memeorandum: Saddam paid for 2002 Congressional junket to Baghdad (Ed Morrissey/Hot Air)

7:45 AM ET, March 27, 2008

Top Items:

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

New NBC-WSJ poll — From NBC's Chuck Todd — As expected, one of the two major Democratic candidates saw a downturn in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, but it's not the candidate that you think. Hillary Clinton is sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign.

Discussion: American Street, Top of the Ticket, Political Punch, TalkLeft, ArchPundit, Spin Cycle, Hotline On Call, Wonkette, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, The Daily Dish, TPM Election Central, Pollster.com, The Jed Report and The Reaction

Jackie Calmes / Wall Street Journal:

Pastor Flap Hasn't Hurt Obama — WASHINGTON — The racially charged debate over Barack Obama's relationship with his longtime pastor hasn't much changed his close contest against Hillary Clinton, or hurt him against Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Discussion: Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Donklephant, Examining Presidential … and Poll Dancing

Fox News:

Clinton Insists Dems Race Is a ‘Long Way’ From Over, Looks Toward Convention — The Democratic race is a “long way from being over,” Hillary Clinton told FOX News on Wednesday, and she has no qualms about taking the primary fight all the way to the convention floor.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Gateway Pundit, The Democratic Daily and Liberal Values

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:

US: Saddam Paid for Lawmakers' Iraq Trip — Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. — An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Strata-Sphere, Capitol Briefing, Gateway Pundit, PoliGazette, Atlas Shrugs and Attytood

Debbie Schlussel:
BREAKING - Feds Indict Former CAIR Michigan Chief/Current Muslim …

Discussion: A Blog For All

Michelle Malkin:
We don't call him “Baghdad Jim” for nothing; Plus: Another treacherous CAIR official

Discussion: Soccer Dad and The News Buckit

Don Surber:
Saddam's Three Stooges

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Sister Toldjah, TigerHawk and GINA COBB

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Saddam paid for 2002 Congressional junket to Baghdad

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, The Strata-Sphere, Power Line and Right Wing News

Niraj Warikoo / Detroit Free Press:
Former worker for Muslim charity in Southfield accused of being Hussein spy

Discussion: Articles by the …

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

In Letter, Top Clinton Donors Chastise Pelosi For Statements About Super-Delegates — Twenty top Hillary fundraisers and donors have sent a scathing private letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chastising her for publicly saying that the super-delegates should support the winner …

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

CLINTON TACTICS TURN OFF SOME SUPERDELEGATES — From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger — At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party's nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Liberal Values, American Street and Hot Air

The Trail:

Clinton Donors Warn Pelosi on Superdelegates — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., steps out of her vehicle at the airport in Latrobe, Pa., after campaigning at the University of Pittsburgh in Greensburg, Pa., Tuesday, March 25, 2008. (AP.) — By Dan Balz

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette and Booman Tribune

Washington Wire:
Party Donors Warn Pelosi Over Superdelegate Stance

Discussion: Political Punch, Wake up America, TPM Election Central and Top of the Ticket

Agence France Presse:

Pentagon says new Iraq fighting arises from surge's success — WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday said an eruption of violence in southern Iraq, where US-backed government forces were battling Shiite militias, was a “by-product of the success of the surge.”

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Donklephant, The Reaction, Balloon Juice, PoliGazette and VetVoice

Leila Fadel / McClatchy Washington Bureau: U.S. airstrike in Iraq reportedly causes 60 casualties

Jules Crittenden:

Blackwater Fever — It's new, it's so bad they named it after the hated American mercenaries, because it kills the innocent just like they do. Slamming Blackwater is always fun and really adds some zing to this story suggesting that an Iraqi malaria epidemic is being kept secret.

Discussion: INSTAPUTZ, Instapundit.com and Democracy Project

IPS Inter Press Service:
IRAQ: Fever Named After Blackwater

Discussion: The Impolitic

Jeff Karoub / Associated Press:

Federal judge in Detroit strikes down state primary records law — DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Michigan law that allowed only the Republican and Democratic parties access to voter information from the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder

Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News:
Federal judge: Michigan's presidential primary law unconstitutional

Discussion: The Page, MyDD, TPM Election Central and Hotline On Call

Frank Newport / Gallup:
If McCain vs. Obama, 28% of Clinton Backers Go for McCain

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, Right Wing News, The Jed Report and TalkLeft

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Public Believes Americans Have Right to Own Guns — Nearly three in four say Second Amendment guarantees this right — PRINCETON, NJ — A solid majority of the U.S. public, 73%, believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to own guns.

Laura Litvan / Bloomberg:

Pennsylvania's Superdelegates Measure Clinton, Obama — The prospect of a Hillary Clinton victory in Pennsylvania's April 22 Democratic primary isn't swaying some of the state's superdelegates, who are hanging back while they calculate whether rival Barack Obama might prove a stronger draw at the top of the ticket in November.

Discussion: Hot Air

The Politico:

Welcome to the age of the sound blast — If 1960 was the year that TV displaced radio as the main platform for political persuasion, then the 2008 primary fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton may go down in history as the moment when the Internet ended the dominance of television.

Discussion: New York Times, The Other McCain and The Huffington Post

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:

BREAKING: Condi Rice Flirts With VP Possibility — Speaks to Grover Norquist's Wednesday Group Meeting — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is speaking this morning to Grover Norquist's weekly powerhouse gathering at Americans for Tax Reform of conservative associations, think tanks, and political operations.

Discussion: BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN, JustOneMinute and Hot Air

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
More on Condoleezza Rice - Grover Norquist Group Meeting

Discussion: The Swamp and Think Progress

Duncan Currie / Weekly Standard:

Family Ties — Any serious discussion of race must address out-of-wedlock births. — SAY THIS FOR Barack Obama's big speech: It is still being analyzed this week, and it will be analyzed more in the weeks and months ahead. Senator Obama went beyond the controversy over his former pastor …

Vikas Bajaj / New York Times:

Report Assails Auditor for Work at Failed Home Lender — In a sweeping accusation against one of the country's largest accounting firms, an investigator released a report on Wednesday that said “improper and imprudent practices” by a once high-flying mortgage company were condoned and enabled by its auditors.

Discussion: TPMCafe, AMERICAblog and Calculated Risk