memeorandum: Newt Claims To Be More Electable than Rick . . . (William Kristol/Weekly Standard)

8:35 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: Taylor Marsh, The Other McCain, 2012 Decoded, Hot Air and USA Today

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., Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake, Daily Kos and Poll Watch Daily

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, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Michelle Malkin, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Ballot Box and Media Decoder

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: Daily Kos, Poll Watch Daily and Hot Air

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

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.

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

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Romney in Line of Fire at SC Debate

Discussion: CNN, The Politico and Outside the Beltway

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

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

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
Activists say pro-Santorum vote was rigged

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

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

Discussion: The Politico, Vodkapundit and Hot Air

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Political Mojo and NY Daily News

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

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

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Newt Claims To Be More Electable than Rick . . .

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News and The Politico

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

Discussion: Hit & Run, Carolina Live and CNN

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

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

Discussion: Ballot Box and The Impolitic

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

New York Times:

Forceful Attack Against Romney in G.O.P. Debate — MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Mitt Romney came under forceful attacks during a debate here on Monday evening, with his Republican rivals lining up to question his business background, wealth and character, as they implored voters to scrutinize …

Discussion: Don Surber, The Caucus, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and The Page, more at Mediagazer »

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

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

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

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: Connecting.the.Dots, The Hinterland Gazette, nation.foxnews.com and Weasel Zippers

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

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, Washington Post, Brad DeLong, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Nice Deb

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Obama administration warns the left: You will not like our 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 …

Discussion: The Politico, Pirate's Cove and Prairie Weather

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

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Riding Electability & Expectations, Romney Rolls to 35 Percent Support — Bolstered by the twin engines of electability and perceived inevitability, Mitt Romney's on a roll, advancing in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll to a 2-to-1 lead over his closest competitor in support for the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: The Page