The New Republic

Playing With Fire: [Ed Morrissey, Captain’s Quarters]:  “In the end, Hillary can afford to lose Iowa a lot more than she can afford to make character an issue in the campaign … If she thinks she can win a character debate in the general election, she is getting very, very bad advice”   READ MORE >>

Clinton Emergency: [The New York Times]: “A man claiming to have a bomb strapped to his chest walked in to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign offices in Rochester, N.H., today and took hostages, police and witnesses said.”   READ MORE >>

Primetime: [Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times]: “CNN’s Republican YouTube debate last night attracted 4.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched debate of this presidential primary season and breaking all records for any primary debate on cable television in cable history.”   READ MORE >>

Tonight’s the Night: [Michael Calderone, Politico]: “But one postponement and some grudging acceptance later, the CNN/ YouTube-sponsored debate — taking place Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla. — could display just how far the Republicans have come in embracing new media.”   READ MORE >>

Role Reversal: [Mike Allen and Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico]: “In ways big and small over the weekend, the two campaigns exuded a sense of switched identities — a dynamic driven by poll-driven perceptions that Clinton’s sense of inevitability is slipping and Obama is riding a bit of a wave amid the Midwestern seas of grain.”   READ MORE >>

Illegal Advantage: [Michael Luo, The New York Times]: “Mr. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has in particular sought to wield the issue [of illegal immigration] against his Republican rivals, focusing on Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, and Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.”   READ MORE >>

Condoleezza Rice is busy preparing her picnic at Annapolis that will start next Tuesday, November 26.  Nobody is quite sure who will come although almost everyone is quite sure that nothing much will happen.  Maybe a statement that will not really commit anyone to anything.  Following in the footsteps of the Clinton administration, the Bushies are giving their desperate all for some semblance of an Israeli-Palestinian accord, however vague.  And the Olmert government has cooperated in announcing READ MORE >>

Close Quarters: [Anne E. Kornblut and Jon Cohen, The Washington Post]: "The top three Democratic presidential contenders remain locked in a close battle in Iowa, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) seeing her advantages diminish on key issues, including the questions of experience and which candidate is best prepared to handle the war in Iraq, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll."   READ MORE >>

I'm Your Man: [Marc Santora, The New York Times]: "Senator John McCain tried Sunday night to make the case that he was best positioned to defeat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a general election, outlining a series of contrasts with her on issues including national security and health care."   READ MORE >>

I went into my local bookstore, the only real one left in Harvard Square and aptly called the Harvard Book Store, drawn by a sign in one of its windows announcing that Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid was on sale.  Well, yes, there it was amidst dozens of other titles by mostly unknown authors.  A heaping pile on top, and more underneath.  List price for PPNA was $27.00.  It's now selling at this book shop for $8.50.  There's only a certain number of literate people who would spend almost READ MORE >>