memeorandum: Peter Orszag strays from President Obama's prescription for responsible fatherhood (Colbert I. King/Washington Post)

10:10 AM ET, January 17, 2010

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Enthusiasm gap in Mass. Senate race — HYANNIS, Mass. - As the two candidates running in the special Senate election here barnstormed across the state Saturday, the enthusiasm gap between the two parties was on vivid display. — Democrat Martha Coakley, Massachusetts' attorney general …

Discussion: Public Policy Polling, Jules Crittenden, The Strata-Sphere, Commentary, Political Punch, The Lonely Conservative, Real Clear Politics, Althouse, theblogprof, Orange County Register and The Hill

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Kirk Can't Vote After Tuesday — GOP lawyers say Paul Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day. — Appointed Senator Paul Kirk will lose his vote in the Senate after Tuesday's election in Massachusetts of a new senator and cannot be the 60th vote for Democratic health care legislation, according to Republican attorneys.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Steve Kornacki:

Latest Coakley Internal: Brown +2 — I've been told reliably that Martha Coakley's internal poll for Friday night showed Republican Scott Brown leading by two points, 47 to 45 percent. Her campaign's three-night average for Friday, Thursday and Wednesday is the same — a 47 to 45 lead for Brown.

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, The Lonely Conservative, National Review Online and Betsy's Page

David / Blue Mass. Group:

BMG Exclusive: Scott Brown thought maybe Obama was born out of wedlock — Born out of wedlock? Really?? — Well, yes. During (or maybe shortly after) the 2008 Republican convention, Brown was on a panel discussion (aired on the now-defunct CN8 cable news channel) about Sarah Palin.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TPMDC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Taylor Marsh, The Washington Independent, NO QUARTER, The Reality-Based Community, The Confluence, DaTechguy's Blog, Hullabaloo, The New Republic, The Political Carnival, Talking Points Memo, The Caucus and Boston Globe

Dan Roem / Hotline On Call: MA SEN Shows Similarities To '09 VA GOV

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Massachusetts Race Tests Staying Power of Democrats

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Politico, RedState, Connecting.the.Dots, The Corner on National …, New York Times, TalkLeft and AMERICAblog News

Jon Keller / Wall Street Journal:
The Backlash Is Coming! The Backlash Is Coming!

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Hot Air, Boston Globe, neo-neocon, Christian Science Monitor, SCSUScholars and The Moderate Voice

Robert Cruickshank / Firedoglake: MA-Sen: We've Seen This Movie Before

Times of London:

World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown — A WARNING that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it. — Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change …

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, JustOneMinute, Bishop Hill and Biased BBC

Barack Obama / Newsweek:

Why Haiti Matters — In the tragic aftermath of Haiti's 7.0 earthquake, images of the disaster break our hearts and remind us of the fragility of life. What America must do now—and why. — From the magazine issue dated Jan 25, 2010 — In the last week, we have been deeply moved …

Discussion: Fox News, CBS News, Crooks and Liars and Local News

Democracy Now:

“Bush Was Responsible for Destroying Haitian Democracy"-Randall Robinson on Obama Tapping Bush to Co-Chair US Relief Efforts — We speak with TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, author of An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President.

Discussion: Open Left and Crooks and Liars

Mark Landler / New York Times:
In Show of Support, Clinton Goes to Haiti

Discussion: The Confluence, CNN, Associated Press and TalkLeft

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The Great Tea Party Rip-Off — Even given the low bar set by America's bogus conversations about race, the short-lived Harry Reid fracas was a most peculiar nonevent. For all the hyperventilation in cable news land, this supposed racial brawl didn't seem to generate any controversy whatsoever in what is known as the real world.

Dr. Melissa Clouthier:

BREAKING: Tea Party Nation's Judson Phillips: “I Want To Make A Million From This Movement” — Embattled Tea Party Nation, Inc. owner Judson Phillips has been making the media rounds to defend his up-coming, February 4-6 conference at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, The Mahablog, Political Byline, Erick's blog and Riehl World View

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Over the top in Mass. — Via Sargent, an extremely sweeping charge from Massachusetts Democratic Party. — The basis is a provision Brown voted for that would allow religious hospital staffers not to inform victims of the availability of the morning after pill. — The NRSC invoked Felix Grucci in response.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Gateway Pundit, The Corner on National …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Lonely Conservative

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dem Mail: Scott Brown Wants Hospitals To Turn Away All Rape Victims

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Krugman, Gruber and non-disclosure issues — In the midst of my lengthy discussion yesterday of Cass Sunstein's proposal to “cognitively inflitrate extremist groups” by employing covert agents and secretly paying so-called “independent” analysts to tout the government line …

Discussion: naked capitalism, Corrente, Emptywheel, Grasping Reality … and The Sideshow

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Brown's pushback — America...only three (3) more days left to the start of the 2nd Revolution in America...the Voter Revolution of 2010! And this additional attack is why the “real” American people are fed up with these Chicago mafia style politics! They are dirty, sleazy and so Democratzi!