The Daily Digest

1. Paul Krugman, "The Edwards Effect."

2. Edward Morrisey, "Has Ann Coulter Finally Jumped the Shark?"

3. Evan Thomas, "What These Eyes [John McCain's] Have Seen."

4. Ed Lasky, "Murdoch Takes on the New York Times."

5. Robert Bluey, "Romney Thinks Some Bloggers Are More Equal Than Others."

6. James Kirchik, "I Would Take Stronger Medication."

7. Amy Waldman, "The Truth About Jena."

8. Michael Barbaro, "Wal-Mart: The New Washington."

9. Steven Levy, "Yahooligans at the Window."

10. Richard Perez-Pena, "Frontline Blogger Covers War in Iraq with a Soldier’s Eyes."

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"Edwards's Agenda: You Name It, He'll Fund It"

From today's Union-Leader:

Senator Edwards seems to have a fix for every conceivable problem, even problems a President has no business fixing. No concern is unworthy of addressing at the presidential level, and no challenge is insurmountable.

Edwards says he will, among other things, end poverty, provide big-city-quality health care nationwide and American-quality health care worldwide, spend a gazillion dollars on new federal programs while raising taxes only on the rich—and simultaneously stimulating the economy—and rid the world of nuclear weapons.

At a stop in Bedford on Wednesday, Edwards said private nonprofits do charity work much better than the government does. Asked what he would do to help nonprofits, he said he'd get the government involved! More federal money for nonprofits, he said, because they need government help.

In his speeches he talks a lot about leadership. But one test of a leader is his willingness to say no. Edwards says yes to everyone. That's not leading; that's pandering.

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Quote of the Day

“Mrs. Edwards wishes husband John was a black woman.”

—A blogger, whose name or post I cannot find, but who is quoted in today's NYT, in response to Elizabeth Edwards's comment, “We can’t make John black. We can’t make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars.”

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Quote of the Day

"I'm going to be honest with you—I don't know a lot about Cuba's health-care system. Is it a government-run system?"

—John Edwards.

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The Daily Digest

The Everglades

You gotta love America, where a feeling of financial inferiority keeps millionaires in Silicon Valley awake at night and toiling away for 12 hours during the day.

Ron Paul finally learns how to tailor his message to his audience. To the Ames crowd, he preaches babies ("Let me assure you, as an OB doctor . . . that life begins at conception. . . . [T]hat horrible ruling[,] Roe v. Wade, must be reversed") and guns ("I think 9/11, quite frankly, could have been prevented if we had had a lot more respect for the Second Amendment").

It's not exactly Myers-Briggs, but Owen Ullmann captures the competing mindsets of those who toil at the White House: "The high-energy, supercompetitive, and ultra-dedicated hotshots who wind up working at the side of a U.S. President can be divided into two camps. There are the ideological zealots and romantic dreamers who see a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reshape society to reflect their moral code. Sure, they love the perks and prestige, but results are what count. Then there are the self-absorbed opportunists who claim to be driven by a call to public duty. But they spend most of their time grabbing for that golden ticket to fame and fortune."

Esquire profiles John Edwards. Snippet: "Edwards served one term as a U.S. senator, 12 seasons as a rec-league soccer coach. He reads the sports pages first every morning, calls his wife at least four times a day, eats Cobb salads with diet soda for lunch, runs four to five miles on a treadmill whenever he's able, though he'd prefer to run outside."

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Why Can't Democrats Explain Their Opposition to Gay Marriage?

The Politico's Ben Smith reports from the latest Democratic debate:

Obama, like Clinton and Edwards, was unable to explain his opposition to same-sex marriage in principled terms, referring to it as a matter of "semantics." Obama cast his opposition as a matter of strategy and priority—he would not have advised the civil rights movement to make the repeal of anti-miscegenation laws a top priority in 1961, he said.

Clinton called her opposition "personal," but didn't explain it. And Edwards took back an earlier comment that his "faith" had led him to oppose same-sex marriage—but didn't elaborate on the source of his current opposition.

"Their reasons for opposing equality in civil marriage tonight became even less clear," Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said in a statement after the debate.

It's times like this when you gotta admire the forthrightness of Ted Kennedy, who, in reference to the Marriage Protection Amendment, thundered, "A vote for this amendment is a vote for bigotry, pure and simple."

Rob Bluey goes into more detail here.

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Elephants Chase Donkeys

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Tech President Standouts

Earlier this week, USA Today ran through the highlights:

• Obama used the Web to organize a national "walk for change" day. His campaign says 10,000 people canvassed neighborhoods across the country Saturday to build local support networks.
  

• Hillary is asking online voters to pick her campaign song. Her latest video shows comical clips of what she ironically calls "truly wonderful" suggestions (singers wailing "metal girl" and "bring sexy back"). "I'm so gratified that all of you thought this was such a wonderful idea," she says, followed by clips of men calling it "ridiculous" and "insulting."
  

• Romney's adult sons write a "Five Brothers" blog that reinforces the former Massachusetts governor's "family values" theme.
  

• McCain posted his college basketball picks during the NCAA tournament's March Madness, urged supporters to submit theirs and offered a free campaign fleece to the best prognosticator.
  

• Biden uses video clips at www.headtohead08.com to compare himself with rivals on issues.
  

• Edwards and Dodd offer RSS feeds of their campaign-event calendars.

Then there's Ron Paul and Fred Thompson.

Update (6/18): The Boston Globe adds its take (and introduces an interesting word, velocious, the adjectival form of "velocity").

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Who's Worth What?

The NYT's David Kirkpatrick combs through the FEC forms.

Hillary, McCain and Romney have yet to file, though Romney "expects to report as much as $350 million in assets."

Rudy, who during a divorce in 2001 reported only $7,000 in personal money "under his control," now boasts $30 million, as does John Edwards.

Duncan Hunter "reported assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars but also said he owed more than $30,000 in car loans and more than $75,000 in credit card debt. His was the only disclosure form to be filled out in handwriting."

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