memeorandum: McCain downplays tension with Romney (Peter Schroeder/The Hill)

7:35 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: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo, Politics, The New Republic, PERRspectives, Taegan Goddard's …, Little Green Footballs and ThinkProgress

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: Weekly Standard and Power Line

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, The Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, NO QUARTER, Doug Ross, The Lonely Conservative and Instapundit

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: The Reaction, Booman Tribune and No More Mister Nice Blog

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, Hot Air, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, Connecting.the.Dots, The Other McCain and American Spectator

ABCNEWS:

Mitt Romney Says He Feared Getting ‘Fired’ — ABC News' Russell Goldman and Michael Falcone report: — ROCHESTER, N.H. — Mitt Romney attempted his own version of an “I-feel-your-pain” moment at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday, telling a crowd that like so many Americans he too has worried about getting fired.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

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

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

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

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

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

David Eldridge / Washington Times:

Ex-Times Editorial Page Editor Tony Blankley dead at 63 — Tony Blankley, a noted conservative author and commentator and former editorial page editor of The Washington Times, died Sunday morning, according to family sources. He was 63 and had been battling stomach cancer.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, NewsBusters.org, The Sundries Shack and Outside the Beltway

Gschwarzcnn / CNN: Tony Blankley, conservative author, dies at 63

New York Post:

White House threw secret ‘Alice in Wonderland’ bash during recession — It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn't resist. — A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never …

Discussion: Telegraph, Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs, New York Magazine, Doug Ross and The Lonely Conservative

Carol E. Lee / Washington Wire: New Book Portrays Explosive White House Dynamics

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, Washington Monthly and Althouse

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Romney Trips On Contraception Question: 'It's Working Just Fine, Just Leave It Alone'

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

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

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

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: Hot Air, Capital New York, 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: CBS News and ThinkProgress

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

Discussion: CNN, Reuters and Prairie Weather

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, FiveThirtyEight, The Page, msnbc.com, The Mahablog and The Caucus

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: 24Ahead, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, The Impolitic and The Raw Story

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: NewsHounds blog, TomDispatch, Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit

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

Discussion: The Caucus, JustOneMinute, Capital New York, Outside the Beltway, FiveThirtyEight and 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com

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: The Other McCain, Datechguy's Blog 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, Economist's View, EconLog and ParaPundit

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

New Hampshire Debate: The Trickless-Dick Mitt Fix Is In — MANCHESTER, N.H — At this moment, I am still digesting the incredible farrago of gibbering nonsense, vengeful religious rage, political chickens**t, and Mandarin Chinese that combined to make the 45,670th of 62,390 scheduled Republican …

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Suburban Guerrilla and Balloon Juice