memeorandum: Clinton: Obama ‘undermining’ himself (Rick Pearson/Chicago Tribune)

8:10 PM ET, April 20, 2008

Top Items:

McCain: A Question of Temperament — John McCain cupped a fist and began pumping it, up and down, along the side of his body. It was a gesture familiar to a participant in the closed-door meeting of the Senate committee who hoped that it merely signaled, as it sometimes had in the past …

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama Holds Slight 47% to 45% Advantage — First time in days that Obama's Democratic bid has gained supporters — PRINCETON, NJ — The peeling away of national Democratic support for Barack Obama seen this past week may have run its course.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Donklephant and Talking Points Memo

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

Obama says McCain would be better than Bush — READING, Pa. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Sunday that Republican rival John McCain would be better for the country than President Bush has been over the past eight years. — “You have a real choice in this election.

Discussion: Lance Mannion, TalkLeft and Redstate

Rick Pearson / Chicago Tribune:

Clinton: Obama ‘undermining’ himself — BETHLEHEM, Pa.— Sen. Hillary Clinton on Sunday stepped up her attacks on rival Sen. Barack Obama, contending her Democratic presidential rival was showing desperation in the spate of criticism that the two have been hurling at each other in advance of Pennsylvania's primary on Tuesday.

Discussion: TalkLeft and The Confluence

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama: McCain better than Bush — Barack Obama seemed to break with the core of the Democratic Party's strategy against John McCain at a town hall in Reading, telling the audience that McCain would be better than George W. Bush. — “You have a real choice in this election.

Discussion: The Trail, The Swamp, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Don Surber

Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun Times: ‘Underdog’ Obama would call single-digit Pa. loss a victory

Chuck Todd / MSNBC:

NEW PA. POLL HAS CLINTON HOLDING LEAD — From NBC's Chuck Todd — A new MSNBC/McClatchy/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette poll of Pennsylvania indicates things are staying fairly competitive in the Pennsylvania Dem primary. — The poll of 625 likely Dem primary voters was conducted Thursday …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Moderate Voice, Cogitamus, The Raw Story and Donklephant

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Poll: Clinton margin in Pa. won't cut Obama's delegate lead

Discussion: Newshoggers.com and TalkLeft

Scott Helman / Boston Globe:
In Pa., late deciders could lift Clinton

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily and The Page

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Obama & Clinton in Full ‘Outrage’ Mode

Discussion: Political Radar

Newsweek:

Obama: Can't ‘Swift Boat’ Me — Charles Ommanney / Getty Images for Newsweek — Seeing Ghosts: Obama's ties to Ayers and Auchi are distant, but his foes plan to pounce — The Obama campaign is planning to expand its research and rapid-response team in order to repel attacks it anticipates …

Discussion: MSNBC, The Raw Story, BAGnewsNotes, JustOneMinute, QandO, Gateway Pundit and Democracy Project

The Huffington Post:

Debate Analysis: ABC Asked Most Scandal Questions, Obama Was Clear Target — The furor over ABC's Democratic debate last week was not universally shared. — While Obama supporters (and many media critics) decried what they saw as biased, gotcha-style questioning, a vocal minority (mostly Clinton supporters) was unmoved.

Discussion: TalkLeft, AMERICAblog, American Street and Patterico's Pontifications

Associated Press:

Secretary of State Rice Mocks Muslim Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a Coward — BAGHDAD — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mocked anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a coward on Sunday, hours after the radical leader threatened to declare war unless U.S. and Iraqi forces end a military crackdown on his followers.

Discussion: Attackerman and JammieWearingFool

Karl / protein wisdom:
Fear and Loathing at the Los Angeles Times

Discussion: American Power and The Strata-Sphere

Los Angeles Times:
Fear and dread in Iraq s holy city of Najaf

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Agence France Presse and The Strata-Sphere

Austin Hill / Townhall.com:

Obama, Clinton And Capitalism: It's Okay For Them, But Nobody Else — Remember Chico Escuela? — He was a character created by Actor Garrett Morris on the “Saturday Night Live” TV show, back in the 1970's. Morris became famous for uttering these simple words in broken-English …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and protein wisdom

Bill W. / Crooks and Liars:

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer Helps Spread False Rumor That Obama Gave ‘the Finger’ … There really is no excuse for anything posing as a news network to claim that 'the blogs are buzzing about this one" and promote it so when any cursory search on the internets would have found numerous examples …

Discussion: MyDD

PittsburghLIVE.com:

In Pennsylvania's Democrat primary for president: Vote for Clinton — For decades, the two major parties have chosen their presidential candidates long before Pennsylvania holds its primary. — Not this year. — Ron Paul's maverick candidacy aside, Republicans have settled on John McCain, whom we previously endorsed.

Discussion: TPMCafe and MSNBC

Jad Mouawad / New York Times:

The Big Thirst — Oil prices rose above $116 a barrel last week, setting another record for the world's most indispensable energy commodity. What was striking about this latest milestone was what didn't happen: there was no shortage of oil, no sudden embargo, no exporter turning off its spigot.

Discussion: The New Republic

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Notice Anything? John McCain doesn't wear an American flag pin on THIS WEEK — Let's call Nash McCabe. I don't see a single lapel pin between them, do you? — Spotlight — No Trackbacks To “Notice Anything? John McCain doesn't wear an American flag pin on THIS WEEK”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and DownWithTyranny!