memeorandum: Aides expect Spitzer resignation (James M. Odato/Albany Times Union)

1:45 PM ET, March 11, 2008

Top Items:

Aides Say They Expect Spitzer to Resign — Top aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday morning that they expect the governor to resign his office, although the timing of the resignation remains uncertain. — Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson and his staff have begun laying the groundwork …

Discussion: WNBC, MSNBC, Open Left, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, New York Post, Gawker, Gothamist, The Carpetbagger Report, NY Daily News, Dick Polman's American Debate, New York Sun, CNN, Commentary, American Street, Hotline On Call and The Page

William K. Rashbaum / New York Times:

Revelations Began in Routine Tax Inquiry — The rendezvous that established Gov. Eliot Spitzer's involvement with high-priced prostitutes occurred last month in one of Washington's grandest hotels, but the criminal investigation that discovered the tryst began last year in a nondescript …

Discussion: CNN, The Swamp, The New Republic, Washington Post, Wake up America, David Corn, Associated Press, Feministe, Achenblog, Spin Cycle, Swampland, At-Largely and The Carpetbagger Report

Scott Horton / Harper's:

The Spitzer Sex Sting: A Few More Questions — It looks like the Bush Justice Department just bagged themselves another Democratic Governor. Here's the New York Times on the story: … On the other hand, ABC News this evening offers a starkly different account of how the investigation got launched.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Runnin' Scared, New York Times, Buck Naked Politics, culturekitchen, Discourse.net, Confederate Yankee, Slog, Open Left, Spin Cycle, The Seminal, Right Wing Nut House, No More Mister Nice Blog and PoliBlog (TM)

Wall Street Journal:

Wall Street Cheers As Its Nemesis Plunges Into Crisis — Allies Praise Spitzer, But Knives Come Out; 'He's Proven Me Correct' — It's Schadenfreude time on Wall Street. — Eliot Spitzer, the New York governor who made his name taking on the titans of finance, apologized yesterday …

Discussion: The Current, Debbie Schlussel, Jezebel, City Room and On Deadline

CNN:

Spitzer successor would be state's first black governor — (CNN) — If New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigns, Lt. Gov. David Paterson stands to become the first African-American governor of the state and the fourth in U.S. history. — Paterson, 53, is legally blind, and although documentation is scarce …

New York Times:
Mr. Spitzer's ‘Private Matter’

Wall Street Journal:
Spitzer's Rise and Fall

Discussion: The New Republic, New York Post, City Room, On Deadline, Hot Air, TigerHawk, Fausta's blog and BizzyBlog

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
The Devil Is In The Investigative Details In Spitzer Case

Discussion: culturekitchen and New York Sun

James M. Odato / Albany Times Union: Aides expect Spitzer resignation

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Some Questions About the Spitzer Incident

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias, protein wisdom, Law Blog, City Room, The RBC, The Reaction, The Rude Pundit and The Confluence

Orlando Patterson / New York Times:

The Red Phone in Black and White — ON first watching Hillary Clinton's recent “It's 3 a.m.” advertisement, I was left with an uneasy feeling that something was not quite right — something that went beyond my disappointment that she had decided to go negative. Repeated watching of the ad on YouTube increased my unease.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Daily Dish, Prairie Weather, Hot Air and Dean's World

Byron York / The Corner:

Former Clinton Loyalist: Don't Believe Hillary's Claims — Greg Craig, the former Clinton White House counsel who is now supporting Barack Obama, has just sent out a letter sharply attacking Hillary Clinton's claims to experience in foreign policy. “Senator Clinton has cited a handful …

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Obama Memo: “No Support For Claim That Clinton Has Passed ‘Commander-In-Chief Test’”

Discussion: TalkLeft and The Fact Hub

Mark Halperin / The Page:
Obama Foreign Policy Memo

Discussion: The New Republic

Michael O'Hanlon / USA Today:

Reality and the Iraq war — Is the progress today the first glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel? Maybe, maybe not. But the Democrats shouldn't act as though it's an oncoming train. — Most Democrats — in fact, most Americans — believe that the Iraq war has been a huge mistake for this country.

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Think Progress and Open Left

Matthew Yglesias: Oh! — Michael O'Hanlon, like some mythic monster …

Paul Kiel / TPMMuckraker:

House Surveillance Bill Contains Provision to Aid Telecom Suits — As The New York Times reports this morning, the House leadership's draft proposal for a surveillance bill contains a provision that would reject giving retroactive immunity to the telecoms. Instead, it would give …

Discussion: Eschaton and Daily Kos

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Targeting bad Democrats

Discussion: race42008.com

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
House Steers Its Own Path on Wiretaps

Discussion: D-Day, The Carpetbagger Report and Hold Fast

Warren P. Strobel / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida — WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

Discussion: Rapid Report, MoJoBlog, Washington Post, Blue Girl, Red State, Taylor Marsh, Gateway Pundit, Balloon Juice, Emptywheel, PoliGazette, Informed Comment, The Mahablog, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakesville and TPMMuckraker

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Disagreeing with Ferraro — Between the Spitzer story, Geraldine Ferraro's own pioneering status, and the dog-bites-man character of offense-and-apology stories these days, her reported comment that Obama wouldn't be where he is if he were white didn't get all that much attention today.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, MSNBC, Trailhead, Top of the Ticket, Shakesville, Political Punch, TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report, Commentary, Daily Kos, Hot Air and Spin Cycle

Hillary Clinton / CNN:
Obama adviser says Clinton must ‘repudiate’ backer's comments

Discussion: The Trail, Blue Girl, Red State and Pandagon

Betsy Rothstein / The Hill:

Rep. Abercrombie gets Craiged — While reporters were hovering outside a Capitol Hill conclave of the Michigan and Florida delegations last Wednesday night, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) just happened to come by to use the restroom, which he did. — But when he emerged …

Discussion: Think Progress

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Murdoch: There's no ‘conservative’ agenda — In his first visit to the Wall Street Journal's D.C. bureau, Rupert Murdoch told staffers Friday that he would put more resources into Washington coverage and take on the New York Times, while reassuring them that he is not a “conservative” pushing an agenda in the news pages.

Peter Y. Hong / Los Angeles Times:

UCLA experts don't buy recession — In a contrarian view, the Anderson Forecast focuses on strength in industry and spending. — Brushing aside conventional wisdom, UCLA economists say California and the nation will survive the housing slump and job losses without plunging into recession …

Discussion: Calculated Risk

Sharon Roffe-Ofir / Ynetnews:

Man shoots sister then congratulated by family — Police arrest 24-year-old man from Naura, an Israeli-Arab town in northern Israel, who shot his 19-year old sister to preserve 'family's honor.' Family members arrived to congratulate shooter — Familial endorsement for murder.

Clarion-Ledger:

Clinton or Obama? Mississippi's time to decide — Despite election fervor, moderate turnout expected — A close race between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama will draw more voters to the polls today than the last presidential primary, state officials predict.