memeorandum: Petraeus stays out of mosque debate (Michael Memoli/The Swamp)

12:35 PM ET, August 25, 2010

Top Items:

Miller holds slim lead in early Senate vote — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was battling for her political life against Republican challenger Joe Miller in early primary election returns on Tuesday night. — Miller was leading Murkowski with nearly 52 percent of the vote to her 48 percent …

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

How Lisa Murkowski (might have) lost — 1. The stunning news that developed over night in Alaska — with 98 percent of precincts reporting, attorney Joe Miller (R) leads Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) 51 percent to 49 percent — reveals the depth of anti-incumbent sentiment in the country …

Discussion: RedState, The Washington Independent, Outside the Beltway and Hawaii News

Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:

Lisa Murkowski faces possible upset — In what could become one of the biggest political upsets of the year, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski trailed her tea party-backed opponent by a small margin Wednesday in Alaska's GOP primary with thousands of votes yet to be counted.

Discussion: Power Line, ABCNEWS, Hotline On Call and Hot Air

First Read / msnbc.com:

First thoughts: Anger trumps accomplishments — Stunning development: Murkowski trails Miller by 1,960 votes in AK GOP Senate primary... We might not know the final result for days... How to explain why McCain easily won in AZ but Murkowski is in trouble: Anger is trumping accomplishments …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Taegan Goddard's …

Damien Cave / New York Times:

Murkowski Is Locked in a Tight Senate Race in Alaska — Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, whose family has held a decades-long grip on one of the state's two Senate seats, was in a surprisingly tight race Wednesday morning against an insurgent candidate, a Tea Party favorite who received the backing of Sarah Palin.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Swamp, Power Line, The Other McCain, Feministe, Freedom's Lighthouse, CNN and American Prospect

CNN:

TRENDING: Palin also a big winner Tuesday — Palin campaigned with John McCain in March, one of the three statewide candidates she backed ahead of Tuesday who went on to win their race. — (CNN) - Sarah Palin's endorsement slump has come to a screeching halt, with all three …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

David Catanese / The Politico:
McCain wins by wide margin

Discussion: Tulsa World, National Review, Commentary, The Page and msnbc.com

Jim Treacher / The Daily Caller:
‘Embarrassing defeat for Sarah Palin will happen at any moment (fingers crossed)’

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Melanie Morgan, Instapundit and Weigel

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Murkowski trails Tea Party-backed challenger as Alaska votes tallied

Discussion: Weigel, Taegan Goddard's … and The Page

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Scott upset ripples beyond Florida — HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Millionaire businessman Rick Scott's surprise win in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday left both parties scrambling over how to cope with a candidate who possesses both glaring flaws and considerable assets.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, MiamiHerald.com, Guardian, The Atlantic Online, The Awl, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog and Colorlines

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Sink starts out ahead

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Health care suits didn't save AGs

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Primaries test establishment vs. outsiders in Florida, Arizona and Alaska

Discussion: msnbc.com, Associated Press, New York Times and Daily Kos

Courtney Schlisserman / Bloomberg:

Sales of U.S. New Homes Dropped to Record Low in July — Sales of U.S. new homes unexpectedly dropped in July to the lowest level on record, signaling that even with cheaper prices and reduced borrowing costs the housing market is retreating. — Purchases fell 12 percent from June …

Discussion: FT Alphaville, The Page and Sweetness & Light

Calculated Risk:
New Home Sales decline to Record Low in July

Discussion: Free exchange and FT Alphaville

Alan Zibel / Associated Press:
Sales of new homes hit slowest pace on record

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Michael Memoli / The Swamp:

Petraeus stays out of mosque debate — America's top commander in Afghanistan is staying out of the debate raging back home over a proposed Islamic community center and mosque to be constructed blocks from Ground Zero. — David Petraeus, speaking with Fox News Channel's Jennifer Griffin …

Discussion: D.C. Now

The Huffington Post:
Bloomberg Launches Another Impassioned Defense Of Cordoba House

Discussion: New York Magazine, New York Times, Think Progress, Weasel Zippers, The Reaction, CNN, No Mosques At Ground Zero, The Moderate Voice and The Peking Duck

The Huffington Post:

Alan Simpson: Social Security Is ‘A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits’ — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is “like a milk cow with 310 million tits,” according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women's League Tuesday morning.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Crooks and Liars, Brilliant at Breakfast, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, TPMCafe, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Raw Story and AMERICAblog News

NY1:

A city cab driver is in the hospital after being stabbed by a passenger who allegedly asked if he was Muslim, police tell NY1. — Investigators with the New York City Police Department say it all began Monday night when a 21-year-old man hailed a cab at 24th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan.

Discussion: Think Progress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPM LiveWire, TPMMuckraker, The Political Carnival, loonwatch.com and Gawker

William Neuman / New York Times:

U.S. Rejected Hen Vaccine Despite British Success — Faced with a crisis more than a decade ago in which thousands of people were sickened from salmonella in infected eggs, farmers in Britain began vaccinating their hens against the bacteria. That simple but decisive step virtually wiped out the health threat.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The New Republic and Brilliant at Breakfast

CNN:
Michigan added to list of states facing salmonella-related egg recall

Discussion: This Just In and The Agonist

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Economy Caught in Depression, Not Recession: Rosenberg — Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Daily Kos, Pajamas Media, Theo Spark, Mercury Rising and Riehl World View

New York Times:

Job Losses Over Drilling Ban Fail to Materialize — WASHINGTON — When the Obama administration called a halt to virtually all deepwater drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon blowout and fire in April, oil executives, economists and local officials complained …

Discussion: Think Progress, Firedoglake, Green and Prairie Weather

CNN:

Schoolgirls and teachers sick from poison gas in Afghanistan — Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Dozens of schoolgirls and teachers were sickened Wednesday by poison gas in Afghanistan, medical and government officials said. — The latest incident, this one at a high school …

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org:

Andrea Mitchell Lectures U.S. on Ground Zero Mosque: America Needs to Be ‘More Sensitive to Minority Communities’ — Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday fretted that the “angry voices” protesting against the Ground Zero mosque will hurt Barack Obama's attempts to reach out to the Muslim world.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Fox News, NO QUARTER, Riehl World View and Freedom's Lighthouse

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
State Department compares Park 51 Imam to Shirley Sherrod

Discussion: NewsReal Blog, Commentary, Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs, The Moderate Voice, TUNDRA TABLOIDS, The Political Carnival, Weekly Standard and Forbes

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Key Senate Democrat suggests that he didn't read entire healthcare reform bill — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), one of the chief authors of the healthcare law, suggested Tuesday he did not read the entire piece of legislation. — Speaking at a forum in his home state …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Weasel Zippers and National Review

John Stossel / Real Clear Politics:

Where Are the New Jobs? — “Corporate profits are soaring. Companies are sitting on billions of dollars of cash. And still, they've yet to amp up hiring or make major investments.” — So writes The Washington Post about the recession's stubborn refusal to go away.

Jason Kuznicki / The League of Ordinary Gentlemen:

Cash for Clunkers, Indeed — It wasn't so long ago that everyone just loved Cash for Clunkers. People thought I was a total crank when I scoffed. Even some of my fellow ideologues wavered. — On my now-defunct blog, I wrote, … No, the appropriate course would be to generalize …

Discussion: Liberty Pundits Blog

Flathead Beacon:

Libby Residents Relate Gains, Drawbacks of Asbestos Aid — LIBBY - Though the visit by Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to this Lincoln County community was brief, it is possible she gained some insights Monday afternoon into what residents here want and need - and how those forces are opposed in some ways.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and The Political Carnival

ProPublica:

After Katrina, New Orleans Cops Were Told They Could Shoot Looters — This story was reported by Sabrina Shankman and Tom Jennings of Frontline, Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi of The New Orleans Times-Picayune and A.C. Thompson of ProPublica — In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina …

Discussion: TPMMuckraker and Shakesville

Silla Brush / The Hill:

Ugly report on existing home sales is latest setback for Democrats — Democrats are finding little success in their nearly two-year campaign to ease the nation's housing woes. — Since coming into office, President Obama has undertaken a series of policy initiatives intended to stabilize home prices …

Discussion: New York Times, Liberty Pundits Blog and Wall Street Journal