memeorandum: The Grating Santorum — MANCHESTER, N.H. — RICK SANTORUM … (Maureen Dowd/New York Times)

2:45 PM ET, January 8, 2012

Top Items:

Romney: Politics For The Rich — His father told him he shouldn't go into politics if he had a mortgage to pay. Most people have mortgages to pay. — (Reuters / JIM BOURG) — Mitt Romney suggested in today's debate that only rich people should run for office, and then quickly celebrated …

Discussion: Politics, Little Green Footballs, PERRspectives, Taegan Goddard's …, The New Republic and ThinkProgress

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

Stephanopoulos struggles with fairness during NH debate — ABC News commentator George Stephanopoulos directed pointed, hard-edged questions to Republican presidential candidates during Saturday night's New Hampshire debate, often attacking without providing evidence to justify his broadsides.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Wizbang, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER, Doug Ross, The Lonely Conservative and Instapundit

ABCNEWS:

Why Mitt Romney Didn't Get Attacked In Saturday Night's Debate — The assumption was that Saturday's ABC/WMUR debate was going to produce some serious fireworks. — After all, you have a front-runner who is quickly assuming the mantle of the “inevitable” nominee.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, The Other McCain and American Spectator

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Romney: elected office is for the rich — About 10 hours after last night's debate, the six Republican presidential candidates met again this morning for another debate, this time sponsored by NBC and Facebook. — This one was far livelier than its predecessor — maybe the GOP field …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and No More Mister Nice Blog

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Romney Trips On Contraception Question: 'It's Working Just Fine, Just Leave It Alone' — At tonight's ABC News/WMUR Republican presidential debate at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney stumbled badly on a Constitutional question …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Buzzfeed Politics / Politics:

Romney's Inexplicable Debate Fibs — Why not just tell the truth? The odd, small shadings of truth were the talk of the spin room in Concord after Sunday's debate. — (AP / Elise Amendola) — CONCORD, New Hampshire — Mitt Romney's generally strong debate performance was marred …

Discussion: Power Line and Weekly Standard

Byron York / Campaign 2012:
Team Romney: Steph ‘obsessed’ with contraception

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, National Review, NewsBusters.org and The Lonely Conservative

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Marriage Equality Opponent Mitt Romney To Gay People: 'I Don't Discriminate'

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

Michael O'Brien / msnbc.com:
Sunday debate offers GOP hopeful second chance at fireworks

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Slate, The Gateway Pundit and Reuters

Benjy Sarlin / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com: TPM2012 — Mitt Romney: Don't Run For Office If You Need The Salary

Michael O'Brien / msnbc.com:
The latest political headlines powered by NBC News and msnbc.com

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and The Caucus

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
GOP Candidates Condemn Same-Sex Marriage In New Hampshire Debate

Discussion: Reuters, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Poliglot, Truth Wins Out and Steve Rothaus' Gay …

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
New Hampshire primary: Mitt Romney rises above squabbling pack

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney up in South Carolina

Discussion: 2012 Decoded, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice and Weekly Standard

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
GOP debate: No love for gay marriage

Discussion: The Politico

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Romney's private sector record cross-examined in NH Republican debate

Discussion: The Politico and CNN

ABCNEWS:

Anti-Romney Movie Attacks to Bain Career — Supporters of Newt Gingrich have bought the rights to a new short movie that is very critical of Mitt Romney's tenure as head of Bain Capital. — Romney's business career made him a very wealthy man, but has come under some criticism because Bain bought …

Discussion: Mediaite, TomDispatch and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:
Romney Eludes Rivals' Attacks at Republican Debate in N.H.

Discussion: Capital New York, JustOneMinute, Outside the Beltway, FiveThirtyEight and The Caucus

Benjy Sarlin / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Romney's A ‘Job Cremator’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Reality-Based Community, The Raw Story and The Political Carnival

James V. Grimaldi / Washington Post:

Billionaire Adelson gives millions to Gingrich Super PAC — Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has given $5 million to an independent committee supporting GOP presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich, the first of what is expected to be many millions the Las Vegas billionaire plans to spend this election year.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Caller and The Politico

Gautham Nagesh / Ballot Box:
GOP debate: Gingrich, Romney trade barbs over super-PAC ads

Discussion: ThinkProgress and CBS News

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Social conservatives start to coalesce around Santorum

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

The Grating Santorum — MANCHESTER, N.H. — RICK SANTORUM was locking down the youth vote. — The man who fondly recalls nuns rapping his knuckles with rulers did some verbal knuckle-rapping of his own on Thursday with students at a forum in Concord hosted by New England College.

Discussion: Datechguy's Blog, The Other McCain and Prairie Weather

Free exchange:

The zero lower bound in our minds — PRIOR to the crisis, there was a general (if tenuous) accord among macroeconomists of many different stripes, that the Federal Reserve could and would act to stabilise the economy when necessary. Then, in December of 2008, the Fed hit the zero lower bound …

Discussion: Tim Duy's Fed Watch, EconLog and ParaPundit

Associated Press:

MSNBC chief: No decision on Pat Buchanan's return — (AP) PASADENA, Calif. — MSNBC's top executive said Saturday that he hasn't decided whether conservative commentator and author Pat Buchanan will be allowed back on the network. — Buchanan, a former GOP presidential candidate …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Impolitic, Outside the Beltway and Crooks and Liars

And Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Romney Is the Main Target in a Caustic G.O.P. Debate — CONCORD, N.H. — The five major Republican presidential candidates who are not named Mitt Romney ferociously attacked him during a debate here Sunday morning, questioning his conservative credentials, his authenticity and even his honesty …

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, msnbc.com and The Page

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:

2012 ABC/Yahoo!/WMUR New Hampshire GOP primary debate (Transcript) — SAWYER: And good evening to all of you. Welcome to Saint Anselm College and the first debate of the year, 2012. The voting is underway. And, George, those eight votes in Iowa reminded us on Tuesday every vote counts.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Althouse