memeorandum: Absentee Ballots to Decide N.Y. House Race (Washington Post)

11:25 AM ET, April 1, 2009

Top Items:

Nina Totenberg / NPR:

Sources: Sen. Stevens Conviction To Be Voided — Audio for this story will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET — · NPR's has learned that the Justice Department will drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. — A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts …

Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:

Some in Justice Department See D.C. Vote in House as Unconstitutional — Holder Overrode Ruling That Measure Is Unconstitutional — Justice Department lawyers concluded in an unpublished opinion earlier this year that the historic D.C. voting rights bill pending in Congress is unconstitutional …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Note, The Corner, The Foundry, Commentary and Bench Memos

Reuters:

U.S. to drop charges against former Sen. Stevens: report — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has decided to drop all charges against former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens amid accusations of prosecutorial misconduct, NPR reported on Wednesday, citing Justice officials.

Discussion: Hot Air, Riehl World View, The Raw Story, Don Surber and Gateway Pundit

Del Quentin Wilber / Washington Post:

U.S. Seeks to Drop Case Against Former Sen. Stevens — The Justice Department filed court papers this morning asking a federal judge to toss out the conviction of former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on corruption charges. — The move comes as a federal judge was preparing to conduct hearings …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, TalkLeft, JustOneMinute, Law Blog and Patterico's Pontifications

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

Hulk Smash Indictment? DOJ to Drop All Charges Against Ted Stevens — Lego Hulk via dunechaser. — NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that DOJ sources say Ted Stevens' indictment will be dismissed this morning by AG Eric Holder. This would, effectively, end pending criminal sentencing from Stevens' trial.

Discussion: At-Largely

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Holder abandons Stevens prosecution

Discussion: TPMMuckraker

Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:
Feds seek to reverse Ted Stevens' conviction

Discussion: Agence France Presse and DISSENTING JUSTICE

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
Ted Stevens Conviction Voided

Discussion: The Agitator

The Politico:

Obama referendum: no winner, one loser — SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There's no winner yet in the Upstate New York special election and it might be mid-April before the race is settled. But a few things are clearer after Tuesday's contest, none of it welcome news to the Republican Party.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Gawker

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

Upstate New York House Race Is Too Close to Call — A mere 65 votes separated the two candidates late Tuesday in a Congressional contest in upstate New York that received national attention and was widely seen as a referendum on the Obama administration's economic recovery efforts.

Discussion: CBS News, JammieWearingFool, The Opinionator, TPMDC, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Monthly, Albany Times Union, Sister Toldjah, Capitol Confidential, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Clusterstock, PoliBlog, DownWithTyranny! and Truthdig

Baltimore Sun:

Steele chides GOP for infighting — Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele lashed out at GOP infighting Tuesday and urged the party faithful - some of whom have criticized his erratic statements - to be more like him: “unconventional, unpredictable ... to do from time to time the unexpected.”

Discussion: Think Progress, Taegan Goddard's … and TPMDC

The New Republic: Vote of Confidence: Murphy Refutes Murphy's Law

Washington Post:
Absentee Ballots to Decide N.Y. House Race

Discussion: Think Progress, TIME.com, Democratic Strategist and Capitol Briefing

Irene Jay Liu / Capitol Confidential:
Race too close to call

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Daily Politics, MSNBC, The Campaign Spot, Runnin' Scared and WNYT-TV

Paul D. Ryan / Wall Street Journal:

The GOP's Alternative Budget — President Obama offers us the option of European big government. — Today, the House of Representatives will consider two budget plans that represent dramatically different visions for our nation's future. — We will first consider President Barack Obama's plan.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Wire, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Ben Smith's Blog, Townhall.com and TPMDC

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
GOP has unified budget message but is split on spending

Discussion: MSNBC

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

Breakthrough on U.S.-Russian Relations? “We're Not Looking Into Anybody's Soul,” Says U.S. Official, Previewing “Sober” Yet Optimistic Announcement — LONDON — Senior officials with the Obama administration tell ABC News that this morning, after a bilateral meeting between President Obama …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel and Don Surber

Kevin Hechtkopf / CBS News:
Text: Statement From Obama, Medvedev

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
U.S., Russia Work to Reduce Nuclear Warheads

Discussion: CNN, BBC, New York Times, democracyarsenal.org, USA Today, FP Passport and D-Day

Washington Post:
Obama and Medvedev to Announce Broad U.S.-Russia Agreement

Discussion: Time, TIME.com and The Reaction

Guardian:

Twitter switch for Guardian — • Newspaper to be available only on messaging service — • Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters — Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become …

Discussion: TalkLeft, First Draft, PoliGazette, Full Comment, The Curious Capitalist, Discourse.net, The Sundries Shack, The Agonist and Harry's Place

Guardian:

Riot police clash with G20 demonstrators — • RBS branch stormed as bloody skirmishes erupt — • Thousands of protesters held in containment pens — • Barack Obama and Gordon Brown upbeat on G20 deal — The G20 protests in central London turned violent ahead of tomorrow's summit …

Discussion: Jack & Jill Politics

Libby Purves / Times of London:
On the spot: G20 battle between police and protesters outside RBS in City of London

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and New York Times

Times of London:
Brown and Obama deny G20 splits as protesters scuffle with police

Discussion: Reason and naked capitalism

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

So Erick Erickson Says He Wants a Revolution — Erick Erickson is mad as hell and asks “at what point do people revolt?” … At issue here is . . . an environmental regulation relating to dishwasher detergent. — I think it's safe to say that we're not going to see violence in the streets over this one.

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
At What Point Do People Revolt?

Discussion: RedState and Comments from Left Field

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

The Death of England (cont) — Jay, that fire story from Doncaster is almost unbearably sad: The characteristically moronic behavior of the braindead British coppers transformed it from a family tragedy to a national metaphor. I have written recently in Canada of the disturbing passivity of the …

Discussion: Vox Popoli, Pundit & Pundette, Wizbang and Chicago Boyz

Ted Barrett / CNN:

Dems could use controversial ‘fast track’ for budget — CNN Congressional Producer — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he's not ruling out a controversial budget procedure to speed passage of President Obama's health care and global warming legislation.

The Hill:
Momentum grows among Dems for using rules to avoid filibuster

Discussion: Human Events and Michelle Malkin

Jason Clayworth / Des Moines Register:

BREAKING NEWS: Hundreds of Iowans thrown out of public hearing — More than 500 people who are upset with a plan to change Iowa's tax laws were cleared from a hearing tonight at the Iowa House after they interrupted multiple times. — House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque …

Discussion: Sweetness & Light

Carrie Dann / National Journal Online:

Public's Sound And Fury Over Budget Are As Deafening As ‘Crickets Chirping’ — With President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget hitting the House and Senate floors this week, groups for and against the spending plan have issued strong appeals for citizens to pick up their phones and let their voices be heard on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: MSNBC and The Hill

Judd Gregg / Washington Post:

A Budget To Beggar Us — When speaking with the hardworking New Hampshire families and business owners whom I represent in Washington, I hear the same concerns echoed by Americans across the country. People are worried about keeping their jobs, their homes and their savings safe.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, PolitiFact.com statements, TPMDC and Blue Crab Boulevard

Joseph E. Stiglitz / New York Times:

Obama's Ersatz Capitalism — THE Obama administration's $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America's ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Sayed Salahuddin / Reuters:

Taliban say U.S. reconciliation offer “lunatic” — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents rejected on Wednesday a U.S. offer of “honorable reconciliation” as a “lunatic idea” and said the withdrawal of foreign troops was the only way to end the war in Afghanistan.

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Agence France Presse, JammieWearingFool, Bloomberg and Associated Press