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Obama Camp's Memo on Clintons' Politicizing Race — Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has prepared a detailed memo listing various instances in which it perceived Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign to have deliberately played the race card in the Democratic primary. [See the full memo here.]
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Bob Johnson: Hot Political Mess — Update 2:43am: more on Bob Johnson's horribleness, claiming the estate tax is racist, etc. — Update 1:18am Jan 14: check out this post from Too Sense titled Founder of Modern Minstrelsy Goes After Obama. Ouch!! — This political theater is incredible and hilarious.


Race and Gender Are Issues in Tense Day for Democrats — LAS VEGAS — After staying on the sidelines in the first year of the campaign, race and to a lesser extent gender have burst into the forefront of the Democratic presidential contest, thrusting Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton …
Discussion:
The State, Commentary, Jack and Jill Politics, Blue Crab Boulevard, politburo diktat 2.0, NY Daily News, Washington Wire and CBS News

What Hillary supporter Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, said — Over the weekend, Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson took the stage next to Hillary Clinton and smeared Barack Obama twice. The Clintons-she and The Big He-and their operatives …

Clinton's King Comment ‘Ill-Advised,’ Obama Says
Discussion:
The Page, Los Angeles Times, New York Sun, Simply Left Behind, New York Post, MSNBC and NY Daily News


McCain Faces Payback From Old GOP Foes — Over the past decade, Sen. John McCain has annoyed, aggravated and nearly destroyed some of the most powerful members of Washington's Republican establishment, creating a list of antagonists including anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and the vehement Gun Owners of America.
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John McCain and the GOP — UPDATE: NRO's Andy McCarthy reminds us of John McCain's views on the Israeli-Palestian conflict. — Original Post — Carl Pope is the executive director of the Sierra Club. Here's what he wrote to Senator McCain a week ago: … As explained below, this shouldn't surprise anyone.


Obama goes gloves off, head-on — He discusses how race has flared up in the campaign, a suit over voting on the Strip — In a Sun interview Sunday, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama addressed the suddenly front-and-center issue of race in his fight with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Discussion:
The New Republic
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Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: McCain Clings to Slim Lead in Michigan — Utica, New York - Arizona Sen. John McCain holds a slim lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney heading into the Republican primary election in Michigan, a new Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll shows.
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The Democrats' Fairy Tale — “Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." Thus spoke Bill Clinton last Monday night, exasperated by Barack Obama's claim that he — unlike Hillary Clinton — had been consistently right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) on the Iraq war.
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Responding to Recession — Suddenly, the economic consensus seems to be that the implosion of the housing market will indeed push the U.S. economy into a recession, and that it's quite possible that we're already in one. As a result, over the next few weeks we'll be hearing a lot about plans for economic stimulus.

AMICUS BRIEFS FOR PETITIONER IN D.C. V. HELLER: — On Friday, 20 amicus briefs were filed in support of the District of Columbia government, in the case challenging the District's ban on handguns and on functional firearms. The briefs are here. — Most notably, the Solicitor General asked …
Discussion:
SayUncle
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Clinton Attacks on Iraq — To add to what Ezra Klein says about the new round of Iraq-related attacks Hillary Clinton is making on Barack Obama, my issue here is that I don't understand what point her campaign is trying to make. Has Obama been less of a consistent, strong anti-war leader than I would have liked?


Escalating Ice Loss Found in Antarctica — Sheets Melting in an Area Once Thought to Be Unaffected by Global Warming — Climatic changes appear to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of western Antarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from global warming, researchers reported yesterday …

Time for Chris Matthews to Apologize — In this day of hypercritical coverage of candidates, members of the media should also be held accountable. — Today, candidates are held responsible for every word they utter, while talking heads get a free pass. — That's not fair.
Discussion:
Cliff Schecter

The Pork King Keeps His Crown — The new earmark disclosure rules put into effect by Congress confirm the pre-eminence of Representative John Murtha at procuring eye-popping chunks of pork for contractors he helped put in business in Johnstown, Pa. The Pennsylvania Democrat …

In Defending War Vote, Clintons Contradict Record — WASHINGTON — Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton have repeatedly invoked the name of Senator Chuck Hagel, a longtime critic of the Iraq war, as they defend Mrs. Clinton's 2002 vote to authorize the war. — In interviews and at a recent campaign event …

Financial advisers' No. 1 worry: A Democrat in the White House — Nothing worries financial advisers more than the prospect of a Democrat's being elected president in November, according to a quarterly poll by Brinker Capital Inc. — The fourth-quarter edition of the Brinker Barometer …