Top Items:
Mark Mooney / Political Radar:
Obama Now Takes The Lead in Superdelegates Too — ABC News' Karen Travers Reports: For the first time this campaign season, Barack Obama has surpassed Hillary Clinton's support among superdelegates, according to the ABC News delegate estimate. — Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates …
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Jesse J. Holland / Associated Press:
Obama wins endorsement of government employees union — WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Federation of Government Employees endorsed Barack Obama Friday, giving the Illinois senator fresh momentum toward capturing the Democratic nomination for president. — “Our people, I think …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Spin Cycle, Liberal Values, Politicker MD, Donklephant and 2008 Democratic …
New York Times:
Sen. Clinton and the Campaign — There is a lot of talk that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now fated to lose the Democratic nomination and should pull out of the race. We believe it is her right to stay in the fight and challenge Senator Barack Obama as long as she has the desire and the means to do so.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Thinking About November — The fight for the Democratic nomination seems to be winding down. It's not completely over, but the odds now overwhelmingly favor Barack Obama. — Assuming that Mr. Obama is the nominee, he'll lead a party that, judging by the usual indicators …
Robert Schwaneberg / New Jersey Online:
Congressman Payne, NJ superdelegate, switches from Clinton to Obama
Congressman Payne, NJ superdelegate, switches from Clinton to Obama
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Rahm Emanuel: Obama Is Our Presumptive Nominee — One of the most influential (and thus far subdued) voices in the Democratic primary all but declared the contest over on Friday morning. — “At this point, Barack is the presumptive nominee,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel during the New Yorker's magazine conference.
CNN:
Hezbollah militias seize West Beirut — BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — Hezbollah militias took control of western Beirut on Friday, dealing a major blow to the U.S.-backed government in the worst sectarian violence since the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1990. — Walid Jumblatt …
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Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Damsel of Distress — This is an amazing story. The Democratic Party has a winner. It has a nominee. You know this because he has the most votes and the most elected delegates, and there's no way, mathematically, his opponent can get past him. Even after the worst two weeks of his campaign …
Discussion:
American Street, MSNBC, Ed Driscoll.com, Too Sense, Connecting.the.Dots and BuzzFlash.org
Salon:
Killing by the numbers — In 2007 elite U.S. snipers executed an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in cold blood. Have the insidious tactics that led to atrocities in Vietnam reemerged in Iraq? — Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, an Iraqi vegetable farmer, walked down to the ramshackle pump house along the banks of the Euphrates.
Discussion:
Swampland
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Andrew G. Biggs / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Faulty Tax Argument — As the presidential campaign heats up, a key issue is whether to extend the 2001 and 2003 income tax cuts, which expire in 2011. John McCain wants to make the tax cuts permanent. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to let the rates rise.
Amanda / Think Progress:
Republicans vote against Mother's Day. — On Wednesday, the House took up the seemingly uncontroversial H. Res. 1113, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day.” The resolution initially passed 412 to 0, until Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) rose in protest:
New York Times:
NY Times, Washington Post Confirm Arianna's Story That McCain Did Not Vote For Bush — On Monday, Arianna reported that John McCain told her he had not voted for George W. Bush in 2000. Today, both The New York Times AND The Washington Post published articles with sources confirming John McCain …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Trail, Think Progress, The Daily Dish, Fox News and Political Machine
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Scott Martelle / Top of the Ticket:
John McCain called out by Jed Bartlet's aides
John McCain called out by Jed Bartlet's aides
Discussion:
PERRspectives Blog
Krooney / The Page:
Did Edwards Tip His Hand? — Former presidential candidate appears on MSNBC, refuses to reveal who he voted for on Tuesday. — But says in passing- “I just voted for him on Tuesday.” Or was it “just voted for 'em?” Or something else? … Also says there's “a great likelihood” …
Discussion:
The Caucus, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Impolitic, The Raw Story and The Washington Independent
Jack Kelly / Real Clear Politics:
Obama Needs a History Lesson — In his victory speech after the North Carolina primary, Sen. Barack Obama said something that is all the more remarkable for how little it has been remarked upon. — In defending his stated intent to meet with America's enemies without preconditions, Sen. Obama said:
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
IRAN'S WEAPONS....Tina Susman of the LA Times reports that Iranian involvement in Iraq's civil war may not be everything it's been cracked up to be: … This item only showed up on the LAT's Iraq blog, not in a regular news piece. If it weren't for the blog, I wonder if we ever would have heard of this?
Larry C. Johnson / The Huffington Post:
The Obama Democrats' Ostrich Moment — The full-court press to force Hillary from the presidential race ain't working. She will win the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico primaries. — But the screwed-up, patchwork system the Democrats are using to choose delegates has given small states …
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
You want radical? You got it — Supreme Court justices take an oath promising to “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties . . . of the Supreme Court of the United States under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Sticking Points for Obama — Barack Obama — the charismatic, weakened, patronizing, soaring, prickly, historic, inevitable nominee of the Democratic Party — is now left with two related problems. — First, Obama's own missteps, amplified by Hillary Clinton's negativity …