According to a recent study released by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) received only 7% of political coverage from January 6-11, “less than one-fifth of what Hillary earned, and less than one-forth of that accorded to Obama.”

Tonight, during CNN’s post-debate special, “Race and Politics,” Anderson Cooper manifested this trend when he stated that black voters would have to choose between presidential contenders Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) when voting for president. After a few moments, Cooper remembered that Edwards was in the race and added his name to the list. “I guess I have to remember to be inclusive,” Anderson chuckled, to the delight of his panel.

After former Sen. John Edwards (D-SC) proposed that he is best situated to defeat Sen. Jon McCain (R-AZ) in the general election, Sens Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) begged to differ. While Clinton argued that her national security credentials would benefit the Democrats in a face-to-face general election match up against McCain, Obama maintained that his early opposition to the war in Iraq would serve as a “strong contrast” against McCain’s pro-war policies. Edwards claimed that his record of not taking any money from corporate lobbyists could challenge McCain on campaign finance reform.

But according to recent polls, if McCain is the Republican nominee, the election is up for grabs.

- The Diageo/Hotline Poll conducted by Financial Dynamics from January 10-12, 2008:

Obama McCain

43% 42%

Clinton McCain

45% 48%

Edwards McCain

40% 48%

- The Zogby/Reuters Poll conducted from January 10-11, 2008:

Obama McCain

43% 45%

Clinton McCain

42% 47%

- The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll conducted from January 9-10, 2008:

Obama McCain

49% 48%

Clinton McCain

50% 48%

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) joined former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) tonight in his criticism of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) universal health care plan. Both senators attacked Obama for not including mandates in his proposal:

Clinton: “I think the whole idea of universal health care is such a core Democratic principle… I’m not going to start leaving 15 million Americans out of healthcare.”

Clinton also accused Obama of flip-floping on health care, arguing that he had supported a single-payer program as a candidate for the Senate and that his current proposal is not truly universal.

Clinton: “I’m not running for president to put band aids on our problems! I want every single American to have health care.

Obama disputed Clinton’s characterization: “I never said we should go ahead and try to get single payer. What I said was if we started from scratch…I would probably go with a single payer system. What has evolved is your presentation of my positions…”

UPDATE: According to the New Yorker, Clinton’s characterization is inaccurate.

If you’re starting from scratch,’ he [Obama] says, ‘then a single-payer system’-a government-managed system like Canada’s, which disconnects health insurance from employment-’would probably make sense. But we’ve got all these legacy systems in place, and managing the transition, as well as adjusting the culture to a different system, would be difficult to pull off. So we may need a system that’s not so disruptive that people feel like suddenly what they’ve known for most of their lives is thrown by the wayside.

UPDATE II: Obama at YearlyKos from a video posted on Clinton’s own YouTube channel: “If I were designing the system from scratch, I would go with a single payer system.”

During tonight’s Democratic debate in South Carolina, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) repeatedly attacked Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): “ Senator Obama, it’s hard to have a straight up debate with you because you never take responsibility for any vote.” The audience booed. “On issue after issue, you voted present … Whenever someone raises that, there’s always some sort of explanation,” Clinton added.

Obama accused both Hillary and Bill Clinton of cherry-picking and misrepresenting his record. Edwards joined in the fray, asking Obama why he voted present “over 100 times” in the Illinois state legislature.

During tonight’s CNN/Congressional Black Caucus Institute debate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) drew sharp distinctions between himself and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). In a heated exchange, Obama accused Clinton of misrepresenting his comments about former president Ronald Reagan. At one point, Obama raised his voice, interrupted Clinton, and with his hand extended towards Clinton, told the senator from New York that he had lived with the consequences of the Reagan economy while she was serving on the corporate board of Walmart.

Was this Obama’s Rick Lazio moment?

UPDATE: Clinton echoes Krugman and misrepresents Obama’s Reagan comments, accuses Obama of working for a “slum lord.”

UPDATE II: TPM posted video of Clinton/Obama tension:

While Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, “cautioned that ‘recent security gains are fragile and still reversible,’” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I- CT) declared that “the surge worked.”

As predicted, McCain and Lieberman celebrated too soon. According to the U.S. military, “the number of roadside bombs deployed by Iraqi militants spiked during the first two weeks of January, reaching their highest level since the fall.” On Saturday, the AP reported that “street battles between members of a messianic cult and Iraqi troops raged for a second day as the death toll from the fighting in two predominantly Shiite southern cities rose from 50 to at least 68.”

A series of recent high-profile attacks is eroding the security gains of the previous six months, when violence dropped across much of the country. The main insurgent group, al-Qaida in Iraq, has carried out many of the attacks against fellow Sunnis who have turned against it. But insurgents also struck with deadly suicide blasts this week against Shiites observing Ashoura.

UPDATE: The AP is reporting that “a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a funeral tent in a predominantly Sunni village, killing at least 14 and wounding 17, in the third such bombing in Sunni areas in as many days.” The attack “raised concerns about the infiltration of Sunni groups that have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.”

Newsweek is reporting that Rudy Giuliani, who until recently was “well ahead of the pack in Florida,” is taking advantage of Florida’s flex voting laws (Florida voters don’t have to wait until primary day to cast their ballots) and “hoping he can convince voters to get to the polls before they have time to test drive other candidates.”

At a rally in New Smyrna Beach, Giuliani asked to see hands of audience members who had already voted. When only a few went up, Giuliani said, “I’ll tell you what–before they even get here to campaign, how about you go out and vote for me?”

The audience laughed. What they didn’t seem to recognize was that Giuliani was only half joking: No, really, he adds, “If I were living here, I’d just go out and vote now.”

Later that evening, he told another audience, “You should go vote for me tomorrow.”

Yesterday, during a discussion about the Congressional Black Caucus on MSNBC’s Tucker, radio talk show host Bill Press called long time political pundit and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan a “white supremacist.”
Buchanan’s long history of racism has been well documented by the media watchdog group FAIR. Here is a sampling:

- In his 1988 autobiography, “Right from the Beginning,” on race relations in the late 1940s and early 1950s: “There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The ‘negroes’ of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours.”

- In a 1990 column that attempted to justify apartheid in South Africa, he denounced the notion that “white rule of a black majority is inherently wrong. Where did we get that idea? The Founding Fathers did not believe this.”

- A 1989 column referred admiringly to the apartheid regime as the “Boer Republic”: “Why are Americans collaborating in a UN conspiracy to ruin her with sanctions?“

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is “using an image of his adopted daughter in a new campaign mailing” to highlight his conservative pro-life voting record ahead of the South Carolina primaries.

In a mailing showing up at homes Thursday, the Arizona senator’s wife, Cindy, is pictured holding a baby in a blanket as she walks with a woman from Mother Teresa’s orphanage.

“Cindy cradles little Bridget, a baby she and John adopted in 1993 from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh. Bridget has been a great blessing to the McCain family,” the mailing says. “Today, Cindy and John work together to promote adoption and to help women facing crisis pregnancies.”

But the flayer’s picture of “little Bridget” contradicts McCain’s bold assertions against using family members in political campaigns. In an interview last year, McCain argued that it’s “inappropriate for us [political candidates] to mention our children. I don’t want people to feel that, it’s just, I’d like them to have their own lives. I wouldn’t want to seem like I’m trying to gain some kind of advantage. I just feel that it’s a private thing.”

Calling criticism of his son “grossly unfair,” President George H. W. Bush attacked critics of President Bush’s Iraq policy.

“Do they want to bring back Saddam Hussein, these critics?” the elder Bush told USA TODAY in a rare interview. “Do they want to go back to the status quo ante? I don’t know what they are talking about here. Do they think life would be better in the Middle East if Saddam were still there?”

In reality, critics of Bush’s policies are “talking about” the repeated, foreseeable and avoidable failures of his Iraq war policies. The war has undermined American security, underfunded national priorities, and increased the threat of terrorism. Rather than “go back to the status quo ante,” progressives have called for a new direction in Iraq and proposed numerous strategies to bring our troops home and stabilize the region. Unfortunately, the former President Bush would rather lash out at straw men than engage the actual criticisms of “these critics.”

UPDATE: ThinkProgress points out that “Bush Sr. has offered the most cogent explanations for why regime change was a poor strategic decision.”