memeorandum: Countdown begins, AK Party denies rift over Gül (TODAY'S ZAMAN)

12:45 PM ET, August 12, 2007

Top Items:

Romney Wins Iowa's GOP Poll — Victory Highlights Strategy Difference With Giuliani — With a convincing victory in the Republican straw poll here Saturday, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney vaulted himself into the next phase of a presidential nomination battle pitting …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Outside The Beltway, Dick Polman's American Debate, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and New York Times

The New Republic:

VIVA HUCKABEE!: — Here's when I realized Mike Huckabee might be on the verge of something: Shortly after 1 o'clock, Laura Ingraham, our intrepid emcee, introduced each of the straw poll candidates. Because Romney was speaking immediately after the introductions, and because he'd clearly bused …

Discussion: The Debate Link

Kevin Freking / Associated Press:

Romney says straw poll win isn't hollow — WASHINGTON - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney refused Sunday to let low turnout and the absence of some notable opponents diminish his dominant victory in Iowa's Republican Party Straw Poll. — Romney said the straw poll did just what it was designed to do …

Discussion: Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Brilliant at Breakfast and PoliBlog (TM)

The Atlantic Online:

AMES: Romney WIns; Huckabee In Second — Gov Mitt Romney won the 2007 Ames straw poll, receiving 4516 votes, or 31%. — In a surprise, Gov. Mike Huckabee finished second with 2587 votes at 18.1% — 11. John Cox with 41 votes. — 10. John McCain with 101 votes. — 9. Duncan Hunter with 174 votes.

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Ames results: Quick notes

Discussion: protein wisdom, Patrick Ruffini, Charleston Daily Mail, race42008.com and Hot Air

Des Moines Register:
Romney wins, Huckabee in 2nd

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The Caucus, National Review Online, TIME, The Glittering Eye, Liberal Values, PoliBlog (TM), Daily Kos, The Right's Field, Donklephant, DownWithTyranny!, Booman Tribune, Open Left, The Next Hurrah and The Politico

Jonathan Martin / The Politico: Romney wins big, Huckabee second

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Ames Poll Produces Winner — And It May Not Be Romney

Discussion: The Fix, Residual Forces and Redstate

Chase Martyn / Iowa Independent:
Romney Wins Straw Poll, Huckabee Takes Second

Discussion: Marc Cooper

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
Help Me Uncle Sam!

Discussion: Associated Press, The American Street and Reason Magazine

The Atlantic Online:
AMES: The Romney Victory

Discussion: Townhall.com

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Analysis: Huckabee's 2nd-Place 'Win' in Ames

Discussion: New York Times, The Corner and Connecting.the.Dots

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The truth behind the Pollack-O'Hanlon trip to Iraq — Last Wednesday, I interviewed Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution regarding the trip he recently took to Iraq and the highly publicized Op-Ed in the New York Times about his trip, co-written with his Brookings colleague, Ken Pollack.

Discussion: The American Street and Alternate Brain

Robert J. Samuelson / Newsweek:

Greenhouse Simplicities — We in the news business often enlist in moral crusades. Global warming is among the latest. Unfortunately, self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism. Last week's NEWSWEEK cover story on global warming is a sobering reminder.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Sister Toldjah, NewsBusters.org, Instapundit.com, Flopping Aces, INSTAPUTZ and The Glittering Eye

Charles Levinson / Telegraph:

Hizbollah buys frontier land to attack Israel — Hizbollah is buying up large tracts of land owned by Christians and other non-Shias in southern Lebanon as the militant group rebuilds its defences in preparation for a new war with Israel, The Sunday Telegraph has been told.

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Israel Matzav, Take Our Country Back and Blue Crab Boulevard

Washington Post:

How the Fight for Vast New Spying Powers Was Won — For three days, Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, had haggled with congressional leaders over amendments to a federal surveillance law, but now he was putting his foot down. "This is the issue," said the plain-spoken …

Discussion: Balkinization, The Strata-Sphere, Unqualified Offerings, The Next Hurrah, Washington Monthly, Prairie Weather, The Anonymous Liberal and New York Times

Ynetnews:

Surveillance video of J'lem shooting — (Video) Tapes of Friday gunfire in Old City clearly show Arab-Israeli man grabbing guard's gun and firing it repeatedly, disproving claims that he had been innocent and was 'murdered for nothing' — VIDEO - Surveillance videos clearly show Ahmad Mahmoud Khatib …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Solomonia and A Blog For All

Dore Gold / Opinion Journal:

The Dangers of 'Peace' Making — America's latest efforts merely entrenched al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip. — The U.S. and other Western powers are pushing for a new Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough, to help contain Iran and undercut the appeal of al Qaeda and radical Islam.

Discussion: Power Line

Gateway Pundit:
CHOPPER BLOGGING Over Gaza and the West Bank

Discussion: Power Line

Mark Steyn / Orange County Register:

Warm-mongers and cheeseburger imperialists — Something rather odd happened the other day. If you go to NASA's Web site and look at the "U.S. surface air temperature" rankings for the lower 48 states, you might notice that something has changed. — Then again, you might not.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and Althouse

Charlie Savage / Boston Globe:

US doles out millions for street cameras — Local efforts raise privacy alarms — WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is funneling millions of dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks, accelerating the rise of a "surveillance society" …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

David Streitfeld / Los Angeles Times:

Foreclosures may spur price drops — On L.A.'s edges, soaring repossessions could set off a downward spiral. — Major lenders are repossessing homes in Southern California much faster than they can sell them, a development that could set off a downward spiral of price cuts and more foreclosures.

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla

TODAY'S ZAMAN:

Countdown begins, AK Party denies rift over Gül — Parliament yesterday finished the formation of an inter-party General Administrative Board, kick-starting a new legal process for the election of the next president after the first attempt in May failed.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Peter J. Boyer / New Yorker:

MAYBERRY MAN — Is what New York never liked about Rudy Giuliani exactly what the heartland loves? … The South Carolina State House, a grand, copper-domed structure in downtown Columbia, is a showplace for the state's long history of hellbent defiance. The most prominent feature …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and TalkLeft