memeorandum: Contrary to the Headlines: There Will Be No Retreat from the Anti … (Tom Andrews/The Huffington Post)

9:45 PM ET, January 17, 2008

Top Items:

Scott Conroy / CBS News:

Heated Exchange At Romney Press Conference — From CBS News' Scott Conroy: — COLUMBIA, S.C. — There was an ice storm in South Carolina this morning, but it was even colder inside a Staples store where a Mitt Romney press conference suddenly went sour. — Romney was in the middle …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Trail, Captain's Quarters, The Caucus, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Don Surber, FRAMESHOP, Macsmind, The New Republic, The Campaign Spot, TIME, Boston Globe, PrezVid, TVNewser and PoliGazette

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Romney clashes with reporter — Mitt Romney scolded a veteran campaign reporter in South Carolina today after being challenged on claims about lobbyists' involvement in the campaign. — Holding a news conference in front of the pen rack of a Columbia Staples store, Romney wanted to tout his “strategy for a stronger economy.”

Discussion: Hot Air, Wonkette, Big Lizards, CBS News and BizzyBlog

The Politico:
Romney skips S.C., bets on Nevada

Discussion: Political Radar, American Spectator, HorseRaceBlog, Hot Air, Comments from Left Field, Zogby and The Moderate Voice

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Romney ups S.C. television ad buy

Discussion: The New Republic, Time and TIME

stephenbainbridge.com:

Huckabee Going Off the Rails — Mike Huckabee joins Mitt Romney on my personal list of candidates for whom I would not vote even if the only alternative is Hillary Clinton (in which case I'll just sit home and complain). Why? — 1. From ImmigrationProfBlog:

Discussion: TownHall Blog, The Daily Dish and Done With Mirrors

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Huckabee Directly Equates Homosexuality With Bestiality — At some point you'd think Mike Huckabee's views would be seen as so controversial that there's no way he could possibly be a contender for the nomination of one of America's two main political parties. — Especially now.

Discussion: rubber hose, Pam's House Blend, Comments from Left Field, Slog, Attytood and AMERICAblog

beliefnet:
Mike Huckabee: ‘The Lord Truly Gave Me Wisdom’

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Truthdig and Donklephant

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Huckabee vows to send all illegal aliens home

Discussion: FOX Embeds, Outside The Beltway, All Spin Zone, Comments from Left Field, New York Times, Lonewacko, Fausta's blog, ImmigrationProf Blog, Roger L. Simon, michellemalkin.com, DownWithTyranny!, Riehl World View, PunditGuy, Cliff Schecter, PoliGazette, TIME and Sister Toldjah

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:
MIKE HUCKABEE HASN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO HIS BIBLE: From a Beliefnet interview:

Discussion: Wonkette, BitsBlog and Hot Air

CNN:

Huckabee: Outsiders not welcome in Confederate flag decisions — MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told South Carolina voters Thursday that the government had no business making decisions over the Confederate flag. — “You don't like people from outside …

Discussion: The Trail and Crunchy Con

Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
McCain Parries a Reprise of 2000 Smear Tactics

Discussion: The Politico, TPMmuckraker, Bloomberg, The Swamp, Wonkette, The Carpetbagger Report, Political Machine, PoliGazette, The RBC, Talking Points Memo, MSNBC, American Power, JustOneMinute and TIME: Swampland

Rasmussen Reports:
New Jersey Republican Presidential Primary

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Power Line, Slog and PoliGazette

John C. Ensslin / Rocky Mountain News:

Joke leaves 'em gasping — Obama quip stuns Citizen of the West banquet crowd — A Greeley businessman apologized Wednesday after a joke about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama fell flat during the National Western Stock Show's annual Citizen of the West banquet.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, GINA COBB and Balloon Juice

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Ad: ‘Hillary Clinton is shameless’ — The radio ad aired by one of Obama's labor allies re-injects ethnicity into the Democratic primary contest in sharp terms. — “Hillary Clinton does not respect our people,” the ad says in Spanish (original and Clinton campaign translation after the jump) …

Discussion: New York Daily News Blogs, Spin Cycle, Political Machine, The Page and The Fact Hub

CNN:

Judge OKs casino caucuses in Nevada — LAS VEGAS (CNN) — The Democratic Party can go ahead with a plan to let casino workers take part in Saturday's Nevada caucuses in “at-large” precincts set up in their workplaces, a federal judge ruled Thursday. — The state teacher's union went …

Discussion: New York Times, Las vegas sun Blogs, The Caucus, The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Las Vegas Sun, Comments from Left Field, The Nation, DownWithTyranny!, Cliff Schecter, The Back Story Blog, TIME, Blue Crab Boulevard, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL and Wake up America

Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:
Judge Rules In Favor Of Vegas Strip Caucus Sites

Discussion: Too Sense

John McCain / Newsweek:

When Ross Perot Calls... The former presidential candidate blasts John McCain, and gets an education about Barack Obama's religion. — The phone rang and it was Ross Perot, who hasn't given an interview in years. Perot, who won 19 percent of the vote in the 1992 presidential election …

Discussion: Hot Air, techPresident, Classical Values and Riehl World View

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Washington group wants Ralph Reed dumped as CNN election-night analyst

Discussion: Redstate, TPMmuckraker and Washington Post

Faiz / Think Progress:

Stewart to Jonah: 'I don't know what you're saying.' — Jonah Goldberg appeared on the Daily Show last night to tout his new book, “Liberal Fascism." Jon Stewart spent 18 minutes disputing the premise of Goldberg's book (which was condensed down into a six-minute clip) …

Editor and Publisher:
Jon Stewart Goes After Jonah Goldberg and ‘Fascism’

Discussion: TPMCafe blogs

Jon Ralston / Las vegas sun Blogs:

RJ says Romney, Clinton leading — The RJ, ever-fearful that the Internet-illiterate newspaper will be scooped on its own information by someone who knows about new media, put out its results early of its poll that will be released Friday. The RJ indicates in an email to subscribers shows …

Discussion: Las Vegas Gleaner

Las Vegas Review-Journal:
ROMNEY, CLINTON LEAD IN R-J POLL

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Washington Post:

No Ifs, Ands or Butts: Hitchens Calls It Quits — That bit of hell frozen over? Courtesy of raffish provocateur Christopher Hitchens, who's given up his beloved cigarettes — cold turkey. — In an interview with the Financial Times published last week, Hitchens casually announced he'd quit smoking …

Discussion: normblog and People.com

Aaron Lewis / CBS News:

Edwards Jabs Obama and Clinton — From CBS News' Aaron Lewis: — HENDERSON, NEV. — John Edwards ripped Barack Obama for praising the way Ronald Reagan brought about change when he was President of the United States. — “When you think about what Ronald Reagan did to the American people …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Crooks and Liars, Ben Smith's Blogs, MyDD, Sister Toldjah, Taylor Marsh, TPM Election Central, NO QUARTER, Open Left and DownWithTyranny!

Brian Ross / Associated Press:

Gen. Tommy Franks Paid $100,000 To Endorse ‘F’ Veterans Charity — Congressional Investigators Say Only 25 Percent of Charity's Raised Funds Went to Vets — Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was paid $100,000 to endorse a veterans charity …

Discussion: Think Progress, Comments from Left Field, The Newshoggers and Defense Tech