memeorandum: For Republicans, Redistricting Offers Few Gains (Jennifer Steinhauer/New York Times)

2:50 PM ET, June 12, 2011

Top Items:

Rep. Weiner Used Congressional Gym As Backdrop — Rep. Anthony Weiner took numerous photos of himself — clothed and partially nude — at the House Members Gym and sent them to at least one woman ... raising questions about whether he used Congressional resources in his online exploits.

Discussion: The Hill, The Moderate Voice, AmSpecBlog, Mediaite, The Jawa Report, Runnin' Scared, The Other McCain, Gothamist, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, The Lonely Conservative, Riehl World View, The Gateway Pundit and Althouse

Fox News:

Weiner Opts for Treatment as New Self Portraits Emerge — Dismissing calls by Democratic leaders for him to resign over a sexting scandal, Rep. Anthony Weiner says he's taking a leave of absence and checking himself in for treatment instead. — But as House lawmakers return to Washington …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Power Line, The Daily Caller, Fox Nation, New York Times and Wake up America

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Mitt Romney leads the Drudge primary — The Drudge primary has begun, and Mitt Romney is winning. — The former governor of Massachusetts may be the punching bag of the conservative media, ridiculed on blogs and talk radio as a plasticine, untrustworthy flip-flopper and the grandfather of the hated Obamacare.

Discussion: CNN and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

GOP Voting Factors: Look Out for Marital Infidelity — Mitt Romney's religion is far less of a concern to potential Republican voters than it once was, and a candidate's race or sex are non-issues for vast majorities. But if a GOP contender supports gay civil unions — or has committed marital infidelity — all bets are off.

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

GOPers weigh in on candidate attributes — This is the kind of poll that should be pretty discouraging to Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Giuliani. … This part of the poll was less about individual candidates, and more about candidate attributes. Respondents were told …

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Pawlenty takes a swing at ‘Obamneycare’

Discussion: The Note

Associated Press:

Gabrielle Giffords photographs released — PHOENIX — Two photos of a smiling Rep. Gabrielle Giffords were released early Sunday by her office, her hair shorn short but few other telling signs of her gunshot wound to the head. — The Facebook photos, the first clear snapshots of Giffords since …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Runnin' Scared, Balloon Juice, Guardian, New York Magazine and Gawker

Brad Knickerbocker / Christian Science Monitor:

Gabrielle Giffords photos inspire friends and strangers alike — New photos of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the Tucson attack in January, bring relief at evident progress. She still struggles to communicate, but friends say “she looks beautiful.” — Her hair is no longer long and blonde now; it's short and dark.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Wake up America

Brian Clark Howard / Daily Mail:

‘Trig will be a joy’: Sarah Palin plays God in touching email about her unborn son's Down's Syndrome — Sarah Palin ‘played God’ in a deeply touching email she wrote two weeks before her fifth child, Trig, was born with Down's Syndrome, it was revealed today.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool and Balloon Juice

Molly Ball / The Politico:
Long-lost Sarah Palin surfaces in emails

Discussion: Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Conservatives4Palin, newsfeed.time.com, The Caucus, New York Magazine and New York Times

Stacy Drake / Conservatives4Palin:
Attention C4P Readers: We Need Your Help Tracking Down Governor Palin's Emails …

Discussion: Big Hollywood and Mediaite

Toby Harnden / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
American Way: Sarah Palin email frenzy backfires on her media antagonists

Discussion: Wake up America, Guardian, Balloon Juice and Power Line

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Santorum: Doctors Providing Abortions To Rape And Incest Victims Should Be Criminally Charged — Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press this morning, former Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum offered two stunningly maximalist positions on abortion — abortion should be flatly banned …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Paul Krugman:

It's the Health Care Costs, Stupid — I've already written about Joe Lieberman's very bad, no good idea of raising the Medicare eligibility age. Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll show that it's even worse than I thought: Americans near 65 who don't have good health insurance delay needed treatment …

Discussion: PERRspectives, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars

New York Times:

U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors — The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Engadget, Prairie Weather and FrumForum, more at Techmeme »

Andrew Gilligan / Telegraph:

Police ‘covered up’ violent campaign to turn London area ‘Islamic’ — Police have been accused of “covering up” a campaign of abuse, threats and violence aimed at “Islamicising” an area of London. — Victims say that officers in the borough of Tower Hamlets have ignored or downplayed outbreaks …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers