memeorandum: McCain's Stalking Horse? (Rich Lowry/The Corner)

10:15 AM ET, April 23, 2008

Top Items:

The Low Road to Victory — The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.

Michael McNutt / Daily Oklahoman:

In Oklahoma: Henry backs Obama — Gov. Brad Henry, who said earlier he would not endorse a Democratic presidential candidate until this summer's national convention, announced this morning he is supporting Barack Obama. — The endorsement means Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Political Machine, Donklephant, The Page, Political Punch and The Field

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

News Analysis: The Bruising Will Go on for the Party, Too — For better or worse — and many Democrats fear it is for worse — the race goes on. — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in Pennsylvania on Tuesday by enough of a margin to continue a battle …

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, MSNBC, Althouse, Tennessee Guerilla Women, New York Magazine, NO QUARTER, Liberal Values, The Huffington Post and The Page

Rich Lowry / The Corner:

McCain's Stalking Horse? — If Hillary can't win the nomination—and it's clearly very, very hard for her—she's basically a stalking horse for McCain. She's preparing the demographic ground for McCain, by getting white working-class Democrats used to (if you will) not voting for Obama.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Hot Air, Betsy's Page and GINA COBB

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Clinton Clearly Outduels Obama in Pennsylvania — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton scored a decisive victory over Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday in the Pennsylvania primary, giving her candidacy a critical boost as she struggles to raise money and persuade party leaders to let the Democratic nominating fight go on.

Discussion: MSNBC, Los Angeles Times, QandO, The Caucus, American Street, Harry's Place, PunditGuy, ScrappleFace and BBC

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Obama Shifting Focus From Clinton to McCain — EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Senator Barack Obama opened the next phase of his presidential campaign here Tuesday evening, seeking to turn his focus away from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and persuade party leaders that time is running out for Democrats …

Discussion: MSNBC, The Page, Comments from Left Field, LiberalOasis, The Belmont Club and NO QUARTER

David Lightman / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Clinton's win in Pa. leaves Obama battered, party reeling

Discussion: Hot Air and Daily Pundit

David Paul Kuhn / Yahoo! News:
Why Clinton won Pennsylvania

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Huffington Post, Washington Post and marbury

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
EXIT POLLS: A LOOK AHEAD

Discussion: The Washington Independent and AMERICAblog

Matthew Yglesias:
Save Us!

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Hullabaloo, Obsidian Wings and The Democratic Daily

Jennifer Parker / ABCNEWS:
Dems Fight On; Clinton Wins PA Primary

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
EXIT POLLS: Negative Campaign Tarnishes Clinton, Obama

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, SurveyUSA, The Campaign Spot, Buck Naked Politics, Pollster.com, MSNBC, The Opinionator, CNN, Open Left, michellemalkin.com, The Raw Story, Irish Trojan in Tennessee, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Reaction, Marc Ambinder and The Page

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Breaking News (Updated): Ron Paul surges in Pa. — While some people pay attention to the alleged contest between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (and she won big), almost unnoticed is the Republican primary. — Many people think Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has won the GOP nomination.

Discussion: Comedy Central and JammieWearingFool

Hindrocket / Power Line:

THE FRIENDS OF BARACK OBAMA, PART 1 — When Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer decided to retire in 1995, she hand-picked local left-winger Barack Obama as her successor. In order to introduce Obama to influential liberals in the district, she held a function at the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Hugh Hewitt / Townhall.com:
The Ayers-Dohrn 2007 Audio — Mark Steyn and James Lileks …

Discussion: Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Wilting Over Waffles — He's never going to shake her off. — Not all by himself. — The very fact that he can't shake her off has become her best argument against him. “Why can't he close the deal?” Hillary taunted at a polling place on Tuesday. — She's been running ads about it …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Prairie Weather, Publius Pundit, Whiskey Fire, michellemalkin.com, Brendan Nyhan and Althouse

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Dead actor Roy Scheider donates to Barack Obama campaign anyway — Sen. Barack Obama does come from the Chicago school of politics, where historically voter turnout has been unusually high for residents of certain graveyards. And he has been unusually successful raising money.

Discussion: Power Line

Joe Bavier / Reuters:

Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital — KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field and Gateway Pundit

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Where did we go wrong? — The networks have called it for Hillary and I think after Florida in 2000 they're not going to make that mistake again, so obviously our polls were wrong. — First off, please do not call us or e-mail us and tell us we suck! We are well aware, and it does not feel good.

Discussion: MyDD and Brilliant at Breakfast

George M / CNN:
Exit polls: Gun owners, church goers choose Clinton

Discussion: The Swamp

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Worst Of All Worlds For The Dems — Right now, the actual results suggest what I thought would be the worst possible result for the Democrats: a nine point win for Clinton. It doesn't change the race's dynamic or the math; but it will give Clinton just the tiniest sliver of an argument that she should not drop out.

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The RBC and Ben Smith's Blogs

New York Times:

Murdoch Moving to Buy Newsday for $580 Million — Rupert Murdoch is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New York-based paper, Newsday, and getting his first chance to appoint the top editor of The Wall Street Journal …

Discussion: Think Progress, Gawker and Raw Story

KXLY-TV:

Tony Snow cancels EWU speech due to illness — Updated: — SPOKANE — Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow has canceled a public speaking engagement at Eastern Washington University because of an undisclosed illness. — Snow, who was supposed to hold a public lecture …

Discussion: Gawker and Anne Schroeder's Blogs