memeorandum: Bush is No ‘Father Christmas of Africa’; It is He Who Needs Us! (Samuel Okudzeto Ablawa/WORLDMEETS.US)

7:35 AM ET, February 20, 2008

Top Items:

Obama 74% vs. Clinton 25% in Hawaii — Sen. Barack Obama won 2,258 votes, or 77 percent, to Sen. Hillary Clinton's 666 votes, or 23 percent, with 26 of 347 precincts reporting, Hawai'i Democratic party officials announced just before 9:30 p.m. There were long lines and some confusion …

Discussion: Star Bulletin and New York Times

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: Bang the Drum, The Ruckus and INSTAPUTZ

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

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

CNN:
Exit polls: Obama holds onto his base, makes inroads in Clinton's

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

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice: Landslide Win For Obama In Hawaii Democratic Presidential Caucuses

Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008

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

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

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Trail and Booman Tribune

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

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

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

Discussion: Open Left, The Campaign Spot, TalkLeft, The Reaction, Donklephant and Comments from Left Field

Jennifer Parker / ABCNEWS:
Obama, McCain Win Wisconsin Primaries

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

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

Discussion: Oliver Willis, TIME, Roger L. Simon 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

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

Michael Graham / The Natural Truth:
CNN: “We're EXTRA Fair and Balanced For Communist Dictators!”

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

Mark Daniels / The Moderate Voice:

The Task for Huckabee and Clinton: Define Their End Games — Barack Obama and John McCain were the winners of their respective parties' presidential primaries in Wisconsin today. Obama appears ready to win the Democratic caucuses in Hawaii and McCain in the Republican caucuses in Washington …

Sam Graham-Felsen / my.barackobama.com:
Obama's victory speech in Houston

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Gristmill

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

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.

Discussion: Political Machine

Samuel Okudzeto Ablawa / WORLDMEETS.US:
Bush is No ‘Father Christmas of Africa’; It is He Who Needs Us!

Discussion: Riehl World View and The Ruckus

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: Bark Bark Woof Woof and Instapundit.com

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

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: PrestoPundit, Too Sense, Accuracy in Media, Wonkette, Transterrestrial Musings, Shakespeare's Sister, Rox Populi, DownWithTyranny!, Roger Ailes, Brian Beutler, The World Wide Rant and Riehl World View

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

Michael Luo / New York Times:

Small Donations Add Up for Obama — CHICAGO — A cluster of cramped cubicles, tucked away in a rear corner of Senator Barack Obama's campaign headquarters here, serves as the heart of a fund-raising machine that has reshaped the calculus of the 2008 election.

Discussion: The RBC

CNN:

Clinton ad: 'She's worked the night shift, too.' — (CNN) - Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is reaching out to blue-collar voters with a new ad that says she can empathize with the travails of the night shift. — “You pour coffee, fix hair, you work the night shift at the local hospital …

Discussion: Too Sense