memeorandum: MCCAIN WINS THE COVERAGE BATTLE AS MEDIA MOVE TO ANOINT HIM (Journalism.org)

4:25 PM ET, February 5, 2008

Top Items:

West Virginia Intrigue — After the first round of balloting in West Virginia, Mitt Romney was solidly in the lead with 41% of the votes, followed by Mike Huckabee with 33% and John McCain with 16%. — Since 50% is needed to win all 18 delegates, a second balloting is underway.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, DownWithTyranny!, MSNBC, D-Day, Daily Kos, MyDD, The Caucus and Macsmind

Mitt Romney For President News:

Campaign Manager Beth Myers On The West Virginia Convention — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Boston, MA - Today, Romney for President Campaign Manager Beth Myers issued the following statement regarding the outcome of West Virginia's Republican Party convention:

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Eunomia, Balloon Juice, Commentary and New York Daily News Blogs

You Decide 08!:

HUCKABEE WINS WEST VIRGINIA GOP CONTEST IN SECOND ROUND, WITH HELP FROM MCCAIN — Mike Huckabee won the first of 21 states being contested by the Republican presidential candidates on Super Tuesday, pulling out a victory in the West Virginia Republican convention.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Confederate Yankee, Salon, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air and Wake up America

Tom Searls / Charleston Gazette:

Huckabee wins W.Va. GOP convention — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee captured the 18 West Virginia delegates up for grabs at the state's Republican convention on Tuesday, the first of many presidential contests on Super Tuesday. — Huckabee won on the second ballot …

Discussion: Washington Wire, TigerHawk, Comments from Left Field, Cynics' Party and TIME: Swampland

Michael Luo / The Caucus:

Romney at the West Virginia Convention — CHARLESTON, West Va.—The 1,200 delegates who would determine how 18 of West Virginia's delegates are allocated at the Republican National Convention gathered inside a dingy hall at the civic center here this morning.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, On Deadline and Assorted Babble

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs: Romney loses West Virginia!

CNN:
Huckabee scores a Super Tuesday win

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Outside The Beltway, Cynics' Party and Balloon Juice

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

THE POLLS — There's one guarantee I can make right now about tonight's results. They are going take make either Zogby or SurveyUSA look like complete fools. Which one I'm not completely sure, but definitely one of them. — Consider this spread. Zogby has his final California number as Obama 49%, Clinton 36%.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Opinionator, Buck Naked Politics, Balkinization, MyDD, The Sideshow, Shakespeare's Sister and US Presidential race 2008 real …

Zogby:

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: McCain Dominates GOP Races; Dems Locked in Tight Contests As Super Tuesday Polls Open — UTICA, New York - The final day of polling before Super Tuesday was one of hardening positions in key races across the country, the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby survey work shows.

Discussion: MSNBC, TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, Raising Kaine, Reuters, Open Left, American Street, Wonkette, PrestoPundit and Gateway Pundit

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Feb. 2-4, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain fairly closely matched in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences, although Clinton appears to have stopped Obama's momentum over the past two days.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Moderate Voice and The Washington Note

Little Green Footballs:
Dreaming of Super Tuesday

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Chuck Todd / MSNBC:
Todd: Your hour-by-hour Super Tuesday guide

Discussion: The Caucus

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Super Tuesday Viewer's Guide

Discussion: THE LIBERAL JOURNAL and politburo diktat 2.0

Election Projection:
Super-Duper-Mega-Jumbo Tuesday predictions and results

Discussion: US News, Outside The Beltway, Washington Post, Wizbang, Confederate Yankee, Captain's Quarters, Macsmind, The Other McCain, The Strata-Sphere, michellemalkin.com and Redstate

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
8 Questions Super Tuesday Could Answer

Discussion: Salon, New York Times, Greatscat! and The Carpetbagger Report

Josh Gerstein / Latest Politics:

Limbaugh Defends Clinton and Obama on Iraq — Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is so exasperated about Senator McCain's surge in the Republican presidential contest that he is coming to the defense of Senators Clinton and Obama. — On Mr. Limbaugh's program today, he said people should not be rushing …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, protein wisdom, The Jawa Report, Firedoglake, Hot Air, TownHall Blog, Political Radar, Weekly Standard, No More Mister Nice Blog, Buck Naked Politics, Think Progress, The Mahatma X Files, Donklephant, Angry Bear, RADAMISTO and The Politico

Bryan / Hot Air:

Rush Limbaugh endorses Mitt Romney — Levin, Hannity, Ingraham and now Nobel nominee Rush Limbaugh (membership req'd): Big talk radio swings unanimously for Mitt Romney. Rush makes several solid points that you've heard before, mostly regarding how McCain represents the GOP's national security wing …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and The Jawa Report

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Limbaugh on McCain: It's Better to Be Right All the Time

Discussion: The Corner, The Moderate Voice, NY Daily News, Political Machine, Comments from Left Field, Dick Polman's American Debate, DownWithTyranny!, MSNBC, Center Face, New York Post, TIME, The Carpetbagger Report, PBD and michellemalkin.com

John R. Bolton / Wall Street Journal:

Our Politicized Intelligence Services — Today, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee (and Thursday on the House side) to give the intelligence community's annual global threat analysis. These hearings are always significant …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Newshoggers, Think Progress, Commentary, The Corner and On Deadline

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:

Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S. — WASHINGTON — The top American intelligence official said on Tuesday that Al Qaeda is improving its ability to attack within the United States by recruiting and training new operatives. At the same time, he said, the group's affiliate in Iraq …

Discussion: Think Progress, Salon, The Jawa Report, D-Day and Prairie Weather

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Clinton Agrees to Fox Debate — On a conference call today, Howard Wolfson of the Clinton campaign has said that Hillary Clinton will appear in a Fox News debate on February 11 in Washington, DC. — After Roger Ailes made a joke comparing Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden, Harry Reid rightfully nixed a Democratic Fox debate in Nevada:

Discussion: The Huffington Post, DownWithTyranny!, Open Left and AMERICAblog

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Clinton Accepts Fox News Debate

Discussion: FOX Embeds, The Carpetbagger Report, TVNewser and Sister Toldjah

Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner:

Romney and Dole — Readers keep quoting me one line from the Romney-Doocy interview this morning, here's what he said, plus the video:

Discussion: American Spectator

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Limbaugh says McCain's camp manipulated Bob Dole: John Kerry …

Discussion: Ice Station Tango and The Fix

Rolling Stone:

Mellencamp Asks McCain to Stop Using Tunes — At some recent John McCain campaign rallies, John Mellencamp's “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” have been booming out over the speakers. Uplifting heartland rock must have seemed like a smart pick, but there's just one problem: Mellencamp is an ardent Democrat.

Discussion: Hot Air, Buckeye State Blog, All Spin Zone, Political Machine, NewsBusters.org and Don Surber