memeorandum: Cheney once considered vice presidency "cruddy job" (Steve Holland/Reuters)

2:15 PM ET, July 23, 2007

Top Items:

July 23, 2007 - Bloomberg Boosts Democrats' Fortunes In Florida, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; McCain Fades In Republican Primary Race — If New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg runs for President as an independent candidate, it helps Democrats in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, Comments From Left Field and Donklephant

Washington Post:

Poll Shows Clinton With Solid Lead Among Democrats — By a wide margin, Democrats view Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) as the party's candidate best positioned to win the general election, and she holds a double-digit lead over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the race for the nomination, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, MSNBC, Comments From Left Field, The Reaction, PollingReport.com and Pollster.com

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

TV provides poor signal for Hillary — When Hollywood producer Rod Lurie created fictional president Mackenzie Allen in 2005 for the show "Commander in Chief" he made no mistake about one of his goals: tilling the soil of popular culture so that it would soon be easier for a real woman to take root in a nonfiction Oval Office.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Carry on America

Bill Schneider / CNN:
Will it be seven against one? — CNN Senior Political Analyst

Discussion: Hotline On Call and michellemalkin.com

Wall Street Journal:

Democrats Lead By $100 Million In Money Race — WASHINGTON — With more than a year to go before the 2008 elections, Democratic candidates have raised $100 million more in campaign contributions than Republicans, putting them on track to win the money race for the White House and Congress …

Discussion: Donklephant, The Carpetbagger Report and The Democratic Daily

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Obama solicits La Raza backing — MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Sen. Barack Obama told the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group yesterday that he earned their support for his presidential campaign by marching in last year's May 1 immigrant rallies and challenged them to learn whether others met that standard.

Discussion: MSNBC, Lonewacko, PoliPundit.com and Hot Air

Dan Morain / Los Angeles Times:
Small donors playing bigger role in campaigns

Discussion: Donklephant

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
Officially the First, Democrats' Debate Feels Like Anything But

Discussion: News Bloggers, Associated Press, New York Times, TIME, Iowa Voice, MSNBC and New York Times

Washington Post: Loophole Lets Candidates Skirt Donation Limit

Natasha T. Metzler / Associated Press:

Sheehan Wants Impeachment, Pelosi's Job — ARLINGTON, Va. — Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Monday moved another step _ actually several thousand of them _ toward carrying out her promise to run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because the California Democrat won't consider impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

Discussion: Democrats.com

Wyatt Buchanan / San Francisco Chronicle:
Pelosi promises congressional contempt charge for Harriet Miers

Discussion: Don Surber, The Jawa Report, TalkLeft, Comments From Left Field and BuzzFlash.org

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:
Democratic Member Of House Homeland Security Committee Denied Access …

Discussion: The Reaction

Rasmussen Reports:

Associated Press, MSNBC and CNBC Seen as Having Liberal Bias — In the final poll of a series measuring perceptions of media bias, the Associated Press, local television stations, MSNBC, and CNBC are all perceived as tilting to the left when reporting the news.

Discussion: Don Surber and QandO

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Rasmussen: Liberal Bias In American Media

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Politico Playbook: First date — Good Monday Morning. — YOU were the TIME person of the year (great resume fodder) and now YOU (or some of you, at least) get to help out host Anderson Cooper and electronically ask the Democratic candidates questions during the two-hour CNN/YouTube debate at 7 Eastern tonight.

Discussion: MyDD

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Bill Kristol, Highly Recommended — Bill Kristol's the-war-is-being-won piece in The Washington Post brought him plenty of ridicule, but at least one person liked it. — President Bush read the July 15 Outlook article that morning and recommended it to his staff.

Discussion: American Footprints

William Glaberson / New York Times:

Unlikely Adversary Arises to Criticize Detainee Hearings — NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Stephen E. Abraham's assignment to the Pentagon unit that runs the hearings at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, seemed a perfect fit. — A lawyer in civilian life, he had been decorated for counterespionage …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, The Atlantic Online, democracyarsenal.org, The Agonist, Open Left, Attytood, Rising Hegemon, Brian Beutler, Reason Magazine and Mercury Rising

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Democrats Press House to Expand Health Care Bill — After a rare bipartisan agreement in the Senate to expand insurance coverage for low-income children, House Democrats have drafted an even broader plan that also calls for major changes in Medicare and promises to intensify the battle with the White House over health care.

Discussion: Brian Beutler, Open Left and MSNBC

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard: An Unusually Effective Minority

Sarah Cohen / Washington Post:

Deceased Farmers Got USDA Payments — The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of deceased farmers and routinely failed to conduct reviews required to ensure that the payments were properly made, according to a government report.

Discussion: Don Surber, TPMmuckraker, Norwegianity, Balloon Juice, QandO and PoliPundit.com

David Nather / CQPolitics.com:

Lieberman's New Party Line — No one was surprised to see Joseph I. Lieberman , the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, siding with the Republican leadership this month during the latest Senate debate over the Iraq War. — Lately, though, Lieberman has taken his alliance with GOP leaders up a notch.

Discussion: Firedoglake, My Left Nutmeg and Outside The Beltway

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:

Reid's Anti-Reform Maneuvers — When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid picked up his ball and went home after his staged all-night session last week, he saved from possible embarrassment one of the least regular members of his Democratic caucus: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Discussion: Power Line, Sunlight Foundation blogs, Firedoglake and Blue Crab Boulevard

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The Weekly Standard's "9/11 Generation" — This week's issue of The Weekly Standard features a cover story by Hugh Hewitt blogger Dean Barnett. Entitled "The 9/11 Generation," it argues that America's current youthful generation is courageous and noble because it has answered the call of military service …

Discussion: Townhall.com, TalkLeft and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

When pressing a tough sale, Bush is a lousy salesman — WASHINGTON — President Bush now has what he asked for — time to sell the people and the Congress on the Iraq war. — But an extra 60 days from Congress, the addition of the talented Ed Gillespie to run the White House communications strategy …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Carpetbagger Report and rubber hose