memeorandum: Gov. Rendell: Fox is ‘most objective’ cable network (Michael Calderone/The Politico)

1:50 AM ET, April 1, 2008

Top Items:

Gallup Daily: Obama Holds Lead Over Clinton, 51% to 43% — Longest stretch as front-runner for either candidate since late February — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted March 28-30 finds Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton in national Democratic preferences for the nomination, 51% to 43%.

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, MyDD, The Daily Dish, Comments from Left Field and Wonkette

Mark Blumenthal / Pollster.com:

DAY-OF-WEEK EFFECT IN GALLUP DAILY? — I received some interesting charts this afternoon from Harrison Hickman and Ben Margolis, both of the Democratic firm Global Strategy Group that polled for John Edwards until he withdrew from the race (full disclosure: Hickman was my employer longer ago than either of us wants to admit).

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Hotline On Call and Comments from Left Field

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Dems, Reps Agree: Obama Tougher Opponent for McCain

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Boston Globe and The Swamp

Media Matters for America:

Scarborough on Obama's “dainty” bowling performance: “Americans want their president, if it's a man, to be a real man” — During the March 31 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist repeatedly mocked Sen. Barack Obama's bowling performance — which Scarborough called …

Discussion: The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog, The New Republic, The Liberal Avenger, Gateway Pundit and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:

The Tall Tale of Tuzla — HILLARY CLINTON'S BOSNIAN MISADVENTURE SHOULD DISQUALIFY HER FROM THE PRESIDENCY, BUT THE AIRPORT LANDING IS THE LEAST OF IT. — The punishment visited on Sen. Hillary Clinton for her flagrant, hysterical, repetitive, pathological lying about her visit to Bosnia …

Discussion: the talking dog, Dean's World, A Tiny Revolution and Weekly Standard Blog

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

Do They Hate Clinton More Than They Care About The Dem Party? — Apparently, Josh Marshall got a lot of “feedback” for his post that I discussed here. His reply to that feedback seems equally nonsensical to me: … (Emphasis supplied.) This makes no sense to me.

Discussion: Anglachel's Journal, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh and Talking Points Memo

Ken Thomas / Associated Press:
Michigan delegate compromise offered

Discussion: MyDD and TalkLeft

The Politico:
Dem elite working for June solution

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal, The Trail, Hot Air, Stumper, Real Clear Politics and URGENT AGENDA

David Usborne / The Independent:

USA 2008: The Great Depression — Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive - a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis — Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Truthdig, Done With Mirrors and Gateway Pundit

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Gov. Rendell: Fox is ‘most objective’ cable network — The Clinton campaign has said before that Fox treats them more fairly than MSNBC, but prominent surrogate Governor Ed Rendell heaped the strongest praise yet on the Murdoch-owned network.

Discussion: Attytood, The Reaction, The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh, Ben Smith's Blogs and The Democratic Daily

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
LAST REFUGE ... PA Gov. Ed Rendell on Fox News coverage …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Liberal Values

CBN.com:

Obama Says He Doesn't Want His Daughters Punished with a Baby — A lot has been made (by both sides) in this Democratic primary race that “words matter”. Well, The Brody File brings you this: — At a town hall meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, The Moderate Voice, Liberty Street, Confederate Yankee, Feministe and TPM Election Central

Wayne Barrett / The Huffington Post:

Could the Republicans Pick the Democratic Nominee? — The Untold Story of How the GOP Rigged Florida and Michigan — Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean came out of hiding last week to announce that there is no reason to rush to resolve the fate of Florida and Michigan.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Tom Watson, Taylor Marsh, Corrente, TalkLeft and Political Machine

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

Clinton didn't pay health insurance bills — Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Clinton's struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out. — Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack Obama …

Jonathan Richards / Times of London:

CIA enlists Google's help for spy work — US intelligence agencies are using Google's technology to help its agents share information about their suspects — Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to help them better process and share information they gather about suspects.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:

Military Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’ — A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested “clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.” — Since the start of the Iraq war, there's been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs …

Discussion: Think Progress, Shakesville and Left in the West

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:

Interviewing Six Conservative Female Bloggers On Dating — One of the great things about my other blog, Conservative Grapevine, is that I get to link a wide variety of articles and see which links draw the most clicks. While doing that, one of the things that I've found is that any article about dating tends to do really well.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Shakesville, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, The American Mind, michellemalkin.com, Wizbang, Comments from Left Field, Althouse, WTF Is It Now?!?, StephenBainbridge.com, CWA-NJ Conservatives …, The Other McCain, TBogg, Don Surber, Independent Liberal and Vox Popoli

Don Frederick / Top of the Ticket:

Barack Obama calls for Cesar Chavez holiday — Cesar Chavez Day. — That's what Barack Obama is endorsing: A national holiday in honor of the late, legendary activist for farmworker rights (pictured below). — Today is Chavez's birthday — and Hillary Clinton's campaign …

Discussion: American Street and The Unapologetic Mexican