memeorandum: TPMDC — Obama Misses Key Window For Empowering Top Consumer Watchdog (Brian Beutler/tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)

4:15 PM ET, January 3, 2012

Top Items:

Rick Santorum's curious closing argument — POLK CITY, Iowa — Nothing fires up a crowd like cloture. — Rick Santorum, the man who has improbably become a contender in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, was making his closing argument to a sea of TV cameras here on Monday when he swerved into a thicket of Senate trivia.

Discussion: Catholic Bandita, Cato @ Liberty, The Week, Los Angeles Times, ABCNEWS, The Hinterland Gazette, The Daily Dish and Prairie Weather

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Sleeveless and V-Necked, Santorum's Sweaters Are Turning Heads — PERRY, Iowa — Rick Santorum is definitely pro-traditional sweater. — It's just that in Iowa, he happens to like a smart, sleeveless V-neck number. — Crewnecks, with their neck-hugging collars, aren't suitable …

Discussion: Democracy in America, Mashable!, The Caucus, ABCNEWS, Shakesville, Runnin' Scared, The Hill, Hotline On Call and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »

John Garver / The Daily Caller:

The trouble with my uncle, Rick Santorum — If you want another big-government politician who supports the status quo to run our country, you should vote for my uncle, Rick Santorum. America is based on a strong belief in individual liberty. My uncle's interventionist policies …

Mark Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:

Iowa Caucus Final Poll Snapshot: Close, But Romney's Ahead … 2012 Election , Michele Bachmann , Mitt Romney , Newt Gingrich 2012 , Rick Santorum , Elections 2012 , Michele Bachmann 2012 , Newt Gingrich , Rick Perry , Ron Paul , Video , Iowa Caucuses , Iowa Poll , Mitt Romney Iowa …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Guardian, Liberal Values, 2012 Decoded, Saint Petersblog and New York Times

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:

Remember the Crying Girl? — Last night I called my wife and told her I loved her, after listening to Rick Santorum's speech to his supporters at the final town hall meeting before Caucus Day here in Iowa. Santorum paid tribute to his wife, Karen, and also to his children, who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much:

Discussion: American Spectator, Maggie's Notebook, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Lonely Conservative and Daily Pundit

Serafin Gomez / Fox News:
Santorum: “ Ron Paul is Disgusting.”

Discussion: Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers and The Hill

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Alan Colmes: The way Santorum dealt with the death of his child sure was crazy

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Nice Deb, ABCNEWS, Mediaite, americanthinker.com, Pundit & Pundette, Althouse, American Spectator, Betsy's Page, Israel Matzav and The PJ Tatler

Kevin Drum / Political Mojo:
Crackpots Do Not Make Good Messengers

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish, The Mahablog, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money, US Politics, Balloon Juice and Daniel W. Drezner

marginoferror.org:
Iowa Prediction: Romney Will Probably Win

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hit & Run, Saint Petersblog, National Review, Politics & Elections Blog, Washington Post and RedState

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
In Iowa, Six Candidates Compete to Beat Expectations

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Caucus, The Other McCain, The Week, CJR, The Politico, Iowa Caucuses, Democracy in America, The Reaction, Patterico's Pontifications, The Blotter, Balloon Juice, The Staggers, Saint Petersblog, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Associated Press

Mark Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:
Iowa Poll Shows Paul-Romney-Santorum Dead Heat

Discussion: Caffeinated Thoughts, theGrio, Political Mojo, Bleeding Heartland, The Impolitic, American Spectator, Washington Post and New York Magazine

Ned Martel / Washington Post:
Conflicting reports: Political reporters share a home but not their stories

Discussion: Poynter and Price of Politics, Etc., more at Mediagazer »

Charles Dharapak / ABCNEWS:
Does Ron Paul See Himself in the Oval Office? ‘Not Really’

Discussion: American Spectator, Indecision Forever and Hot Air

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Did Rick Santorum Really Talk About Making 'Black People's Lives Better' With 'Somebody Else's Money?'

Discussion: Hot Air, ThinkProgress, THEROOT.COM, Campaign 2012, Wintery Knight, Indecision Forever, theGrio, Verum Serum, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers and Washington Monthly

CBS News:

Gingrich: Mitt Romney is a liar — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose support in Iowa has withered after riding on top of the polls, today called former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a liar who would lie to the American people if elected to the White House …

Discussion: Associated Press, Election Law Blog, Washington Monthly, Iowa Caucuses, The Week, Indecision Forever, neo-neocon, Shakesville, The PJ Tatler, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Raw Story, Daily Kos and ABCNEWS

John G. Geer / The Politico:
Newt's slide is not about attack ads

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, FiveThirtyEight and Democratic Strategist

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

W.H. to Boehner: Ditch the GOP, pass bills — John Boehner walks to a news conference on the payroll tax cut with Eric Cantor on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. AP Photo — A senior White House official challenged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to buck his own Republican conference …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Pat Dollard

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Obama willing to work with Congress in 2012 on taxes, cutting debt

Discussion: CNN and The Political Carnival

Russell Berman / The Hill: GOP Rep. King knocks Boehner's leadership on spending fights

David Brooks / New York Times:

Workers of the World, Unite! — The Republican Party is the party of the white working class. This group — whites with high school degrees and maybe some college — is still the largest block in the electorate. They overwhelmingly favor Republicans. — It's a diverse group, obviously …

Discussion: The Caucus, Booman Tribune, Don Surber, Rod Dreher, Wonkette, New York Magazine, Balloon Juice and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Santorum: States Should Have The Right To Outlaw Birth Control — Rick Santorum reiterated his belief that states should have the right to outlaw contraception during an interview with ABC News yesterday, saying, “The state has a right to do that, I have never questioned that the state has a right to do that.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, ECHIDNE of the snakes, ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh and Eschaton

New York Times:

The Next War: Pentagon to Present Vision of Reduced Military — WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is set this week to reveal his strategy that will guide the Pentagon in cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from its budget, and with it the Obama administration's vision …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Online NewsHour, The Politico, Battleland, ThinkProgress, Cato @ Liberty, americanthinker.com and Via Meadia

Mary C. Curtis / Washington Post:

Michelle Obama's backside is your business how? — Can you imagine how the incident would play out if an African American congressman made a crude remark about First Lady Laura Bush's body? It certainly would have taken more than an insincere apology to wash that sin away.

Discussion: Alas, a Blog and Weasel Zippers

Joshua Spivak / The Recall Elections Blog:

Wisconsin: No Roger, No Rerun, No Recall? Barrett and the unusual nature of the recall Rematch/Rerun — As we heard earlier this week, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the losing Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2010, is considering running in the recall against Governor Scott Walker.

George Packer / News Desk:

Un-American Activities — In the tenth paragraph of a page A15 Times piece, Rick Santorum accuses Barack Obama of engaging in “absolutely un-American activities.” What are they? The article doesn't say. The quote appears without explanation or comment, in an article entitled …

Discussion: The Politico, The Daily Dish, Political Mojo and Daily Kos

NBC's Carrie Dann / msnbc.com:

Perry: ‘This is Omaha Beach’ — WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — With a sense of history on the biggest political day — to date — of the 2012 cycle, Texas Gov. Rick Perry today compared the GOP's quest to defeat President Barack Obama to one of the deadliest battles of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Saint Petersblog

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Why Iowa gets to go first, and other facts about tonight's caucus — (Jessica Reilly) David Redlawsk is a political scientist at Rutgers University and co-author of “Why Iowa? How Caucuses and Sequential Elections improve the Nominating Process.” We spoke earlier today …

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy / The Huffington Post:

Double Barrel Blast From Big Sky Country: Montana Rejects Citizens United — On December 30, 2011, by a vote of 5 to 2 the Montana Supreme Court decided that Montana's ban on corporate political expenditures dating back to 1912 could stand. In a hard hitting decision …

O.Kay Henderson:

Huckabee: Rs more interested in defeating Obama than in rebuilding USA (audio) — Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, victor in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, called into the Radio Iowa newsroom this morning for a chat. I'll be posted snippets over the next few hours.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

When will media demand that Mitt Romney back up his claims about jobs? — I don't know how to be any clearer about this, but here goes. It is now beyond doubt that Mitt Romney will be resting his case against Obama on two core claims. — The first: At Bain Capital, Romney created over 100,000 jobs …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Paul Krugman and Daily Kos

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:

Young, gay caucus-goers talk politics, support for GOP — Several young gay Iowa caucus goers discuss which GOP candidates they will support today. (Washington Blade photo by Chris Johnson) — DES MOINES, Iowa — For some gay Iowa Republicans, the 2012 presidential election is about more than just LGBT issues.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and Truth Wins Out

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Mitt Romney seeks to end GOP contest in January — Mitt Romney is preparing a broad strategy after Iowa's caucuses tonight, apparently hoping to close out the GOP presidential contest before the calendar turns to February. — The Post's Phil Rucker reported last night …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Michelle Malkin and GOP 12

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMDC — Obama Misses Key Window For Empowering Top Consumer Watchdog — Today was the day that legal experts and many aides in both parties thought President Obama would provide a recess appointment to Richard Cordray, his nominee to administer the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, ThinkProgress, MarketWatch, Talking Points Memo and The Spectacle Blog

Robert Wright / The Atlantic Online:

The Trouble With Time's ‘Person of the Year’ — This isn't just my first post of the New Year—it's my first post of the modern era. Actually, I did guest-blog here at TheAtlantic.com a couple of years ago, so maybe a better way to put it is that this is the first-ever post in my very own blog stream.

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Krugman - Nobodys Understands Debt (But Now I Do!) — Let's start the New Year by breaking a resolution. Here we go with Krugman v. Krugman, with yet another illustration of how Krugman's economic theories are dictated by the residency of the White House.

Discussion: Big Government, Whiskey Fire, Vodkapundit and Daily Pundit