Top Items:


Why Ames Actually Matters — It is easy to make fun of the Ames Straw Poll. It can't exactly be described as democratic when you — or the candidate hoping to secure your vote — have to pay your way into the polls. — But Ames has a pretty good predictive track record.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, News Desk, Outside the Beltway, Runnin' Scared, Balloon Juice, Roll Call, CNN and The Hill
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Fried food and retail politics at the Iowa State Fair — On the eve of the Ames Straw Poll, the Republican candidates made a last push for votes at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines - a huge spectacle in which cattle, pigs and horses are on display as well as politicians and Iowans queue …
Discussion:
BAGnewsNotes, TBogg, Mediaite, Radio Iowa and emptywheel


Ames Straw Poll: A viewers guide — The task of interpreting straw poll results seems straightforward enough: Whoever gets the most votes wins; whoever gets the fewest loses. — But that's not how the campaigns, and the media horde closely covering them, look at things.
Discussion:
CNN, Booman Tribune, Gothamist and Wonkette

Bachmann involved in unusual campaign moment — Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was at the center of an unusual campaign moment on Friday that involved reporters trying to ask her questions - and the Republican presidential candidate essentially being cocooned by a ring of protectors.
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Right Wing News, Towleroad News #gay and The Other McCain

NEW SHERIFF: RICK PERRY RUNNING ON CHANGE - …
Discussion:
CNN, Politics, Daily Kos, Trail Blazers Blog, USA Today, The Texas Tribune and The Note


Rick Perry Enters G.O.P. Race for President — CHARLESTON, S.C. — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas announced Saturday that he was running for president, issuing a withering critique of President Obama's leadership as he seeks to offer Republicans a well-rounded candidate who appeals …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
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Obama campaign: Perry's record a ‘carbon copy’ of DC Republicans — Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) record is a “carbon copy” of Washington Republicans, President Obama's reelection campaign said of the newest candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. — The Obama campaign sought …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog

SC Gov. Haley: Perry's ‘timing was brilliant’
Discussion:
GOP 12, Freedom's Lighthouse and Associated Press


Perry announces presidential bid
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Daily Beast and The Reaction

Money No Obstacle as Perry Joins G.O.P. Race
Discussion:
CNN, The Politico, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Wire and George's Bottom Line

Perry's entrance to shake up the Republican presidential field
Discussion:
CNN and Wake up America


Why I'm Running — What I learned in my 20's traveling the globe as an Air Force pilot, our current president has yet to acknowledge in his 50's - that we are the most exceptional nation on the face of the earth. — As Americans, we believe freedom is a gift from God, and government's prime function is to defend it.

Statement on temporary wireless service interruption in select BART stations on Aug. 11 — Organizers planning to disrupt BART service on August 11, 2011 stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART Police.
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To defuse ‘flash’ protest, BART cuts riders' cell service. Is that legal?
Discussion:
Daily Kos and DownWithTyranny!

Cell Phone Censorship in San Francisco?
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Unqualified Offerings

S.F. subway muzzles cell service during protest
Discussion:
SF Appeal and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »


What Happened to Obama? Absolutely Nothing. — He is still the same anti-American leftist he was before becoming our president. — It's open season on President Obama. Which is to say that the usual suspects on the right (among whom I include myself) are increasingly being joined …
Discussion:
Neptunus Lex, LewRockwell.com Blog and Mother Jones

They have no idea what they're doing — Journalistic standards and modern political norms place some restrictions on what a reporter can and will say in a news article. It's what too often leads to unhelpful he-said-she-said reporting ("Eric Cantor today said two plus two equals five; Democrats and mathematicians disagreed").
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, The New Republic and The Reality-Based Community


Ordinary Americans Continue to Deliver Progressive Messages at Republican Town Hall Meetings — Two years ago, a concerted effort by a corporate-funded Tea Party movement to get conservatives out to town hall meetings changed the dynamic in Washington on health care reform and paved …
Discussion:
scsun-news.com and LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati

Obama NY Fundraiser: the day the messiah compared himself to Cuomo and King — Obama's numbers are in the red in NY, but that's not half as interesting as how desperate and lost the President appeared at his own fundraiser. — Today, Obama flew out to NY for yet another fundraiser.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, White House Dossier, NY Daily News and New York Post
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Obama Compares Himself to Cuomo; Weinstein Calls Andrew ‘An Angel’
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit


Faltering Rhode Island City Tests Vows to Pensioners — When the small, beleaguered city of Central Falls, R.I., filed for bankruptcy this month, it sought to cut the pension checks it has been sending its retired police officers, firefighters and other workers by as much as half.

Attack on Althouse at the Wisconsin Capitol singalong. — As discussed in an earlier post, a man attacked me today at the Capitol. We captured the assault on 2 different cameras, and I'm not editing the material together (at least not at this point). First, here's what Meade got on the Flip camera.
Discussion:
Wizbang, The Mahablog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, JSOnline and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Sarah Palin and The Brody File One-On-One at Iowa State Fair — Sarah Palin came over and agreed to do a one-on-one interview with me at the Iowa State Fair Friday afternoon. Just her and me. This took place during her private lunch reception. I asked her to come over and talk with me and she did.
Discussion:
The Hill and The Daily Dish