memeorandum: WHAT THE GROWN-UPS SAY — Seriously, why should John Edwards drop out of the race? (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

4:55 PM ET, January 21, 2008

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Huckabee: McCain-lover, Mitt-killer — COLUMBIA, S.C.—For people reading between the lines, Mike Huckabee's concession speech here Saturday night dropped some enticing hints that his presidential campaign now has an agenda other than getting elected president. — Huckabee's new role: Mitt-killer.

Discussion: New York Post, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, CNN, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, michellemalkin.com, Slog, Eunomia, Ross Douthat and Riehl World View

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Accessibility Opens Doors For McCain — SPARTANBURG, S.C. — As the JetBlue charter from Michigan touched down in South Carolina, I strolled up to John McCain's front-row seat — none of his aides batted an eye — and asked if he would continue to chat with reporters around the clock if he won the Republican nomination.

Discussion: Salon, TPM Election Central, The Right's Field, D-Day, Connecting.the.Dots and MSNBC

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
GOP Field Readies for True Test In Florida

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Time, Matthew Yglesias, American Power, New York Times, Political Machine, The Caucus, Macsmind, DownWithTyranny!, Greenville News, Riehl World View, AMERICAblog and MSNBC

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Barack Obama: “Committed Christian — Called to Bring Change”

Discussion: Eschaton, D-Day and Firedoglake

The Campaign Spot:
Weird Florida Polls

Discussion: protein wisdom and Ground Game

The Corner:
Spoilers for McCain

Discussion: The American Scene, PrestoPundit and Townhall.com

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Obama Lit In South Carolina Proclaims His Committed Christianity

Discussion: Slog

Aaron Gould Sheinin / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Atlanta mayor takes political shot at Bill Clinton — During the MLK service, Franklin addresses Clinton's reference to Barack Obama's rise as a 'fairy tale' — With former President Bill Clinton standing not 20 feet in front of her, Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin took what appeared …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Whim, Los Angeles Times, Political Radar, The Trail, Riehl World View, The Page and Reuters

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Hillary Adviser Wolfson: Obama's Claim That Bill Is Fibbing Is A “Right Wing Talking Point” — This is getting interesting. In an interview with me a couple of minutes ago, senior Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson claimed that Obama's assertion this morning that Bill Clinton is fibbing about his campaign is a “right wing talking point.”

Discussion: The Fix, Matthew Yglesias, Open Left, The Carpetbagger Report, Watching Those We Chose, Spin Cycle and D-Day

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Obama faces off against both Clintons

Dan Balz / The Trail:
Campaigning for Wife, Bill Clinton Walks Fine Line

Discussion: TPM Election Central and Prairie Weather

siena.edu:

Rudy Falls Behind McCain; Hillary Still Has 2-to-1 Lead — Spitzer Favorable Rating Edges Positive; Sees Gain in Job Performance — Voters Overwhelmingly Support Property Tax Cap and S-CHIP Expansion; — Also Support Higher Education Endowment with Lottery Sale or Lease

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Huffington Post, Political Radar, TPM Election Central and PoliGazette

Marist Poll:
NYS Poll: February 5th Presidential Primaries

Discussion: TalkLeft, Hold Fast and Weekly Standard

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Rudy Giuliani's precipitous fall

Discussion: Reuters and The Page

New York Times:

Stocks Plunge in Europe and Asia on U.S. Recession Fear — PARIS — Global stock markets plunged on Monday as fears spread that the turmoil in United States mortgage markets is spreading. Indexes in Europe fell as much as 7 percent after a huge selloff in Asia.

Discussion: Associated Press, Cliff Schecter, Comments from Left Field, Publius Pundit, The Reaction, Mish's Global Economic …, Washington Monthly, D-Day, Matthew Yglesias and The Agonist

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
For Clinton, Government as Economic Prod

Discussion: Megan McArdle, Greg Mankiw's Blog, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Say Anything, Dr. Helen, Norwegianity, Redstate, Hold Fast and HillaryClinton.com

Confederate Yankee:

The Scott Thomas Beauchamp “ Shock Troops” Military Investigation, Statements 13-24 — Documents released by the Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base Florida, in relation to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests files for documents relating …

Discussion: QandO

Matthew Yglesias:

Obama v. Krugman Round A Million — I think this is getting a bit silly. In his column, Paul Krugman seems to suggest that the main reason the Clinton administration failed to bring about major progressive change in the 1990s is that they didn't talk enough smack about Ronald Reagan.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly and Paul Krugman

Jerome Armstrong / MyDD:
Why Obama is losing

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New York Times, The Newshoggers and Taylor Marsh

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

WHAT THE GROWN-UPS SAY — Seriously, why should John Edwards drop out of the race? I think his chances of winning the nomination at this point are quite slim. And I could understand if he wanted to drop out. But is there some reason he should? Is he under some obligation?

Discussion: The Impolitic, Eschaton, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister and New York Times

usmc.mil:

Scarlett Johansson boosts morale in Kuwait — If anyone has wondered what can make a battle hardened Marine act like a love-struck high-schooler, the answer is simple—a meet and greet with Scarlett Johansson. — The 23-year-old bombshell met with nearly 600 service members at Camp Buehring …

Jason Horowitz / New York Observer:

Obama Addresses Homophobia, Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia Among Black Americans — In a speech today at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.served as pastor, Barack Obama talked about the existence of institutional racism, the sensationalizing of race “by the media” …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, The New Republic, Open Left, Booman Tribune, UrbanGrounds, MSNBC, The Carpetbagger Report, The RBC and Riehl World View

Kenneth Chang / International Herald Tribune:

Antarctic volcanoes identified as a possible culprit in glacier melting — Another factor might be contributing to the thinning of some of the Antarctica's glaciers: volcanoes. — In an article published Sunday on the Web site of the journal Nature Geoscience, Hugh Corr and David Vaughan …

Scott Conroy / CBS News:

“Who Let The Dogs Out?" Mitt Romney Wants To Know — From CBS News' Scott Conroy: — JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA — Mitt Romney was greeted warmly by a largely African-American crowd at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade in Jacksonville. He shook hands with several dozen parade-goers and even hugged a few of them.

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:

Fred Thompson Loss Ends Republican Party — Steve Bainbridge is preparing to sit out the 2008 election rather than vote for anyone but Fred Thompson. … If only Fred Thompson were a better candidate, the party and the Republic could have survived. Pity.

Discussion: Whiskey Fire, Stop The ACLU, PoliBlog (TM), Punditry, The Moderate Voice and BlondeSense

Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:

Highly Skilled And Out Of Work — Long-Term Joblessness Spreads in Middle Class — An unusually large share of workers have been out a job for more than six months even as overall unemployment has remained low, a little-noted weakness in the labor market that analysts said threatens …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and PoliGazette