memeorandum: Dean: Bickering Democrats May Hurt Party (Nedra Pickler/Associated Press)

10:45 AM ET, March 28, 2008

Top Items:

Thomas Fitzgerald / Philly.com:

Bob Casey to endorse Obama, join bus tour — Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president today in Pittsburgh, sending a message both to the state's primary voters and to undecided superdelegates who might decide the close race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Swamp, Marc Ambinder, Ben Smith's Blogs, Comments from Left Field, Dick Polman's American Debate, Talking Points Memo, The Caucus, Donklephant, Pennsyltucky Politics, Washington Times, TPM Election Central, Balloon Juice, The Page and positivelyBarack.com

Mike Allen / Ben Smith's Blogs:

BREAKING: Dean wants closure by July 1 — A potential game-changer from CBS News and “The Early Show.” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says he wants superdelegates to make a decision by JULY 1 — the most specific he has been in his effort to prod the party …

Discussion: The Swamp, The New Republic and Pam's House Blend

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Pennsylvania voters feeling ‘neglected’ — PITTSBURGH - After envisioning Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama stumping from one end of the state to the other, dipping into diners and delis, all but taking up residence here in the run-up to the state's critical April 22 primary …

Discussion: The Page

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Dean: Bickering Democrats May Hurt Party

Discussion: Daily Kos

USA Today:
McCain to embark on ‘biography tour’

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, New York Times, MSNBC and Real Clear Politics

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Obama to Begin Push in Pennsylvania in Hope of Offsetting Clinton Advantages

Discussion: Associated Press and The Page

James Hider / Times of London:

Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides — Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. — His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Outside The Beltway, Jules Crittenden, Time, American Street, The Newshoggers, Last of the Few, Middle Earth Journal, Balloon Juice and Salon

Washington Post:

U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia — Americans Appear To Take the Lead As Iraqi Units Wait — U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress, Los Angeles Times, The Newshoggers, Political Machine, The Reaction, CNN, Hot Air, Reuters, abu muqawama, American Street, democracyarsenal.org, Firedoglake, New York Times, DownWithTyranny!, Swampland, Guardian and Global Guerrillas

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

Warlord vs. Warlord — WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING ABOUT IN BASRA? — The wars in Iraq (the plural is no typo) are about to expand and possibly explode, so it might be useful to have some notion of what we're in for. — Here is President George W. Bush, speaking this morning in Dayton …

Discussion: Swampland, Talking Points Memo, Outside The Beltway, In Depth with The Post … and White House

Kim Gamel / Associated Press:
US airstrike kills at least 4 in Baghdad

Discussion: American Footprints and Danger Room

Mike Allen / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama now says he might have left church — In appearance taped for airing this morning on “The View,” Senator Obama makes news by saying he might have left Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ if the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had not retired. — In a clip posted by ABC, Obama says …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Strata-Sphere and Spin Cycle

Associated Press:

Obama would have left if Wright stayed — WASHINGTON - White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama's campaign, not stepped down.

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, ABCNEWS, Right Wing Nut House, MyDD, Don Surber, Taylor Marsh, Redstate, Daimnation!, Sweetness & Light and Cliff Schecter.com

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Let's Just All Agree That Wright Apologized And Move On

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air and The Trail

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Loans and Leadership — When George W. Bush first ran for the White House, political reporters assured us that he came across as a reasonable, moderate guy. — Yet those of us who looked at his policy proposals — big tax cuts for the rich and Social Security privatization — had a very different impression.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Trail and Corrente

Tahman Bradley / Political Radar:

Bill Clinton: Caucuses ‘Killing Us’ — ABC News' Teddy Davis, Sarah Amos, and Talal Al-Khatib Report: While speaking by phone Thursday to his wife's Texas supporters, former President Bill Clinton downplayed the importance of caucuses and argued that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. …

Discussion: Oliver Willis, American Street, Political Punch, The Reaction and Donklephant

Portfolio:

Fee for All — Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s Warner Music Group has tapped industry veteran Jim Griffin to spearhead a controversial plan to bundle a monthly fee into consumers' internet-service bills for unlimited access to music. — The plan—the boldest move yet to keep the wounded entertainment …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, TechCrunch and Jay Currie

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

It's solved! Democratic race prediction: Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama will win — OK, here's what's going to happen in the messy Democratic presidential race: Neither one of your favorites is going to win. They're gonna tear each other apart to no successful end.