memeorandum: Tim Russert Blackballing Arianna At NBC? (Nikki Finke/Nikki Finke's Deadline …)

8:25 PM ET, April 30, 2008

Top Items:

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

FOX News Poll: Obama's Favorable Rating Drops — Nearly half of Democrats (48 percent) think Hillary Clinton has a better chance of beating John McCain in November — 10 percentage points higher than the 38 percent who think Barack Obama can win, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday.

Discussion: The Caucus, TalkLeft, Weekly Standard Blog, Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere, The American Mind and Don Surber

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

NBC/WSJ poll: Bush a liability to McCain — NBC/WSJ poll: Bush — not Wright or Bill Clinton — is voters' main concern — WASHINGTON - According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Sen. Barack Obama's ties to his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, could end up hurting his chances of winning the White House.

Discussion: MyDD and Daily Kos

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Getting to Know John McCain — It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.

Discussion: The New Republic, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Don Surber, The Daily Dish, Democratic Strategist, The Carpetbagger Report, The Campaign Spot and Commentary

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Virtual Tie Persists in Democratic Race — Clinton 47%, Obama 46% in latest update — PRINCETON, NJ — National Democratic voters are essentially divided in their presidential nomination preferences between Hillary Clinton (47%) and Barack Obama (46%), according to April 27-29 Gallup Poll Daily tracking results.

Discussion: MyDD and Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder:

Obama's Name Now Toxic In Mississippi For One Democrat — Travis Childers, the Democratic congressional candidate who has the chance to flip Mississippi's first congressional district from Republican to Democrat, is so concerned with Mississippi voters falsely believing that he's been endorsed …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

Patsy R. Brumfield / Tupelo Daily Journal:
1st District ads pour gasoline on burning fire

Discussion: The Page

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Dumb as We Wanna Be — It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain …

Discussion: American Prospect, The Daily Dish, Firedoglake, Buck Naked Politics, Taylor Marsh, American Street, Energy Smart, Sadly, No!, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, All Spin Zone, Washington Monthly and Daimnation!

Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:

Political Pandering — Suspending the federal gas tax is a crass ploy for votes. Why Hillary Clinton and John McCain should know better. — NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE — Hillary Clinton has now joined John McCain in proposing the most irresponsible policy idea of the year—an idea that actually could aid the terrorists.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Oregonian, Middle Earth Journal, Salon, Vanity Fair, Jack and Jill Politics, American Street, Spin Cycle, Liberty Street and MoJoBlog

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Expert Support For Gas Tax Holiday Appears Nonexistent

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Wonkette, The Jed Report, The New Republic and Spin Cycle

Mark Morford / San Francisco Chronicle:

Hot! — Behold, the ideal Republican wife: Prim, sexless, nearly useless, lets the men do the real thinkin'. Hot! — I fondly recall, just before the tragic Bush/Kerry presidential election, an impassioned discussion I had with a family friend, a conservative Catholic mother of four …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, The Other McCain and Stop The ACLU

Michelle Malkin:

Laura Bush hatred at the SF Chronicle — Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle's website is one of the MSM's most unhinged, hate-filled columnists. Today he earns his pay by railing against Laura Bush because she isn't an obnoxious, left-wing elite bigmouth like Teresa Heinz Kerry …

Steven Ginsberg / The Trail:

Clinton Exuding Confidence — South Bend, Ind. — As Hillary Clinton continues virtually nonstop campaigning between North Carolina and Indiana, the candidate and her team are showing signs of increased confidence. — After spending weeks blasting Barack Obama at any potential opening …

Discussion: Reuters, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, MyDD, Commentary, The Other McCain and Daily Kos

Steven Ginsberg / The Trail:

Clinton Pulls Even on the Air — Given the huge financial disparity that separates Sen. Barack Obama from Sen. Hillary Clinton, it may be surprising to learn that they are now spending at almost an even clip on television advertising in Indiana and North Carolina.

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Human Events:
Outlook — Prospects have brightened a little for Sen …

Discussion: The Corner and Hot Air

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Clinton blasts Bush for not stopping a project Bill OK'd — INDIANAPOLIS — It's a story Hillary Clinton loves to tell, about how the Chinese government bought a good American company in Indiana, laid off all its workers and moved its critical defense technology work to China.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Fact Hub, TPM Election Central, Flopping Aces, Outside The Beltway and The Swamp

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS: Hoosier Responsible? — Clinton Decries China's Acquisition …

Nikki Finke / Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Tim Russert Blackballing Arianna At NBC? — UPDATE: Sources close to Arianna Huffington are claiming just that. Arianna Huffington is currently on book tour for her new political tome Right Is Wrong: How The Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded The Constitution, And Made Us All Less Safe …

ZP Heller / Brave New Films blog:
Mighty Tim Russert Wields His Clout

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Nikki Finke's Deadline … and The Huffington Post

Sue Sturgis / Facing South:

FACING SOUTH EXCLUSIVE: D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls — Who's behind the mysterious “robo-calls” that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Talking Points Memo, TPMMuckraker, Ben Smith's Blogs, Open Left, newsobserver.com projects, The RBC, Threat Level, Obsidian Wings, Spin Cycle, The Carpetbagger Report, Jack and Jill Politics, BlueNC, Pandagon and RaceWire

Page Gardner / The Huffington Post:
Confusion Surrounding Robo-Calls in North Carolina

Discussion: Open Left, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

James Wolcott / Vanity Fair:

When Democrats Go Post-al — The vicious Clinton-versus-Obama rupture at Daily Kos, the most activist site in the liberal blogosphere, reflects a party-wide split. What really rankles, as Democrats tear at one another, is the free pass they've given McCain—and the White House.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Ali / Think Progress:

Perino Rewrites Banner: ‘Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission’ — Exactly five years ago tomorrow, President Bush landed aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, stood under a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished,” and declared, “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”