memeorandum: Obama: Gore, Kerry Alienated “Half the Country” (Spin Cycle)

9:10 PM ET, December 31, 2007

Top Items:

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Huckabee's Remarkable Play — DES MOINES — Talk about political jujitsu! — Mike Huckabee is holding a press conference right now in which he was supposed to unveil a new negative ad against arch rival Mitt Romney. — But Mr. Huckabee came to the press conference and announced …

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, MSNBC, Hot Air, QandO, Blogs of War, NewsBusters.org, American Power, Primary Monitor Blog, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Donklephant and Say Anything

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland:

Huckabust — Just when you think the Republican presidential race can't get weirder...Mike Huckabee holds a press conference here to announce that he'd just made a last minute decision not to air a negative TV ad slamming Romney. — And then he airs the ad (Video courtesy of Mark Halperin who was setting in the row behund me).

Discussion: Booman Tribune and The Page

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Saying He Pulled Negative Ad, Huckabee Shows It — DES MOINES — In an act of political jujitsu, Mike Huckabee has halted a negative ad that he was about to broadcast on television Monday against his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. But while claiming the moral high ground …

Discussion: The Politico, The New Republic, Cliff Schecter and Opinions You Should Have

Marc Ambinder:

Huckabee Decides Not To Air Those Nasty Ads...And Then Airs A Nasty Ad — The Romney campaign is already calling this a “meltdown." Whatever it is, it's a little bizarre. — So Mike Huckabee schedules a news conference to talk about the negative ads he's decided to run against Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Iowa Independent, MyDD and The American Mind

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

Huck's instant classic — Mike Huckabee's move to not run ads hitting back at Mitt Romney is a risky move that could rejuvenate his fading campaign — or ensure his defeat on Thursday. — >> Check out the press conference slideshow — That Huckabee still showed the spot to dozens …

Discussion: The Caucus and Patterico's Pontifications

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Huckabee pulls out surprise move — In a surprise move, Mike Huckabee said today that he won't air negative ads against Mitt Romney. — Claiming that he changed his mind this morning, Huckabee told reporters gathered in anticipation of seeing the spots that he would no longer attack Romney off the air …

Discussion: CBS News, Riehl World View, Firedoglake, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report, The Page, GreenMountainPolitics1, TIME, PoliGazette and Wall Street Journal

Ron Fournier / Associated Press:
ON DEADLINE: Did Huckabee go too far?

Discussion: Power Line

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
Huckabee won't air anti-Romney ad

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, MarketWatch, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and PunditGuy

Glenn Thrush / Newsday:

Hillary says she risked life on White House trips — VINTON, Iowa - Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back. — On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced …

Discussion: Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, Fausta's blog, Patterico's Pontifications, michellemalkin.com, Sweetness & Light, Macsmind and Wizbang

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:
Iowans pick up on Clinton's silence

Discussion: BitsBlog, TalkLeft and Blue Crab Boulevard

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: Hillary, The Geraldo Of National Politics (Update: Hillary Fibbing?)

Dean Barnett / Weekly Standard:
The Quiet Heroism of Hillary Clinton

Discussion: A Chequer-Board of Nights …

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

YEP, IT'S AN OUTRAGE — As we get deeper into the campaign, I do not have a problem with excluding candidates who are not generating any substantial public support. Gravel, I think, was an example of that in the Democratic debates. But I think the Paulbots have a pretty good case for outrage …

Discussion: The Swamp and Hullabaloo

Zogby:

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Daily Tracking Poll: Clinton Leads But Loses Ground; GOP Remains Deadlocked — Tough two-man race on GOP side, but McCain makes move into sturdy third place — UTICA, New York - The race for the Democratic presidential nomination tightened slightly over the last 24 hours …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Working Life and Pollster.com

John Distaso / New Hampshire Union Leader:
FOX, ABC to reduce debate fields

Discussion: Marc Ambinder

Mike Ferner / AfterDowningStreet.org:

PEACE ACTIVISTS OCCUPY HUCKABEE'S IOWA CAMPAIGN OFFICE — Protesters ask former Baptist minister, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?" — Des Moines - With 40 percent of Iowa's Republican caucus voters expected to come from the ranks of conservative Christians, peace activists occupied Mike Huckabee's …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Firedoglake

Mark Murray / MSNBC:
Huck's day gets even stranger

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Dan Balz / The Trail:
A Diligent Clinton Keeps Her Head Down

Discussion: Newsday and MyDD

The Big Trunk / Power Line:

MS. HILLARY DOES PAKISTAN — Thomas Houlahan comments on Ms. Hillary's recent discussions of events in Pakistan with Wolf Blitzer and George Stephanopoulos, addressing the question: “How credible is Hillary Clinton on Pakistan?" Houlahan writes: … A transcript of Senator Clinton's interview …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Political Machine and Atlas Shrugs

Peter Galbraith / Guardian:
Pakistan may not make it — The country's future now depends …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Prairie Weather

Middle East Times:
OP-ED: Thomas Houlahan

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Patrick Ruffini / Townhall.com:

McCain Would Vote Against the Bush Tax Cuts All Over Again — This is astonishing: … Real fiscal conservatives understand that tax relief is a good in and of itself, generating economic growth and keeping the government's grubby hands off more of our money. John McCain doesn't.

Discussion: Club for Growth and Flopping Aces

Ross Douthat:
The Coming Conservative Civil War

Discussion: The Corner

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Great Divide — Yesterday The Times published …

Discussion: Intrepid Liberal Journal, BitsBlog, Donklephant, The Newshoggers, The Carpetbagger Report, Interesting Times, Norwegianity, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars and Liberal Values

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

What if Iowa Settles Nothing for Democrats? — DES MOINES — Iowa is packed with presidential candidates and hundreds of campaign aides, advisers and contributors. Twenty-five hundred representatives of news organizations have been granted credentials to cover the caucuses on Thursday night, twice as many as in 2004.

Discussion: The Politico, The Swamp, The New Republic and politburo diktat 2.0

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Report: Obama Takes “Dig” At Edwards' Trial Lawyer Past — Is Barack Obama broadening his criticism of John Edwards to suggest that his lucrative trial lawyer past indicates less of a commitment to public service than Obama has? — That's what The Washington Post concluded in a piece …

Discussion: The Trail, MyDD, Open Left and Political Punch

JoinRudy2008:

STRATEGY MEMO: LOOKING GOOD … As voting nears in the Republican nomination process, our campaign remains convinced that our strategy we have long had in place is right - bold, innovative and designed to deal with the radically different election calendar. While many of the beltway insiders seem …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and TIME

Douglas Feiden / NY Daily News:

Bedbug epidemic attacks New York City — A bedbug epidemic has exploded in every corner of New York City - striking even upper East Side luxury apartments owned by Gov. Spitzer's father, the Daily News has learned. — The blood-sucking nocturnal creatures have infested a Park Ave. penthouse …

Discussion: Wizbang and Gothamist