memeorandum: Discontent Buffets the Nation; Bush Craters, Obama Benefits (Gary Langer/ABCNEWS)

11:45 AM ET, October 13, 2008

Top Items:

Catherine Rampell / Economix:

Paul Krugman Wins Economics Nobel — Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University and an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday. — “It's been an extremely weird day, but weird in a positive way,” …

Associated Press:

Krugman Wins Nobel Prize for Economics — STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The American economist Paul R. Krugman won the Nobel economics prize on Monday for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity. — Mr. Krugman, 55, a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey …

Discussion: Guardian, Jules Crittenden, The G Spot, NewsBusters.org, Chronicle of the Conspiracy, The Moderate Voice and The Peking Duck

Bloomberg:

Princeton University's Paul Krugman Wins Nobel Economics Prize — Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — Princeton University Professor Paul Krugman, known as much for his criticism of George W. Bush's policies as for his academic work, won the Nobel Prize in economics for his theories on world trade.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress and Freakonomics

Associated Press:

Columnist Paul Krugman wins Nobel economics prize — STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Paul Krugman, the Princeton University scholar and New York Times columnist, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect trade patterns and the location of economic activity.

Discussion: The Corner, Outside The Beltway and The Volokh Conspiracy

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Gordon Does Good — Has Gordon Brown, the British prime minister …

Discussion: Angry Bear, Democrats.com and Hullabaloo

Tyler Cowen / Marginal Revolution:
Paul Krugman wins the Nobel Prize

Discussion: The Curious Capitalist, Buck Naked Politics, Reason, EconLog, Real Time Economics, Grasping Reality … and Gawker

Reuters: Bush critic Krugman wins 2008 Nobel for economics

William Kristol / New York Times:

Fire the Campaign — It's time for John McCain to fire his campaign. — He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama's. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Townhall.com, The Moderate Voice, Political Machine, PoliGazette, Scared Monkeys, Donklephant, LewRockwell.com Blog, Outside The Beltway, Connecting.the.Dots, TPMCafe, AMERICAblog News and Salon

Washington Post:

Obama Up by 10 Points as McCain Favorability Ratings Fall — With just over three weeks until Election Day, the two presidential nominees appear to be on opposite trajectories, with Sen. Barack Obama gaining momentum and Sen. John McCain stalled or losing ground on a range of issues and personal traits …

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Struggling McCain debuts comeback speech — Three weeks before Election Day, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday is unveiling what his aides call a more forceful new stump speech in which he portrays himself as a scrappy fighter on the comeback trail against an opponent who's already “measuring the drapes” in the Oval Office.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, FOX Embeds, Jules Crittenden, AMERICAblog News, JammieWearingFool, marbury, Wonkette and Balloon Juice

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Is Drudge Priming a McCain “Reboot” Narrative?

Discussion: The Daily Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gawker, Raising Kaine and State of the Day

Tim Craig / Washington Post:

GOP Head Compares Obama to Bin Laden — Va. Party Leader Criticized, Including By McCain Team — RICHMOND — The chairman of the Virginia Republican Party has compared Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden because of the Illinois senator's past association with Bill Ayers …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central, Comments from Left Field, Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org, The Huffington Post, The Campaign Spot, TIME.com, Political Machine and Shakesville

New York Post:

OBAMA'S HOT AYERS — Barack Obama blasted John McCain last week for focusing on the Democratic nominee's links to shady char acters instead of the economy. — Actually, McCain's said plenty about the economy. But Obama clearly would rather talk about anything but his past.

Lowell / Raising Kaine:
McCain says he needs more “context” on Jeff Frederick's vicious smears and lies

Discussion: Swampland and TPM Election Central

Wall Street Journal:

Obama's 95% Illusion — It depends on what the meaning of ‘tax cut’ is. — One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of “working families.” He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Hot Air, Say Anything, QandO, Democracy in America, www.redstate.com, This ain't Hell … and Betsy's Page

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Camp's Travel Seems a Factor In Recent Leads in Battleground States — The Democrats Have Appeared at 95 Events, While It's Just 55 for the Republicans — Sen. Barack Obama, his running mate and his wife have appeared at twice as many events in swing states as their Republican counterparts …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, MSNBC, The Washington Independent and TIME.com

Corey Dade / Wall Street Journal:
In Virginia, McCain Struggles To Hold the South for GOP

Discussion: American Power and The Caucus

CNN:

Palin: I've been cleared of ‘any hint of unethical activity’ — (CNN) — Sarah Palin told Alaska reporters Saturday that she had been “cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of unethical activity” in the investigative report released the day before that explored her actions in dismissing …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Political Punch, Anchorage Daily News, TPMMuckraker and Mudflats

Mark R. Levin / The Corner:

Obama's Associations Matter, Despite McCain's Failure to Explain Why — The Left, the Obama media, and the Messiah's campaign cry “personal attacks.” Sarah Palin trivializes with phrases like “palling around with domestic terrorists.” McCain wobbles from “liar” to" a decent person …

Guardian:

Iraqi government fuels ‘war for oil’ theories with biggest ever reserves sale — The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London. — BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend …

Discussion: Media Blog and Flopping Aces

Mark R. Levin / The Corner:

Unfriendly Rhetoric — I've been out of pocket since Thursday, but turned on the Sunday shows and nearly hurled. John Lewis plays the race card like no one else. The idea that he would use George Wallace's name to describe the McCain/Palin campaigning is sickening.

Discussion: Hot Air

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama — The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama's background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, JustOneMinute, The Swamp, Electoral-vote.com, Gawker and Talking Points Memo

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Strange Trump — The new Time cover has text saying “WHY THE ECONOMY IS TRUMPING RACE.” I haven't read the article those words are teasing, and you can't hold a journalist responsible for what gets said about his work on the cover, but I think it's pretty strange to say that race is being trumped in the current presidential campaign.

Discussion: Eschaton