memeorandum: Obama leads in South Carolina; McCain up in Florida: poll (John Whitesides/Reuters)

7:25 PM ET, January 26, 2008

Top Items:

Is the right right on the Clintons? — Hillary's campaign tactics are causing some liberals to turn against the couple. — Something strange happened the other day. All these different people — friends, co-workers, relatives, people on a liberal e-mail list I read — kept saying the same thing …

Associated Press:

Early highlights from South Carolina Democratic exit poll — Some highlights of preliminary data from exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday: — IT'S THE ECONOMY, AGAIN — Given three choices …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, TIME, Pandagon, MSNBC, TPM Election Central, Spin Cycle and politburo diktat 2.0

John O'Connor / The State:

Signs pointing to record turnout — If voters surge, party could share winner's momentum — Good weather and an attractive slate of candidates have South Carolina Democrats expecting record turnout for today's presidential primary, continuing a trend seen in other early-voting states.

Discussion: The Trail, MyDD, Wonkette, The Caucus, QandO, The Strata-Sphere, The Reaction and Donklephant

Bob Herbert / New York Times:

Questions for the Clintons — Charleston, S.C. — Joseph P. Riley Jr. has been mayor of this historic and often tense city since the mid-1970s. He's a Democrat, highly respected and has worked diligently to heal racial wounds that have festered in some cases for hundreds of years.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Election Central, Media Matters for America, Washington Post, TigerHawk, Horses Mouth, JustOneMinute, Brendan Nyhan, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, Norwegianity and Heading Right

Mark Halperin / The Page:

Clinton Camp Memo on South Carolina, Florida, Feb. 5 States — To: Interested Parties — From: Howard Wolfson, Communications Director Re: South Carolina, Florida, and February 5 — The Obama campaign has been so confident of winning South Carolina that six months ago they flatly predicted victory in the Palmetto State.

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Ben Smith's Blogs, TIME: Swampland, Associated Press, Slog and Political Machine

Associated Press:

Obama runs away with SC primary — COLUMBIA, S.C. - Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially-charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Spinning South Carolina, II — Clinton puts out a memo from Howard Wolfson this morning that pushes the expectation that she will lose, and includes a reminder that she fought for “each and every vote." — There's also a note on the importance of delegates (funny how whoever is losing …

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Donklephant and MyDD

Rick Klein / Political Radar:

Live-Blogging S.C. Democratic Primary Results by Rick Klein — 6:51 pm: So with only a few minutes left, any last-second predictions? Again — it's not enough for Obama to win. For him to get the full benefit of victory, he's got to win by a substantial margin. And what will that mean for Bill's role going forward?

Discussion: Hot Air, Reason Magazine, The Strata-Sphere, The Page and Macsmind

CBS News:
Barack Obama Wins South Carolina Primary

Discussion: Hotline On Call and Political Radar

Michael Graham / Boston Herald:
It's no-win for Barack

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Zogby:
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Polls: Obama Solidifies Lead as Election …

Discussion: Commentary, Washington Wire, Talking Points Memo, Taegan Goddard's …, Pajamas Media, SurveyUSA, Sister Toldjah, The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys, Wake up America, MyDD, Reuters and Pollster.com

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
Large Turnout Among Blacks, Women in S.C.

Discussion: The State

Matt Stoller / Open Left:
Closing Concerns on South Carolina Voters

Discussion: Daily Kos and Ben Smith's Blogs

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Big Night in S.C.

Discussion: Firedoglake and New York Times

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Obama leads in South Carolina; McCain up in Florida: poll

Discussion: Political Machine

Amy Chozick / Wall Street Journal:
To Truly Win in Carolina, Obama Needs Large Margin

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
A Stress-Filled Week Shows Obama With a Blend of Humor and Fire

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Pollster.com, MSNBC and Brendan Nyhan

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Rules? The Clintons Don't Need No Stinkin' Rules!

Discussion: The Politico, A Blog For All, Associated Press, Right Wing Nut House, The Moderate Voice, Macsmind, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report and The Corner

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

THE PROBLEM WITH BILL 2.0 — I've been trying for several days now to sort out my reactions to the increasingly bitter turn of the Democratic nomination race. So let share with you my thoughts about where we are. — As I told you at the time, I thought most of the charges that the Clintons …

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal and TalkLeft

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Surge in Early Balloting Shifts Florida Races — BOCA RATON, Fla. — A surge of early voting by Florida Democrats and Republicans has startled officials here and injected additional complexity into the state's presidential primaries on Tuesday. — Democratic candidates are not overtly campaigning …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Ben Smith's Blogs, DownWithTyranny!, Hot Air and Prairie Weather

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

McCain: Romney Favored Iraq Withdrawal — SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — John McCain accused Mitt Romney of wanting to withdraw troops from Iraq, drawing immediate protest from his Republican presidential rival who said: “That's simply wrong and it's dishonest, and he should apologize.”

Discussion: Hot Air, TownHall Blog, Political Machine, American Power, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Riehl World View

CBS News:

“Clean” Movie Maven Arrested For Teen Sex — Utah Man Who Sold R-Rated Films Shorn Of Skin Arrested For Sex With 14-Year-Old Girls — (CBS) A Utah retailer of family-friendly tapes and DVDs - Hollywood films with the “dirty parts” cut out of them - has been arrested for trading sex with two 14-year-old girls.

Discussion: Cliff Schecter

philly.com:

Nude Buttocks May Cost ABC $1.4 Million — WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $1.4 million fine against 52 ABC Television Network stations over a 2003 broadcast of cop drama NYPD Blue. — The fine is for a scene where a boy surprises a woman as she prepares to take a shower.

Discussion: Eschaton, TigerHawk and Suburban Guerrilla

Frank Ahrens / Washington Post:
ABC Faces Indecency Fine For 2003 ‘NYPD Blue’ Episode

Discussion: AMERICAblog

The Politico:

E-mail smear taxes Obama campaign — COLUMBIA, SC -For over a year, largely out of the media glare, Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign has been fighting a determined, low-intensity conflict against the viral e-mail that forwards the myth that Obama is a crypto-Muslim Manchurian candidate.

Discussion: protein wisdom