memeorandum: Bush is No ‘Father Christmas of Africa’; It is He Who Needs Us! (William Kern/The Moderate Voice)

4:50 AM ET, February 20, 2008

Top Items:

Wisconsin exits: Big night for Obama? — Mike Allen emails:

Discussion: The New Republic, TalkLeft, American Street, Dyre Portents, Taylor Marsh, Taegan Goddard's …, Spin Cycle, MyDD, The Strata-Sphere, Comments from Left Field, Associated Press, The American Mind, Newsweek Blogs, The Ruckus, The Impolitic and THE LIBERAL JOURNAL

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

NO SILVER LINING FOR HILLARY — A couple of things jump out from tonight's Wisconsin results. — First, despite polls showing a relatively close race, Obama looks likely to have a final winning margin in the double digits. In other words, not close at all.

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Wisconsin Primary Live Blog — Will Hillary Clinton surprise everyone and win in Wisconsin? Can Barack Obama beat back Hillary's late challenge? Since my evening meeting got canceled, I'll be live blogging the Wisconsin poll results. Of course we're also looking at Washington and Hawaii …

Discussion: The Reaction, Donklephant, Comments from Left Field and Sister Toldjah

Jennifer Parker / ABCNEWS:
Obama, McCain Win Wisconsin Primaries

Discussion: Pollster.com, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, You Decide 08!, CNN, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, Captain's Quarters, Political Radar, The Democratic Daily, MSNBC, Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, skippy the bush kangaroo, Comments from Left Field and The Ruckus

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
Exit Polls: Voters Seek ‘Change’ in Wisconsin

Discussion: The Page, Liberal Values, Political Radar, michellemalkin.com, Open Left and WisPolitics Election Blog

Talal Al-Khatib / Political Radar:
McCain Rips ‘Eloquent But Empty’ Obama

Discussion: Oliver Willis, Roger L. Simon and The Ruckus

The Campaign Spot:
First Word on Wisconsin Exits

Discussion: Open Left, CNN, Hot Air, TIME and Comments from Left Field

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

What Now For Hillary? — The final number looks like a double digit win (the spread is currently 11 points and the current delegate split is 13-8, and likely to be around 42-32 at the end) win for Obama. That is bad for Clinton. But the bad news comes from two other results.

Discussion: The Ruckus and INSTAPUTZ

CNN:

Exit polls: Obama holds onto his base, makes inroads in Clinton's — (CNN) — In campaign contests so far, Barack Obama has polled the best among black, more wealthy and educated voters and college students, while rival Hillary Clinton has been able to count on women, low-income voters and blue-collar workers.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Truthdig and culturekitchen

Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008

Discussion: WHIO-TV, MyDD, TalkLeft, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Wonkette, Spin Cycle, American Street, The New Republic, The Strata-Sphere and Donklephant

Mark Daniels / The Moderate Voice: Whitman for Vice President?

Sam Hemingway / Burlington Free Press:
Clinton to step up campaign effort in Vermont

Discussion: The Trail, Los Angeles Times and Booman Tribune

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Obama turns tables on Clinton — Under fire for uncredited echoes of another candidate's speeches, the Obama campaign sought Tuesday evening to turn the tables on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) by highlighting her clearly false claim that her campaign had not fueled the controversy.

Discussion: MSNBC, GOP.com, The Caucus, The Swamp, Big Head DC and Wonkette

Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:

Clinton fingerprints on plagiarism flap — CLEVELAND - Hillary Rodham Clinton says reporters, not her campaign, uncovered evidence of Democratic rival Barack Obama sharing speech lines with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. — She made the claim Tuesday despite the fact her campaign posted video clips …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Swamp, The Huffington Post and Liberal Values

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Yet Another Obama - Deval Patrick Speech Line Swipe

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Corner

Lisa Schiffren / The Corner:

Obama's Political Origins — Until I came across this article by Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media, which I regard as factual — with all that that implies — the questions about Obama's background that should have come naturally never quite rose to the surface of my mind. Barack Obama is the new man, of course.

Discussion: Wonkette, Transterrestrial Musings, Shakespeare's Sister, DownWithTyranny!, Roger Ailes, Brian Beutler and The World Wide Rant

Cliff Kincaid / Accuracy in Media:
Obama's Communist Mentor

Discussion: PrestoPundit, Silent Running, Middle Earth Journal, Hot Air, Roger Ailes and Riehl World View

dnA / Too Sense: For Conservatives, “Race-Mixing” Still A Communist Plot

Juan Cole:

Musharraf's Party Roundly Defeated; Fundamentalist Coalition Collapses in NWFP; PPP Likely to Form Next Government — Pakistan held its elections on Monday, which are fateful for the future of the country and also probably for the Bush-Cheney foreign policy.

Discussion: Wampum, Mercury Rising and TPM Cafe

Washington Post:
Unilateral Strike Called a Model For U.S. Operations in Pakistan

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, democracyarsenal.org, Daniel W. Drezner, Associated Press, D-Day, Commentary, Hot Air, New York Times and The Strata-Sphere

New York Times:

John McCain's Feb. 19 Speech — The following is the text as prepared for delivery of Senator John McCain's speech to supporters after the Feb. 19 Wisconsin primary, as provided his presidential campaign. — Thank you, my friends, for your support and dedication to our campaign.

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, PrestoPundit and Connecting.the.Dots

New York Times: Hillary Clinton's Feb. 19 Speech

Larry Kudlow / The Corner:

It Is Over — Please allow me a dose of hardened market realism concerning Obama's landslide victory in Wisconsin. The race is over. Hillary is finished. The Clinton Restoration is over. President Bill Clinton's political invincibility is over. Hillary's electability is over.

Discussion: Instapundit.com

Babalu Blog:

CNN: Be kind to castro — Michael Graham, blogging at The Natural Truth, brings us this disgusting but not surprising story about how CNN coached its anchors to treat the subject of fidel castro in an early morning email today. — I can now confirm independently that not only did such an email go out, here it is in its entirety:

Discussion: Reason Magazine, NewsBusters.org, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Sundries Shack, Don Surber, Gateway Pundit, Sweetness & Light and Fausta's blog

Angelica Martinez / San Diego Union-Tribune:

Wilkes sentenced to 12 years in prison — SAN DIEGO - Brent Wilkes, the Poway defense contractor who federal prosecutors contend was the mastermind behind the largest congressional bribery scheme in history, was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday. — With his daughter crying behind him …

Discussion: NPR Blogs and Roger Ailes

William Kern / The Moderate Voice:

Bush is No ‘Father Christmas of Africa’; It is He Who Needs Us! — True, the jubilation that has greeted President Bush in Africa is an impressive sight. But as one notes by reading this op-ed article from today's edition of the Ghanaian Chronicle, not all Africans welcome him as a Great White God.

KNTV-TV:

VALLEJO, Calif. — The city of Vallejo is on the brink of becoming the first California city ever to declare bankruptcy, City Council members said Tuesday. — Vallejo may run out of cash as early as March, council member Stephanie Gomes said. — “Not only that, but now we have 20 police …

Discussion: The Agonist and Calculated Risk