memeorandum: Mitt Romney New Hampshire primary win: Time to take him seriously (Ben Smith/Reuters)

2:30 PM ET, January 11, 2012

Top Items:

David Weigel / Slate:

Haven't We Lived Through This Primary Before? — I'm thinking of a Republican primary. It starts with a candidate (John McCain/Mitt Romney) who ran once before, came in second place, and won over the party's elite class without winning over its base. Other candidates, understandably unwilling …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and No More Mister Nice Blog

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

A tale of two speeches — After watching Mitt Romney's speech in New Hampshire last night, I went back and watched Barack Obama's speech in New Hampshire, delivered almost exactly four years ago. The contrast told me quite a bit about the two candidates. — Obama, who'd just lost …

Discussion: FP Passport, Balloon Juice and Alas, a Blog

Zeke Miller / Politics:

Ron Paul To Everyone But Mitt: Drop Out — Campaign says unite behind Ron Paul to defeat Romney. — (Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla) — MANCHESTER, New Hampshire—Rep. Ron Paul's campaign called on the rest of the Republican field to drop out of the race and unite behind him in order to defeat Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Politico, The Other McCain, Hot Air, Associated Press, The Daily Dish, CNN, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, Questions and Observations, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, Pirate's Cove, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, Flopping Aces and Gallup

The Politico:

Mitt Romney vs. the dead-enders — HOOKSETT, N.H. - Any remotely sympathetic observer would have to say that Mitt Romney easily cleared the bar on what he needed to do in the New Hampshire primary, and in the process took a big step toward the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: CNN, Michelle Malkin, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh and Wall Street Journal

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Romney likens work at Bain Capital to Obama's auto industry bailout — On the heels of his decisive victory in the New Hampshire primary, Mitt Romney took the attacks on his private sector record used by GOP rivals and turned them against President Obama. — Romney's critics have accused …

Discussion: CNN, The Strata-Sphere and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Ben Smith / Reuters:

Mitt Romney New Hampshire primary win: Time to take him seriously — How many primaries will Mitt Romney have to win before America's political class starts taking him seriously? — Romney has proven through the long summer of 2011, the hectic fall, and his two early state victories …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Politico

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Romney Looks Strong in South Carolina and Beyond

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Politico, Washington Post, New York Times, The Caucus, Daily Kos, Democratic Strategist, Politics and Saint Petersblog

msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Next up: The last stand

Discussion: Time, Saint Petersblog, The Political Carnival and ABCNEWS

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Gingrich Touts War Against Christianity, Gay Adoption In South Carolina

Discussion: Washington Post and AKSARBENT

Gov. Rick Perry / Big Government:
No More Go-along-to-Get-along

Discussion: GOP 12

Joshua Green / Bloomberg:
Attack Film Depicts Romney as ‘Ruthless’ Rich

A.Killough / CNN:
Poll: Romney, Santorum tied with Obama in Florida

Discussion: The Politico and Reuters

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Santorum gambles, and loses, in NH

Discussion: The Politico, The State, NY Daily News, msnbc.com, CNN and Reuters

ABCNEWS:
Biden Jabs Romney, Compares Republican Candidates to ‘Brush’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and CNN

A.Killough / CNN:
Santorum to spend fundraising haul immediately in S.C.

Discussion: The Hill and Ballot Box

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Mitt Romney still must answer 5 questions after New Hampshire

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Monthly, ABCNEWS, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Huffington Post

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Romney raises impressive $24M in fourth quarter

Discussion: GOP 12, The Politico, Outside the Beltway, Donklephant, Washington Post and Hot Air

Mary Lu Carnevale / Washington Wire: Obama Scores Easy Win; Rivals Pick Up 18% of N.H. Vote

Felicia Sonmez / Reuters:
Mitt Romney's New Hampshire primary speech (TEXT)

Discussion: ECHIDNE of the snakes, Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Enterprise Blog and Feministing

Bill Nicholsand Mackenzie Weinger / The Politico:
Mitt Romney looks for South Carolina knockout punch

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Reaction, CNN and ABCNEWS

New York Times:

Blaming U.S. and Israel, Iran Reports Killing of Nuclear Scientist — LONDON — At a time of growing tension over its nuclear program and mounting belligerence toward the West, Iran reported on Wednesday that an Iranian nuclear scientist died in what was termed a “terrorist bomb blast” …

Discussion: YID With LID, The Moderate Voice, Global Public Square, The Daily Dish, News Desk, The Lede and The Impolitic

Gordon Corera / BBC:

Iran car explosion ‘kills nuclear scientist’ in Tehran — BBC's Mohsen Asgari: “It seems a motor cyclist pasted a bomb to his car which he was in with two other passengers — A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran, reports say.

Discussion: Truthdig, nation.foxnews.com, The Gateway Pundit and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Another Iranian Nuclear Scientist Assassinated, and What it Means — It's groundhog day in Tehran. Another nuclear scientist, this one identified as Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was killed when an explosive was attached to his car. Several questions arise:

Discussion: National Review

msnbc.com:
US denies killing Iran nuclear scientist with magnetic bomb

Discussion: Blogs of War

James Meikle / Guardian: Iranian nuclear scientist killed in explosion

Michelle Obama / CBS News:

No tension with husband's aides — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — Michelle Obama said depictions of friction in a new book, “The Obamas,” between her and former top aides to her husband, President Obama, aren't true. — In a wide-ranging interview with “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Don Surber and The Raw Story

Byron Tau / The Politico:
Michelle Obama denies White House tensions

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers and nation.foxnews.com

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Romney: Questions about Wall Street and inequality are driven by ‘envy’ — Mitt Romney had a remarkable exchange on NBC this morning that may not be as attention-grabbing about his “fire people” gaffe — but may actually be just as revealing and significant. And I hope it gets some attention.

Discussion: The Loyal Opposition, Daily Kos and Riehl World View

Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:

GOP Strategist Frank Luntz: ‘Conservatives Should Not Be Defending Capitalism’ — Last year, Mitt Romney told a Tea Party gathering, “I believe in free enterprise, I believe in capitalism.” Now, Romney's practice of “vulture capitalism,” in Rick Perry's words, is coming under attack.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Rush Limbaugh, Don Surber and Fox News Insider

Anthony Faiola / Washington Post:

In Greece, fears that austerity is killing the economy — ATHENS — Deeply indebted and nearly bankrupt, this Mediterranean nation was forced to adopt tough austerity measures to slash its deficit and secure an international bailout. But as the Greek economy slides into free fall …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Paul Krugman and ECHIDNE of the snakes

Carl Campanile / New York Post:

Mayor's plan to limit booze sales — Party pooper! — First, Mayor Bloomberg went after smoking in public places. Then trans-fats, salt and sugary drinks. — Now Bloomberg — known for sipping fine wine and downing a cold beer from time to time — wants to crack down on alcohol sales …

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Gothamist, The Raw Story and Capital New York

John Cook / Gawker:

John Castle, 76-Year-Old Palm Beach Plutocrat, Breaks Insolent Waiter's Finger — It's an age-old and vexing question: How much is it fair to shave off the tip at a high-end restaurant to signal dissatisfaction with the waitstaff? Two percent? Five percent? Should you stiff them?

Discussion: DealBook

Jim Dwyer / New York Times:

About New York: Belgian Tourist Arrested, but Crime Never Happened — Just before he was loaded into the police car, Aaron Vansintjan said, one of the officers looked at him. — “He said, 'I'm embarrassed,' ” Mr. Vansintjan said. — That was no obstacle to a bad situation's getting more perplexing by the minute.

Discussion: The Awl and Gawker