Top Items:
CNN:
Republicans begin to highlight Clinton's criticism of Obama — NEW YORK (CNN) - Hours before the polls closed Tuesday in the final two Democratic presidential primaries, the Republican National Committee began circulating a video of Hillary Clinton questioning Barack Obama's qualifications …
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Associated Press:
Text of Obama's speech Tuesday … Text of Democrat Barack Obama's prepared remarks for a rally on Tuesday in St. Paul, Minn., as released by his campaign: — Tonight, after 54 hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end. — Sixteen months have passed since …
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Next on Agenda Is Clinton's Role — Senator Barack Obama heads into the general election with obvious advantages: He is a Democratic candidate running in a sour atmosphere for Republicans, in a contest where voters are hungry for change and coming out of a campaign in which he filled arena after arena with supporters.
Discussion:
Political Radar
Jennifer Parker / ABCNEWS:
Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination — Democratic Superdelegates Push Obama to Victory Before Final Primary Contests — Sen. Barack Obama achieved the 2,118 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president today, according to the ABC News scorecard, before polls closed …
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Political Radar, American Power, skippy the bush kangaroo, CNN, MSNBC and AMERICAblog
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
FRIGHTENINGLY SAD — Here at TPM HQ we're watching John McCain's prebuttal to Sen. Obama's speech tonight. — And, man, I'm curious to hear what other people think, but I really feel like he would have served himself much better by just going to ground for the evening.
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
FRIGHTENINGLY SAD — NOW ON VIDEO! — We've had a lot of requests for Sen. McCain's already-legendarily awful prebuttal to Obama speech. And here it is ... After much consideration, we've decided that tomorrow's episode of TPMtv will simply have to be a round-up of all the pundit response to the McCain trainwreck.
Discussion:
The Anonymous Liberal
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Clintons Threaten — The speech tonight was a remarkable one for a candidate who has lost the nomination, though not remarkable for a Clinton. It was an assertion that she had won the nomination and a refusal to concede anything to her opponent. Classless, graceless, shameless, relentless.
HillaryClinton.com:
Hillary's Election Night Remarks in New York, NY — Thank you all so much. Thank you and thanks so much to South Dakota. You had the last word in this primary season, and it was worth the wait. — I want to start tonight by congratulating Senator Obama and his supporters on the extraordinary race that they have run.
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
This Moment — If I needed reassurance that this man is the most formidable force in American politics today, his speech tonight confirmed it. It was shrewd - with an artful positioning on Iraq. It was graceful - with respect for McCain's service and Clinton's tenacity.
Matthew Yglesias:
Clinton's Speech — I probably shouldn't write any more about this woman and her staff. Suffice it to say that I've found her behavior over the past couple of months to be utterly unconscionable and this speech is no different. I think if I were to try to express how I really feel …
SteveK / TVNewser:
“Russert Has Spent 20 Years Building Credibility. All Of A Sudden He's Taking Questions From [A] Daily Kos Blogger?” — Tonight may be the last of the primaries, but the discussion of the cable news coverage will no doubt continue for months to come. MSNBC has bore the brunt of much of the criticism …
Geoffrey Dickens / NewsBusters.org:
Chris Matthews: 'I'm Getting Giggles!' — On an evening where Barack Obama was on the verge of clinching the Democratic nomination and there was news that Hillary Clinton wanted in on the ticket, it was all too much for Chris Matthews to handle. The “Hardball” host couldn't contain his glee …
Discussion:
FREEDOM EDEN
Ryan Singel / Threat Level:
McCain: I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too — If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight …
Frank Phillips / Boston Globe:
Ogonowski's challenge to Kerry collapses; challenger misses signature mark — Ogonowski drew attention for his campaign against Niki Tsongas, but failed to collect enough signatures. — In a major embarrassment to Republican leaders in Massachusetts and in the U.S. Senate, Jim Ogonowski …
Discussion:
Reason Magazine, The Crypt's Blogs, Liberty Street, Liberal Values and Swing State Project
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Pelosi, Reid, Dean To Go Public: Democrats Need To Endorse — In the absence of a concession speech from Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night, top figures in the Democratic Party are set to go public, urging all uncommitted officials to declare their presidential affiliations.
Fouad Ajami / Wall Street Journal:
Why We Went to Iraq — Of all that has been written about the play of things in Iraq, nothing that I have seen approximates the truth of what our ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, recently said of this war: “In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came.”