memeorandum: Obama Campaign Raises $42 Million in Fourth Quarter (Michael D. Shear/The Caucus)

9:40 AM ET, January 12, 2012

Top Items:

Newt Gingrich: I crossed the line — SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Newt Gingrich signaled Wednesday that he believes his criticism of Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital is a mistake — and that he's created an impression that he was echoing Democratic rhetoric. — Gingrich conceded the problem …

Publius / Big Government:

BREAKING: Palin Urges Romney to Release Tax Returns, Provide Proof of 100,000 Jobs Created at Bain Capital — Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has called for Gov. Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, as well as the data that could substantiate his claim of having created 100,000 jobs as CEO of Bain Capital.

Discussion: The Politico, Riehl World View, Erick's blog, Conservatives4Palin and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

‘When Mitt Romney Came to Town’ — We knew the short film from Newt Gingrich's Super PAC, targeting Mitt Romney's private-sector work, was on the way. We didn't know just how devastating it would be. — Probably the easiest-to-see version of “When Mitt Romney Came to Town” …

Discussion: Smartypants, Towleroad News #gay, The Politico and Democratic Strategist

Karl / Patterico's Pontifications:

A bigger problem than Bain? — The New York Times picks up where I left off, reporting on Team Romney's reaction to the attacks from Mitt's rivals on his tenure at Bain Capital. The news is not particularly reassuring: … They should be concerned, given that New Hampshire and Iowa …

Discussion: Sabato's Crystal Ball, Riehl World View, Sky Dancing, The Politico, CNN, New York Times and The Daily Beast

Reid J. Epstein / Reuters:

Mitt Romney readies Bain Capital counterattack — COLUMBIA, S.C. - Mitt Romney's done defending his Bain Capital record. He's going on offense. — The former Massachusetts governor arrived here Wednesday fresh off his New Hampshire primary win armed with a new plan for a multi-pronged response …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Moderate Voice, The Daily, The Politico, Metro, The State, St. Petersburg Times, Associated Press and Saint Petersblog

Donald Johnson / The Politico:
Mitt Romney's Bain Capital days: A black box

Discussion: Washington Post, Right Wing News and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

NBC's Andrew Rafferty / msnbc.com: Santorum: Attacks on Romney are attacks on capitalism

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
Mitt's S.C. plan: Divide and conquer

Discussion: THEROOT.COM, Washington Post, Daily Kos and FiveThirtyEight

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

Obama Campaign Raises $42 Million in Fourth Quarter — WASHINGTON — President Obama's presidential campaign raised $42 million during the final three months of 2011, giving him what his campaign manager called a “pretty good quarter” going into his re-election bid.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

Bush '03 fundraising beats Obama '11 — The Obama campaign and Democratic National Committee raked in a combined $68 million in the fourth quarter, bringing its total 2011 haul to $222 million — an impressive take but not quite up to the blistering pace set by the Bush-Cheney reelection machine over the same period.

Discussion: Big Journalism

Dan Merica / CNN: Obama announces big fundraising haul

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

James O'Keefe's Group Appears To Commit Voter Fraud In Order To Gin Up Hysteria Over Non-Existent Fraud Problem — James O'Keefe's latest video features surrogates appearing to commit voter fraud in yesterday's New Hampshire primary election, all in an attempt to highlight voter fraud …

Discussion: Rumproast, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Indecision Forever and US Politics

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
NH poll workers shown handing out ballots in dead peoples' names [VIDEO]

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Breitbart.tv, Conservative Hideout 2.0, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Firedoglake, White House Dossier, First Draft, The Raw Story, RedState, The Other McCain, Little Green Footballs, The Political Carnival, Nice Deb, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Right Scoop and Booman Tribune

Joe Battenfeld / Boston Herald:
Would-be dead man voter stopped at polls

Discussion: Blue Hampshire

Rana Foroohar / Swampland:

Warren Buffett Ready to Take Republicans' Tax Challenge — Updated, 6:10 p.m. E.T. — Warren Buffett is ready to call Republicans' tax bluff. Last fall, Senator Mitch McConnell said that if Buffett were feeling “guilty” about paying too little in taxes, he should “send in a check.”

Discussion: Hot Air, The Hill, Questions and Observations, Right Wing News, Don Surber, The Caucus, Weasel Zippers, The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, The Page, Taegan Goddard's … and Saint Petersblog

BBC:

Afghan leader Karzai condemns ‘US Marines body desecration’ video — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned a video that appears to show US Marines urinating on the bloodied corpses of several Taliban fighters. — The Taliban has also criticised the video as “shameful” but said it would not derail attempts at peace talks.

Discussion: FP Passport, Biased BBC and Joe. My. God.

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
U.S. peace talks with Taliban to resume

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Fox News:
Video Appears to Show Marines Urinating on Dead, Sparking Military Investigation

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Neil King Jr / Washington Wire:

Bolton to Back Romney — Former U.N Ambassador John Bolton is set to endorse Mitt Romney and will join his top team of foreign-policy advisers, according to people close to the campaign. — The move is a blow to Newt Gingrich, who is close to Mr. Bolton and said recently that he would nominate …

Discussion: Washington Post, Michelle Malkin, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, The Right Scoop and Campaign 2012

Emily Schultheis / The Politico:
John Bolton endorses Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential run

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers and New York Times

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Homeland Security watches Twitter, social media — (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Volokh Conspiracy, more at Techmeme »

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:
Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times

Discussion: Mediaite, The Lonely Conservative and Maggie's Farm

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Justices Recognize ‘Ministerial Exception’ to Job Bias Laws — WASHINGTON — In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws …

Discussion: Hot Air, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Truthdig and ACS Blog

Fox News:
Supreme Court sides with church on decision to fire employee on religious grounds

Discussion: The Stir By CafeMom, The PJ Tatler and Applesauce

Judith Howard Ellis / Washington Post:

Michelle Obama: I'm not ‘some angry black woman’ — Michelle Obama could have stayed home with her lips sealed today, and gotten a head-start on the annual Easter egg hunt. Instead she spoke about the alleged conflicts with former White House advisers described in Jodi Kantor's new book …

Discussion: The Week

Alex Wong / ABCNEWS:
Michelle Obama on New Book: Some Want To Give Her ‘Angry Black Woman’ Image

Discussion: The Stir By CafeMom, Colorlines and Don Surber

Patrick Hruby / Washington Times:
Top 5 ‘let them eat cake’ moments of the Obama White House

Discussion: UrbanGrounds

Bob Cesca / The Huffington Post:

The Fantastical Crackpot Cult of Ron Paul — During Tuesday night's New Hampshire Primary election coverage, Lawrence O'Donnell hilariously and saliently described Ron Paul as “not a candidate,” therefore Jon Huntsman was the realistic second place winner, though not technically since he placed third on paper.

Discussion: Alas, a Blog

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

3 billionaires who'll drag out the race — Meet the three billionaires who could drag out the GOP presidential primary, bloody up front-runner Mitt Romney and weaken the odds of defeating President Barack Obama: Sheldon Adelson, Foster Friess and Jon Huntsman, Sr.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Christian Science Monitor, Media Decoder and Time, more at Techmeme »

Linda Greenhouse / Opinionator:

Voting in Plain Sight — Of all the domestic policy differences between the Bush and Obama administrations, just about the sharpest and most telling may be their opposite responses to the drive by Republican-dominated states to require voters to present photo identification at the polls.

Discussion: Election Law Blog and TEXAS REDISTRICTING

James Joyner / Outside the Beltway:

Haley Barbour Pardons 14 Murderers; Judge Orders Halt — Here's a story I never expected to see: Mississippi Haley Barbour, a respected conservative and former RNC Chair, has gone on a pardon spree on his way out of office, drawing howls from Democrats. A judge has issued an injunction against more pardons.

Discussion: Power Line, Christian Science Monitor, Hot Air and CNN

Eddy / Crossing Wall Street:

Correction on the Mankiw Model — I have to apologize. I made a mistake in a post from last week in calculating the interest rate based on Professor Greg Mankiw's interest rate model. — His model for where the Fed funds rate ought to be is: … In my original post …