memeorandum: It's Not About “Toughness.” It's About “Fairness.” (Greg Sargent/Horses Mouth)

7:30 PM ET, March 3, 2008

Top Items:

Good News for People Who Like Bad Predictions — I know a number of readers have been perturbed by my predictions of an Obama win, figuring that since I'm always wrong I'd jinxed things and put Hillary Clinton in a commanding position. Well, I was reading Chris Bowers' analysis of the polls …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Wonkette and Comments from Left Field

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Obama camp: HRC needs double digits — In a statement emailed to reporters, and reiterated on a conference call just now, Obama's campaign Manager, David Plouffe, says: … “They were sitting on enormous leads as recently as two weeks ago,” he said on the call, dismissing the notion of a Clinton “comeback.”

Discussion: American Street and Swampland

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Clinton Campaigns as if Momentum Is Hers — AKRON, Ohio — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton does not look like a candidate who might drop out of the presidential race as early as Wednesday. — In a weekend dash of campaigning in Texas and Ohio before those states vote on Tuesday …

Discussion: The Swamp, Wall Street Journal, Gawker, Blogometer and MSNBC

Zogby:

Reuters/C-SPAN/Houston Chronicle Poll: Too Close To Call! Obama Barely Overtakes Clinton in Ohio and Retains Small Edge in Texas ...

Discussion: Quinnipiac University, The Fix, The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story, MyDD, Hot Air, Pottersville, Outside The Beltway, Democratic Strategist and TalkLeft

Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Nearly Final Ohio and Texas Polls—Updated

Discussion: American Street, MyDD, Daily Kos, The Seminal, Wonkette and Outside The Beltway

Lee Speigel / Political Radar:
Private Worries as Team Clinton Looks for Best Case Scenarios

Discussion: protein wisdom, American Street and Ohio Daily Blog

CNN:

Limbaugh urges listeners to vote for Clinton — (CNN) - As Hillary Clinton battles to keep her presidential bid alive, she may be getting help from an unlikely source: conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. — Limbaugh has been actively urging his Texas listeners to cross over and vote …

Discussion: Open Left and Hot Air

Marc Ambinder:
Back To Basics On The Major Question Of The Democratic Campaign

Discussion: Open Left

NY Daily News:
Goodwin: Tuesday night might be Barack Obama's last chance to knock Hil out

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, NO QUARTER, MyDD and Blue Crab Boulevard

Dan / Daniel W. Drezner:

THE THREE RULES TO UNDERSTANDING CANADIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS — In the wake of Canadian memos flying about on what exactly Obama's chief economist told a Canadian consular official, Noam Scheiber asks a befuddled question: … Based on my extensive experience with the people of the Great White North …

Discussion: Associated Press, The New Republic, The Debatable Land, Lonewacko, Fact Checker and MSNBC

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
NAFTA-Gate, Take Two — Okay, scratch what I said about Goolsbee and Canada.

Discussion: Instapundit.com, Associated Press, The Corner, Right Wing Nut House, Newsweek Blogs, Redstate, Hot Air, The Trail and protein wisdom

Frank James / The Swamp:
Canada: Didn't mean to suggest Obama's two-faced

Discussion: The Politico and QandO

Marc Ambinder:

Bottom Line From The Clinton Spin Call — Is that if Clinton wins the popular vote in Ohio and Texas, she's staying in the race. — Even if she loses the delegate race in Texas. — No doubt, this will make heads explode in Chicago.

Discussion: Eschaton, The Plank, Comments from Left Field, Open Left and Truthdig

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Wash Post editor says controversial piece was ‘tongue-in-cheek’ — On the front of Sunday's Outlook section, in the Washington Post, two articles were placed under the banner, “Women vs. Women.” — It's the second piece, titled “We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?” …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Feministing, War and Piece, Matthew Yglesias, Crooks and Liars, Shakespeare's Sister, Washington Monthly, Feministe, The Carpetbagger Report, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Impolitic, Cogitamus and The Moderate Voice

Peter Daou / The Huffington Post:

Every Voter Should Hear This Phone Call — In the closing hours before the March 4th elections, I wanted to share an amazing phone call with you. It comes on the heels of a new tracking poll showing Hillary doing better than Sen. Obama against John McCain - as well as public polls …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and PoliGazette

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Let's All Apologize To Obama For Misunderstanding Him — Apparently Obama spoke in a way that was widely misunderstood when he blasted Hillary over the weekend, and is now being criticized for it, which seems so unfair. After all, we who are barely worthy ought to apologize for having misunderstood him, right?

Discussion: protein wisdom, New York Times and Los Angeles Times

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
“Brilliant” potential C-in-C blows Rockefeller's record on the …

Discussion: Right Voices, TownHall Blog, The Fact Hub, Fact Check and Plain Dealer

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

A campaign mystery solved: HillaryIs44 — I wrote in December about a mysterious pro-Clinton, anti-Obama website called HillaryIs44, a site that floated sharply negative information about Obama long before the word “Rezko” passed the lips of Clinton and her campaign, and that has been the subject …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Bang the Drum

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:

Obama: Sermon on Mount Justifies Same-Sex Unions — (CNSNews.com) - Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told a crowd at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, Sunday that he believes the Sermon on the Mount justifies his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Marc Ambinder, Macsmind, Stop The ACLU, DownWithTyranny!, michellemalkin.com and TownHall Blog

David Rose / Vanity Fair:

The Gaza Bombshell — After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents …

Discussion: FP Passport, PoliGazette and Sadly, No!

Samir Al-Saadi / Arab News:

Man Butchers 15-Month-Old Nephew in Jeddah Supermarket — Early morning shoppers at a supermarket in Jeddah were left reeling yesterday, with some falling unconscious, after a well-built Syrian man clinched a knife and decapitated his 15-month-old nephew in front of his mother in the store's fruit and vegetable section.

Discussion: Wake up America, Hot Air and Israel Matzav

Marc Ambinder:

Existential Realities Of The Democratic Race — Q. What does “win” mean? — A. The winner of the Democratic nomination is not the person who wins the most states, not the person who wins the most votes, is not the person who gives the best speeches... it's the person who wins 2024 (25? …

Fareed Zakaria / Newsweek:

What the World Is Hearing — A senior Latin American diplomat says, ‘We might find ourselves nostalgic for Bush, who is brave on trade.’ — Despite their spirited squabbling, the two Democratic candidates are united in the view that one of the big benefits of electing either …

Discussion: CTV.ca, The Huffington Post, Done With Mirrors, The Foundry and Secular Blasphemy

Lynn Sweet:

Obama and his taking questions about Rezko. — SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS—On Sunday, the chief strategist for the Obama campaign disagreed with my conclusion where I wrote that Obama has not talked to reporters who know the Tony Rezko story the best. — For more than a year …

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Right Wing Nut House, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Fact Hub and NO QUARTER