memeorandum: MARRIAGE HITS LOWEST RATE SINCE RECORDS BEGAN ALMOST 150 YEARS AGO (This Is London)

8:45 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: The Swamp, The Fix, Commentary, American Street, Top of the Ticket, TalkLeft, Jules Crittenden, ArchPundit, Spin Cycle, Hotline On Call, Wonkette, Political Punch, 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: The Carpetbagger Report, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Examining Presidential …, Donklephant 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: Gateway Pundit, TalkLeft, The Democratic Daily and Liberal Values

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:
GOP Looks to ‘McCain Democrats’

Discussion: Pennsyltucky Politics

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: The Swamp, On Deadline, Detroit Free Press, Capitol Briefing, The Strata-Sphere, Gateway Pundit, PoliGazette and Atlas Shrugs

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

Discussion: Soccer Dad

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

Discussion: Articles by the … and A Blog For All

Don Surber:
Saddam's Three Stooges

Discussion: 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, Right Wing News and Power Line

Brent Baker / NewsBusters.org:
Flashback: Stephanopoulos Scolded Critic of Bonior and McDermott

Discussion: Melanie Morgan, The News Buckit and Attytood

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, Top of the Ticket and Hot Air

The Trail:
Clinton Donors Warn Pelosi on Superdelegates

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

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

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

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, Right Wing News, Redstate and TalkLeft

Mark Blumenthal / Pollster.com:
SOME CONTEXT ON THE DEMOCRATIC DEFECTORS

Discussion: Firedoglake, No More Mister Nice Blog, Top of the Ticket and The Jed Report

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

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

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

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, PoliGazette, Balloon Juice and VetVoice

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

Martin Peretz / The New Republic:

Standing By His Man — Why Obama was right in not repudiating his pastor. — The power of the preacher is an unmeasured force in American life. Of course, now that it has become an issue in a political campaign, we are focusing on the one minister and the one candidate whose lives …

Discussion: Spiritual Politics and The Daily Dish

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard Blog:
The Company Obama Keeps

Discussion: Soccer Dad and Commentary

This Is London:

MARRIAGE HITS LOWEST RATE SINCE RECORDS BEGAN ALMOST 150 YEARS AGO — The number of Britons tying the knot has collapsed to a record low, it has emerged. — The proportion of men and women getting married is below any level found since figures were first kept nearly 150 years ago.

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 …

Discussion: RIGHTWINGSPARKLE

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 Huffington Post and The Other McCain

C. J. Chivers / New York Times:

Supplier Under Scrutiny on Aging Arms for Afghans — Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. — But to arm the Afghan forces …

Discussion: Blue Girl, Red State, Hog On Ice and abu muqawama

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