memeorandum: Coons up big — Republicans more than likely cost themselves a Senate seat last night. (Tom Jensen/Public Policy Polling)

6:20 PM ET, September 15, 2010

Top Items:

Coons up big — Republicans more than likely cost themselves a Senate seat last night. Chris Coons begins the general election in Delaware with a 50-34 lead over Christine O'Donnell. Mike Castle would have led Coons by a 45-35 margin. — While O'Donnell may have ingratiated herself …

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:

GOP's Delaware Senate Nominee Christine O'Donnell Not a Big Fan of Evolution — Christine O'Donnell won't have to lie about this Senate race. She won the Republican nomination for the Senate in Delaware fair and square, against a much more experienced, much more moderate, much more respected opponent …

Discussion: Think Progress, CNN, Don Surber, Firedoglake, Indecision Forever and National Review

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:

Castle will not back O'Donnell — A Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) campaign source confirmed to The Hill late Tuesday that the longtime congressman will not be endorsing Christine O'Donnell. — The Tea Party-backed O'Donnell defeated Castle for Delaware's Republican Senate nomination.

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:

Christine O'Donnell on Rove's ‘Un-factual’ Remarks and ‘Republican Cannibalism’ — The Republican nominee for the Delaware Senate seat fired back at Karl Rove today for what she called “un-factual” accusations about her record. — “Everything that he is saying is un-factual.

Discussion: The Note, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, TPMDC, Power Line, USA Today, Think Progress, Pajamas Media, Gawker, American Power, Gateway Pundit, The Agonist and Riehl World View

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Romney backs O'Donnell — Support for Christine O'Donnell appears to have emerged this morning as a kind of grassroots litmus test, and the Establishment is scrambling to pass it. — Mitt Romney just endorsed her, saying, “Now is the time for Republicans to rally behind their nominee, Christine O'Donnell.

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Cornyn embraces O'Donnell — In a clear sign of the grassroots pressure on Republican leaders, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn just put out a statement embracing Christine O'Donnell — a dramatic contrast with his group's curt response last night — and writing her a big check.

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, The Daily Beast, The Politico, The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, The Greenroom, The Atlantic Online, Little Green Footballs and TPMDC

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

Reid: Coons, ‘my pet,’ will win — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday predicted to The Hill that Democratic senatorial candidate Chris Coons will safely win the Nov. 2 general election against GOP nominee Christine O'Donnell. — Reid talked up the New Castle County …

Discussion: CNN and Reuters

Jillian Rayfield / TPMDC:

Christine O'Donnell's 1996 Anti-Masturbation Campaign On MTV's ‘Sex In The 90s’ (VIDEO) — Christine O'Donnell won the Republican nomination for senator in Delaware tonight, and Rachel Maddow wasted no time showing the footage she obtained of O'Donnell's 1996 appearance on MTV's “Sex In The 90s” TV show.

Ryan J. Reilly / TPMMuckraker:

Christine O'Donnell: AIDS Gets Too Much Gov't Money, Condoms Wouldn't Stop It (VIDEO) — Long before Tea Party backed candidate Christine O'Donnell won the Republican primary in Delaware and became the GOP Senate nominee, the conservative firebrand was arguing that the government was spending …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Think Progress, Harry's Place, TPMDC, Feministe, Raw Story, Shakesville, Indecision Forever and Focal Point

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Why Mike Castle Lost — Mike Castle might have been a wonderful general election candidate in the Delaware Senate race. But he ran a terrible campaign in the Republican primary, which is why he lost to Christine O'Donnell, a Tea Party favorite. — Castle, Delaware's lone congressman, came up short in four separate ways.

Discussion: RedState, The Page, The New Republic and Ben Smith's Blog

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

Republicans Reap The Whirlwind — The conservative movement has spent the last 20 months sowing hysteria about President Obama's agenda. The most respectable Republicans call the president a socialist, a radical, a threat to freedom. The less respectable Republicans, many of them highly influential …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Outside the Beltway, National Review, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Weigel and Instapundit

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Soul-searching time: a GOP torn — Christine O'Donnell's surprise victory in the Delaware Senate GOP primary Tuesday left Republicans in conflict, senior party officials openly fretting that the Senate is now out of reach and Democrats overjoyed that the opposition has handed them a late …

Discussion: Hot Air, Fox News, CNN, The Page, The Caucus, Grist, New York Magazine, Guardian, Washington Monthly and Ben Smith's Blog

CNN:
TRENDING: Palin says Karl Rove should ‘buck up’

Discussion: The Politico

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
Can We Calm Down About Delaware's Tea Party Already?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Balloon Juice and AMERICAblog News

Fox News:
Karl Rove Questions Christine O'Donnell's ‘Serious Character Problems’ |

Discussion: Think Progress, The Daily Dish, FoxNews.com, The Atlantic Online and Washington Post

Scott Keyes / Think Progress:
O'Donnell So Fervently Pro-Truth That She Wouldn't Lie To Nazis Asking …

Discussion: Washington Post and No More Mister Nice Blog

Matt Finkelstein / Political Correction RSS:
O'Donnell: Barack Obama Is “Anti-American”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Hill, CNN, TPMDC, The New Republic, The Politico, Weasel Zippers and The Atlantic Online

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
DeMint on GOP: 'I don't want the majority back if we don't believe anything'

Discussion: The Note and The Politico

RushLimbaugh.com:
The Limbaugh Rule: Vote for Most Conservative Candidate in Primary

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Left Coast Rebel and Power Line

First Read / msnbc.com:
First thoughts: The purge inside the GOP

Discussion: GOP 12 and Outside the Beltway

Bradford Plumer / The New Republic:
Does Christine O'Donnell Think Dinosaur Bones Are Fake?

Discussion: Think Progress, TPMDC and Little Green Footballs

Ewen MacAskill / Guardian: Does she still believe masturbation is a sin?

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:
Rove: O'Donnell 'believes she's going to win,' but must answer ‘troubling questions’

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and TPMDC

Michelle Malkin:
Rove bashes O'Donnell; O'Donnell supporter at victory party strikes …

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:
So What Did Christine O'Donnell Run On?

Discussion: Weigel and Ballot Box

Andy Barr / The Politico:
Karl Rove: Christine O'Donnell ‘nutty’

Discussion: New York Magazine and NewsBusters.org

Blk-In-Alabam / Media Matters for America:
Right-wing media turn on Rove for “trashing” O'Donnell

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TPMDC and Media Matters for America

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Senate Republicans unveil a plan to make Bush tax cuts permanent — Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion …

Discussion: TPMDC, Democracy Corps, Ezra Klein, Democracy in America, Matthew Yglesias, The Plum Line, The Washington Independent, Think Progress, Hot Air, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Daily Kos, White House.gov Blog Feed, Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org, The Hill and The Politico

Ezra Klein:
Putting the $3.9 trillion extension of the Bush tax cuts in context

Discussion: The New Republic, TPMDC, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, BAGnewsNotes, Washington Monthly, A plain blog about politics and Daily Kos

Chris Good / The Atlantic Online:

Democratic Party Steals Logo From the Pizza Place Where I Used to Work — The Democratic Party unveiled a new logo this morning, and, seeing the new insignia for the first time today on the party's revamped website, I thought it looked familiar. — Not without reason.

Discussion: CNN, Weekly Standard, The Huffington Post, RedState and Pajamas Media

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
An Epic End to the Primaries: What It Means

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, more at Mediagazer »

Tim Kaine / Democratic National Committee:
Change That Matters

Discussion: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin and JammieWearingFool

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

Exclusive: President Obama to This Week Name Elizabeth Warren to Special Advisory Role to White House/Treasury Dept to Form New Consumer Agency — President Obama will announce this week that Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor who first proposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Political Carnival and The Page

Steve Holland / Reuters:

Tea Party Republican has big lead in Florida — (Reuters) - Republican candidate Marco Rubio has opened a clear lead in a Florida Senate race, becoming the latest Tea Party favorite to benefit from voter anger at Washington, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Wednesday.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway and The Buzz

The Hill:
Pelosi: Tea Party primary victories ‘very positive’ for Democrats

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Politico and Liberty Pundits Blog

Patrik Jonsson / Christian Science Monitor:
‘Tea party’ is polarizing, but has many ‘closet admirers,’ poll finds

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Fox News and Politics Daily

New York Times:

Paladino Rout of Lazio Jolts New York G.O.P. — Carl P. Paladino, a Buffalo multimillionaire who jolted the Republican Party with his bluster and belligerence, rode a wave of disgust with Albany to the nomination for governor of New York on Tuesday, toppling Rick A. Lazio …

Discussion: Democracy in America, The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, The Bilerico Project, City Room, Shakesville, Runnin' Scared, alicublog, The American Scene, Mediaite, Right Wing Watch, The Mahablog, The Caucus, No More Mister Nice Blog, Ballot Box, msnbc.com and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Bad day for Andrew Cuomo

Discussion: Mediaite, Liberty Pundits Blog and Commentary

Washington Post:

How Adrian Fenty lost his reelection bid for D.C. mayor — One afternoon in late June, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's political advisers invited their boss to a downtown conference room to report an unsettling development: Focus groups commissioned by the campaign were saying that Fenty's leadership style …

Discussion: Dana Goldstein, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, The Daily Beast, Salon, DCist, Achenblog, The New Republic and PostPartisan

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The War On The Right - And Obama — My thesis that the core rationale for the Obama presidency was a post-boomer pragmatism has been assailed lately as unrealistic, and responsible for Obama's apparent woes. I can see how Maureen's critique does indeed make some psychological sense …

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Rep. Taylor becomes first Dem to back repealing health reform — A Democratic lawmaker signed onto a Republican petition to repeal healthcare reform. — Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) signed onto a discharge petition drafted by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Taylor's office confirmed.