memeorandum: Obama demands probe over passport breach (Foon Rhee/Boston Globe)

11:10 PM ET, March 20, 2008

Top Items:

2 fired over Obama passport file breach — Third employee at State disciplined over accessing candidate's records — Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for accessing passport records of Sen. Barack Obama “without a need to do so …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, Attytood, Bang the Drum, Donklephant, Blue Girl, Red State, Swampland, Sister Toldjah, Corrente, Cliff Schecter, The Agonist and Political Machine

Bill Gertz / Washington Times:

Obama passport files violated; 2 State Department workers fired — Two State Department employees were fired recently and a third disciplined for improperly accessing electronic personal data on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

Discussion: The Caucus, Think Progress, Redstate, Fox News, Hot Air and Macsmind

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Looking at Obama's File Gets Two Fired — The State Department said last night that it had fired two contract employees and disciplined a third for accessing Sen. Barack Obama's passport file. — Obama's presidential campaign immediately called for a “complete investigation.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Brilliant at Breakfast, AMERICAblog and Obsidian Wings

CNN: Officials: Someone snooped in Obama passport file

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
State Dept. workers illicitly check Obama's passport [Updated]

Discussion: The Swamp

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Jeremiah Wright was White House guest — The recent coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright has often cast him as a marginal, almost fringe figure, but Trinity Church is a major Chicago institution, and Wright has long been a prominent pastor on the American scene.

Discussion: The Trail, Telegraph, Flopping Aces, Spin Cycle, Shakesville, Hot Air, Macsmind and The Page

Kate Phillips / The Caucus:

Photograph of Bill Clinton and Rev. Wright Surfaces — During one of the most difficult periods in the presidency of Bill Clinton, he addressed a group of clerics at an annual prayer breakfast in September 1998 just as the Starr report outlining his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was about to be published.

Discussion: Don Surber, Political Machine and Patterico's Pontifications

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:

Clinton Doesn't Deny Campaign is Pushing Wright Story to Superdelegates — ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has strictly maintained a public position not to comment on Sen. Barack Obama's relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Discussion: The Caucus, Open Left, Top of the Ticket, Salon, AMERICAblog and TPM Election Central

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

McCain aide circulates Obama/Wright video, is suspended — An aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama's patriotism. — Soren Dayton, who works in McCain's political department …

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

McCain Aide Suspended For Pushing Racially-Charged Obama-Wright Video — A McCain campaign aide actively pushed an incendiary, racially-charged video that uses the controversial words of Barack Obama's pastor to tar Obama as unpatriotic — despite the fact that McCain himself has suggested …

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, The Trail, Liberal Values, Daily Kos and Political Machine

Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:

Hagee, in ‘NYT’ This Sunday, Says McCain Sought His Endorsement — NEW YORK In an interview that will appear in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, controversial televangelist Rev. John Hagee declares, “It's true that [John] McCain's campaign sought my endorsement.”

Discussion: Cliff Schecter and AMERICAblog

Matt Lewis / TownHall Blog:
McCain Throws Aide Under the Bus for Twittering YouTube Link

Discussion: The Sundries Shack

Gene Maddaus / Daily Breeze:

Geraldine Ferraro resents being lumped in with the Rev. Wright in Obama speech — » See and hear the speech — Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro said today that she objected to the comparison Sen. Barack Obama drew between her and his former pastor in his speech on race relations Tuesday.

Discussion: The Swamp, Fox News, The New Republic, Washington Wire, The Reaction, The Opinionator, Pat Dollard, bustardblog, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, Riehl World View, JustOneMinute, Boston Globe, StephenBainbridge.com, Political Machine and Reason Magazine

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

FOX News Poll: More Than Half Believe Obama Doesn't Share Views of Pastor Wright — Fifty-seven percent of Americans do not believe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama shares the controversial views of his former spiritual mentor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, while about one in four …

Discussion: TPM Election Central, CNN, Hot Air, Boston Globe, American Power, PunditGuy and Don Surber

Rasmussen Reports:
The Impact of Pastor Wright and THE SPEECH on Election 2008

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Weekly Standard Blog, Power Line, Reuters, Too Sense, Wonkette, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, JammieWearingFool, JustOneMinute, Political Machine, TPM Election Central and Wake up America

Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Clinton Holds Onto Lead Over Obama

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Geraldine Ferraro: Wright a “racist bigot”

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Hindrocket / Power Line:

A “TYPICAL WHITE PERSON”?! — I've expressed admiration for Barack Obama's political skills, but maybe, in a time of stress, his inexperience is beginning to show. In an interview earlier today, he referred to his grandmother—the one he slandered in his speech on Tuesday—as a “typical white person.”

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Commentary and PoliGazette

Dan Gross / PhillyGossip:

Obama on WIP: My grandmother's a “typical white person” — We thought we heard this, but we wanted to go back and listen to the clip of Sen. Barack Obama on 610 WIP this morning to be sure. — 610 WIP host Angelo Cataldi asked Obama about his Tuesday morning speech on race …

Discussion: Political Punch, JustOneMinute, Redstate, Shakesville, Taylor Marsh, The Confluence, Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER and The New Republic

Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:

Obama: Grandmother “Typical White Person” — Via a WIP radio: … Can you imagine if Hillary Clinton said someone was a “typical black person?” — Seriously, Barack Obama basically called all white people racist. You know, because when us typical white folk walk down the street …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Wonkette

Joe Ovies / 850 & 620 THE BLOG:

Obama Has The Heels All The Way — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama joined 850 The Buzz this morning, not to talk about politics, but to talk about his bracket. And why not, figuring out how the delegates are spread out makes less sense than the RPI.

Discussion: Political Radar, Betsy's Page, Spin Cycle and Patterico's Pontifications

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama's NCAA Bracket

Discussion: The New Republic

Amy Sullivan / Washington Monthly:

Guest: Amy Sullivan — AS I WAS SAYING....Good lord. I always forget there's no presumption of good faith (no pun intended) in the blogosphere. I should know better than to throw up a quick post, but let's all take a deep breath and start over. — I believe one of the reasons …

Discussion: The RBC and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Sam Graham-Felsen / my.barackobama.com:

Response to Fox News “story” — Apparently, today was a slow news day. — So Fox News evidently decided to pore through our millions of user-created pages on My.BarackObama.com and put a screenshot of inflammatory content on the front page of FoxNews.com. — You see, more than 700,000 people have created accounts on the system.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Obsidian Wings, Little Green Footballs and Daily Kos