memeorandum: Murtha's CTC Corp (Justin Hart/My Man Mitt.com)

12:05 AM ET, April 8, 2008

Top Items:

Penn: Never Out, Still In — Demoted Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn may no longer have the coveted title of chief strategist, but he remains a key member of the campaign's senior staff. — Mr. Penn took part on the campaign's morning message call this morning, as usual.

Discussion: The Page, Talking Points Memo, AlterNet.org, The Nation, Agence France Presse, Ben Smith's Blogs, MSNBC, Buck Naked Politics, The Raw Story, Newshoggers.com, Donklephant, Truthdig, Swampland and Pollster.com

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Mark Penn Speaks (In Private): Will Still Advise Clintons, Calms Nervous Aides — Mark Penn, who resigned over the weekend as the Clinton campaign's chief strategist, went into full damage control mode on Monday, hosting a conference call with Burson Marsteller's managing directors to persuade …

Discussion: Washington Wire, On the Campaign Trail and Swampland

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
CHIEF GOOF — TPM Reader JM laments how Penn destroyed Hillary's campaign ...

Discussion: Eschaton and Matthew Yglesias

Eamon Javers / The Politico:
HRC Colombia ties don't stop with Penn

Discussion: Spin Cycle

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times: Clinton Campaign Regroups After Shakeup at Top

Anne E. Kornblut / The Trail:

Clinton Told True Tale of Woe, Says Kin — The aunt of a young pregnant woman who died after a hospital told her she needed to pay $100 up front for care said in an interview on Monday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been telling the story accurately on the campaign trail …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Daily Kos, NO QUARTER, Taylor Marsh, Swampland, The Confluence and Political Punch

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Storylines — Andrea Mitchell said today that Clinton has a “growing credibility gap” because she repeated a story on the stump about a woman who was denied health care and died. (I believe this is based on a bizarre and very badly written article which appeared over the week-end in the New York Times.)

Discussion: Associated Press and TalkLeft

The Raw Story:

Exclusive: Book reveals McCain's expletive-laden spat with wife

Media Matters for America:

On Tim Russert , Hitchens said to Sullivan: “Oh, well don't be such a lesbian. Get on with it” — On the April 5 edition of MSNBC's Tim Russert, Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens debated the significance for Sen. Barack Obama of comments made by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright …

Discussion: Pandagon

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama Moves to 9-point Lead Over Clinton — McCain, Obama remain tied in general election trial heat — PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama has gained support in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report for April 4-6, and now leads Hillary Clinton by a statistically significant margin, 52% to 43%.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Washington Wire, Comments from Left Field, The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central, iPol, Donklephant and culturekitchen

Leslie Wayne / The Caucus:
Obama's S.E.I.U. Boost in Pennsylvania

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

The non-political elite view of McCain — A GOP fundraiser who hasn't, to put it mildly, been the biggest McCain booster in the world makes a smart point to me in explaining his success so far in raising coin for the GOP nominee from money types outside the Washington crowd.

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog and The Other McCain

Redstate:

A List of Reporters Who Need To Be Set Straight: Let's Call Them — The media, now inching into campaign mode against the Republican, are willingly giving Barack Obama a free pass on his “100 years” lie about John McCain. — As we've noted before, Obama has repeatedly said things along the lines of this from a Hardball appearance:

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Talk, The Huffington Post and Hullabaloo

Digby / Hullabaloo:
What Are They Waiting For?

Discussion: Tom Watson, American Street, American Power and alicublog

Ross Douthat:

The Worst President Ever? — An unscientific survey of 109 professional historians, conducted by the doubtless-unbiased author of Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion In America, reports that sixty-one percent of its sample considers George W. Bush's Presidency the “worst ever.”

Discussion: Done With Mirrors, Eunomia, Balloon Juice and skippy the bush kangaroo

Matthew Yglesias:
Worst President Ever

Discussion: The New Republic, American Power, Hullabaloo, History News Network, Truthdig and democracyarsenal.org

Chicago Tribune:

Representative tries to put the fear of God in atheist — Did you hear about the state legislator who last week blasted a Lutheran minister during a committee hearing for spewing dangerous religious superstitions, and then attempted to order the minister out of the witness chair on the grounds …

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics and Done With Mirrors

Tim Arango / New York Times:

CBS Said to Consider Use of CNN in Reporting — CBS, the home of the most celebrated news division in broadcasting, has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its news-gathering operations to CNN, two executives briefed on the matter said Monday.

Discussion: Power Line and NewsBusters.org

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
For Couric, an Uphill March

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

2 Suburban Philadelphia Counties Flip to Democratic Party — History is being made in the suburbs of Philadelphia. — The four suburban counties have long been Republican strongholds, with more Republican voters than Democratic ones. The last time there were more Democrats than Republicans seems lost in the mist of time.

Discussion: Newsweek and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Marc Ambinder:

McCain Raises $15M In March — Sen. John McCain's fundraising is picking up, relatively speaking. — In March, officials said he raised about $15M, his best month since early 2007 and well above his $2M-per-month pace in late 2007. The final number is still being tallied.

Discussion: MyDD, The American Mind, Comments from Left Field, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Open Left, Wonkette, Oliver Willis, MSNBC, Donklephant and The Page

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

How the MSM Treats Hillary: One Video Shows It All — Thanks for posting that Jeralyn! (5.00 / 2) (#2) … Must see. (5.00 / 2) (#5)

Discussion: Althouse and Shakesville

Rob Lowe / The Huffington Post:

Household Betrayal — Harassment in the workplace, sexual or otherwise, is something I take very seriously. In my home and on the set, I have been surrounded for years by hardworking women (and men) whom I respect and whose rights are to be protected. But when people make false claims …

Discussion: Nikki Finke's Deadline …