Top Items:
New York Times:
Suddenly, North Carolina Is Facing Tighter Race — RALEIGH, N.C. — Just days before the North Carolina primary, the Democratic presidential contest in this state is suddenly alive with a fresh air of competition, as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton seeks to capitalize on a controversy …
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Charles Blow / New York Times:
A Blacklash? — Since January, the Clintons have pummeled Barack Obama with racially tinged comments and questions about his character. — Hillary Clinton has questioned why he didn't walk out on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.; why he “denounced” but didn't “reject” Louis Farrakhan …
Discussion:
Jack and Jill Politics
Zogby:
Zogby Poll: Obama Lead in NC Shrinks; He and Clinton Remain Deadlocked in Indiana — UTICA, New York - Democrat Hillary Clinton made gains in North Carolina yesterday, drawing within single digits of rival Barack Obama, while the two remain deadlocked in Indiana with just days …
Al Giordano / The Huffington Post:
Operation Anti-Chaos: The Narrative on “White Voters” Is Fiction — I turn on the TV, read the political columnists (and a significant number of analytically-challenged bloggers, too) and all I hear is a bunch of white folk prattling on about their favorite narrative: “Obama's losing white voters!”
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Michael Barone / Townhall.com:
Wright Controversy Affects the Polls — Is the bottom falling out for Barack Obama? It's too early to say that, but there are some disturbing signs. On the positive side, superdelegates still are breaking his way. Rep. Baron Hill, whose southern Indiana district almost certainly will vote for Hillary Clinton, came out for Obama.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Michael James / Political Punch:
Stumping for Delegates, Clinton Pledges Voting Rights to Guam — Guam's four Democratic delegates (not to mention its five superdelegates) are up for grabs in Saturday's primary, and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has told residents of that Pacific territory …
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Larry Rohter / New York Times:
Republicans Crossing Over to Vote in Democratic Contests — INDIANAPOLIS — Until now, Shirley Morgan had always been the kind of voter the Republican Party thought it could count on. She comes from a family of staunch Republicans, has a son in the military and has supported Republican …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, American Power, Prairie Weather, Washington Post and American Street
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Fred Hiatt on the noble glories of occupation — Long-time war cheerleader Fred Hiatt of The Washignton Post has a truly incoherent Editorial this morning in which he cites the problems he says are created by air strikes of the type the U.S. just carried out against an alleged Al Qaeda leader …
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Washington Post:
Strike From Afar — How would ‘over the horizon’ counterterrorism work in Iraq? Look at Somalia. — TOMAHAWK MISSILES fired by a U.S. Navy ship demolished a house in central Somalia on Thursday and killed a vicious militia leader and al-Qaeda operative.
Discussion:
QandO
Sarah Lyall / New York Times:
Colorful Tory Beats Laborite to Become Mayor of London — LONDON — Boris Johnson, the floppy-haired media celebrity and Conservative member of Parliament who transformed himself from a shambling, amusing-aphorism-uttering figure of fun into a plausible political force, was elected mayor of London on Friday.
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Benedict Brogan / Daily Mail:
Boris has last laugh after routing Red Ken to complete Gordon Brown's day of misery
Boris has last laugh after routing Red Ken to complete Gordon Brown's day of misery
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
Karl / protein wisdom:
GOP 2008: McCain's real slip on Middle Eastern oil — Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain spent Friday clarifying his earlier suggestion that the Iraq War was motivated by US dependence on foreign oil: … Allahpundit suggests that McCain's concerns on this point are hard to take seriously …
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Libby Quaid / Associated Press:
McCain clarifies remark about oil, Iraq war
McCain clarifies remark about oil, Iraq war
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Eschaton, Think Progress, Obsidian Wings, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, MyDD, Donklephant, Yahoo! News and AMERICAblog
Ralph Blumenthal / New York Times:
After Hiatus, States Set Wave of Executions — HUNTSVILLE, Tex. — Here in the nation's leading death-penalty state, and some of the 35 others with capital punishment, execution dockets are quickly filling up. — Less than three weeks after a United States Supreme Court ruling ended …
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Michelle Malkin:
“My immigrant vagina is angry” and other militant May Day moments — The MSM focused on the diminished numbers of May Day protesters earlier this week, but those who did turn out were as militant as ever. Blog correspondents from across the country sent in their coverage.
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
For Democrats, Instincts Differ on Economics — As they traveled across Indiana and North Carolina over the last few days, trading charges and countercharges about the wisdom of suspending the federal gas tax for the summer, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were really having a larger fight.
Discussion:
The Page
Bob Herbert / New York Times:
Overkill and Short Shrift — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is no doubt (and regrettably) a big issue in the presidential campaign. But what we've seen over the past week is major media overkill — Jeremiah Wright all day and all night. It's like watching the clips of a car wreck again and again.
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