memeorandum: Mitt Romney to release tax returns, estimates rate at about 15 percent (Washington Post)

8:25 PM ET, January 17, 2012

Top Items:

Obama up 5 on Romney nationally — PPP's first national poll of 2012 finds Barack Obama with his best standing against Mitt Romney since last May, right after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Obama leads Romney 49-44. — It's not as if Obama's suddenly become popular.

Discussion: Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, Ballot Box, Patterico's Pontifications, The Caucus, Daily Kos, Gothamist and INSTAPUTZ

Kevinliptak / CNN:

Romney says his effective tax rate is 15% — Florence, South Carolina (CNN) - Mitt Romney said Tuesday he pays roughly a 15% effective tax rate on his income - an acknowledgment that the multi-millionaire pays a smaller percentage of taxes on his income than many middle-income Americans.

Discussion: US Politics, iWatch News, Don Surber, The Hinterland Gazette, ABCNEWS, The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, Shakesville and The Hill

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:

Romney Admits His Tax Rate Is About 15 Percent, Lower Than Many Middle Class Families — Citizens for Tax Justice a few months ago estimated that Mitt Romney, due to most of his income coming from investments, pays a tax rate of around 14 percent, a far cry from the 35 percent top income tax rate.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, The Caucus, ABCNEWS, The Huffington Post, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Raw Story, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, The Hinterland Gazette and Daily Kos

Wallacegw / CNN:

Gingrich urges Santorum, Perry to drop out — Florence, South Carolina (CNN) - Newt Gingrich is urging competitors Rick Santorum and Rick Perry bow out of the Republican presidential race so conservatives can rally behind one “anti-Mitt Romney” candidate. — A reporter asked …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Politico, The Other McCain, The Hill, Hot Air, Rick Santorum for President and Washington Examiner

Washington Post:

Mitt Romney to release tax returns, estimates rate at about 15 percent — FLORENCE, S.C. — Bowing to pressure from his Republican rivals as well as the Democrats, Mitt Romney told reporters here Tuesday that he plans to release his federal income tax returns this spring and estimated his rate at about 15 percent.

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, Paul Krugman, The Other McCain, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Political Mojo

Pete Kasperowicz / Ballot Box:
Gingrich doubles down on promise to follow Obama around the country to force debates

Discussion: CNN

Pat Garofalo / The Atlantic Online:
The Real Scandal in Private Equity? It's the Taxes

Discussion: New York Times and Wonkette

Patrick Marley / JSOnline:

Democrats file 1 million signatures for Walker recall — By Patrick Marley, Jason Stein and Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel — Madison - Democrats and organizers filed petitions Tuesday afternoon with more than a million signatures as they sought to force a recall election against Gov. Scott Walker …

Discussion: Big Government, Booman Tribune, Media Trackers, The Daily Caller, Marathon Pundit, Colorlines, The Impolitic, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Balloon Juice

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Dems gather more than one million signatures to recall Scott Walker — Wisconsin Democrats are telling reporters that they have gathered more than one million signatures to recall Governor Scott Walker — a remarkable number that could have real ramifications for this year's presidential race.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, JSOnline and US Politics

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress: BREAKING: Walker Recall Effort Delivers More Than 1 Million Signatures

Brendan O'Brien / Reuters:
Enough signatures collected to recall Wisconsin governor

Discussion: Crooked Timber

Fox News Insider:

TRANSCRIPT: Fox News Channel & Wall Street Journal Debate in South Carolina — Here's a full transcript from tonight's GOP debate in South Carolina: — BAIER: Thanks, Bill, and welcome to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and the Republican presidential debate.

ABCNEWS:
Rick Perry Camp Explains Suggestion That Turkey Is Led By ‘Islamic Terrorists’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, Reuters, CNN, News Desk, The Caucus, Wonkette, The Hill and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Turkey responds angrily to Perry remarks

Discussion: USA Today, Mediaite and Jihad Watch

Emspiff / CNN:
Turkey responds to Perry remarks

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Emerging Europe Real Time, Eunomia, The Enterprise Blog, ThinkProgress and Israel Matzav

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Romney, Dewhurst lead in Texas — Rick Perry's Presidential campaign is doing about as bad in Texas now as it is everywhere else in the country. When PPP last polled the state in September he was at 49%, leading Mitt Romney by 39 points. Now Perry's support has declined by 31 points, leaving him in 3rd place at 18%.

Discussion: Hot Air, Trail Blazers Blog, Hit & Run, msnbc.com, Ballot Box and Campaign 2012

ABCNEWS:
Va. Appeals Court Rules Against Perry and Gingrich's Attempt to Get on Ballot

Discussion: Fire Andrea Mitchell!

Emily Schultheis / The Politico:
Court rejects Perry's Va. ballot appeal

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Outside the Beltway

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Perry: Santorum a ‘good Catholic’

Discussion: CNN, GOP 12, Questions and Observations and The Other McCain

Jon Bershad / Mediaite:

Chris Matthews Accuses Newt Gingrich Of Racially Charged Use Of The Name ‘Juan’ — A big moment of last night's debate came when moderator Juan Williams and Newt Gingrich argued over Gingrich's comments that many have seen as condescending towards blacks. However, Williams …

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, THEROOT.COM and National Review

Charles M. Blow / Campaign Stops:
Newt Gingrich and the Art of Racial Politics

Discussion: Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Atlantic Online and The Daily Dish

Jim Watson / ABCNEWS:

New Polls Show Signs Of Serious Vulnerability For President Obama — There are plenty of Democrats and even some Republicans who view the Republican primary as a gift to President Obama. Sixteen debates, web videos and “you can't even make this up” candidate behavior …

Discussion: Big Journalism, Investor's Business Daily, Taylor Marsh and Gallup

Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
‘Occupy Congress’ protesters arrested

Discussion: Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers, nation.foxnews.com and The Gateway Pundit

Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
Nancy Pelosi: GOP knows Mitt Romney can't win

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Wizbang

Shelby Grad / L.A. NOW:

Pinkberry co-founder beat homeless man with tire iron, LAPD says — One of the founders of the popular Pinkberry yogurt chain is accused by police of chasing down a homeless man and beating him with a tire iron. — The incident took place in June 2011 on an off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway …

Discussion: Opinion L.A., BuzzFeed, The Raw Story and Gawker

Thomas Erdbrink / Washington Post:

U.S. drone that crashed in Iran goes miniature — A photo released by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps purports to show the RQ-170 drone that was reported crash in December. (Sepahnews via Associated Press) TEHRAN — For the American government, the crash of the RQ-170 drone in Iran was an embarrassment.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Jessica Firger / Wall Street Journal:

Protest Sapped of Cash — Occupy Wall Street Freezes Spending on New Projects as Donations Dry Up — Occupy Wall Street—the movement built on protesting corporate greed and income inequality—is running out of money. — After raising more than $700,000 last fall …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Politico, The Hill, ThinkProgress, Hot Air and Gothamist

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Obama warns left: You won't like budget — Top White House officials are warning liberal and labor leaders to brace themselves for President Obama's budget proposal. — Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, sought in meetings last week to lift the left's gloom …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Firedoglake, The Politico, Pirate's Cove, Liberal Values, Prairie Weather and Shakesville

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

What Would New York Look Like With a Smaller Financial Sector? — After a disappointing year, the big banks are pulling back on their bonus pools. A lot. This is going to be hard on bankers whose salaries are usually a very small part of their overall compensation—and yes, yes …

Discussion: TBogg

The New Republic:

TNR Exclusive: More Selections From Ron Paul's Newsletters — Ron Paul has recently suggested there was only a “total of about eight or ten sentences” of “bad stuff” in the newsletters that he regularly used to publish under his name. This assertion was patently false: As TNR has shown …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Stranger … and Wonkette

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

An Economic Recovery Is Not Fated for 2013 — Can this be fixed by 2013? - Calculated Risk job loss chart Click to see enlarged original at CR — I've seen a spate of stories recently suggesting that a economic recovery is fated to happen by 2013, and whoever wins the Presidential election …

Discussion: Washington Post and Washington Monthly

Marie Diamond / ThinkProgress:

Santorum Staffer Says Women Shouldn't Be President Because It's Against God's Will — In an article about the reasons Rep. Michele Bachmann's campaign fizzled, the Des Moines Register points to “sexism among conservatives,” singling out an offensive email written by a staffer to Rick Santorum:

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette