memeorandum: Tab in Scam At Tax Office In D.C. Nears $50 Million (Carol D. Leonnig/Washington Post)

9:50 AM ET, February 20, 2008

Top Items:

John Dickerson / Slate:

White Men Jumped — HOW OBAMA WON OVER KEY CLINTON SUPPORTERS IN WISCONSIN, AND WHY IT MATTERS. — Also in Slate, Jack Shafer says that Obama is not a plagiarist, and Emily Bazelon analyzes the exit poll data regarding Hillary Clinton and white voters. — Hillary Clinton has been calling Barack Obama a plagiarist.

Discussion: The Fix, Washington Wire, CNN, Time and The Mahablog

Shaun Mullen / The Moderate Voice:

Another Enormous Win As The Obama Firestorm Closes In On The Clinton Firewall — And so voters in yet another primary state that Hillary Clinton never took seriously enough in her march to inevitability have added more fuel to Barack Obama's improbable quest, putting her a step closer to possible electoral oblivion.

Discussion: The Ruckus

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Wisconsin Voters Give Obama Decisive Victory — McCain Easily Defeats Huckabee in Republican Race — Sen. Barack Obama won the Wisconsin Democratic primary decisively last night, extending his winning streak to nine consecutive contests and dealing another significant blow to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Discussion: Faithful Progressive

Steve Benen / Crooks and Liars:
White men can jump — to Obama

Discussion: The Politico, The Ruckus and New York Times

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Hillary On Her Last Legs — Hillary Clinton took an unexpected beating …

Discussion: The Ruckus

CNN:
Clinton ad: 'She's worked the night shift, too.'

Discussion: Too Sense

Craig Gilbert / JSOnline:
Illinois senator garners key demographics

Discussion: New York Times, Norwegianity and The Caucus

Honolulu Advertiser:

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: RealClearPolitics, PoliBlog (TM) and Scared Monkeys

Marc Ambinder:

Pro-Clinton 527 Prepares For Ohio, PA and Texas — Allies of Hillary Clinton plan an expensive, stealth campaign to buttress her standing in the must-win states of Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. — They're canvassing Clinton donors for pledges of up to $100,000 in the hope of raising at least $10M by the end of next week.

Discussion: Reason Magazine

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: Talking Points Memo, Bang the Drum, The Ruckus and INSTAPUTZ

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

The Day After — It looks even worse for Hillary Clinton. So what can she do? — Of course the obvious is win. But I think how she wins matters too. But I do not mean win margins. I mean not winning ugly. — It's not fair. The Media, the blogs AND the Right (more on this later) have swooned for Obama.

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Obama surges past Clinton in Democratic race

Discussion: Random Thoughts from Reno

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

Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:

The Obama Delusion — It's hard not to be dazzled by Barack Obama. At the 2004 Democratic convention, he visited with Newsweek reporters and editors, including me. I came away deeply impressed by his intelligence, his forceful language and his apparent willingness to take positions that seemed to rise above narrow partisanship.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Corner, Commentary, Blue Crab Boulevard, Publius Pundit, Prairie Weather and Betsy's Page

The Huffington Post:

Chris Matthews Humiliates State Senator Kirk Watson On MSNBC — Texas State Senator Kirk Watson (D-TX) learned a lesson in preparedness Tuesday night when he was humiliated on MSNBC. Watson was on to talk about his support of Senator Obama alongside Representative Stephanie Tubbs (D-OH), who backs Senator Clinton.

Discussion: Pensito Review and NewsBusters.org

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Name That Accomplishment! — This exchange will race through the conservative blogosphere, and probably on the pro-Hillary sites as well. Last night, Chris Matthews interviewed Texas state senator and Barack Obama supporter Kirk Watson as Obama sailed to a crushing victory in Wisconsin.

Discussion: Macsmind

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Not Buying It — Michelle Obama's comments about her pride in America have apparently put her husband on the defensive. Barack Obama tried to spin the comments made by Mrs. Obama in Milwaukee on Monday as relating only to politics, but the quote speaks for itself:

Discussion: Sadly, No!

Associated Press:
Obama Defends Wife on Matter of Pride

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Gateway Pundit and The Ruckus

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: ReadWriteWeb, Fausta's blog, NewsBusters.org, New York Sun, Reason Magazine, The Sundries Shack, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Gateway Pundit and Don Surber

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

Discussion: Babalu Blog and NewsBusters.org

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: Outside The Beltway, Althouse, Bark Bark Woof Woof, CNN and Instapundit.com

Rick Weiss / Washington Post:

Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery — Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light — Black is getting blacker. — Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it …

Discussion: Defense Tech and Outside The Beltway

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

Obama's Speech — Unlike most everyone else, I thought Obama's speech last night was pretty uninspiring and not particularly well delivered. In the end it was too long and boring. But I have heard it all before. While some, like Ezra Klein, think Obama scored a coup by “stepping on Clinton's speech,” I saw nothing new in that.