memeorandum: Obama casts race between him, McCain (Devlin Barrett/Associated Press)

7:30 PM ET, April 1, 2008

Top Items:

Harold Ickes Confirms That Wright Is Key Topic In Discussions With Super-Delegates — In an interview with me this morning, senior Hillary adviser Harold Ickes confirmed that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a key topic in discussions with uncommitted super-delegates over whether Obama is electable in a general election.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Marc Ambinder, Wall Street Journal, Open Left, Fox News, Hot Air, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog and Wake up America

Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:

Clinton compares herself to ‘Rocky’ — PHILADELPHIA - Perhaps the analogy was inevitable: Hillary Rodham Clinton as Rocky Balboa, the scrappy underdog boxer from Philadelphia memorably depicted in the 1976 Oscar-winning film. Even if Rocky did lose his first big fight.

Discussion: FOX Embeds, MSNBC, American Street, Washington Wire, PoliBlog (TM), Don Surber, Wizbang, Sweetness & Light and PunditGuy

WCAU-TV:

Exclusive Poll: Clinton's Lead Shrinks In Pa. — Clinton Leads By 12 Points, Survey Finds — If the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania were held Tuesday, April 1, Hillary Clinton would defeat Barack Obama by 12 percentage points, according to a recent SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively …

Discussion: SurveyUSA, Bloomberg, Barack Obama 2008, New York Times, TalkLeft, Examining Presidential …, MyDD, Political Machine, NPR Blogs, Boston Globe, The Moderate Voice, Newshoggers.com, Taylor Marsh, Sister Toldjah, Truthdig, Donklephant and TPM Election Central

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama 49%, Clinton 45% — McCain has slight edge over both Democrats — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows a closer Democratic nomination race than has been the case in recent days, with 49% of Democratic voters nationwide saying they are most likely …

Discussion: Pollster.com

Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:

Obama casts race between him, McCain — WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Sen. Barack Obama is talking about the elephant in the room — Republican rival John McCain — and all but ignoring the Democrat who stands between him and his party's presidential nomination. — Even though Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Hot Air

Hillary Clinton / CNN:

Clinton backer: Obama will win — (CNN) — A key Hillary Clinton supporter appeared to be a bit off message during a recent interview with a Canadian radio station. — “If I had to make a prediction right now, I'd say Barack Obama is going to be the next president,” Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver …

Discussion: The Page

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Clinton Less Appealing Than Obama as Potential V.P. — Clinton backers favor an Obama-Clinton ticket; Obama backers do not — PRINCETON, NJ — Only 42% of Democrats nationwide want Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee if Barack Obama wins the presidential nomination …

Discussion: The Swamp, Talking Points Memo and TPM Election Central

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Cleaver's bluntness — In an unusually frank interview …

Discussion: The Swamp, CBC.ca, Political Machine, skippy the bush kangaroo and Wonkette

Associated Press:
Pelosi says Democratic race should go on

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Associated Press, The Sundries Shack, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, NY Daily News, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber, PoliGazette and The Strata-Sphere

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Teachers Launch Radio Ads For Clinton in Pa.

Discussion: The Trail and TPM Election Central

Washington Post:
As Rivals Battle, McCain Builds November Machine

Discussion: Stumper, Marc Ambinder, Firedoglake, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, American Power and The Page

Wonk Room:

Elizabeth Edwards Responds: Why Are People Like Me Left Out Of Your Health Care Proposal, Sen. McCain? — Our guest blogger is Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Presidential candidate John Edwards. — I freely admit that I am confused about the role of overnight funding in repurchase markets in the collapse of Bear Stearns.

Discussion: Macsmind, The Trail, American Street and Shakesville

Think Progress:
Elizabeth Edwards: Americans Are 'Left Outside The Clinic Doors …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and The Page

Neil Midgley / Telegraph:

Flying penguins found by BBC programme — The BBC will today screen remarkable footage of penguins flying as part of its new natural history series, Miracles of Evolution. — Camera crews discovered a colony of Adélie penguins while filming on King George Island, some 750 miles south of the Falkland Islands.

Discussion: Achenblog, The Underwire, Guardian Unlimited and Guardian

Ali / Think Progress:

Student calls McCain out for political motivations of school appearance. — Today Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) stopped at his alma mater, Episcopal High School in Virginia, to lecture on the importance of teaching and the honor code. McCain's toughest question came from student Katelyn Halldorson …

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog and Shakesville

Hotline On Call:
“I Hope Attendance Here Was Not Compulsory”

Discussion: Wonkette

Dani Rodrik / Dani Rodrik's weblog:

American political economics in one picture — Look at the figure below, and then look at it again, and again, and again. It is the most telling picture about the U.S. political economy I have ever seen. — It comes from Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels' new book, soon to be released.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Comments from Left Field, Will Wilkinson, The G Spot, Angry Bear and Economist's View

M. Duss / Wonk Room:

McCain ‘Surprised’ By Events In Basra, Uninformed About How Ceasefire Occurred — John McCain did a little more damage to his foreign policy credibility yesterday. After hailing the Basra offensive last Friday as “a sign of the strength of [Maliki's] government,” yesterday McCain distanced himself …

Discussion: Salon, Matthew Yglesias, Los Angeles Times and D-Day

Matt / Think Progress:
McCain Gets Iraq Facts Wrong Again: Says Sadr — Not Maliki — ‘Asked’ For Ceasefire

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and MoJoBlog

The Politico:

Pentagon balked on gay partner travel — Prior to the Easter recess, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to intervene with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in order to get Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin's domestic partner on a military flight for a congressional fact-finding trip to Europe.

Discussion: New York Times, The Crypt's Blogs, The Swamp, Think Progress, Pam's House Blend, TPMMuckraker, Outside The Beltway and Shakesville

New York Times:

Negotiations May Lead to Mugabe's Exit in Zimbabwe — HARARE, Zimbabwe — The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is in talks with advisers to President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe, amid signs that some of those close to Mr. Mugabe may encourage him to resign, a Western diplomatic source …

Discussion: Guardian, MoJoBlog, BBC, CentreRight, On Deadline, The New Republic, The Corner, D-Day, FP Passport, The American Scene and Vodkapundit

Gateway Pundit:
Party Concedes Loss— Deal Close for Mugabe to Leave Office!

Discussion: MSNBC, allAfrica.com and small dead animals

Fafnir / Fafblog:

everything depends on the getaway — “Screw this dump!” says Giblets. “This universe is old and fat and smells like smelling and Giblets is busting out!” — “Should we go over the wall or take the tunnel?” says me. I been diggin a tunnel. — “Nuts to the tunnel!” says Giblets.

Michelle Malkin:

Lights out at MichelleMalkin.com Update (noon): Flipped the switch — Update: It's noon and I've flipped the switch back on. Let there be light! — Today I am going dark. — We've turned out the lights at MichelleMalkin.com. Why? To raise awareness of empty awareness-raising gestures …

Discussion: Donklephant and Weekly Standard Blog