Top Items:

Amnesty Day for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — The Senate today — led by Jay Rockefeller, enabled by Harry Reid, and with the active support of at least 12 (and probably more) Democrats, in conjunction with an as-always lockstep GOP caucus …
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The FISA fight: Nutroots lose, America wins — I've been keeping you up-to-date on the FISA fight in the Senate (see here and here). This morning, a series of votes took place and you'll be happy to know that the defeatist Dems were defeated. — Carter Wood at the NAM's ShopFloor blog sums up the votes:


Senate Moves to Shield Phone Companies on Eavesdropping — WASHINGTON — After more than a year of heated political wrangling, the Senate handed the White House a major victory Tuesday by voting to broaden the government's spy powers and to give legal protection to phone companies that cooperated …
Discussion:
American Spectator

Obama Unplugged — Lost without a Teleprompter. — USUALLY WHEN BARACK OBAMA gives a major speech, the overdone hosannas from the liberal commentariat follow as surely as night follows day. The American Prospect's Ezra Klein wrote of Obama's post-Iowa victory speech, “I've been blessed to hear many great orations.

Gov. ‘Blunt Talk’ Rendell (and other topics) — So many topics, so little space: — Gov. Ed “Don't Call Me ‘Fast Eddie’ ” Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget. But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers …
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Top Hillary Supporter: Some Whites In Pennsylvania “Are Not Ready” To Support Black Candidate — This explanation from a prominent Hillary supporter in Pennsylvania, regarding why he thinks Barack Obama could lose his state, seems a bit off message. — According to a columnist …

Inside the Clinton Shake-Up — Like so much involving Hillary Clinton, Sunday's departure of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, has gotten tons of attention, but its larger significance has been somewhat misunderstood. I've spent a fair amount of time over the last two years reporting on …
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‘SUPER’ LATINO SLAMS CLINTON — A prominent member of the national Democratic Party has circulated a sharp e-mail saying the removal of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was disloyal to Hispanics and should give “pause” to superdelegates and voters.

McCain still winner in updated WA GOP caucus results — OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Republican Party released additional results late Monday from last weekend's presidential caucuses, and declared Arizona Sen. John McCain the winner once again.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Wonkette, Boston Globe, MSNBC, Los Angeles Times and DownWithTyranny!
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Cool on O'Bama — All this emoting over Barack Obama's wonderful, wonderful personality is starting to trigger my gag reflex. — What are we electing here, a faith healer? What is Obama's view of the executive power? How, exactly, does he propose to “bring us together”? Just by being half-black?
Discussion:
The New Republic
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“Barack Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human …
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PrestoPundit

John McCain's Top 24 Potential Picks For Vice-President — Predicting whom a particular candidate will take as Vice-President is always difficult because so many factors play into it. Do both candidates get along? Is the presidential nominee looking to carry a particular state, region …

Outside the Beltway and Off the Rails — James Joyner is rushing to do damage control for Barack Obama: Obama Che Guevara Flag ‘Scandal’. He takes particular exception to an “insinuation” (his word) he says I made: … “Loyalty oath?” Where the hell does that come from?
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When Reality Bites — There's a big difference between the Republican and Democratic campaigns: The Republicans have split on policy grounds; the Democrats haven't. There's been a Republican divide between center and right, yet no Democratic divide between center and left.


Mortgage Crisis Spreads Past Subprime Loans — The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem. — As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans …
Discussion:
Associated Press, AMERICAblog, Think Progress, Make Them Accountable, Matthew Yglesias and Balloon Juice

TO FIRE OR NOT TO FIRE (HINT: OPTION #1) — In his interview with Hillary Clinton, The Politico's John Harris asked whether she really wanted MSNBC's David Shuster fired. Here's what she said. — Late Update: We've now seen the video of the Harris interview.

Go with the tough guy — The new ‘axis of evil’ doesn't fear the U.S. McCain could change that. — Some conservatives are having conniptions over the rise of John McCain as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Personally, I am less interested in what Rush Limbaugh …