memeorandum: Alexi Giannoulias draft for Chicago mayoral run? (Lynn Sweet)

11:15 PM ET, November 11, 2010

Top Items:

Many deficit commission staffers paid by outside groups — The leaders of President Obama's deficit commission sparked criticism from both sides of the political aisle Wednesday for proposing broad cuts to federal programs. — But the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Huffington Post and ECHIDNE of the snakes

Mike Lux / Open Left:
The details are worse — I wrote my initial post in such a hot rage …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice and The Huffington Post

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Is the Deficit Commission Serious?

CEPR:
Erskine Bowles, Morgan Stanley, and the Deficit Commission

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Lance Mannion, DownWithTyranny! and Firedoglake

Matt Miller / PostPartisan:
Sorry, Alan and Erskine — it's not nearly enough

Discussion: Hot Air, Swampland, Hit & Run, Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Karl Smith / Ezra Klein:
The soft paternalism of tough choices

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Alaska_Politics / Anchorage Daily News:

Should this ballot count? — Floyd Brown, the man responsible for the “Willie Horton” television ad that helped derail the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign in 1998, has signed up for the Joe Miller campaign. — Brown is here in Juneau today for the write-in ballot review and he has called …

Discussion: Hot Air and The Maddow Blog

Matt Bai / New York Times:
Alaska May Offer a View to Future Elections

Discussion: Salon, The Politico, CNN, Anchorage Daily News and The Atlantic Online

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:
How strong is Joe Miller's argument against the Leeza Markovsky vote?

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy

Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:
98 percent of write-in votes go to Murkowski

Discussion: New York Times, The Note, Politics Daily, Associated Press, TPMDC, Swing State Project, Hotline On Call, Washington Post, USA Today, National Review, FrumForum, Ballot Box and NPR Topics

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Miller's Chances of Victory Dim as Alaska Senate Write-In Count Begins

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Weigel, The Note and The Caucus

Nick Summers / New York Observer:

Observer Exclusive: Newsweek and Daily Beast to Merge — Newsweek and The Daily Beast will announce tomorrow morning that the two publications will merge, a source close to the deal tells The Observer. — It will be a 50-50 merger of the two companies. The editorial staffs will combine under …

Discussion: The Wire, The Moderate Voice, AdAge, Media Decoder, Comments from Left Field, Mediaite, Gothamist, The Other McCain, Runnin' Scared and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Allahpundit / Hot Air: Report: Newsweek to merge with Daily Beast

Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:

Sources: Pelosi Says Obama Must Be ‘Perfect’ to Win Again — Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democratic leaders Wednesday afternoon that President Barack Obama has to be “perfect” to win a second term, several senior Democratic aides told Roll Call. — Pelosi told leaders on a conference call …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Gateway Pundit and HotAirPundit

The Huffington Post:
White House Gives In On Bush Tax Cuts

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
The Morning Plum — UPDATE: White House denies giving …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, Mother Jones, AmSpecBlog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, pandagon.net and AMERICAblog News

Fhardingj / CNN:
McConnell ‘willing to listen’ on temporary extension of Bush tax cuts

Discussion: The Page, Firedoglake and No More Mister Nice Blog

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:
Sen. Conrad: Extend All Tax Cuts; Time to Get ‘Serious’ About Deficit

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, The Politico, Daily Kos, msnbc.com and The Atlantic Online

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

2012 Contenders to Bet Against — I'm not quite sure whom I'd call the odds-on favorite to capture the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. But I have a pretty good idea of who I'd bet against. — The table below compiles a number of statistics related to prospective G.O.P. candidates in 2012.

Discussion: The Caucus, A plain blog about politics, Top of the Ticket, Balloon Juice, Booman Tribune, The Atlantic Online, Wonkette, Ross Douthat and Outside the Beltway

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Some good signs for Palin — PPP's newest batch of 2012 Republican primary polls conducted right before last week's election finds Mitt Romney ahead in the critical early state of Florida, Tim Pawlenty surprisingly weak in his home state of Minnesota, and Sarah Palin posting leads in Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Maine.

Discussion: Hot Air, Creative Minority Report, Weasel Zippers, GOP 12, Derek Wallbank, The Daily Dish, Conservatives4Palin.com and Minnesota Independent

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Rep.-elect West says conservative talk radio host won't be his chief of staff — Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.) announced Thursday that a controversial radio host would not serve as his chief of staff after all. — West said in a statement that Joyce Kaufman, the conservative radio talk show host …

Discussion: The Caucus, CNN, New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Politico, Weasel Zippers, Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, TPMDC, The Maddow Blog and Raw Story

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Chickens Home to Roost?

Discussion: WSVN-TV

Lesley Clark / Naked Politics:
Allen West's chief of staff resigns …

Discussion: TPMDC, Weigel, Firedoglake, The Other McCain, Guardian, Florida Independent and Wonkette

Jim Newell / Gawker:

Does This Google Veterans Day Logo Look Muslim to You? — Boy howdy, Google has done it now! The company's special Veterans Day logo this year, you see, features a mysterious crescent shape. And you know who loves crescent shapes? The Muslims. Yeah, some people are actually upset about this.

Discussion: The Awl, Wonkette, Indecision Forever, TechCrunch, Balloon Juice and New York Magazine

Sabato's Crystal Ball:

It's “Otb” Time: One-Term Barack — The wreckage of the Democratic Party is strewn just about everywhere. President Obama's carefully constructed 2008 Electoral College breakthrough is now just broken, a long-ago memory of what might have been a lasting shift in partisan alignment.

Discussion: Commentary, WILLisms.com, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blog and NPR Topics

Jana Winter / Fox News:

Some Muslims Attending Capitol Hill Prayer Group Have Terror Ties, Probe Reveals — An Al Qaeda leader, the head of a designated terror organization and a confessed jihadist-in-training are among a “Who's Who” of controversial figures who have participated in weekly prayer sessions …

Discussion: Commentary, The Jawa Report and Atlas Shrugs

James Besser / The Jewish Week:

Glenn Beck's “monstrous” Soros accusations rile Holocaust survivors, Jewish groups — Fox news commentator Glenn Beck may have thought he had an easy target in the controversial financier George Soros - but he didn't reckon with Jews who care about Holocaust remembrance and don't take kindly …

Discussion: TPMCafe, Media Matters for America, Right Wing News, Raw Story, YID With LID and News Hounds

Michelle Goldberg / The Daily Beast:
Glenn Beck's Anti-Semitic Attacks

Discussion: NewsReal Blog, Salon and Liberal Values

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Sarah Palin plans heartland tour — Sarah Palin — accompanied at times by family members — later this month will launch a nine-day, 16-stop signing tour for her new book, “America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag.” — Among the destinations sure to get buzz: Des Moines and Spirit Lake, Iowa.

Discussion: CNN, Gawker and GOP 12

Ezra Klein:

How Joe Lieberman helped the Democrats lose the election — Since the election, there's been a lot of talk about what President Obama and the Democratic leadership could've done differently. I offered six ideas here. But there's been rather less discussion of what individual legislators could've done differently.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Right Wing News and Economist's View

Andy Barr / The Politico:

POLITICO, NBC News co-host first 2012 debate at Reagan Library — Former first lady Nancy Reagan announced plans Thursday to invite the leading Republican contenders to the first debate of the presidential primary season, to be held at her late husband's presidential library and co-hosted by POLITICO and NBC News.

Discussion: TPMDC, Salon, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and FrumForum

Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:
Why the GOP Should Insist on New Debate Rules for 2012

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

Ronald Grover / Bloomberg:

Bristol Palin Survives ‘Dancing’ Elimination Round With Help of Tea Party — Bristol Palin survived another elimination round on ABC's “Dancing With the Stars” as fans including Tea Party supporters mustered enough votes to overcome low scores from the talent show's judges.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Don Surber, Indecision Forever, New York Magazine, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Taegan Goddard's …

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Time says Tea Party will cause hyperinflation

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, The Curious Capitalist and Conservatives4Palin.com

The Huffington Post:

Media Matters Pays $86,000 In Auction To Have Lunch With Murdoch — What's Your Reaction? — facebook Twitter stumble reddit del.ico.us — Amazing — Inspiring — Important — Weird — WASHINGTON — In one of the more clever moments of issue advocacy in recent memory …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Media Decoder, Gawker and FrumForum, more at Mediagazer »

People-Press.org:

Mixed Reactions to Republican Midterm Win — Public Less Happy Than After 2006 and 1994 Elections — The public, voters and non-voters alike, has a subdued reaction to the Republican Party's midterm election victory. Four years ago, the response to the Democrats regaining full control …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Plum Line, Ballot Box, CNN and The Page

Daily Mail:

Poppy-burning Muslim protesters mar Armistice Day commemorations as millions fall silent to remember war dead — Islamic protesters sparked fury today after they burned a model of a poppy and deliberately broke the silence at Armistice Day commemorations in central London.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Gates of Vienna, TigerHawk, Spectator and The Jawa Report