memeorandum: Clinton's January: $13.5 million (Ben Smith/The Politico)

10:50 PM ET, February 4, 2008

Top Items:

Dole scolds Limbaugh — Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, wrote an insistent letter to Rush Limbaugh on Monday and suggested that for the good of the party, the conservative talk-show host should stop his strafing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Discussion: protein wisdom, Political Machine, Riehl World View and Boston Globe

CNN:

In letter to Limbaugh, Bob Dole defends McCain — BOSTON (CNN) — Former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole on Monday wrote conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh defending John McCain as a “mainstream conservative” who had supported the party on critical votes during Dole's time as the Senate Republican leader.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, American Power, Shakespeare's Sister and The Reaction

Tony Allen-Mills / Times of London:

Flawed Cindy McCain has a grudge list — ON almost every step of his march towards the Republican nomination, John McCain has relied on the support of his glamorous second wife Cindy. Yet she has not always been a political asset. A Republican victory in November would bring to the White House a formidable but flawed first lady.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Truthdig and protein wisdom

Jill Zuckman / The Swamp: Bob Dole vouches for McCain to conservatives

Jason George / The Swamp:

Hillary Clinton cries in Connecticut — NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s. — Penn Rhodeen, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up …

New York Magazine:

Breaking: Hillary Reemploys ‘The Cry’ — Yep, it's official. Hillary Clinton is running to be Crybaby-in-Chief. According to the Tribune Co.'s politics blog, the Swamp, Clinton teared up after a heartfelt introduction by a former colleague at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, where she worked in college.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Comments from Left Field, Wonkette and TIME: Swampland

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

Michelle Obama: I Would Have To Think About Supporting Clinton If She Is The Nominee — Imagine if Bill Clinton had said that? Michelle Obama needs to straighten this out immediately. Really bad stuff from the Obama campaign. — Update (TL): More than 300 comments, this thread is closing.

Discussion: The Opinionator, The Field, US Presidential race 2008 real …, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Don Surber, Rox Populi, Tom Watson and Salon

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
PULLING THE LEVER....So who am I going to vote for tomorrow?

Discussion: Liberal Values, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Matthew Yglesias, newsrack blog, Brian Beutler, bustardblog, BartBlog, TalkLeft, The RBC, culturekitchen, HillaryClinton.com and The Crone Speaks

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Republicans have become the credibility-free party — (updated below) — Substantial attention has been paid to the historic unpopularity of the Bush presidency, but relatively little attention has been paid to the accompanying collapse of the Republican Party's credibility.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Comments from Left Field, PoliGazette, LiberalLand, Firedoglake and protein wisdom

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
The Hub — I remember sitting in the media room at the Libby trial …

Discussion: Eschaton

Atrios / Eschaton:
Februrary Fund Drive

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Suburban Guerrilla and Brilliant at Breakfast

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Feb. 1-Feb. 3, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — On the eve of the Super Tuesday election, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain closely matched in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences.

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Liberal Values, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Comments from Left Field, Needlenose, American Power, Pollster.com and Talking Points Memo

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Clinton's January: $13.5 million — That's from campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe on MSNBC today: … A lot of money by most measures, but less than half of what Obama's claiming for the month.

Discussion: Political Machine

CNN:

FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping — CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) — The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.

Discussion: Concurring Opinions, Why Now? and BlueHerald 2.0

Marc Ambinder:

Plouffe Memo: We're The Giants, Baby — (not in so many words...despite or because of polls showing that Obama is now leading or tied with Hillary Clinton nationally.). … I'm sorry. Hold up, time out. What?? Unless every Obama adviser I've spoken to over the past year has out and out lied to me …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, Salon, The New Republic and Comments from Left Field

Josh Patashnik / The New Republic:

Vote McCain—Because Life Expectancy Is Going Up — The McCain campaign must be pretty spooked about conservative reaction to the story that their man isn't a full-throated Sam Alito fan. Today the campaign sent out an email to supporters trumpeting this Wall Street Journal op-ed …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Wall Street Journal:
McCain and the Supreme Court

Discussion: Hot Air, AMERICAN DIGEST, Stop The ACLU, Patterico's Pontifications, Rachel Lucas, Boston Globe, The Volokh Conspiracy, Balkinization, The Swamp, Macsmind and The American Mind

Seymour M. Hersh / New Yorker:

A STRIKE IN THE DARK — What did Israel bomb in Syria? — Israel and the U.S. have avoided comment on press reports about a nuclear facility. — Sometime after midnight on September 6, 2007, at least four low-flying Israeli Air Force fighters crossed into Syrian airspace and carried …

Discussion: Mercury Rising and A Tiny Revolution

Little Green Footballs:

Muslims Enraged, Seething at Wikipedia — Apparently there are a whole lot of Muslims enraged and offended at Wikipedia, because there are ... gasp ... drawings and images of Mohammed in his Wikipedia entry. — Blasphemy! — So they're demanding that Wikipedia stop violating …

Discussion: Wake up America

A.B. Stoddard / The Hill:

Before the Big Day... I resist predictions, as all sane people should after the New Hampshire primary, but I felt compelled to make a few observations before the Big Day. — GOP: — 1) John McCain has another good night. — Democrats: — 1) It will be a draw between Hillary and Barack, deciding little.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Crypt's Blogs and Middle Earth Journal

Marc Ambinder:

Feb 5 Projections: Revised — According to campaign sources, polling and stealing off other analysts, Hillary Clinton has an edge in New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. — Obama has an edge in Idaho, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota and Illinois.

Discussion: Spin Cycle and AMERICAblog

New York Times:

Bush Seeks Budget of $3.1 Trillion — WASHINGTON — President Bush submitted a federal budget of $3.1 trillion on Monday, declaring that the spending plan would keep the United States safe and prosperous and, despite its record size, would adhere to his principle of letting Americans keep as much of their own money as possible.