Quick Clips

Edwards Responds to Obama
Latest Polls Show Democrats in Dead Heat in Iowa
Obama, Clinton even in key states
Democrats assure Iowa they're up to the job
Obama: Controversy over aide's remarks "spin"
Obama in Butter
Obama Aide Ties Pakistan to Iraq War
What price will Oprah pay?
Authenticity is the word for Republican hopefuls
Under Attack, Drug Maker Turned to Giuliani for Help
Criticism Aside, 'FairTax' Boosts Huckabee Campaign
McCain Talks of Pakistan in Swing Through Iowa
Romney Says a President Needs Judgment, Not Experience
Iowa Saturated by Political Ads
Before Iowa caucuses, candidates scramble
Unlimited Donations Boost Political Clout Of Independent Groups
A youth begins campaigning for the presidency in 2036
Bhutto assassination shifts course of presidential race
Candidates talk up experience after Bhutto's death
Clinton, Obama Seize on Killing
McCain and Giuliani Point to Pakistan
For Staffers, Upheaval Is a Campaign Promise That's Always Kept
U.S. Analysts Worry Extremists May Spread Influence After Killing
Bhutto Killing Inflames Pakistan
Bhutto Assassination Sparks Disarray
Obituary: Benazir Bhutto, 54, Weathered Political Storm
Musharraf’s Political Future Appears Troubled
Salvaging U.S. Diplomacy Amid Division
Assassination shatters hopes for stability in Pakistan
Bhutto assassination shifts course of presidential race
Outbreaks of violence could further erode Musharraf's credibility
Expert: Bhutto victim of extremists, not Musharraf
The politics of Pakistan
Experts: Bhutto slaying threatens Pakistani stability
Bhutto death poses dilemma for U.S.
U.S. Brokered Bhutto's Return to Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto Was a Woman Of Contradictions and Convictions

<><>DEM<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

THE FIELD

Edwards Responds to Obama


New York Times
December 27, 2007

John Edwards has been using it as an attack on Senator Barack Obama, most recently this afternoon with an e-mailed statement to reporters…

Latest Polls Show Democrats in Dead Heat in Iowa

By Marjorie Connelly
New York Times
December 27, 2007

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are in lockstep in Iowa, but Mike Huckabee is way out front among the Republicans in that state, according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll…

Obama, Clinton even in key states

By Janet Hook
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

A Times/Bloomberg poll finds them tied in New Hampshire and in a three-way race with Edwards in Iowa…

Democrats assure Iowa they're up to the job

Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

With the caucuses eight days away, Clinton, Obama and Edwards make appeals to voters there and in N.H…

Obama: Controversy over aide's remarks "spin"

By Mike Dorning
Chicago Tribune
December 27, 2007

VINTON, Iowa—Barack Obama tonight defended comments made by his chief political strategist drawing a link between rival Hillary Clinton’s vote to authorize the Iraq War and the political tumult in Pakistan that today included the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto…

OBAMA

Obama in Butter

By Cate Doty
New York Times
December 27, 2007

An Obama supporter created likeness of the candidate's head in butter…

Obama Aide Ties Pakistan to Iraq War

By Jeff Zeleny
New York Times
December 28, 2007

The chief strategist of Senator Barack Obama’s campaign said that voters should take into consideration that the Iraq war led to the rise of terrorist activity and political instability in Pakistan…

What price will Oprah pay?

By Tina Daunt
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

Yes, the TV talk diva helps Obama with crowds but now many of her fans are fuming online…

<><>REP<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>>

THE FIELD

Authenticity is the word for Republican hopefuls

By Peter Wallsten and Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

Huckabee and McCain join editorials and poll respondents in questioning the sincerity of Romney's conservatism…

GIULIANI

Under Attack, Drug Maker Turned to Giuliani for Help

By Barry Meier and Eric Lipton
New York Times
December 28, 2007

The work that Rudolph W. Giuliani’s consulting firm did for the maker of the painkiller OxyContin provides a window into how he used his standing to aid a controversial client and build a business fortune…

HUCKABEE

Criticism Aside, 'FairTax' Boosts Huckabee Campaign

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post
December 28, 2007

To former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, supporting a national retail sales tax is more than a policy proposal. It has provided much-needed muscle for his campaign, filling rallies and events with fervent supporters hoping to replace the entire income and payroll tax system…

McCAIN

McCain Talks of Pakistan in Swing Through Iowa

By Michael Luo
New York Times
December 28, 2007

Senator John McCain of Arizona seized upon the assassination of Benazir Bhutto to renew his argument that only he has the foreign policy credentials to step into the Oval Office and immediately take the reins…

ROMNEY

Romney Says a President Needs Judgment, Not Experience

By Marc Santora
New York Times
December 27, 2007

Mitt Romney said the president does not need to be an expert. Rather, the president is a leader…

<><>IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE<><><><><><><><><><>

Iowa Saturated by Political Ads

By Patrick Healy
New York Times
December 28, 2007

Campaigns are spending more on ads in Iowa in hopes of swaying undecided voters…

Before Iowa caucuses, candidates scramble

By Ariel Sabar
Christian Science Monitor
December 28, 2007

With a week before the first test of the primary season, presidential candidates are pulling out all the stops…

<><>2008/PRESIDENT<><><><><><><><><

Cashing In From the Outside
Unlimited Donations Boost Political Clout Of Independent Groups

By Brody Mullins
Wall Street Journal
December 28, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The endgame has begun in Iowa's Jan. 3 presidential primary race, and it may be shaped as much by independent interest groups as by the candidates themselves…

A youth begins campaigning for the presidency in 2036

By Jeffrey Shaffer
Christian Science Monitor
December 28, 2007

With the primary season getting earlier and earlier, one family figures their son needs to start now – and raise $10 billion to run…

Bhutto assassination shifts course of presidential race

By Faye Fiore
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

National security quickly reemerges from the shadows of domestic issues on the campaign trail. The slaying could play to the strengths of Giuliani, McCain and Clinton…

Candidates talk up experience after Bhutto's death

By James Oliphant and John McCormick
Chicago Tribune
December 28, 2007

DES MOINES - The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday threw a new twist into the U.S. presidential campaign a week before Iowa's leadoff caucuses as contests that had been focusing increasingly on domestic issues were wrenched sharply back to a discussion of foreign affairs…

Clinton, Obama Seize on Killing
Reactions Illustrate Their Key Differences

By Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post
December 28, 2007

DES MOINES, Dec. 27 -- News of Benazir Bhutto's assassination came just hours before Sen. Barack Obama delivered what his campaign had billed as the "closing argument" in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, forcing his campaign to scramble to incorporate the Pakistani opposition leader into his message of change…

McCain and Giuliani Point to Pakistan
Candidates Cite Terror Credentials

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
December 28, 2007

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who have made terrorism central to their Republican presidential campaigns, emphasized their ability to cope with unpredictable threats yesterday after the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto…

Electing a Life on the Run
For Staffers, Upheaval Is a Campaign Promise That's Always Kept

By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post
December 28, 2007

Every four years it comes, like some celestial event -- inevitable and, apparently, irresistible: campaign season…

<><>NATIONAL POLLS<><><><><><><><><><><><><

Latest Polls Show Democrats in Dead Heat in Iowa

By Marjorie Connelly
New York Times
December 27, 2007

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are in lockstep in Iowa, but Mike Huckabee is way out front among the Republicans in that state, according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll…

Obama, Clinton even in key states

By Janet Hook
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

A Times/Bloomberg poll finds them tied in New Hampshire and in a three-way race with Edwards in Iowa…

<><>WAR/TERROR<><><><><>><><><>

BHUTTO

Ripple Effects Raise Concern
U.S. Analysts Worry Extremists May Spread Influence After Killing

By Jay Solomon
Wall Street Journal
December 28, 2007

For decades, the U.S. has watched warily as Pakistan has tangled with India, developed nuclear weapons and fostered alliances with militant Islamist fighters…

Bhutto Killing Inflames Pakistan

By Peter Wonacott and Jay Solomon
Wall Street Journal
December 28, 2007

The world's most unstable nuclear-armed nation is plunging deeper into crisis…

Bhutto Assassination Sparks Disarray

By Salman Masood and Carlotta Gall
New York Times
December 28, 2007

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and twice-serving prime minister, was assassinated Thursday evening as she left a political rally here, a scene of fiery carnage that plunged Pakistan deeper into political turmoil and ignited widespread violence by her enraged supporters…

Obituary: Benazir Bhutto, 54, Weathered Political Storm

By John F. Burns
New York Times
December 28, 2007

Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated at age 54 on Thursday in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, spent three decades navigating the turbulent and often violent world of Pakistani politics, becoming in 1988 the first woman to lead a modern Muslim country…

Musharraf’s Political Future Appears Troubled

By David Rohde
New York Times
December 28, 2007

Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, could now face a prolonged political conflict with his opposition…

Salvaging U.S. Diplomacy Amid Division

By Helene Cooper and Steven Lee Myers
New York Times
December 28, 2007

The assassination left in ruins the diplomatic effort the Bush administration had pursued in the last year…

Assassination shatters hopes for stability in Pakistan

By Paul Richter
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

WASHINGTON -- For months, the Bush administration's hopes for stability in Pakistan rested on the rising influence of Benazir Bhutto. Her death Thursday shattered those hopes and threatened to paralyze U.S. priorities there: fighting terrorism, ensuring the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and preventing regional chaos…

Bhutto assassination shifts course of presidential race

By Faye Fiore
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2007

National security quickly reemerges from the shadows of domestic issues on the campaign trail. The slaying could play to the strengths of Giuliani, McCain and Clinton…

Bhutto's assassination may plunge Pakistan into more peril
Outbreaks of violence could further erode Musharraf's credibility

By Kim Barker
Chicago Tribune
December 28, 2007

KARACHI, Pakistan – The assassination Thursday of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto threatened to sink Pakistan further into turmoil, raising questions about a possible postponement of parliamentary elections and whether an outbreak of unrest could further weaken President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally…

Expert: Bhutto victim of extremists, not Musharraf

By Frank James
Chicago Tribune
December 27, 2007

Al Qaeda or some other extremist group was likely behind today's killing of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, said Daniel Markey, a Council of Foreign Relations Pakistan expert…

The politics of Pakistan

By John McCormick
Chicago Tribune
December 27, 2007

NEVADA, Iowa – During a campaign stop this afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama said he is not concerned about whether the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto changes the dynamics of the presidential race…

Experts: Bhutto slaying threatens Pakistani stability

By Marisol Bello and Kathy Kiely
USA Today
December 28, 2007

Pakistan's political future is very much in doubt after Thursday's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, American political observers and elected officials said…

Bhutto death poses dilemma for U.S.

Associated Press
December 28, 2007

President Bush demanded Thursday that those responsible for the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto be brought to justice…

U.S. Brokered Bhutto's Return to Pakistan
White House Would Back Her as Prime Minister While Musharraf Held Presidency

By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post
December 28, 2007

For Benazir Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy -- and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism…

The Traditional Rebel
Benazir Bhutto Was a Woman Of Contradictions and Convictions

By Molly Moore
Washington Post
December 28, 2007

On a hazy winter day in 1994, I drove with then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to the dedication of Pakistan's first women's police station. A controversial and bold initiative, it would be a place where Muslim women would feel more at ease discussing abuses like rape with female officers rather than frequently skeptical male…