but they should not split hairs about the true motives behind their agenda …

Discussion: Bang the Drum

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Obama's Appeal (The Secret Thereof) — Allow me to expand on my notion that Obama is the Mirror of Desire (Mirror of Erised to you Harry Potter fans out there) in which people see what they most want to see. — Obama's basic message is that he is a smart and reasonable guy who will reach …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Washington Post:

A Rotten Way to Pick a President — Something is seriously wrong with the way we pick our presidential candidates. But experts and pundits, caught up in the horse races, have been slow to point out the obvious — or have come to accept our badly flawed system as immutable fact.

Discussion: protein wisdom and SFGate

Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:

Arcane Market Is Next to Face Big Credit Test — Few Americans have heard of credit default swaps, arcane financial instruments invented by Wall Street about a decade ago. But if the economy keeps slowing, credit default swaps, like subprime mortgages, may become a household term.

Discussion: Crooked Timber