memeorandum: Herman Cain wins Western Conservative Summit Straw Poll; Rick Perry Second (The Note)

6:10 PM ET, July 31, 2011

Top Items:

Congressional Sources: Republicans and Democrats Reach Tentative Debt Deal — ABC News' Jonathan Karl (@JonKarl) reports: — Democratic and Republican Congressional sources involved in the negotiations tell ABC News that a tentative agreement has been reached on the framework of a deal …

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

GOP ready to declare victory in debt fight — Republicans on Sunday framed an emerging debt ceiling agreement as largely giving them what they wanted in a debt deal. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also pushed back Sunday against suggestions the prolonged fight over raising …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and CNN

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

Griping begins as debt deal specifics emerge — Members of Congress from both parties fear their leaders may have conceded too much ground in an emerging deal to raise the debt ceiling, a sign of how difficult it'll be for a sweeping plan to be signed into law before the government begins to default on its debt later this week.

Discussion: The Page and Taegan Goddard's …

Major Garrett / NationalJournal.com:

Outlines of Debt Compromise Emerge — An announcement could come as early as Sunday afternoon. — Here are the outlines of a debt-ceiling deal that congressional leaders and the Obama White House are firming up in preparation for a possible announcement as early as Sunday afternoon.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, TPMDC, USA Today, Sky Dancing, Taylor Marsh, Maggie's Notebook, The Hill, Hullabaloo, Betsy's Page, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Washington Post, Viking Pundit, The Agonist, Patterico's Pontifications, Salon and Weekly Standard

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Senate Votes Down Reid Bill, Awaits Obama/McConnell Spending-Cut-Only Debt Limit Bill — Shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, the Senate voted down Majority Leader Harry Reid's debt limit bill. — That plan has been outmoded by a new one, hammered out by the White House and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, that's still being finalized.

Discussion: CNN, Little Green Footballs and Daily Kos

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Dems, GOP Float Eye-Popping Debt Limit Compromise

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo, The Note, Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller, The New Republic and RedState

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
The end of Harry Reid as we know it

Discussion: PoliPundit.com and The Note

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill: McCarthy: GOP still wants balanced budget amendment

The Note:
Caution on Capitol Hill: ‘Nothing Is Agreed to Until Everything Is Agreed to’

Discussion: Mediaite and Hot Air

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
McConnell: 'We're very close' to a deal

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos, Sky Dancing, The Note, The Hill and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Washington Wire:
Live Blog: The U.S. Debt Battle

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Calculated Risk and Wall Street Journal

The Caucus:
McConnell Sees Deal “Very Close”; Focus Is on Triggers for Cuts

Discussion: Daily Kos

Peter Schroeder / The Hill: Moody's: Neither debt plan protects the nation's AAA rating

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Amid New Talks, Some Optimism on Debt Crisis

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post, Firedoglake, NationalJournal.com, Prairie Weather, American Power, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, Politics, AMERICAblog News, Calculated Risk, CNN and U.S. Senate Republican …

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

Negotiating All But Done for $2.7 Trillion Deficit Reduction Deal ... Now Comes the Selling — Sources from both parties tell ABC News that the major potential roadblock in deficit negotiations— the triggers — are now essentially agreed upon. The plan is for the House to vote on this tomorrow, assuming all goes according to plan.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Note, Hit & Run, The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Hot Air and The Daily Dish

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Democrats will lose now. But they can win later. — Democrats are going to lose this one. The first stage of the emerging deal doesn't include revenue, doesn't include stimulus, and lets Republicans pocket a trillion dollars or more in cuts without offering anything to Democrats in return.

Discussion: emptywheel and DISSENTING JUSTICE

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
W.H. ‘fine’ with no new revenues until 2013

Discussion: CNN

Stanley B. Greenberg / New York Times:

Why Voters Tune Out Democrats — Stanley B. Greenberg is the chief executive of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a polling company that works with center-left political parties in the United States and abroad. — BARACK OBAMA can't catch a break from the American public on the economy …

Discussion: Don Surber, Balkinization, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos and Suburban Guerrilla

The Hill:

Senate Dems meet to discuss emerging bipartisan debt deal — The Senate voted largely along party lines on Sunday afternoon to block legislation crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that would raise the debt limit by $2.4 trillion. — Reid and other Democratic leaders worked intently …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Reuters and Daily Kos

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Senate Blocks Reid's Debt Ceiling Plan

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Fox News:
Senate Negotiators Scramble to Finalize Debt Deal After Reid Bill Tanks

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Right Scoop and The Other McCain

New York Times:
Senate Blocks Reid's Debt Ceiling Plan; Talks Continue

Discussion: The Caucus, TalkLeft, Wall Street Journal and Daily Kos

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

GOP on verge of huge, unprecedented political victory — By all accounts, it looks like a deal is about to be announced in which the debt ceiling is hiked in exchange for the promise of major spending cuts, including to entitlements, totalling at least $2.4 trillion.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Dan / Riehl World View:

Jennifer Rubin Is An A**hole — Sorry, but there's really no other word for it. Talk about someone with a malfunction. You write for the Washington Post now, sweetie. You need to grow up and at least write like an adult, even if you can't manage to think like one.

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
A deal comes together

Discussion: Pundit & Pundette and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Bring Back Poppy — WATCHING today's Republicans being led around by an extremist Tea Party faction, with no adult supervision, I find my mind drifting back to the late 1980s when I was assigned to cover the administration of George H.W. Bush, who I believe is one of our most underrated presidents.

Discussion: Riehl World View, Weasel Zippers, The Moderate Voice, NewsBusters.org and Daily Kos

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

Compromise In The Works — The rumored deals flying around Washington today all sound pretty bad. And how could they not be? The White House started with a position that: … But (1) and (3) were in significant tension. The White House strategy for getting (3) was to persuade the public that (3) was the correct position.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Grasping Reality … and TPMDC

The Note:

Herman Cain wins Western Conservative Summit Straw Poll; Rick Perry Second — ABC News' Arlette Saenz (@arlettesaenz) reports: — Presidential candidate Herman Cain won the straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver this weekend with 48 percent of the votes, followed by Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Discussion: CNN

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Extortion politics: a new form of governing — Josh Marshall made an interesting point in passing yesterday, asking whether conservative Republicans could achieve massive spending cuts through “old-fashioned majority votes.” Josh answered his own question: “Of course not.”