memeorandum: New York Philharmonic to play in North Korea (Barbara Demick/Los Angeles Times)

11:05 AM ET, February 26, 2008

Top Items:

Clinton Campaign Starts 5-Point Attack on Obama — After struggling for months to dent Senator Barack Obama's candidacy, the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now unleashing what one Clinton aide called a “kitchen sink” fusillade against Mr. Obama, pursuing five lines …

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Team Clinton: Down, and Out of Touch — They are in the last throes, if you will. As Vice President Cheney knows, such predictions can be perilous. Still, there was no mistaking a certain flailing, a lashing-out, as two Clinton advisers sat down for a bacon-and-eggs session yesterday at the St. Regis Hotel.

Discussion: The Plank, Redstate, Donklephant, Booman Tribune, Blue Crab Boulevard and Prairie Weather

The Politico:

Finger-pointing, frustration in Clinton camp — With a week to go before climactic tests in Texas and Ohio, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign team has slipped into full recriminations mode. — Looking backward, interviews with a cross-section of campaign aides and sympathetic outsiders suggest …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, New York Times, Newsweek Blogs and Real Clear Politics

New York Post:

THE MYSTERY SMEAR — Just how desperate is the faltering Hillary-for-President team? Desper ate enough for overt race-baiting? — Consider the flap over a photo that popped up on the Drudge Report yesterday, depicting Sen. Barack Obama in traditional Somali garb during a 2006 trip to Kenya - his father's homeland.

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Sweetness & Light and Attytood

David Brody / CBN.com:

Hillary Clinton Fights On — Click on the video player to see what the former first lady had to say to CBN News about her campaign, Obama and her faith. — This past weekend in Rhode Island, it was 5,000 strong. — But in an election year when she would make history as the first woman president …

Discussion: TownHall Blog and michellemalkin.com

Las Vegas Review-Journal:
FLOWERS PUTTING CLINTON PHONE CONVERSATIONS UP FOR BID

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Wonkette

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Rendell: ‘The Media Does Not Like the Clintons’

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Buck Naked Politics, The Democratic Daily and QandO

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Real McCain — You wouldn't know it to look at them, but political consultants are as faddish as anyone else. And the current vogueish advice among the backroom set is: Go after your opponent's strengths. So in the first volley of what feels like the general election campaign …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Firedoglake, Commentary, The Campaign Spot, The RBC and Sister Toldjah

Michael J. Totten:

Guns in the Desert — ANBAR PROVINCE, IRAQ - The Humvee slammed to a halt on the desert road between Fallujah and the town of Al Farris. I peered around the driver's head from the back seat and tried to figure out what was happening. — “Why are we stopping?” I said. — “IED,” Sergeant Guerrero said.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Dean's World and UrbanGrounds

Times of London:

Mansion ‘mistake’ piles the pressure on Barack Obama — James Bone in New York and Dominic Kennedy in London — A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Right Wing Nut House, protein wisdom, The Corner, NO QUARTER, The Moderate Voice, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Don Surber, The Jawa Report, UrbanGrounds and Atlas Shrugs

CBS News:

CBS Poll: Obama Surges Ahead Nationally — CBS News/NY Times Survey Finds Obama Opens Up 16-Point Lead; Also Leads In Head-To-Head Match Up With McCain — (CBS) A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds Barack Obama with a 16-point lead over rival Hillary Clinton among Democratic primary voters nationwide.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, CNN, Marc Ambinder, Comments from Left Field, The Moderate Voice, Cliff Schecter, Gallup and Quinnipiac University

SurveyUSA:
Texas: Obama 49%, Clinton 45%

Discussion: Open Left, CANNONFIRE, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Breitbart.tv:

Bill Slips While Stumping for Hillary? ‘If You Elect Me...’ — Was he speaking “as” his wife or was it a slip? (see related link) “If you elect me, I'll repeal those subsidies and put them into a strategic energy fund that will create American jobs for America's future with clean energy.”

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Associated Press:

Dems' Ohio debate comes at key moment — CLEVELAND (AP) — Maybe not since Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan met on a stage in this blue-collar city have two candidates debated with so much at stake. — And if recent campaigning is any indication, Tuesday night's debate between Democratic …

Discussion: The Caucus

OPENERS:
Debate primer: How to watch Tuesday's presidential debate

Discussion: dispatchpolitics.com and The Page

David Lat / Abovethelaw.com:

Breaking: Monica Goodling Is Engaged! — This just in: the super-fabulous Monica Goodling, one of ATL's all-time favorite people, is engaged! — Monica Marie Goodling, of Alexandria, is engaged to be married to Michael Krempasky, of Falls Church. The wedding is planned for later this year.

Discussion: Think Progress, Firedoglake and Dependable Renegade

Ardeshir Arian / Pajamas Media:

IRANIAN SHOPPERS RIOT AGAINST MODESTY POLICE — It happens every day on the streets of Tehran: a police squad grabbed a young woman for dressing immodestly. But this time, the young woman fought back: and a crowd defended her and attacked the police. Thanks to cell phone video, the Internet …

Discussion: Power Line, Fausta's blog, Gateway Pundit and Ynetnews

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Obama stiffs, stifles national press — EDINBURG, Texas - For all the positive press Barack Obama receives, as he moves closer to clinching the Democratic nomination he is establishing himself as the candidate who keeps the most distance from the national media.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Wonkette, Washington Post, MSNBC and NO QUARTER

Electa Draper / Denver Post:

Huckabee endorses ‘egg as person’ amendment — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday endorsed a proposed Colorado Human Life Amendment that would define personhood as a fertilized egg. — The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister also supports a human-life amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars