memeorandum: Arizona poll: McCain holds lead over Obama (Anne Ryman/Arizona Republic)

1:45 PM ET, August 20, 2008

Top Items:

John Whitesides / Reuters:

Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Zogby:

Reuters/Zogby Poll: McCain Makes a Move, Takes 5-Point Lead Over Obama — Obama loses ground among Dems, women, Catholics & even younger voters — UTICA, New York - As Russian tanks rolled into the Republic of Georgia and the presidential candidates met over the weekend in the first joint issues forum …

Discussion: The Swamp, Achenblog, NewsBusters.org, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Pajamas Media, Wake up America, www.redstate.com, Top of the Ticket, American Spectator, The Strata-Sphere, Althouse and CNN

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

Obama's Ads in Key States Go on Attack — WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama has started a sustained and hard-hitting advertising campaign against Senator John McCain in states that will be vital this fall, painting Mr. McCain in a series of commercials as disconnected from the economic struggles of the middle class.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Jed Report, BuzzFlash.org, Guardian, Electoral-vote.com, Washington Post, PolitickerPA, Towleroad.com and Don Surber

Anne Ryman / Arizona Republic:

Arizona poll: McCain holds lead over Obama — 28% of voters surveyed remain undecided — The latest Arizona poll shows Sen. John McCain maintaining a solid 10-point lead in his home state over Sen. Barack Obama, although a large number of registered voters are undecided less than three months before the election.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

John Cole / Balloon Juice:

Good News For Obama — Let me preface my remarks by saying that I am a firm believer that the national polling really does not matter until after the second convention. When both candidates have chosen their VP and held their conventions, then I think we will really get a good idea of how the candidates are stacking up.

Discussion: Deadline USA, American Spectator, The Corner and Donklephant

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Conservative Group Finds Networks Positive on Obama

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Patterico's Pontifications

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Zogby: Obama suffers 15-point swing, trails by 5

Discussion: JammieWearingFool and The Other McCain

Nick Pisa / Telegraph:

Barack Obama's ‘lost’ brother found in Kenya — Senator Barack Obama's long lost brother has been tracked down for the first time living in a shanty town in Kenya, reports claimed. — The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Jawa Report, JammieWearingFool, Gateway Pundit, Ben Smith's Blogs, NO QUARTER, Sweetness & Light, Confederate Yankee, pandagon.net, PrestoPundit and American Spectator

National Enquirer:

JOHN EDWARDS BLOCKBUSTER NEW EXPOSE! — The NATIONAL ENQUIRER's exclusive ongoing investigation uncovers shocking new revelations about The John Edwards Scandal! — The day prior to Edwards bombshell admission to an affair on ABC's Nightline, Rielle Hunter and her 6 month old daughter …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Corner, Connecting.the.Dots, Washington Post, DBKP and Towleroad.com

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

What Did We Expect? — If the conflict in Georgia were an Olympic event, the gold medal for brutish stupidity would go to the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin. The silver medal for bone-headed recklessness would go to Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and the bronze medal …

Discussion: Clive Crook, Outside The Beltway, The Daily Dish and Political Perceptions

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
The Risk of the Zinger

Discussion: The RBC

Mikhail Gorbachev / New York Times:
Russia Never Wanted a War

Discussion: Salon, The Moderate Voice and Truthdig

Andrew Miga / Associated Press:

Sen. Joe Lieberman to speak at GOP convention — WASHINGTON - Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate in 2000 and now an independent who is one of John McCain's strongest supporters, will speak at the Republican National Convention, an official said.

Discussion: The New Republic, Firedoglake, The Corner, Think Progress, New York Magazine, Open Left and Hot Air

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

Giuliani to give keynote at GOP convention — WASHINGTON (AP) - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will give the keynote address at the Republican National Convention next month. — First lady Laura Bush, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain's former Republican rivals will speak as well.

Discussion: Firedoglake

Borys Krawczeniuk / The Times-Tribune:

Local Clinton backers, McCain adviser meet — A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Caucus, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, PolitickerPA, Wonkette and TIME.com

Ken Whitehouse / Nashville Post:

Obama team to hold ‘major’ event Saturday in Bayh's Indiana — Campaign team gathering for possible veep announcement — NashvillePost.com has learned that senior campaign officials from the Barack Obama Presidential campaign are being dispatched from various locations around the country …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Marc Ambinder and www.redstate.com

Vindicator:
Hillary Clinton supporters still trying to derail Obama nomination

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Hot Air

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Two Against The One — In the dead of night in a small hideaway office in the deserted Capitol, a clandestine meeting takes place between two senators with one goal. — They grin at each other as they lift their celebratory shots of brutally cold Stolichnaya.

Discussion: Commentary, The Corner, Wonkette, Booman Tribune, Cogitamus and Whiskey Fire

Michael Moore:

“Caroline: Pull a Cheney!” An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore — We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet.

Discussion: HolyCoast.com, BuzzFlash.org, Democratic Strategist, Brave New Films blog, The Reaction, www.redstate.com, Liberal Values, Tales from the Trail, JammieWearingFool and Pam's House Blend

CBS News:

Report: Rep. Tubbs Jones On Life Support — Congresswoman From Cleveland Hospitalized After Suffering Aneurysm — (CBS) This story was written by CBS News reporter Ryan Corsaro. — Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, is reported to have suffered an aneurysm and is not expected to recover …

Discussion: Think Progress and TIME.com

Jose Antonio Vargas / Washington Post:

Obama's Wide Web — From YouTube to Text Messaging, Candidate's Team Connects to Voters — Amid the cramped, crowded cubicles inside Sen. Barack Obama's campaign headquarters here, sandals are as ubiquitous as iPods. Two young guys in shorts and T-shirts throw a football around.

Discussion: MyDD and Jack & Jill Politics