memeorandum: Why Oprah quit Jeremiah Wright's church and Barack Obama didn't (Andrew Malcolm/Top of the Ticket)

9:30 AM ET, May 5, 2008

Top Items:

William Kristol / New York Times:

McCain-Jindal? — Barack Obama said Friday, “We've had a rough couple of weeks.” Actually, he's had a rough couple of months. He's lost three big primaries to Hillary Clinton. And, should he hold on to win the nomination, he can no longer be considered a clear favorite over John McCain in the general election.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Club for Growth, Crooks and Liars, Betsy's Page, Connecting.the.Dots, GregsOpinion.com and Soccer Dad

Zogby:

Zogby Poll: Obama Leads by 8 Points in NC; Race Still Very Tight in Indiana — Undecideds in both states remain high, as likely voters wait for last minute to commit to Clinton or Obama — UTICA, New York—The Democratic Party presidential contests in Indiana and North Carolina remained remarkably stable …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Donklephant

Susan Page / USA Today:

Poll: Flap over pastor hurts Obama — Barack Obama's national standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy over his former pastor, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, raising questions for some voters about the Illinois senator's values, credibility and electability.

Discussion: MSNBC and The Page

CBS News:

CBS Poll: Support For Obama Rebounds — In Wake Of Controversy Over Former Pastor, Illinois Senator Builds Lead Over McCain, Clinton — (CBS) Democrat Barack Obama appears to have rebounded from some of the damage caused by the controversy surrounding his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright …

Discussion: American Street, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News, FiveThirtyEight.com, TPM Election Central, The Jed Report, Daily Kos, The Daily Dish, RADAMISTO and TalkLeft

Justin Gardner / Donklephant:

Andrew Sullivan Suggests A “Hate-Filled Dream Ticket” — Sully's scared she'll damage him too much. — I have a similar concerns, but is choosing her for Veep really the way to go? — From TimesOnline: … I think Sullivan's points about JFK picking LBJ and Reagan picking the elder Bush …

Discussion: Dean's World and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Byron York / The Corner:

Bill Clinton, Selling the Product in Small-Town North Carolina — Greetings from North Carolina. I spent yesterday following Bill Clinton around small towns in the western part of the state — he hit six of them, not counting two church visits. Today, he'll go to nine.

Discussion: National Review

New York Times:
Ruthlessness and Grit Seen in Clinton's Style

Discussion: MSNBC and The Caucus

Eli Saslow / Washington Post:
In Small Towns, Bill Clinton Finds A Campaign Niche

Discussion: The Page

Attaturk / Firedoglake: How much you paying him NY Times?

Washington Post:
Dueling Appeals On Taxes From Obama, Clinton

Discussion: TPMCafe and The Page

Associated Press:
After 2 faint, Clinton cracks joke about making 'em swoon

Discussion: The Corner, Right Wing News and PunditGuy

New York Times:
Poll Shows Most Voters Unaffected by Wright

Discussion: The Fix, Hot Air, MSNBC, Sweetness & Light, The Moderate Voice, Fox News and American Power

Andrew Sullivan / Times of London:
Obama-Clinton, a hate-filled dream ticket

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Balloon Juice

Thomas B. Edsall / The Huffington Post:

Clinton Camp Considering Nuclear Option To Overtake Delegate Lead — Hillary Clinton's campaign has a secret weapon to build its delegate count, but her top strategists say privately that any attempt to deploy it would require a sharp (and by no means inevitable) shift in the political climate …

Discussion: Wizbang, MSNBC, race42008.com, American Street, Open Left, The Other McCain, Comments from Left Field, Underground, The Fact Hub, The Raw Story, The Jed Report, Political Machine, Gallup, Donklephant, Spin Cycle, Viking Pundit and The Swamp

Marc Ambinder:

Clinton's “Nuclear Option?” — HuffPost political editor Tom Edsall writes that the Clinton campaign is preparing to “ram through” the party's rules and bylaws committee a proposal to seat the disputed Florida and Michigan delegations and thus close the delegate gap by about 55.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say — BAGHDAD — Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran, according to American interrogation reports that the United States has supplied to the Iraqi government.

Discussion: Salon, Think Progress, abu muqawama, Christian Science Monitor, Hullabaloo, Jules Crittenden, Los Angeles Times, Commentary and War and Piece

Agence France Presse: Iraq says no hard evidence of Iranian support for militia

Associated Press:
$5 billion U.S. plan for Iraq's Green Zone met with doubt

Discussion: Attackerman

Robert Reich / Robert Reich's Blog:

Hillary Clinton Doesn't Listen to Economists — When asked this morning by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos if she could name a single economist who backs her call for a gas tax holiday this summer, HRC said “I'm not going to put my lot in with economists.” — I know several of the economists …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Political Machine, Comments from Left Field, Jack and Jill Politics, CNN and The Other McCain

ABCNEWS:
Exclusive Interview With Sen. Hillary Clinton

Discussion: The RBC and Swampland

Jodi Kantor / The Caucus:
There Goes the Economists' Vote

Discussion: Through the Looking Glass, DownWithTyranny!, Matthew Yglesias and The Huffington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Says Teamsters Need Less Oversight — Campaign Talks On Issue Preceded Union's Backing — Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption …

Discussion: The Page

Steve Chapman / Chicago Tribune:

McCain finds his own radical friend — Can a presidential candidate justify a long and friendly relationship with someone who, back in the 1970s, extolled violence and committed crimes in the name of a radical ideology—and who has never shown remorse or admitted error?

Discussion: Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Don Surber, Outside The Beltway, Ben Smith's Blogs and RADAMISTO

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Clinton mailing's gun gaffe — Senator Hillary Clinton's mailing attacking Senator Barack Obama's record on guns appears to include a striking visual gaffe: The image of the gun pictured on the face of the mailing is reversed, making it a non-existent left-handed model of the Mauser 66 rifle.

Discussion: MSNBC, TPM Election Central, The Raw Story, The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice and race42008.com

Booman Tribune:

I Don't Want to Talk About the Clintons Anymore — Even bloggers get tired. I'm tired of writing about the sins of the Clinton campaign. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow all filled with new energy, but much like the way I feel about the Bush administration, I feel like my point has been made.

Discussion: CBS News and American Street