Top Items:
Karen Tumulty / Time:
What Does Hillary Want? — A graceful exit is never easy in a business as fraught with ego and ambition as presidential politics. Which is why in recent days, quiet calls have started going out to key supporters of Hillary Clinton who are showing signs of wanting to jump ship.
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
TOXIC — For the last week it's seemed that Sens. Clinton and Obama were adhering to their tacit truce, continuing the primary campaign but avoiding the harsh exchanges that make later party unity a dimmer and dimmer prospect. Clinton particularly had deescalated her rhetoric.
Nate / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Can Obama Clinch on June 3rd?
Can Obama Clinch on June 3rd?
Discussion:
MyDD, TalkLeft, American Power, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind, PoliBlog (TM), The New Republic and Left in the West
Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
The light at the end of the tunnel may be a train
The light at the end of the tunnel may be a train
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice, New York Times, protein wisdom, The Trail, The New Republic and Politics Nation
Marc Ambinder:
Quietly, Obama Begins The Quest To Find A Running Mate — Very quietly, Sen. Barack Obama has begun the process that will end in his choosing a running mate, Democrats inside and outside the campaign said. — Obama has sworn a small group of his senior staff to secrecy.
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Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Officials say Obama starts search for running mate
Officials say Obama starts search for running mate
Discussion:
Washington Wire, NY Daily News, BuzzFlash.org, Corrente, MiamiHerald.com and Sweetness & Light
Jodi Kantor / New York Times:
Many Florida Jews Express Doubts on Obama — BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — At the Aberdeen Golf and Country Club on Sunday, the fountains were burbling, the man-made lakes were shining, and Shirley Weitz and Ruth Grossman were debating why Jews in this gated neighborhood of airy retirement homes feel …
Ian Bishop / NY Daily News:
I'd like wife to take my seat: Kennedy — Ted Kennedy has made clear to confidants that when his time is up, he wants his Senate seat to stay in the family - with his wife, Vicki. — Multiple sources in Massachusetts with close ties to the liberal lion say his wife of 16 years has long …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, New York Times, The New Republic, Hot Air, The Political Carnival, Riehl World View and TIME.com
Robert Novak / Real Clear Politics:
McCain Won't Play by Obama's Rules — WASHINGTON, D.C. — When one of the Democratic Party's most astute strategists this week criticized John McCain for attacking Barack Obama's desire to engage Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I asked what the Republican presidential candidate ought to talk about in this campaign.
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Wall Street Journal:
Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch — IEA Official Says Supplies — May Plateau Below Expected Demand — The world's premier energy monitor is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, a shift that reflects deepening pessimism over whether oil companies can keep abreast of booming demand.
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J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Where right sees bogeyman, GOP sens. see go-to guy — Despite his reputation outside Washington as a liberal ideologue, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is revered by his adversaries on Capitol Hill for being the chamber's greatest dealmaker and Republicans sensed his absence as much as Democrats did Wednesday.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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New York Times:
Kennedy Talked, Khrushchev Triumphed — IN his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy expressed in two eloquent sentences, often invoked by Barack Obama, a policy that turned out to be one of his presidency's — indeed one of the cold war's — most consequential: “Let us never negotiate out of fear.
Discussion:
The Swamp, neo-neocon, JustOneMinute, Weekly Standard Blog, Winds of Change.NET, Sweetness & Light, Redstate, Betsy's Page, MSNBC and Commentary
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Petraeus: Diplomacy, Not Force, With Iran — Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Bush's nominee to lead U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, supports continued U.S. engagement with international and regional partners to find the right mix of diplomatic, economic and military leverage …
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Troubling Instincts — Barack Obama is ambling rather than sprinting across the primary-season finish line. It's not just his failure to connect with blue-collar Democrats. He has added to his problems with ill-informed replies on critical foreign policy questions.
Todd McCarthy / Variety:
CHE — A Warner Bros. Intl. Release (in France) of a Wild Bunch and Telecino presentation of a Laura Bickford/Morena Films production. (International sales: Wild Bunch, Paris.) Produced by Bickford, Benicio Del Toro. Executive producers, Alvaro Augustin, Belen Atienza, Frederic W. Brost, Gregory Jacobs, Alvaro Longoria.
The Politico:
Viral e-mails attack Obama's life story — The main obstacle standing between Barack Obama and the White House was distilled into five words by a local television correspondent in South Charleston, W.Va., earlier this month. — Prefacing a question about the challenges of winning over white …
Adam C. Smith / St. Petersburg Times:
Obama suggests halving Florida delegation — KISSIMMEE — Delving deeper into Florida's Democratic delegate debacle than he ever has to date, Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that “a very reasonable solution” would be to count Florida's disputed primary votes and cut the state's delegation to the convention in half.
Gail Robinson / Sheffield Telegraph:
Sex swap driving teacher fury — A SEX swap instructor at an all-female driving school was left devastated when the Sheffield husband of one of her pupils threatened to sue her firm - for sending a man to teach his Muslim wife. — Emma Sherdley - formerly a married dad of two called Andrew …