memeorandum: It's 3 a.m. Who do you want answering the phone? (Mark Benjamin/Salon)

11:25 AM ET, March 6, 2008

Top Items:

Even in Victory, Clinton Team Is Battling Itself — For the bruised and bitter staff around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tuesday's death-defying victories in the Democratic presidential primaries in Ohio and Texas proved sweet indeed. They savored their wins yesterday, plotted their next steps and indulged in a moment of optimism.

Discussion: protein wisdom, TownHall Blog, Ben Smith's Blogs, The New Republic, Spin Cycle, The Opinionator, AMERICAblog, Hullabaloo, Democratic Strategist, Prairie Weather, Blue Crab Boulevard, Marc Ambinder, Below The Beltway, Swampland, Salon, Commentary and Donklephant

The Politico:

Superdelegates play hardball — Flexing their new power to determine the Democratic presidential nomination, a bloc of Ohio superdelegates is withholding endorsements from Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton until one or the other offers a concrete proposal to protect American jobs, two Ohio Democrats told Politico Wednesday.

Discussion: Buckeye State Blog, Ohio Daily Blog, Betsy's Page, MyDD and The New Editor

New York Times:
Lesson of Defeat: Obama Comes Out Punching

Discussion: Below The Beltway and Real Clear Politics

Mark Halperin / The Page:
Obama Memo on Clinton Tax Returns

Discussion: The Fact Hub, CNN and Ben Smith's Blogs

Sewell Chan / City Room:

Blast Damages Times Square Recruiting Station — The police have attributed the blast to an improvised explosive device, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the device had been placed in an ammunition box like the kind that can be bought at a military supply store.

Discussion: Power Line, Megan McArdle, New York Post, Danger Room, Wake up America, Confederate Yankee, Gawker, On Deadline, Buck Naked Politics, Media Blog, Atlas Shrugs, All Spin Zone, Balloon Juice, The Strata-Sphere and Pirate's Cove

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Breaking: Bombing at Big Apple military recruitment center Update: Kos diarist claims right-wing plot — Given the escalating protests over military recruitment, it seems inevitable that people would bomb those who seek to protect the nation and fight our enemies.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, The Jawa Report, michellemalkin.com, Associated Press and Alternate Brain

Gateway Pundit:
Military Office Bombed!... New York's Times Square Shut Down

Discussion: Associated Press, Sister Toldjah and Roger L. Simon

CNN:
‘Bang’ halts Times Square subways

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Corner and American Spectator

Charles Hurt / New York Post:

ONLY GORE CAN STOP A MELTDOWN — IF AL GORE can pull himself away from saving the planet long enough, he might want to consider rescuing the Demo cratic Party from the clutches of utter self-destruction. — Campaigning against an unpopular war in Iraq, a sputtering economy and a disappearing dollar …

Discussion: The Corner, QandO and Don Surber

New York Times:

Clinton Success Alters Delegate Race's Dynamic — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's victories in the primaries on Tuesday barely dented Senator Barack Obama's lead in delegates, but they seemed to slow the Democratic Party establishment's move in his direction while giving her campaign time to try to turn the race in her favor.

Discussion: The Swamp and MiamiHerald.com

Marc Ambinder:
DNC Lays Out Choice For Florida And Michigan: Rules, Re-Vote

Bloomberg: Clinton's Primary Wins Halt Movement of Superdelegates to Obama

Alexander Panetta / Canadian Press:

‘NAFTAgate’ began with remark from Harper's chief of staff — OTTAWA — If the Prime Minister is seeking the first link in the chain of events that has rocked the U.S. presidential race, he need look no further than his chief of staff, Ian Brodie, The Canadian Press has learned.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, CANNONFIRE, Comments from Left Field, Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report, culturekitchen, TPM Election Central, Swampland, Bang the Drum, Political Punch, Donklephant, Below The Beltway, Macsmind, AMERICAblog, Liberal Values and Obsidian Wings

Campbell Clark / Globe and Mail:
PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak

Discussion: Megan McArdle, The Plank, Marc Ambinder and Democracy in America

Thomas P.M. Barnett / Esquire:

The Man Between War and Peace — As head of U. S. Central Command, Admiral William “Fox” Fallon is in charge of American military strategy for the most troubled parts of the world. Now, as the White House has been escalating the war of words with Iran, and seeming ever more determined …

Discussion: Early Warning, Outside The Beltway, Corrente, DownWithTyranny!, Think Progress, The Newshoggers and Hullabaloo

Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:
Commander Rejects Article of Praise

Discussion: Thomas P.M. Barnett

Michael Graham / Boston Herald:

An exercise in discrimination at Harvard … What can a 19-year-old guy in jogging shorts do at Harvard that a rich Saudi sheik who sponsors terrorism can't? — Get banned from the building. — Six times a week, Harvard kicks all the guys out of the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Corner, Power Line, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Instapundit.com

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Alive! — Tuesday's exciting presidential primaries were about momentum, delegates and second looks. — In the Republican contest, these factors gave victory to the Lazarus candidate. John McCain's campaign nearly collapsed eight months ago in a mass of debt and missteps.

Discussion: protein wisdom, TigerHawk and Connecting.the.Dots

Charlotte Allen / Washington Post:

Charlotte Allen on Outlook Article, Reaction — Author, “We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?” — On Sunday, The Washington Post's Outlook section published a piece by Charlotte Allen under the headline “ We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?”

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, American Street and Shakespeare's Sister

Matthew Yglesias:

The Lost Opportunity — Ross explains the cost to progressive politics of Hillary Clinton's decision to unleash the kitchen sink in a likely-futile effort to overcome Barack Obama's delegate lead: … That's bad because it increases the chance of losing in November, it decreases the likelihood …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Mark Benjamin / Salon:

It's 3 a.m. Who do you want answering the phone? … That, of course, is the script from Hillary Clinton's now famous (or infamous) “3 a.m.” television ad that ran in Texas just ahead of the March 4 primary. At the end of the ad, Clinton answers the phone.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

CNN:

Russian arms dealer arrested in Thailand — BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — For years, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has made millions of dollars allegedly delivering weapons and ammunition to warlords and militants. Officials believe many of his activities may be illegal, and on Thursday, Thai police announced his arrest.

Manu Raju / The Hill:

Senate floor is unlikely stop on McCain's campaign trail — Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) clear path to the Republican National Convention travels through critical swing states, but he will likely steer far away from his day job in the United States Senate. — As the battle for the Democratic …

Discussion: Think Progress