memeorandum: Private Note to Bush from Hagel Calls For Direct, Unconditional … (Steve Clemons/The Washington Note)

9:40 PM ET, October 31, 2007

Top Items:

Adam Nagourney / The Caucus:

A Day Later, Clinton Embraces Spitzer's License Effort — John Edwards, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama during last night's debate. (Photo: Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times) — A day after she appeared to struggle to give her views on the subject, Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Discussion: Horses Mouth, theGarance.com, TalkLeft, Balloon Juice, The Page and Wake up America

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Obama, Edwards attack; Clinton bombs debate — PHILADELPHIA - - We now know something that we did not know before: When Hillary Clinton has a bad night, she really has a bad night. — In a debate against six Democratic opponents at Drexel University here Tuesday, Clinton gave the worst performance of her entire campaign.

Tom Curry / MSNBC:

Lieberman at issue in Democrats' Iran clash — Connecticut maverick backs Clinton, criticizes Edwards on Iran policy — WASHINGTON - His name only came up once in passing during Tuesday night's presidential debate, but in a way, Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democratic presidential contender himself in 2004, was very much present.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily and The Atlantic Online

MSNBC:
Oct. 30 Democratic debate transcript

Discussion: Salon, Corrente, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, BlueBloggin, Chris Dodd National Blog, Reason Magazine, democracyarsenal.org, Redstate, Open Left, About.com Liberal Politics, MyDD, Lonewacko and Stop The ACLU

New York Times:
The Democratic Debate on MSNBC

Discussion: American Prospect, The Atlantic Online, MyDD, No More Mister Nice Blog, Flopping Aces, Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, New York Post, CNN, TalkLeft, Wake up America, The Fix and Angry Bear

Taylor Marsh:
Russert Leads The Boys in All Out Clinton Assault

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Comments from Left Field, Sister Toldjah, The Atlantic Online, TownHall Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, Tom Watson and MSNBC

Jack M. / Ace of Spades HQ:
The Most Important 2 minutes of the Democratic Debate

Discussion: Hot Air, Macsmind, The Influence Peddler and Doug Ross

Matthew Dolan / Baltimore Sun:

Father of slain Marine wins case against funeral protesters — Pa. man awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages — Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the father of a Westminster Marine who was killed in Iraq, today won his case in a Baltimore federal court against members of Topeka …

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, On Deadline, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Belmont Club, Gateway Pundit, Say Anything and The Dread Pundit Bluto

Alex Dominguez / Associated Press:
Jury awards father $11M in funeral case

Discussion: JURIST

Michelle Malkin:
Breaking: Father of slain Marine wins case against foul Phelps family

Discussion: Right Voices and Stop The ACLU

Army Wife / ArmyWifeToddlerMom:

Nickelodeon is trying to brainwash your children in the morning, or a leftist primer — My Husband sent me this link this morning. Please watch this, in its entirety. It is imperative that you SEE what Nickelodeon is showing at 5:00am. — NICKELODEON IS BRAINWASHING YOUR CHILD

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, BLACKFIVE, NewsBusters.org and Ian Schwartz

Michelle Malkin:
Nickelodeon goes moonbatty

Discussion: Liberty Street

Ynetnews:

Soldier flees interrogation by exposing breasts — Officer loses concentration after soldier takes her shirt off in front of him — An IDF soldier fled an interrogation room by exposing her breasts to a stunned officer. — The soldier was interrogated at the Biranit army base …

Aussie Dave / Israellycool:
Gaza Strippers — Introducing our most diabolical weapon yet: Zionist Death Booty.TM

Discussion: Hot Air

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:

Tim Russert: Stop the Inanity — Russert passes for a "tough" interviewer by adopting a confrontational pose rather than asking genuinely challenging questions. Which is why he's a terrible moderator for our presidential debates. — Last month, near the end of the Democratic presidential debate …

Discussion: PBS, Ezra Klein, BitsBlog, Eschaton and The Huffington Post

John Cole / Balloon Juice:

Say Hello to the Newest Member of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy — I had meant to re-register independent (or as it is known here in West Virginia, "No Party Affiliation") for the past two weeks after I had finally had enough of the bulls**t during the Graeme Frost escapade, but never got around to it …

Discussion: Death, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Buck Naked Politics and Daily Kos

Pajamas Media:

Shocking Inside DC Scandal Rumor: A Media Ethics Dilemma — So I was down in DC this past weekend and happened to run into a well-connected media person, who told me flatly, unequivocally that "everyone knows" The LA Times was sitting on a story, all wrapped up and ready …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Cliff Schecter, The Moderate Voice, Don Surber, Hot Air, Big Head DC and The Dread Pundit Bluto

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:

Private Note to Bush from Hagel Calls For Direct, Unconditional, Comprehensive Talks with Iran — I have just secured a private letter — not yet publicly released — from Senator Chuck Hagel to President Bush and copied to Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, and Stephen Hadley.

Discussion: Think Progress, United States Central Command and FP Passport

James Chapman / Daily Mail:

Christmas should be 'downgraded' to help race relations says Labour think tank — Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations, says an explosive report. — Labour's favourite think-tank says that because it would be hard …

Discussion: Don Surber, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool and Blue Crab Boulevard

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

Rice says goodbye to Hughes — From NBC's Libby Leist — Secretary Condoleezza Rice said goodbye to Karen Hughes this morning at the State Department, ending Hughes' two-and-a-half years in charge of America's public diplomacy. Hughes will officially be off the job in mid-December.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Seminal and The Washington Note

Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Longtime Bush adviser leaving State

Discussion: CNN, The Swamp, On Deadline, All Spin Zone, Firedoglake, Think Progress, Hullabaloo, michellemalkin.com, Commentary, The Impolitic, Weekly Standard, Buck Naked Politics, cab drollery, Middle Earth Journal and Outside The Beltway

Daniel W. Reilly / The Politico:

Durbin to oppose Mukasey — Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) announced Wednesday he would not support the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General because of Mukasey's refusal to declare the "waterboarding" interrogation technique as torture.

Discussion: Think Progress

Kaj Larsen / The Huffington Post:

A Lesson For Mukasey: Why I Had Myself Water-Boarded — As a journalist for Current TV, a former military officer, and a student of public policy I have been involved in the debate about the War on Terror from the frontlines in Afghanistan to the policy discussions of academia.

Discussion: Riehl World View

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Clinton would cream Giuliani, poll finds — One year before voters go to the polls to select the next president, the Republican Party is as weak as it has been in a generation, a detailed new poll suggests. — In a hypothetical matchup between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker