memeorandum: IT'S NOT ABOUT POINTS. — James Fallows is a bit agog … (Ezra Klein/American Prospect)

11:45 AM ET, March 26, 2008

Top Items:

Frank Newport / Gallup:

If McCain vs. Obama, 28% of Clinton Backers Go for McCain — If McCain vs. Clinton, 19% of Obama backers go for McCain — PRINCETON, NJ — A sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain next November if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination.

Discussion: Power Line, The Swamp, JustOneMinute, Political Machine, Hot Air, The Caucus, American Spectator, Wake up America, BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN, Boston Globe, Balloon Juice, Don Surber, Real Clear Politics and PoliGazette

Byron York / The Corner:

Hell Has Officially Frozen Over — It caught my eye as a flash on Brit Hume a few moments ago, but here is a photo from Hillary Clinton's visit today to the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. In this picture, she is seen talking to none other than Richard Mellon Scaife …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, CBS News, Middle Earth Journal, The Other McCain, The RBC, USA Today, AMERICAblog, PoliGazette, Liberal Values, Comments from Left Field and Donklephant

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

YA THINK? — As you know, earlier today Hillary Clinton tried to stoke the Jeremiah Wright controversy by telling an editorial board meeting in Pittsburgh that Jeremiah Wright “would not have been my pastor” and then going on to note that she had denounced Don Imus in contrast to Obama's allegedly …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, Unfogged, TPM Election Central, The Jed Report, AMERICAblog, Prometheus 6, Seeing the Forest, marbury, The Reaction, The Daily Dish, Liberal Values, The Talent Show and American Street

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

Time to Lose McPeak — I tell pretty much anyone who asks these days that we're in the phase of the campaign I don't find especially interesting. Here, for example, are some things that got a lot of play recently which I don't care much about (and which I don't think have substantive implications …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder and James Fallows

Neal Gabler / New York Times:

The Maverick and the Media — Amagansett, N.Y. — IT is certainly no secret that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is a darling of the news media. Reporters routinely attach “maverick,” “straight talker” and “patriot” to him like Homeric epithets.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Swampland, Achenblog, Shakesville and The Page

Jay Rosen / PressThink:

Just How Did John McCain Obtain What He Has in the Bank with the Press? — “Maybe 'Iran is training Al Qaeda is McCain's way of signaling that he intends to pick up where Bush and Cheney left off in discarding the whole reality-based approach to policy-making and public communication.”

Discussion: Washington Post, Rolling Stone, CJR, Jules Crittenden and Firedoglake

Jacques Steinberg / New York Times:
The Buzz on the Bus: Pinched, Press Steps Off

Discussion: The Caucus, Gawker, A Blog For All, No More Mister Nice Blog, Attytood and Romenesko

Brianinmo / BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN:

McCain Asks When Hillary Clinton Will Apologize to Gen. Petraeus - Video — Here is Sen. John McCain on March 24, 2008 asking when Sen. Hillary Clinton will apologize to Gen. David Petraeus for her remarks last year ridiculing the idea that “The Surge” strategy in Iraq was working.

Discussion: Salon, Sister Toldjah, Comments from Left Field, Macsmind, Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, No More Mister Nice Blog and Forum: News/Activism

Reuters:
Chavez says U.S. relations could worsen with McCain

Discussion: BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Chavez: Anyone but McCain

New York Times:

Iraqi Crackdown on Shiite Forces Sets Off Fighting — BAGHDAD — Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest cities, as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with militias in Baghdad.

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Moderate Voice, Prairie Weather, Balloon Juice, Agence France Presse, Hot Air, American Power and Think Progress

Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:

Maliki, Sadr, and the Wages of Sin — Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki is giving powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's forces three days to surrender in Basra, as clashes between Maliki's security forces and Sadr's Mahdi Army—in which the U.S. intervenes on Maliki's side—escalate.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Daily Dish and abu muqawama

Washington Post:
Iraqi PM Gives Basra Gunmen Ultimatum

Discussion: Danger Room, Think Progress, TPMMuckraker, The Belmont Club, The Long War Journal, Time and Informed Comment

The Politico:

Southern Dem warns party to avert disaster — Democrats are increasingly nervous about their party's protracted nomination fight, and some prominent figures are publicly warning that the party needs to act fast to avoid disaster. — Chief among these voices is Phil Bredesen …

Discussion: TownHall Blog, MSNBC, The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central, Pennsyltucky Politics and Political Punch

Mark Halperin / Time:

Exclusive: Clinton Vows to Push On — Hillary Clinton is under a lot of pressure these days, but in a Tuesday interview she seemed cheery, confident and unapologetic as she talked about her determination to fight on in the Presidential race. Speaking by phone from Pennsylvania …

Discussion: Dick Polman's American Debate, TPM Election Central, Jules Crittenden and The Page

Jennifer Parker / Political Punch:

Jarheads — In light of Tuzla-gate (catchy, no?), reporters are going over past statements by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, (and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois) to see if others don't stand more rigorous examination. — One that may get renewed scrutiny is a story she told “Women in Military Service” …

Discussion: The Fix, USA Today, Hot Air, Balloon Juice, Democracy Project and Boston Globe

Michelle Malkin:
Tuzla and truth deprivation

Discussion: The Sleuth and Washington Post

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

IT'S NOT ABOUT POINTS. — James Fallows is a bit agog that the Clinton team would disseminate articles from The American Spectator — the same Spectator that spent the 90s conducting a fact-free witch hunt against the Clintons — to harm Obama. In contrast, I'm much more surprised to see Clinton make a frontal attack on Wright.

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Hillary or Nobody? — While the cool cat's away, the Hillary mice will play. — As Barack Obama was floating in the pool with his daughters the last few days in St. Thomas, some Clinton disciples were floating the idea of St. Hillary as his vice president.

Discussion: MSNBC, The Strata-Sphere, Don Surber, NewsBusters.org and About.com US Liberal Politics

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

Why The Obama/Clinton Rules Led Us To This Rough Campaign — When the Media and the Left blogs deplore the negativity of the Democratic presidential campaign, especially from the Clinton campaign, they ignore that they are a major reason why it has happened. Why?