memeorandum: Obama to Close Political Office and Start 2012 Campaign (Jeff Zeleny/New York Times)

2:05 PM ET, January 20, 2011

Top Items:

A three-way pileup atop 2012 GOP presidential race — Former Govs. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), Sarah Palin (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Mass.) make up the top tier of the 2012 Republican presidential field, according to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News.

Discussion: Weigel, GOP 12, Public Policy Polling, The Moderate Voice, Right Turn, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos, Lone Star Report Blog, PoliticsPA, Outside the Beltway, 24Ahead, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and Washington Monthly

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama looking stronger — PPP's monthly look ahead to next year's Presidential race finds Barack Obama in his best position against the major Republican contenders since 2009. — The GOP hopefuls who would make it most competitive against Obama continue to be Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, each of whom he leads by 5 points.

Discussion: GOP 12, Taegan Goddard's … and The Politico

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Are the political winds changing?

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Other McCain

Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:
Huck adviser to be Hill CoS

Discussion: Swampland, CNN, Daily Kos, The Brody File and GOP 12

Jon Ward / The Daily Caller:

A number of the House GOP's leading conservative members on Thursday will announce legislation that would cut $2.5 trillion over 10 years, which will be by far the most ambitious and far-reaching proposal by the new majority to cut federal government spending.

Discussion: Wake up America, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog and AmSpecBlog

Russell Berman / The Hill:
House repeals healthcare law, 245-189

Erika Niedowski / The Hill:
House Republicans move on from repealing health law to replacing it

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight and Ezra Klein

Wall Street Journal:
The Repeal Vote — An historic repudiation of an entitlement that is only 10 months old.

Discussion: Right Turn

Mark Weaver / 630 WMAL:

Michelle Obama's ‘Get Moving’ Program Linked to Pedestrian Deaths — WASHINGTON — The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian deaths increased in the first half of 2010 and the First Lady's program to get Americans to be more active could be partly responsible.

Discussion: Wake up America, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Gateway Pundit and The Powers That Be

James Joyner / Outside the Beltway:
Michelle Obama “Linked” to Pedestrian Deaths

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Atlantic Online, Detroit News, Hot Air and USA Today

Scott McCabe / Washington Examiner:
Exercise, iPods could be causing pedestrian deaths

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Daily Caller and Ben Smith's Blog

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama bouncing back — The president's approval rating returns to the 50s, but challenges remain, according to the latest poll — Below: — Deputy political director — WASHINGTON — What a difference a few weeks can make. — Last month, Republicans were celebrating …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Salon, Outside the Beltway, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, AOL News, Daily Kos and The Page

The Huffington Post:

Obama's Social Security Talk Is Turning Voters Off, Pollsters Say … WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's apparent willingness to consider cuts in Social Security benefits may be winning him points with Washington elites, but it's killing him with voters, who see the program as inviolate …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Suburban Guerrilla, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News and Open Left

Reuters:
Fixing Social Security is progressive

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Obama to Close Political Office and Start 2012 Campaign — WASHINGTON — President Obama will close the office of political affairs at the White House, aides said, restructuring his organization to prepare for his re-election campaign, which is to start building a fund-raising and grassroots operation based in Chicago by late March.

Discussion: The Fix, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Political Punch and msnbc.com

Lynn Sweet:
Obama 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago: Smoot to step …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Taegan Goddard's …

Ezra Klein:

If Obama wants to be bold, he should be bold — Peter Baker has a lot of juicy tidbits about the frequent infighting and petty spats that split the White House economic team over the past two years, but the individual who comes off worst in the article is not Larry Summers or Christina Romer or Peter Orszag or Rahm Emanuel.

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, Felix Salmon, Grasping Reality …, Booman Tribune, Commentary, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice and AmSpecBlog

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Rick Santorum plays race card on President Obama — In eye-brow raising comments, possible presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is questioning how President Barack Obama - as an African-American - can support abortion rights. — Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania …

Discussion: NJDC Blog and FrumForum

David Brody / The Brody File:
Rick Santorum Responds to Brody File on Comment About President …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, CNN, AmSpecBlog, GOP 12, Right Wing Watch and Pam's House Blend

The Note:
Rick Santorum Calls Obama's Abortion Stance ‘Remarkable For A Black Man’

Discussion: Weigel

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Palin Putting Out Presidential Feelers in Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tasked her aides with quietly gauging her level of support for a potential presidential campaign by making inquiries to a select pool of likely allies and grassroots activists in Iowa, RealClearPolitics has learned.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Politico, The Note, Hot Air, Washington Post, Conservatives4Palin, GOP 12, National Review and TPMDC

Andy Barr / The Politico:
High-level Iowa meets for Bachmann

Discussion: GOP 12

Jonathan Dienst / NBC New York:

FBI Rounding Up 100 Mobsters in Biggest Mafia Bust in New York History — Charges range from gambling to racketeering to murder — The FBI calls it the biggest mafia round-up in New York history. More than 100 suspected mobsters are being arrested this morning in connection …

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, TPMMuckraker and Gawker

William K. Rashbaum / New York Times:
F.B.I. and Police Arrest More Than 100 in Mob Sweep

Discussion: New York Magazine, AOL News and Eschaton

Jose Lambiet / Page2Live.com:

Parents of Giffords' doc supported Tea Partier Christine O'Donnell with Palm Beach cash — The name of Michael Lemole, the University of Arizona neurosurgeon who's been treating U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brain injuries since the Jan. 8 shooting, may sound familiar to Palm Beachers.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Palm Beach Post Columnist Slams Parents of Rep. Giffords Doctor …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Michelle Malkin and Page2Live.com

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Goodbye to a Guy Named Joe — On Wednesday, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced that he won't be a candidate for re-election in 2012. Normally people look particularly appealing when they're promising to go away. This time, not so much. — “I can't help but also think about …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Commentary, Connecting.the.Dots, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, Swampland, First Draft and The New Republic

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Palinoia, the Destroyer — What's behind the left's deranged hatred. — Why does their hatred of her burn so hot? — Ask them, and they'll most likely tell you: Because she's a moron. But that is obviously false. To be sure, her skills at extemporaneous speaking leave much to be desired.

Discussion: The Mahablog, JustOneMinute, Mediaite, Conservatives4Palin, Classical Values and Power Line

Murphy / The Beast:

The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010 — Charges: The A.Q. Khan of the culinary world, her secret recipes are demonstrably more dangerous to America than a nuclear armed North Korea. When not delighting delusional hicks on “Huckabee,” she's cooking up coronary-clogging treats like the …

Discussion: Liberty Street, Althouse and Pharyngula

CNN:

CNN Poll: JFK remains most popular past president — (CNN)-It's a golden anniversary Thursday for John F. Kennedy's inauguration. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner will mark the 50th anniversary with a tribute ceremony, that will include remarks by Vice President Joe Biden …

Discussion: The Politico

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama presidency a success or failure?

Discussion: The Politico

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Giffords's husband vows 'she'll be back' — Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, vowed that his wife would return to normal as she prepares to leave an Arizona hospital for a rehabilitation center in Houston. — Giffords (D-Ariz.) is scheduled to be discharged …

Discussion: Reuters and Ballot Box

Bradley Blackburn / ABCNEWS:
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Stands on Both Feet, Looks Out Window

Discussion: The Wire and American Power

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Hubris heading for a fall — It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, and in a recent speech that seemed like Larry Summers's swan song, the president's now-departed economic adviser warned that America is “at risk of a profound demoralization with respect to government.”

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

Advocacy Group Says Justices May Have Conflict in Campaign Finance Cases — WASHINGTON — When the conservative financier Charles Koch sent out invitations for a political retreat in Palm Springs later this month, he highlighted past appearances at the gathering of “notable leaders” …

Discussion: The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress, Common Cause, Patterico's Pontifications, The Politico, Law Blog, The Caucus, Wonk Room, Raw Story and FrumForum

Dan Friedman / The Atlantic Online:

GOP Can Force a Senate Vote on Repeal — While the health care repeal that the House passed Wednesday has little chance of passage in the Senate, Republicans will probably succeed in eventually forcing a vote on the measure — albeit with at least a 60-vote threshold.

Discussion: NationalJournal.com and Salon

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Delusions of world-historical grandeur — One thing that is endlessly amusing about the contemporary right is their comical lack of historical proportion, their frequent tendency to compare their current situation to the plight endured by history's leading victims of oppression, persecution, and genocide.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and TPMDC

Christina Wilkie / The Hill:

Harkin to raise cash at Lady Gaga show — Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is taking a page out of the playbook of one of his colleagues, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and raising some dough next month at a Lady Gaga concert. — According to an extra-jazzy invitation, with no fewer …

Discussion: CNN

Fox News:

Republicans Introduce Bill to Ban Federal Funding for Abortion Procedures — Calling it a top priority of the Republican agenda, House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday gave a top designation to a bill introduced by New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith that would ban the use of any federal funds from being used for abortions.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and Boehner