memeorandum: Iran cracks down on Barbie, plans toys of captured U.S. drone (Mitra Amiri/Reuters)

4:00 AM ET, January 17, 2012

Top Items:

Mark Halperin / The Page:

“Easy Answer,” Hard Ad — FIRST ON THE PAGE: New Santorum South Carolina TV spot finally goes where many conservatives (and commentators) expected Romney rivals to go. — Hits on Palmetto State TV stations Tuesday. — The script: … Watch it here. » — HALPERIN'S TAKE

Discussion: The Other McCain and USA Today

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:

Activists say pro-Santorum vote was rigged — A civil war is breaking out among evangelical leaders over allegations of a rigged election and ballot stuffing at a Saturday gathering of religious and social conservatives. — At the meeting about 150 religious conservative activists at the Benham …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Caucus, Big Government, The BRAD BLOG, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, American Prospect, Los Angeles Times, Political Mojo, The Mahablog, ABCNEWS, Betsy's Page, Ballot Box, Wall Street Journal and Daily Kos

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Romney Has 23-Point GOP Lead Nationally — Romney is up 13 points since just before Iowa caucuses — PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney has climbed to a commanding 23-point lead over his nearest competitor among Republican registered voters nationally, based on interviewing conducted Jan. 11-15.

Discussion: Opinion L.A., Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Poll Watch Daily and Fox News

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Romney way up in Florida — Mitt Romney's in a strong position to win this weekend in South Carolina, and he's in an even stronger position to follow it up with a big win in Florida. Our first Sunshine State poll of 2012 finds Romney with a 15 point lead at 41% to Newt Gingrich's 26% …

Discussion: Hot Air, Daily Kos and Poll Watch Daily

Wallacegw / CNN:

CNN Poll: Obama tied with Romney & Paul in November showdowns — Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney is all tied up with President Barack Obama in a likely general election matchup, with the president showing signs of weakness on the economy and Romney seen as out of touch with ordinary Americans, according to a new national survey.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Ron Paul 2012 Presidential …, Ballot Box, New York Times, The Hinterland Gazette, The Lonely Conservative, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and Washington Post

Justin Sink / Ballot Box:

GOP debate: Crowd gets rowdy when candidates talk foreign policy — The crowd at the GOP debate in military-heavy South Carolina got rowdy during a discussion of foreign policy, booing Ron Paul heartily and whooping and cheering when the other candidates took a hard line on foreign involvement.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

Attacks fly in Republican debate — Newt Gingrich was put on the defensive with the first question of Monday night's GOP presidential debate when he was asked about his recent attacks on Mitt Romney. — The former speaker repeatedly avoided making the same strident attacks on Romney's private-sector record he's made in recent weeks.

Discussion: CBS News, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin and Ballot Box

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:

Romney in Line of Fire at SC Debate — As the Republican presidential field thins out, the remaining candidates are polishing their line of attack against Mitt Romney in what could be their last opportunity to derail the frontrunner. — Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are expected to come …

Discussion: The Politico, CNN and Outside the Beltway

Zeke Miller / Politics:

Santorum Rattles Mitt Romney — He presses the frontrunner on an attack ad about allowing felons to vote. The frontrunner stumbles. — Source: youtube.com — MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina—Rick Santorum put a target on Mitt Romney's back in tonight's Fox News presidential debate here, and didn't let up.

Fox News:
Conservatives talk social issues in South Carolina, but money is still on their minds

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Rush Limbaugh and NO QUARTER

A.Killough / CNN:
Gingrich pitch to conservatives: Don't vote for Santorum

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air and Vodkapundit

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
National Polls Suggest Romney Is Overwhelming Favorite for G.O.P. Nomination

Discussion: Carolina Live, Hit & Run, Hot Air and CNN

John Hoeffel / Los Angeles Times:
Santorum demands pro-Romney super PAC pull down ‘false’ attack ad

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress and Political Mojo

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Gingrich: A vote for Rick Santorum is a vote for Mitt Romney

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, The Other McCain, The Lonely Conservative and Campaign 2012

A.Killough / CNN:
Santorum's wife: Rick doesn't hate anyone

Discussion: TBogg

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Santorum calls on Romney to release tax returns

Discussion: The Politico, CNN, ABCNEWS, ThinkProgress, The Other McCain and Daily Kos

Amanda Peterson Beadle / ThinkProgress:
On MLK Day, Romney Campaigning With Anti-Immigrant Official Tied To Hate Groups

Discussion: Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, The Hinterland Gazette and Hullabaloo

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Group spends $6 million linking Obama to Solyndra in ad

Discussion: Ballot Box and The Impolitic

NY Daily News:
Newt Gingrich, natural woman

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Daily Caller

Congressman Allen West / Facebook:

Mr. President, please don't play the race card in 2012... Mr. President, please don't play the race card in 2012 — I was born in the inner city of Atlanta in 1961, when segregation was still rife, at a time when I would have been barred from visiting the very beaches that make up part …

Discussion: Pat Dollard, The Hill, The Hinterland Gazette, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Weasel Zippers, UrbanGrounds, No More Mister Nice Blog, Campaign 2012 and The Daily Caller

New York Times:
Forceful Attack Against Romney in G.O.P. Debate

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post and The Page

Mj Lee / The Politico:
Holder: Same voting issues as MLK

Discussion: Nice Deb, Big Government, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh and Freedom Line Blog

Nancy Hass / The Daily Beast:

Before Karen Met Rick — The GOP contender's hard-core pro-life wife once dated an abortion provider. Nancy Hass on their time together. — Karen Santorum, the ultra-pro-life wife and mother of seven home-schooled children, has been the perfect complement to her husband, Rick, as he chases the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Nice Deb, The Other McCain, Campaign 2012, Mediaite, Joe. My. God. and Connecting.the.Dots

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:

Arianna Huffington Critical Of Michelle Obama Over Seeming Indifference To Poverty — HUFF: THAT'S NOT ENOUGH — Arianna To MO: Watch The Bel Air Trips — How will they pin this one on conservatives? — From our establishment media friends, nearly every criticism of Michelle Obama …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Hinterland Gazette and nation.foxnews.com

Washington Examiner:

York: Final count could show Romney lost Iowa — A pile of counted ballots for the Republican presidential nominee sit on a table in the cafeteria at Kennedy High School during a caucus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, January 3, 2011. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Cliff Jette)

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Brad DeLong, Washington Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Nice Deb

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Measuring futility — The Times' analysis looked at six specific yardsticks for legislative activity: the amount of time each chamber spent officially in session; the total number of bills that passed; the number of floor votes each chamber took; the number of pages amassed in the Congressional Record …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Seeing the Forest

Fox News:
Reid on bipartisanship: Republicans, drop the Tea Party ‘extremism’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Kevin Drum / Political Mojo:

Jon Hunstman, It Turns Out, Just Isn't That Good a Politician — Since I'm feeling lazy this morning, I'm going to outsource my Jon Huntsman commentary to a reader. As it happens, he says exactly what I was thinking anyway about Huntsman's exit from the race:

Discussion: The Caucus, The Politico, The Reaction, Salt Lake Tribune, The Atlantic Online and Washington Monthly

David Weigel / Slate:
Jon Huntsman's Presidential Campaign, RIP

Discussion: CNN, Democracy in America and No More Mister Nice Blog

Manu Raju / The Politico:

Scott Brown, Elizabeth Warren call for Super PAC cease fire — BOSTON — Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren and Republican Sen. Scott Brown on Monday demanded a cease-fire of the third-party spending that's certain to play a major role in this state's pivotal Senate race.