Top Items:
Thomas Fitzgerald / Philly.com:
Bob Casey to endorse Obama, join bus tour — Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president today in Pittsburgh, sending a message both to the state's primary voters and to undecided superdelegates who might decide the close race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
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Mike Allen / Ben Smith's Blogs:
BREAKING: Dean wants closure by July 1 — A potential game-changer from CBS News and “The Early Show.” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says he wants superdelegates to make a decision by JULY 1 — the most specific he has been in his effort to prod the party …
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend
Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Obama to Begin Push in Pennsylvania in Hope of Offsetting Clinton Advantages
Obama to Begin Push in Pennsylvania in Hope of Offsetting Clinton Advantages
Discussion:
Associated Press
James Hider / Times of London:
Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides — Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. — His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers …
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Washington Post:
U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia — Americans Appear To Take the Lead As Iraqi Units Wait — U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day.
Fred Kaplan / Slate:
Warlord vs. Warlord — WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING ABOUT IN BASRA? — The wars in Iraq (the plural is no typo) are about to expand and possibly explode, so it might be useful to have some notion of what we're in for. — Here is President George W. Bush, speaking this morning in Dayton …
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
WHO'S WHO....Can't tell the players without a program in the 2-way …
WHO'S WHO....Can't tell the players without a program in the 2-way …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Fester / The Newshoggers:
Basra Force Ratios
Basra Force Ratios
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, KIKO'S HOUSE, Time, American Street, DownWithTyranny! and Balloon Juice
Associated Press:
Obama would have left if Wright stayed — WASHINGTON - White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama's campaign, not stepped down.
Discussion:
Right Wing Nut House, MyDD, Don Surber, Taylor Marsh, Redstate, Daimnation!, Sweetness & Light and Cliff Schecter.com
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CNN:
Clinton tells Democrats: Don't vote for McCain — FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) - Hillary Clinton pleaded for partisan unity on Thursday, urging Democrats not to abandon their party to vote for John McCain if their preferred candidate fails to secure the nomination.
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Steven Emerson / Articles by the Investigative Project …:
Exclusive Photos Show Al-Hanooti's Political Clout — Before he was alleged to have become a spy for Saddam Hussein's regime, Muthanna Al-Hanooti's charity work and political activism provided him with access to the highest echelons of government. — Newsletters collected by the Investigative Project …
Discussion:
The Corner, Little Green Footballs, On Deadline, Israpundit, Counterterrorism Blog and Detroit Free Press
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Loans and Leadership — When George W. Bush first ran for the White House, political reporters assured us that he came across as a reasonable, moderate guy. — Yet those of us who looked at his policy proposals — big tax cuts for the rich and Social Security privatization — had a very different impression.
Tahman Bradley / Political Radar:
Bill Clinton: Caucuses ‘Killing Us’ — ABC News' Teddy Davis, Sarah Amos, and Talal Al-Khatib Report: While speaking by phone Thursday to his wife's Texas supporters, former President Bill Clinton downplayed the importance of caucuses and argued that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. …
NationalJournal.com:
Transcript: Sen. Christopher Dodd On The Fight For The Democratic Nomination — Q: I want to welcome Senator Chris Dodd. He is the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. He was a presidential candidate this year — very well liked by many — and was in the '90s the general chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
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Mark Halperin / The Page:
Transcript of Dodd's Interview With National Journal
Transcript of Dodd's Interview With National Journal
Discussion:
Commentary
NEWS.com.au:
Woman forced to rip out nipple ring — A WOMAN in the US says she was forced by airport security guards to remove her nipple rings with a pair of pliers before she could board a flight. — Mandi Hamlin, 37, is demanding a civil rights investigation, as well as an apology from federal security agents …
Discussion:
Althouse
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Andrew Romano / Stumper:
Bloomberg and Obama Meet in the Big Apple. Is the White House Next? — NEW YORK, NY—At 9:15 this morning, Barack Obama delivered a “major” economic address at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in downtown Manhattan. That was Obama's entree du jour …
Discussion:
Washington Wire
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Slate:
The Hillary Deathwatch — GAUGING THE ODDS THAT CLINTON WILL WIN THE NOMINATION. — Hillary Clinton is as good as dead. This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Brendan Nyhan, Patterico's Pontifications, Spin Cycle and The New Republic
Inside Higher Ed:
Faculty Are Liberal — Who Cares? — One of the key arguments made by David Horowitz and his supporters in recent years is that a left-wing orientation among faculty members results in a lack of curricular balance, which in turn leads to students being indoctrinated rather than educated.