memeorandum: What's Our Line? — WHY are we reading Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab … (Michael Kinsley/New York Times)

1:25 PM ET, January 5, 2010

Top Items:

Election 2010: Massachusetts Special Senate Election — 2010 Massachusetts Senate: Coakley 50%, Brown 41% — State Attorney General Martha Coakley holds a nine-point lead over her Republican rival, state Senator Scott Brown, in Massachusetts' special U.S. Senate election to fill the seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy.

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Earthquake Rumblings In MA - Rasmussen Shows Brown Within 9% / Update: Brown within 2% With Definite Voters and Leads By 44% With Independents — Rasmussen is the first major polling organization to poll the Massachusetts Senate special election, and the “pre-released” poll numbers show Martha Coakley …

Discussion: The Washington Independent, A Certain Enthusiasm, Erick's blog, Public Policy Polling, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Wake up America, POWIP, Moe_Lane's blog, HillBuzz, Blogometer, Hot Air, Pundit & Pundette and Michelle Malkin

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Reform at Stake in Massachusetts — The new Rasmussen poll has Dem candidate Martha Coakley with a 50% to 41% margin over Republican Scott Brown. Figure in that Massachusetts is a heavily Democratic state and that Rasmussen's polls tend to have a slight GOP lean and you can probably figure she's going to win on January 19th.

Discussion: MyDD and The Washington Independent

Jules Crittenden:
Republican Heir To The Liberal Lion?

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Hot Air

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:
MASSACHUSETTS SENATE RACE HEATS UP: Rasmussen Shows Brown Within 9 Percent.

Discussion: Megan McArdle, sisu and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Michael Graham / The Natural Truth:
50-41! — Scott Rasmussen just told my pals at Fox 25 …

Discussion: DaTechguy's Blog and 38 Pitches

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Tea Party Teens — The United States opens this decade in a sour mood. First, Americans are anxious about the future. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the country is in decline, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. Only 27 percent feel confident …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Michelle Malkin, EconLog, The Moderate Voice, New Mexico Independent, Hit & Run, Commentary, The Reaction, Conservatives4Palin.com, Prairie Weather and Mediaite

CNN:

Tea Party groups plan ‘strike’ — Washington (CNN) - Some Tea Party activists from across the country are planning a ‘national strike’ on January 20, the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama's inauguration. — The idea of holding an economic protest sprung up during the holidays …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Hill, Wake up America, TBogg, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Washington Independent and TPMDC

Steve Bousquet / The Buzz:

Sources: Greer to quit, Thrasher to head GOP — Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer will resign his post Tuesday, according to two sources who have closely followed the party boss' stunning fall from grace. The sources say Greer will step down and will be replaced by state Sen. John Thrasher …

Discussion: The Hill and Ben Smith's Blog

Peter Hamby / CNN:

Florida party chairman to resign post — (CNN) - Jim Greer, the embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, will resign Tuesday, two sources close to the party confirm to CNN. — Greer will discuss his decision with members of the Republican State Executive Committee around noon …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Nancy Dillon / NY Daily News:

Joan Rivers bumped off flight in Costa Rica when Continental gate agent finds passport suspicious — Above, Rivers celebrates the New Year with family and friends in Costa Rica last week. On her return, though, she had a tough time leaving the country because of her ‘suspicious’ passport.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and JammieWearingFool

Anill / Think Progress:
Joan Rivers deemed a danger to national security, bumped off Costa …

Discussion: MyFox New York

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

BRIT HUME SPEAKS, AGAIN.... I didn't intend to return to the subject, but Fox News' Brit Hume spoke to Bill O'Reilly last night about his calls for Tiger Woods to change his religion. At this point, Hume now wants to debate the meaning of the word “proselytize.”

Discussion: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Calderone's Blog, Politics Daily and Media Matters for America

Andrew Martin / New York Times:

How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market — Every day, millions of Americans stand at store checkout counters and make a seemingly random decision: after swiping their debit card, they choose whether to punch in a code, or to sign their name. — It is a pointless distinction to most consumers …

Discussion: The Baseline Scenario, The Consumerist, Felix Salmon, The Big Picture, Outside The Beltway and naked capitalism

Mark Blumenthal / National Journal Online:

What Liberal Revolt? — Claims That Obama's Base Have Turned On Him Are Based On Scant Evidence — Does President Obama have a problem with his political base? That conclusion seems inescapable in recent weeks, as prominent liberal voices have expressed their unhappiness with the president …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The Daily Dish, Pollster.com All Content and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog: What liberal revolt? — There's never been any indication …

Sally Quinn / Washington Post:

Time for accountability at the White House — Now it turns out that there was a third uninvited guest at the White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, this one a member of the Indian delegation. It was enough of a shock that the would-be stars Tareq and Michaele Salahi had crashed.

Discussion: The Politico, The Swamp, Wall Street Journal and NewsBusters.org

Washington Post:
Secret Service confirms third crasher at White House state dinner

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Politico, The Note, Weekly Standard, Top of the Ticket, New York Times, Scared Monkeys, Mediaite, NPR Blogs, Gawker, TPM LiveWire, JammieWearingFool, NewsReal Blog, Swampland, The Lonely Conservative and NewsMax.com

Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:

Press Pool, C-SPAN Join Criticism of Conference Process on Health-Care — Yesterday, several outlets reported that the Democrats would “almost certainly” forgo the official conference process to get a health-care bill passed, opting instead to negotiate largely behind closed doors.

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Political Punch, YID With LID, Gateway Pundit, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Big Government, The Washington Independent and The Plum Line

Associated Press:
C-SPAN: Health Care Talks Should Be Televised

Discussion: Wizbang, The Foundry and Donklephant

Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:

Steele Doesn't Know If GOP Ready To Lead — RNC chair Michael Steele doesn't think his party can take back the House in '10, and even if they do, he doesn't know if the GOP is ready. — Appearing on Sean Hannity's nationally syndicated show the same day his new book, “Right Now,” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Riehl World View, The Huffington Post, GOP 12, AMERICAblog News, Taegan Goddard's … and Weasel Zippers

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
RNC chairman doubts GOP will win back the House this November

Discussion: Wonkette

Examiner:

What the Dems know that we don't: Universal Voter Registration — Many are puzzled that Democrats persist in ramming unpopular and destructive legislation down our collective throats while seemingly unconcerned by their plummeting poll numbers. A widespread belief is that the Democrats …

Courage / Courage To See:
John Fund: Sleath Legislation Coming in January, Universal Voter Legislation

Discussion: Nice Deb

Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:

Swing states may be on the move — The voter sentiments that put Democrats on top in 2008 could turn against the party in November's midterm. Obama's proposals for healthcare, the economy and immigration could deepen divisions. — Reporting from Searchlight, Nev. …

Discussion: Washington Times and PoliBlog

Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:
Democrats Considering Health Care-Immigration Deal To Overcome Key Sticking Point

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, TalkLeft, Firedoglake, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Neptunus Lex, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Hot Air and Ben Smith's Blog

Drew Zahn / WorldNetDaily:

Glenn Beck on birther issue: 'Dumbest thing I've ever heard' — Claims controversy is political ‘dream come true’ for Obama — On the air today, popular radio host Glenn Beck mocked “birthers” and claimed there is a concerted campaign to get those questioning Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility onto …

Discussion: Think Progress, Glenn Beck, Mediaite, Joe. My. God., Gawker, IMAO and Stinque

Wall Street Journal:

Personal Bankruptcy Filings Rising Fast — The number of Americans filing for personal bankruptcy rose by nearly a third in 2009, a surge largely driven by foreclosures and job losses. — And more people are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which liquidates assets to pay off some debts and absolves the filers of others.

Discussion: Calculated Risk and The Lonely Conservative

Mike Allen / The Politico:

11 pp. of House-Senate health differences - Panetta meets CIA fallen at Dover — POTUS, VPOTUS to hold 90-min. Sit Room meeting on air security — Edsall: outside chance GOP takes House — BREAKING - -L.A. Times A1: “Northrop headquarters moving to Washington”: “Northrop Grumman Corp …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The Swamp, The Note, D.C. Now, Taegan Goddard's … and Wonk Room

Telegraph:

MI5 told US about Detroit bomber's terror links ‘a year ago’ — Britain told American intelligence agents more than a year ago that the Detroit bomber had links to extremists, according to Downing Street. — The prime minister's spokesman indicated that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was named …

Discussion: Power Line, The Strata-Sphere, Fausta's Blog, Foreign Policy, Atlas Shrugs, YID With LID and PrairiePundit

Alan Travis / Guardian:

New scanners break child porn laws — The rapid introduction of full body scanners at British airports threatens to breach child protection laws which ban the creation of indecent images of children, the Guardian has learned. — Privacy campaigners claim the images created by the machines …

Discussion: Raw Story, Scared Monkeys and LewRockwell.com Blog

Art Beast / The Daily Beast:

Hollywood's Liberal Heartbreak — Home - Cheat sheet - Buzz board - Big Fat Story - Blogs & stories - Videos - Galleries - Crossword — Blogs and Stories — I hope and trust that Robbins has since calmed down. — When it came to politics, Robbins and Sarandon tended to espouse and admonish rather than try to persuade.

Discussion: Shot in the Dark, The Corner on National … and The Daily Beast

WLNS-TV:

CHERRY WILL DROP OUT OF GOV'S RACE — UPDATE: 6 News Capitol Correspondent Tim Skubick reports that Lt. Governor John Cherry, once the presumed front-runner for the Democratic nomination, will drop out of the race for Governor. — Several sources have confirmed the story 6 News first broke Monday night at 11pm.

Discussion: National Review Online and msnbc.com

Wall Street Journal:

Apple to Ship Tablet Device in March — Looking to build on the momentum of its iPhone and iPod, Apple Inc. will unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but isn't planning to ship the product until March, say people briefed by the company. — While the device's ship date …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TUAW, Mashable!, TechCrunch and The Big Picture

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

For Obama, terrorism is a four-letter word: Bush — The attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was more than just al Qaeda's latest attempt to bring death and destruction to American shores. It was also, in its still-unfolding political aftermath, a head-on collision between …

Discussion: The Corner on National …, Washington Post, Dr. Sanity, PrairiePundit, Pajamas Media and Hot Air

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

The Good Kind of Failure — Mark Halperin's report card on Obama's first year makes Barack Obama look like a really great president and elite political reporters look really dumb and petty. The list of five things Obama has done well, of course, reflects well on him. But look at the things Obama has done poorly!

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein and The Reality-Based Community