memeorandum: Sarah Palin and The Brody File One-On-One at Iowa State Fair (David Brody/The Brody File)

5:30 PM ET, August 13, 2011

Top Items:

Why Ames Actually Matters — It is easy to make fun of the Ames Straw Poll. It can't exactly be described as democratic when you — or the candidate hoping to secure your vote — have to pay your way into the polls. — But Ames has a pretty good predictive track record.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Hot Air, News Desk, Runnin' Scared, Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice, Roll Call, CNN and The Hill

Toby Harnden / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

Fried food and retail politics at the Iowa State Fair — On the eve of the Ames Straw Poll, the Republican candidates made a last push for votes at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines - a huge spectacle in which cattle, pigs and horses are on display as well as politicians and Iowans queue …

Discussion: BAGnewsNotes, Radio Iowa, emptywheel, TBogg and Mediaite

CNN:

Bachmann & Paul camps getting supporters to the straw poll — Ames, Iowa (CNN) - Need an early indication that Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota could do very well at Saturday's GOP presidential straw poll in Ames, Iowa? — Here's one: A source close to the Bachmann campaign tells CNN …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and GOP 12

Molly Ball / The Politico:

Ames Straw Poll: A viewers guide — The task of interpreting straw poll results seems straightforward enough: Whoever gets the most votes wins; whoever gets the fewest loses. — But that's not how the campaigns, and the media horde closely covering them, look at things.

Discussion: CNN, The Note, Booman Tribune, Gothamist and Wonkette

Mike Allen / The Politico:
NEW SHERIFF: RICK PERRY RUNNING ON CHANGE - …

Discussion: The Note, CNN, Daily Kos, Politics, Trail Blazers Blog, USA Today, The Texas Tribune, Salon and MiamiHerald.com

A.Killough / CNN:
Bachmann involved in unusual campaign moment

Discussion: The Note, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Right Wing News, The Other McCain and Towleroad News #gay

Iowa Caucuses:
Gay teen who heckled Bachmann speaks

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation and ThinkProgress

Ashley Parker / New York Times:

Rick Perry Enters G.O.P. Race for President — CHARLESTON, S.C. — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas announced Saturday that he was running for president, issuing a withering critique of President Obama's leadership as he seeks to offer Republicans a well-rounded candidate who appeals …

Discussion: The Caucus, Newshoggers.com and Outside the Beltway

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Obama campaign: Perry's record a ‘carbon copy’ of DC Republicans — Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) record is a “carbon copy” of Washington Republicans, President Obama's reelection campaign said of the newest candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. — The Obama campaign sought …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and The Gateway Pundit

msnbc.com:
SC Gov. Haley: Perry's ‘timing was brilliant’

Discussion: GOP 12 and Freedom's Lighthouse

The Note:
Nikki Haley Calls Rick Perry's Timing for Announcement “Brilliant”

Discussion: CNN

CNN:
Perry announces presidential bid

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Beast and The Reaction

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Money No Obstacle as Perry Joins G.O.P. Race

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, The Note, The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Wire and George's Bottom Line

Niall Stanage / Ballot Box:
Perry's entrance to shake up the Republican presidential field

Discussion: CNN and Wake up America

Mhovey / Rick Perry for President:

Why I'm Running — What I learned in my 20's traveling the globe as an Air Force pilot, our current president has yet to acknowledge in his 50's - that we are the most exceptional nation on the face of the earth. — As Americans, we believe freedom is a gift from God, and government's prime function is to defend it.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Democracy in America, Washington Post, Freedom's Lighthouse, Taylor Marsh, Wizbang, New York Magazine and Hot Air

Norman Podhoretz / Wall Street Journal:

What Happened to Obama? Absolutely Nothing. — He is still the same anti-American leftist he was before becoming our president. — It's open season on President Obama. Which is to say that the usual suspects on the right (among whom I include myself) are increasingly being joined …

Discussion: Neptunus Lex, LewRockwell.com Blog, The Daily Dish and Mother Jones

BART:

Statement on temporary wireless service interruption in select BART stations on Aug. 11 — Organizers planning to disrupt BART service on August 11, 2011 stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART Police.

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, New York Times, Engadget, AllThingsD, L.A. NOW and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

Patrik Jonsson / Christian Science Monitor:
To defuse ‘flash’ protest, BART cuts riders' cell service. Is that legal?

Discussion: Daily Kos and DownWithTyranny!

Blog of Rights:
Cell Phone Censorship in San Francisco?

Discussion: Firedoglake and Unqualified Offerings

Elinor Mills / CNET News:
S.F. subway muzzles cell service during protest

Discussion: SF Appeal and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

They have no idea what they're doing — Journalistic standards and modern political norms place some restrictions on what a reporter can and will say in a news article. It's what too often leads to unhelpful he-said-she-said reporting ("Eric Cantor today said two plus two equals five; Democrats and mathematicians disagreed").

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, The New Republic and The Reality-Based Community

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

Ordinary Americans Continue to Deliver Progressive Messages at Republican Town Hall Meetings — Two years ago, a concerted effort by a corporate-funded Tea Party movement to get conservatives out to town hall meetings changed the dynamic in Washington on health care reform and paved …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, scsun-news.com, LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and The Dickinson Press

New York Times:

Faltering Rhode Island City Tests Vows to Pensioners — When the small, beleaguered city of Central Falls, R.I., filed for bankruptcy this month, it sought to cut the pension checks it has been sending its retired police officers, firefighters and other workers by as much as half.

David Brody / The Brody File:

Sarah Palin and The Brody File One-On-One at Iowa State Fair — Sarah Palin came over and agreed to do a one-on-one interview with me at the Iowa State Fair Friday afternoon. Just her and me. This took place during her private lunch reception. I asked her to come over and talk with me and she did.

Discussion: The Political Carnival, RedState, The Hill and The Daily Dish

Conservative Generation / Upstate Poltical Report:

Obama NY Fundraiser: the day the messiah compared himself to Cuomo and King — Obama's numbers are in the red in NY, but that's not half as interesting as how desperate and lost the President appeared at his own fundraiser. — Today, Obama flew out to NY for yet another fundraiser.