memeorandum: Recession's over, economists say to a skeptical public (Don Lee/Los Angeles Times)

10:10 AM ET, September 21, 2010

Top Items:

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Reid calls Gillibrand the ‘hottest’ member at fundraiser — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had an unusual form of praise for New York's junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, this morning at the fundraiser Mayor Bloomberg hosted for him at his townhouse - referring to her as “the hottest member” …

Discussion: Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Pam's House Blend, Ruby Slippers, RedState, Shakesville, Pundit & Pundette, Power Line and Betsy's Page

Roxana Tiron / The Hill:

Levin: Defense bill may fall off schedule if procedural vote fails — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the defense authorization bill may not win approval this year if it does not pass a key procedural hurdle on Tuesday. — Sen. Carl Levin (Mich.) …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and The Washington Independent

Mary Lu Carnevale / Washington Wire:
Political Wisdom: The Senate Takes Up 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and AmSpecBlog

The Politico:
'Don't ask' vote hangs on moderates

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Monthly and Speakeasy

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
Senate poised for close vote on repealing 'don't ask, don't tell' law

Discussion: Daily Kos

First Read / msnbc.com:
Key vote on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' tomorrow

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Katie Zezima / New York Times:
Lady Gaga Goes Political in Maine

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and New York Magazine

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

GOP worries Murkowski write-in bid could cost party a Senate seat — Republican leaders are angry with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) for jeopardizing their chances of winning the Senate. — Murkowski's decision to mount a write-in campaign risks splitting the Republican vote between …

Discussion: The Politico, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, CNN and The Political Carnival

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:

Tea party picking up steam nationwide — Fresh off big primary wins in Delaware and Alaska, national “tea party” groups are redirecting the energy of the movement toward the November midterm elections, raising millions of dollars, expanding their advocacy into dozens of congressional races …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and The Page

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: Alaska Senate — Alaska Senate: Miller (R) Holds Double-Digit Lead Over McAdams (D), Murkowski — Republican Joe Miller attracts 42% of the vote in the first Rasmussen Reports poll of the Alaska Senate race since GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski announced her write-in campaign to try to keep her job.

Discussion: TPMDC, YID With LID, Conservatives4Palin.com, Real Clear Politics, Riehl World View and Weasel Zippers

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Watchdog: Christine O'Donnell “Clearly a Criminal” — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, today filed a pair of complaints concerning Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's use of more than $20,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, Left Coast Rebel, Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Politico, Media Matters for America, AMERICAblog News, Dialogue Delaware, Daily Kos and The Washington Independent

CNN:
O'Donnell sidesteps specifics on funds, says ‘no truth’ to allegations

Discussion: FrumForum

TrahmalG / Daily Kos:
Christine O' Donnell was her own campaign treasurer . . . Oops!

Discussion: Rough Sketch, The Reality-Based Community, RADAMISTO, Delaware Liberal and Balloon Juice

N.C. Aizenman / Washington Post:

Major health insurers to stop offering new child-only policies — Some of the country's most prominent health insurance companies have decided to stop offering new child-only plans, rather than comply with rules in the new health-care law that will require such plans to start accepting children …

Discussion: Hot Air, Wonk Room and Patterico's Pontifications

Julian Pecquet / The Hill: Health insurers drop coverage for children ahead of new rules

Tom Topousis / New York Post:

Mosque ally's vid shows ‘Hez’ true colors — Tweet — Among the Islamic clerics defending plans for a mosque near Ground Zero yesterday was an outspoken critic of Israel who enthusiastically signaled his support for terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah during a rally a decade ago.

Discussion: Jihad Watch and JammieWearingFool

The Investigative Project on Terrorism:
Rauf's Group Claims Credit for ‘Training’ NY Times Reporter

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, iOwnTheWorld.com, Atlas Shrugs and JammieWearingFool

Washington Post:

Fearing a soaring deficit, many analysts favor letting Bush tax cuts expire — The tax cuts at the heart of a fierce pre-election battle on Capitol Hill were designed when the economy was booming, the federal budget was in surplus and George W. Bush was campaigning for president on a promise to return the extra cash to taxpayers.

Discussion: Wonkette, Daily Kos, TPMDC, Prairie Weather and Angry Bear

Ellen Egeth / CNBC:
Poll: Extend Bush Tax Cuts, Say Americans Worried About Economy

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Liberty Pundits Blog and CNNMoney.com

Andy Barr / The Politico:

Jimmy Carter clarifies - sort of — After catching flack for declaring that his post-presidency work is “superior” to his successors, former President Jimmy Carter offered a somewhat halfhearted clarification Monday. — “What I meant was, for 27 years the Carter Center has provided …

Discussion: Commentary

Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:
Carter: ‘Probably superior’ to other ex-presidents

Discussion: The Confluence, Don Surber, Rough Sketch, The Daily Caller, PostPartisan, New Yorker, GayPatriot, Hot Air, The Hill, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Gawker, Taylor Marsh and AmSpecBlog

Boston Weather, Breaking News and Sports from WBZ-TV:

Aunt Zeituni: ‘The System Took Advantage Of Me’ — President Obama's Aunt Speaks Exclusively With WBZ-TV — BOSTON (WBZ) ― “If I come as an immigrant, you have the obligation to make me a citizen.” Those are the words from 58-year-old Zeituni Onyango of Kenya in a recent exclusive interview with WBZ-TV.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Sweetness & Light, Weasel Zippers and Michelle Malkin

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:

IT'S TRUE- Proof That the DNC and Team Obama Are Targeting Tea Parties and Top Conservatives — These Are Dangerous Times — With one-in-seven Americans living in poverty, with unemployment at record levels, with an unprecedented national deficit, with foreclosures up and businesses …

Discussion: Publius Forum, iOwnTheWorld.com, GayPatriot and Power Line

Andrew Marcus / Big Government:
Andrew Breitbart Forces President Obama's Protesters to Fold Up Shop

Discussion: RedState and JOSHUAPUNDIT

The Independent:

Madam President? It could happen — Speculation that she will run for President in 2012 is reaching fever pitch. But what do those who watched Sarah Palin grow up make of her meteoric ascent - and ruthless ambition? By Shushannah Walshe — The first thing you notice …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin.com, HillBuzz and Riehl World View

Adama D. Brown / the albany project:

NY-18: Lowey's challenger opposes interracial marriage and school integration; supports eugenics. — I wish that this were something out of the Onion, I really do. — Jim Russell, a right-wing activist running against Congresswoman Nita Lowey in the 18th district mid-state, has a rather interesting past.

Discussion: Salon, Firedoglake and Hullabaloo

Jessica Van Sack / Boston Herald:

Poll: Voters clueless about Charlie Baker — Gov. Deval Patrick 41, Baker 34 and Tim Cahill 14 percent in Suffolk University/7News poll — Nearly half of all prospective voters either don't know who Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker is or haven't made up their minds about him …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Generic Ballot Virtually Tied: Democrats 46%, Republicans 45% — Republicans losing strength in September compared with August — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's generic ballot for Congress for the week of Sept. 13-19 shows a 46% Democratic and 45% Republican split in registered voters' preferences for the midterm congressional elections.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, Real Clear Politics, DownWithTyranny!, The Confluence, The Reaction, TPMDC, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, The Hill, The Political Carnival and Washington Wire

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Assessing the G.O.P. and the Tea Party — Whatever the outcome of the Nov. 2 elections, you can be certain that commentators around the country will be fixated on the impact of the Tea Party movement. If Republican candidates do well on Election Day — and particularly if Tea Party-backed candidates …

Discussion: Yourish.com, American Thinker, The Daily Dish, FrumForum, Outside the Beltway, Pajamas Media, Michelle Malkin and Taylor Marsh

Stan Schroeder / Mashable!:

Twitter Mouseover Security Flaw Affecting Thousands of Users [WARNING] — A new Twitter security flaw has been widely exploited on thousands of Twitter accounts, redirecting users to third-party websites without their consent. — Update: Twitter announced on its Status blog that it identified attack …

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, Politerati and msnbc.com, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

The Brothers Koch and AB 32 — Four years ago, bipartisan majorities in the California Legislature approved a landmark clean energy bill that many hoped would serve as a template for a national effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil and mitigate the threat of climate change.

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Washington Independent, The New Republic and Prairie Weather

Debra Rubin / Washington Jewish Week:

A warning from Israeli ambassador? — Was Israel's ambassador warning the Jewish community on Kol Nidre that Israel has decided to take a preemptive strike in Iran? — Some congregants at Adas Israel Congregation in D.C. thought so following Ambassador Michael Oren's remarks there on Friday night.

Discussion: Commentary and Mondoweiss

Wall Street Journal:

Corporate Donations Shift to GOP — Corporations have begun to send a majority of donations from their political action committees to Republican candidates, a reversal from the trend of the past three years. — The change in corporate PAC giving is the latest sign Republicans are likely …

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Disappointed Supporters Question Obama — WASHINGTON — It was billed as “Investing In America,” a live televised conversation between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees on the state of the economy, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check.

Discussion: Wake up America, Sister Toldjah, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Political Economy and American Power