memeorandum: Bush Arrives for Middle Eastern Tour (Sheryl Gay Stolberg/New York Times)

9:50 AM ET, May 14, 2008

Top Items:

Aaron Blake / The Hill:

Childers victory gives Dems a third straight takeover — Democrat Travis Childers won Tuesday's Mississippi special election runoff for Sen. Roger Wicker's (R) House seat, handing Democrats the biggest of their three special election takeovers this cycle and sending a listless GOP further into a state of disarray.

Discussion: The Swamp, BuzzFlash.org, Firedoglake, Comments from Left Field, Gateway Pundit, The Jed Report, The Crypt's Blogs, The Reaction, The American Mind, PoliBlog (TM), skippy the bush kangaroo, GregsOpinion.com, Donklephant, Cotton Mouth and Marc Ambinder

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Democrat Wins Mississippi Special Election — House Democrats won a conservative northern Mississippi House seat in a special election tonight, a victory certain to send shock waves through the ranks of congressional GOPers. — The Associated Press called the race for Prentiss County …

Discussion: Clarion-Ledger, Redstate, JammieWearingFool, American Street, Bluestem Prairie, Scripting News, CNN and Gateway Pundit

Adam Nossiter / New York Times:
Democrat Wins House Seat in Mississippi

Discussion: Think Progress, WillBardwell.com, KIKO'S HOUSE, Outside The Beltway, The Swamp, The Crypt's Blogs and Talking Points Memo

Reid Wilson / Real Clear Politics:
GOP Stunned By Loss in Mississippi

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere and Crunchy Con

dccc.org:
MS-01: DEMOCRAT TRAVIS CHILDERS WINS

Discussion: MyDD and The New Republic

Mike Allen / Associated Press: Hillary's ‘almost heaven’ - Signs of a coming GOP cataclysm

Deacon / Power Line: THE REPUBLICAN LOSING STREAK CONTINUES

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
CHILDERS ON TRACK TO WIN IT

Discussion: 2008 Democratic …

Josh Kraushaar / The Crypt's Blogs:
Democrat wins Mississippi special election

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Liberty Street, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, The Jed Report and WillBardwell.com

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Clinton Beats Obama Handily in West Virginia — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won a lopsided victory on Tuesday over Senator Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary, where racial considerations emerged as an unusually salient factor. Mrs. Clinton drew strong support from white …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politics Nation, The Caucus, Washington Post, The Mahablog, The Carpetbagger Report, BuzzFlash.org, PoliGazette, The Huffington Post, Althouse and LiberalOasis

Matthew Yglesias:

Clinton Wins WV — Her campaign is rescued from the dead. As the Clinton campaign sagely points out “no Democrat has won the White House without winning West Virginia since 1916” and therefore Obama's primary loss shows that despite his large lead in the polls over John McCain, he can't possible win the election.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Guardian Unlimited, PoliBlog (TM), Outside The Beltway, PrestoPundit, Liberal Values, Gothamist, Oliver Willis, The Moderate Voice, Examiner, Comments from Left Field, QandO, CNN, The Numbers and Wake up America

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
This Is an Ex-Candidate — C ustomer: “Look, matey …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, GINA COBB and AMERICAblog

HillaryClinton.com:
Hillary's Remarks at Charleston, WV Celebration Event

Discussion: TalkLeft and PSoTD

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:
For The Record . . . The West Virginia exit polls indicate …

Discussion: PoliGazette, Comments from Left Field and KnoxViews

New York Times:
Profile of the Voters … Mr. Huckabee won West Virginia's …

Discussion: Anglachel's Journal and NO QUARTER

Nate / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Clinton wins West Virginia

Discussion: Open Left, The Daily Dish, Reason Magazine and Slog

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Bush warns of Iraq disaster — President Bush warned in an interview Tuesday that the Democratic presidential candidates' plans to withdraw abruptly from Iraq could “eventually lead to another attack on the United States” and would “embolden” terrorists. — In a White House interview …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Comments from Left Field, On Deadline, Mccs1977, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Reaction, Truthdig, The Agitator, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Page, Sadly, No! and Wonkette

Jason Linkins / The Huffington Post:

Rumsfeld On 2006 Election: “The Correction For That...Is An Attack” — An ongoing exploration of the documents related to the Pentagon's “message force multipliers” program has unearthed a clip of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggesting that America, having voted the Democrats …

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Firedoglake, Brilliant at Breakfast and American Street

Agence France Presse:

Bush: I quit golf over Iraq war — WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said in an interview out Tuesday that he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of US soldiers killed in the conflict in Iraq, now in its sixth year. — “I think playing golf during a war …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Jules Crittenden, Newshoggers.com, race42008.com, American Street, PoliGazette and Nitpicker

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Bush Arrives for Middle Eastern Tour

Discussion: PoliGazette and Connecting.the.Dots

Brandon Friedman / VetVoice:
Bush Finally Speaks to the Ultimate Wartime Sacrifice

Discussion: Think Progress and Dependable Renegade

Barry Rubin / gloriacenter.org:

Lebanon to West: Wake Up Fast! — While America's secretary of state devotes her time to doomed Israel-Palestinian talks and America goes ga-ga over a candidate whose main foreign policy strategy is to talk to dictators, still another crisis strengthens radical Islamists and endangers Western friends and interests.

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
The New Cold War — The next American president will inherit …

Discussion: Salon and abu muqawama

Quinnipiac University:

Obama, Clinton Both Top McCain In November Face-Off, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Most Democrats Back Obama-Clinton ‘dream Ticket’ — Either one of the two Democratic contenders, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, leads the likely Republican presidential nominee …

Discussion: The Swamp, TPM Election Central and Real Clear Politics

Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains Democratic Lead, 50%-44%

Discussion: American Street and Donklephant

Washington Post:

Some Detainees Are Drugged For Deportation — Immigrants Sedated Without Medical Reason — The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

NEVER DIE!! — Even with Hillary's blow-out win in West Virginia and the amazing Democratic victory in Mississippi, for me tonight's going to be about Terry McAuliffe's tour de force moment when he turned projectile nonsense into something approaching the sublime ...

Discussion: MyDD

Ed OKeefe / Political Radar:

Obama Gaffes on Iraq and Afghanistan — ABC News' David Wright and Sunlen Miller Report: Sporting a shiny new American flag pin at an appearance in Rush Limbaugh's hometown, Sen. Barack Obama came up with some novel reasons why the U.S. may be struggling in the war in Afghanistan.

Discussion: Hot Air, Don Surber, Sister Toldjah and Commentary

Wall Street Journal:

Obama to Receive Endorsement Of 3 Former SEC Chairmen — Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission will publicly endorse Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under President Bush. — William Donaldson …

Discussion: The Page

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

There is No Nominee: On To The Five Remaining Primaries — The media is not going to determine the future of the Democratic party. Voters are. — There are five states left to go. Hillary Clinton will do very well in Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Obama has a lead in Oregon. MT and SD are tiny.

Discussion: NO QUARTER