memeorandum: Fisker Recalling 239 Karma Plug-In Hybrids for Fire Hazard (Christopher Jensen/Wheels)

11:10 AM ET, January 1, 2012

Top Items:

Romney leads Paul in new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll; Santorum surges — The Des Moines Register's latest Iowa Poll shows a surprise three-way match-up in contention to win the Iowa Republican caucuses: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. — Santorum, who has been largely invisible …

Des Moines Register:

Romney leads Paul in Des Moines Register Iowa Poll; Santorum surges — Mitt Romney tops the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll in the closing days before the Iowa caucuses, but Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are poised within striking distance. — The poll, conducted Tuesday through Friday …

Discussion: CNN, Real Clear Politics, Los Angeles Times, Hot Dish Politics, Washington Post, The Other McCain, National Review and Wall Street Journal

Niall Stanage / Ballot Box:

No endorsement yet by Rep. Steve King — DES MOINES, Iowa — With only two full days of campaigning left before the Iowa caucuses, one of the state's most influential conservative figures claims he still does not know whom he will support. — Rep. Steve King, who represents …

Discussion: ABCNEWS and CNN

Niall Stanage / Ballot Box:
A new problem for Santorum in Iowa: Overcrowding

Discussion: CNN

Paul West / Los Angeles Times:
Iowa's GOP caucuses may see some Democratic defectors

Discussion: Daily Kos

James Hohmann / The Politico:
Afternoon Score: More reporters

Discussion: Iowa Caucuses, Associated Press and CNN

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Perry bets Iowa fortunes on robust ground game

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Towleroad News #gay, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Online, Sioux City Journal, msnbc.com, Taegan Goddard's … and American Spectator

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Santorum's closing argument on Iowa TV

Discussion: The Politico and Iowa Caucuses

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Romney claims Obama will be a ‘footnote in history’

Discussion: PERRspectives, The Politico and Ballot Box

Associated Press:

Obama Signs Military Spending Bill — President Obama signed a broad military spending bill into law on Saturday despite “serious reservations” about provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists. — The bill also applies penalties …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Althouse, The White House, emptywheel, Pat Dollard, The Agonist and TalkLeft

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Obama Makes It Official: Suspected Terrorists Can Be Indefinitely Detained Without a Trial — Despite having once threatened to veto the bill due to controversial language about the treatment of suspected terrorists, the president signed the controversial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law on Saturday.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Joe. My. God.

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
Obama signs defense bill, pledges to maintain legal rights of U.S. citizens

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Obama Signs Defense Authorization Bill

Discussion: Blog of Rights, Suburban Guerrilla, emptywheel, Osborne Ink and The Political Carnival

Sara Sorcher / NationalJournal.com:
Obama Signs Defense Authorization Bill

Discussion: Reuters and Firedoglake

Jamie Klatell / The Hill:
Obama signs defense funding bill, objects to terror detainee provisions

Discussion: The Politico

Julie Pace / Associated Press:
In 2012, Obama to press ahead without Congress

Discussion: Mediaite and NewsBusters.org blogs

Julia Duin / Washington Post:

Adam Bellow hopes to give voice to the tea party with new conservative imprint at HarperCollins — NEW YORK — Attention, conservatives: Adam Bellow says this is your moment. — The intellectual left, he contends, is in a vacuum. The right is where there are ideas, variety, excitement.

Discussion: Fausta's Blog

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

TRENDING: Democrats send ghost from Romney's past — (CNN) - Democrats aren't missing a chance to take aim at their favorite target: Republican presidential frontrunner and former Bain Capital executive Mitt Romney. — Randy Johnson, a worker laid off when Bain bought American Pad and Paper Company …

Discussion: The Politico

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Progressives and the Ron Paul fallacies — The benefits of his candidacy are widely ignored, as are the Democrats' own evils — As I've written about before, America's election season degrades mainstream political discourse even beyond its usual lowly state.

Discussion: The Talking Dog, LewRockwell.com Blog, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Chief Justice Defends Peers on Health Law — In the face of a growing controversy over whether two Supreme Court justices should disqualify themselves from the challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Saturday defended the court's ethical standards.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Christopher Jensen / Wheels:

Fisker Recalling 239 Karma Plug-In Hybrids for Fire Hazard — Fisker Automotive is recalling all 239 of its 2012 Karma luxury plug-in hybrid cars because of a fire hazard, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Prices on the 2012 model start at $103,000, including the destination charge.

Discussion: Don Surber and Watts Up With That?

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

Surging Santorum Would Annul All Same-Sex Marriages — Social conservatives are lauding Rick Santorum's “surge” to third place in the Iowa polls, but his new forthrightness about his positions may backfire. In a recent interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd, Santorum explained that not only would he support …

Jazz Shaw / Hot Air:

Tis the season for predictions — No end of the year political shindig would be complete without pundits and prophets gazing into the chicken entrails and letting us know what we should expect in the year to come. Given the fact that we so rarely see end of the year, “Look how well I did last December” …

Discussion: Culture Club, Sun Journal and Outside the Beltway