memeorandum: Ron Paul's troops quietly take over some local GOP groups (Andrew Malcolm/Top of the Ticket)

4:50 PM ET, April 30, 2008

Top Items:

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

FOX News Poll: Obama's Favorable Rating Drops — Nearly half of Democrats (48 percent) think Hillary Clinton has a better chance of beating John McCain in November — 10 percentage points higher than the 38 percent who think Barack Obama can win, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday.

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere and Don Surber

Marc Ambinder:

Obama's Name Now Toxic In Mississippi For One Democrat — Travis Childers, the Democratic congressional candidate who has the chance to flip Mississippi's first congressional district from Republican to Democrat, is so concerned with Mississippi voters falsely believing that he's been endorsed …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

Patsy R. Brumfield / Tupelo Daily Journal:
1st District ads pour gasoline on burning fire

Discussion: The Page

Jay Levine / WBBM-TV:
Pastor vs The Pol: Did Wright Mean To Hurt Obama?

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Hot Air

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
GOP gives Clinton the silent treatment

Discussion: The Raw Story and NY Daily News

Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Virtual Tie Persists in Democratic Race

Discussion: MyDD

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Dumb as We Wanna Be — It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report, The Daily Dish, The New Republic, Energy Smart, American Street, All Spin Zone, Sadly, No!, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, DownWithTyranny!, Daimnation! and Matthew Yglesias

Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:

Political Pandering — Suspending the federal gas tax is a crass ploy for votes. Why Hillary Clinton and John McCain should know better. — NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE — Hillary Clinton has now joined John McCain in proposing the most irresponsible policy idea of the year—an idea that actually could aid the terrorists.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Oregonian, MoJoBlog, goodCRIMETHINK, American Street and Spin Cycle

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
WHAT THE GAS HOLIDAY COULD BE.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Buck Naked Politics and Balloon Juice

Steven Ginsberg / The Trail:

Clinton Exuding Confidence — South Bend, Ind. — As Hillary Clinton continues virtually nonstop campaigning between North Carolina and Indiana, the candidate and her team are showing signs of increased confidence. — After spending weeks blasting Barack Obama at any potential opening …

Discussion: Commentary

Human Events:
Outlook — Prospects have brightened a little for Sen …

Discussion: The Corner

New York Times:
After Break With Ex-Pastor, Obama Tries to Move On

Discussion: The Caucus and The Room

Sue Sturgis / Facing South:

FACING SOUTH EXCLUSIVE: D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls — Who's behind the mysterious “robo-calls” that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Ben Smith's Blogs, Open Left, TalkLeft, TPMMuckraker, Obsidian Wings, BlueNC, Spin Cycle, The Carpetbagger Report, AMERICAblog, RaceWire, Pandagon, newsobserver.com projects and Booman Tribune

Page Gardner / The Huffington Post:

Confusion Surrounding Robo-Calls in North Carolina — This week, more than 276,000 North Carolina residents received a voter registration application from Women's Voices, Women Vote. North Carolina is one of 24 states where we mailed a total of more than 3 million voter registration applications.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Getting to Know John McCain — It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Daily Dish, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, TownHall Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, The Campaign Spot, Democratic Strategist, Don Surber, Hot Air and The Page

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Clinton blasts Bush for not stopping a project Bill OK'd — INDIANAPOLIS — It's a story Hillary Clinton loves to tell, about how the Chinese government bought a good American company in Indiana, laid off all its workers and moved its critical defense technology work to China.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Swamp, Flopping Aces, The Fact Hub and Outside The Beltway

Nikki Finke / Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Tim Russert Blackballing Arianna At NBC? — UPDATE: Sources close to Arianna Huffington are claiming just that. Arianna Huffington is currently on book tour for her new political tome Right Is Wrong: How The Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded The Constitution, And Made Us All Less Safe …

ZP Heller / Brave New Films blog:
Mighty Tim Russert Wields His Clout

Discussion: Nikki Finke's Deadline …

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:

Economy grows by only 0.6 percent in first quarter — Economy limps ahead at a 0.6 percent pace in first quarter, better pace than expected — WASHINGTON (AP) — The bruised economy limped through the first quarter, growing at just a 0.6 percent pace as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.

Discussion: The Big Picture, NewsBusters.org, Wonkette, Bloomberg, Neptunus Lex, Donklephant and Political Machine

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: FIRST QUARTER 2008 (ADVANCE)

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Calculated Risk, Wizbang, The Big Picture, BizzyBlog, The American Mind and Angry Bear

CBS News:

“Hostile” Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan — Pentagon Wary Of Tehran's Expanding Nuclear Program And Support Of Iraqi Insurgents — (CBS) A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran.

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Think Progress, Newshoggers.com, VetVoice, Aljazeera, American Street, Buck Naked Politics, Jules Crittenden, Associated Press and Connecting.the.Dots

Amit R. Paley / Washington Post:
U.S. Role Deepens in Sadr City

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, American Footprints, Attackerman, The American Conservative, VetVoice, God's Politics and NewsBusters.org

Michelle Malkin:

All aboard the Jive Talk Express — My syndicated column today deconstructs Barack Obama's pitiful performance yesterday. Try as he might, he simply cannot disown the un-disownable preacher of hate. That press conference yesterday renders the Philadelphia speech from March null and void.

Discussion: Althouse, Firedoglake, Riehl World View and Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Washington Post:
Parting With the Pastor — LAST MONTH, during a speech on race …

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Boston Globe, Weekly Standard Blog, protein wisdom, Wall Street Journal, The Politico, MSNBC and Commentary

Mark Morford / San Francisco Chronicle:

Hot! — Behold, the ideal Republican wife: Prim, sexless, nearly useless, lets the men do the real thinkin'. Hot! — I fondly recall, just before the tragic Bush/Kerry presidential election, an impassioned discussion I had with a family friend, a conservative Catholic mother of four …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com and The Other McCain

The Politico:

Obama may win Hill superdelegate fight — Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton. — While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate …

Discussion: The Page, Associated Press, The Nation, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Booman Tribune, The Caucus, KansasCity.com Prime Buzz, The Washington Independent and Wonkette

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Brian Williams' “response” to the military analyst story — It has now been more than ten days since the New York Times exposed the Pentagon's domestic propaganda program involving retired generals and, still, not a single major news network has even mentioned the story to their viewers …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The BRAD BLOG, NewsBusters.org, MSNBC, UT Documents, The Poor Man Institute, Left in the West and Blue Girl, Red State

Ali / Think Progress:

Perino Rewrites Banner: ‘Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission’ — Exactly five years ago tomorrow, President Bush landed aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, stood under a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished,” and declared, “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

Discussion: The Caucus, The Carpetbagger Report and Towleroad.com