Top Items:
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
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, Outside the Beltway, Runnin' Scared, Balloon Juice, Roll Call, News Desk, CNN and The Hill
RELATED:
Toby Harnden / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
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
Molly Ball / The Politico:
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
A.Killough / CNN:
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
Niall Stanage / Ballot Box:
Perry's entrance to shake up the Republican presidential field
Perry's entrance to shake up the Republican presidential field
Discussion:
CNN and Wake up America
Mike Allen / The Politico:
NEW SHERIFF: RICK PERRY RUNNING ON CHANGE - …
NEW SHERIFF: RICK PERRY RUNNING ON CHANGE - …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Trail Blazers Blog, USA Today, The Texas Tribune and The Note
Ashley Parker / New York Times:
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
RELATED:
CNN:
Perry announces presidential bid — Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) — Rick Perry aimed Saturday to shift the attention from Iowa's straw poll to South Carolina, where he told conservative activists that he is seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Daily Beast and The Reaction
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
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
msnbc.com:
SC Gov. Haley: Perry's ‘timing was brilliant’
SC Gov. Haley: Perry's ‘timing was brilliant’
Discussion:
GOP 12, Freedom's Lighthouse and Associated Press
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Money No Obstacle as Perry Joins G.O.P. Race
Money No Obstacle as Perry Joins G.O.P. Race
Discussion:
The Politico, The Hill, The Moderate Voice and Washington Wire
Mhovey / Rick Perry for President:
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.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, Wizbang, Freedom's Lighthouse, Taylor Marsh, New York Magazine and Hot Air
Norman Podhoretz / Wall Street Journal:
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
BART:
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.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, New York Times, Engadget, L.A. NOW, AllThingsD and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Patrik Jonsson / Christian Science Monitor:
To defuse ‘flash’ protest, BART cuts riders' cell service. Is that legal?
To defuse ‘flash’ protest, BART cuts riders' cell service. Is that legal?
Discussion:
Daily Kos and DownWithTyranny!
Elinor Mills / CNET News:
S.F. subway muzzles cell service during protest
S.F. subway muzzles cell service during protest
Discussion:
SF Appeal, Blog of Rights, TechCrunch and Unqualified Offerings, more at Techmeme »
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
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
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
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
Conservative Generation / Upstate Poltical Report:
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, White House Dossier, The Huffington Post, NY Daily News and New York Post
RELATED:
Azi Paybarah / PolitickerNY:
Obama Compares Himself to Cuomo; Weinstein Calls Andrew ‘An Angel’
Obama Compares Himself to Cuomo; Weinstein Calls Andrew ‘An Angel’
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
New York Times:
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.
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
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, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Mahablog, JSOnline and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion