memeorandum: Obama Blows his ‘Sister Soujah’ Moment (Taylor Marsh/The Huffington Post)

9:05 AM ET, February 27, 2008

Top Items:

Senator Hillary Clinton / New York Times:

The Democratic Debate in Cleveland — The following is a transcript of the Democratic presidential debate on MSNBC in Cleveland, Ohio, as provided by the Federal News Service and CQ Transcriptions via The Associated Press. — PARTICIPANTS: — SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (D-IL) — MODERATORS:

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Swamp, Washington Monthly, Dick Polman's American Debate, TigerHawk, Truthdig, Bark Bark Woof Woof, MSNBC, Connecting.the.Dots, FP Passport, Taylor Marsh, The Corner, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, The Reaction, The RBC and The Democratic Daily

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

RUSSERT'S LOWEST MOMENT (AND THAT'S SAYING A LOT) — I discussed this in the live debate blog. But I think it's worth going back and watching Russert's run of shame here. I would say it was borderline to bring up the issue of Farrakhan at all. But perhaps since it's getting some media play …

Discussion: Don Surber, Comments from Left Field, Outside The Beltway and Donklephant

Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:

Obama Blows his ‘Sister Soujah’ Moment — Clinton fights for children and families. — She fights for women's rights around the world. — She fights for health care. She fights for veterans' health care too. — After a year in the primary season, Hillary Clinton has found her theme: I'm a fighter.

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

The Clang-Fest in Cleveland — About two-thirds of the way through the debate, Barack Obama took a question about Louis Farrakhan's support for his campaign. He gave a sufficient, if not quite stellar answer—saying he'd repeatedly denounced Farrakhan's anti-Semitic statements, that he'd long been a supporter of Israel, etc.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Don Frederick / Los Angeles Times:

Obama's Farrakhan answer gives Clinton an opening — When you've debated as often as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have, it's hard to find fresh material to spar over. But — who knew? — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan provided such fodder Tuesday night.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Dean's World, TalkLeft and Washington Wire

Andy McCarthy / The Corner:
Gotcha BS — Good for Hil getting the name of the new president …

Discussion: American Spectator and Whiskey Fire

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Live-Blogging Cleveland — 10.36 pm. Obama won it - quite easily.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daniel W. Drezner, Democracy in America, Spin Cycle and Comments from Left Field

Marc Ambinder:
Vantage Point — On substance: Clinton. On style: Obama.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Peter Wallsten / Los Angeles Times:

McCain has edge over Democrats — The GOP candidate is rated ‘strongest leader.’ The survey also shows Obama has a six-point lead over Clinton. — WASHINGTON — As he emerges from a sometimes- bitter primary campaign, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain poses …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Jules Crittenden and JammieWearingFool

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Clinton's superdelegates rejecting pleas to switch

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and TownHall Blog

Digby / Hullabaloo:
Honor and Integrity — When a radio gasbag introduced him today …

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics, The Swamp, MyDD and Blue Girl, Red State

Duane R. Patterson / Townhall.com:

Hillary's Winning Ways Have Turned Into Whining Ways — Last week, Hillary Clinton waited until well into her debate with Barack Obama to utter the line of the night that cost her the debate. She had a scripted line to use about Barack Obama's change as being something you can Xerox, which fell flat and drew boos from the audience.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Betsy's Page

MSNBC:
Candidates go on the attack in Ohio

Discussion: Don Surber, michellemalkin.com, Chicago Tribune, Liberal Values, Reuters, Associated Press, TalkLeft, CBS News, Buck Naked Politics, The Moderate Voice, Fact Checker, Little Green Footballs and New York Post

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

Okay, enough with the shoe shopping. Let's live-blog the big debate. — 7:58 ET: I am so ready for this. It's do or die time for Hillary. And I'm watching the debate with a big Hillary supporter. I want to see some major action in the first 20 minutes. MSNBC is banging drums and hyping the debate (which starts in an hour).

Discussion: alicublog

Stephen Green / Pajamas Media:
FINAL FACE-OFF: CLINTON, OBAMA SPAR IN OHIO

Discussion: TalkLeft and Below The Beltway

New York Times:
Democrats Clash on Trade, Health and Rival Tactics

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post and The Politico

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:
The Democratic Debate in Cleveland

Discussion: AlterNet.org, The Nation, Right Wing News, Opinion L.A., Needlenose, Prairie Weather and Ground Game

Jstearns / Save the Internet Blog:

Comcast Blocking: First the Internet — Now the Public — There was huge turnout at today's public hearing in Boston on the future of the Internet. Hundreds of concerned citizens arrived to speak out on the importance of an open Internet. Many took the day off from work …

Discussion: Open Left, The Seminal and Riehl World View

Portfolio.com:
Comcast Astroturfs the Old-Fashioned Way

Discussion: Attytood and The Seminal

Digby / Hullabaloo:

How Do We Defeat Tim Russert? — The country wants change. They want Washington to stop all the partisan bickering and they want a different tone. They want their government to be serious and deal with real problems. — Can someone please explain to me how that can possibly happen until something …

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Mahablog

Tony Blankley / Real Clear Politics:

How to Beat Obama (Maybe) — Republicans owe Hillary our gratitude. She has road-tested several versions of attacks on Obama that don't work. Obviously, and first, don't come out against change and hope — the perennial themes of successful election campaigns.

Discussion: Power Line

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:

GOP Halts Effort to Retrieve White House E-Mails — After promising last year to search its computers for tens of thousands of e-mails sent by White House officials, the Republican National Committee has informed a House committee that it no longer plans to retrieve the communications …

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Prairie Weather and Preemptive Karma

Trymaine Lee / New York Times:

Upset Sends Democrat to Albany — ALBANY — In a major victory for Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his party, a Democratic assemblyman won a stunning upset in a State Senate election on Tuesday in a district that has been in Republican hands for a century. — The win reduces the Republicans' majority …

Discussion: The Seminal, DownWithTyranny! and Open Left

Gretel C. Kovach / Newsweek:

Race, Justice, and Texas — Resignation doesn't end trouble for Houston's top prosecutor — In his 30-plus-year legal career in Harris County, Texas, Chuck Rosenthal has been no stranger to controversy. As a prosecutor he lit firecrackers in the stairwell of the district attorney's offices soon …

Discussion: Pandagon

BBC:

EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn — The European Commission has fined US computer giant Microsoft for defying sanctions imposed on it for anti-competitive behaviour. — Microsoft must now pay a record 899 million euros ($1.4bn; £680.9m) after it failed to comply with a 2004 ruling that it abused its position.

Discussion: Engadget