memeorandum: Why the Saudis want $100-a-barrel oil (Brad Plumer/Washington Post)

10:45 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, Ballot Box, The Caucus, No More Mister Nice Blog, Patterico's Pontifications, Daily Kos, Guardian, Gothamist and INSTAPUTZ

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 Hill, The Other McCain, Hot Air, The Politico, Rick Santorum for President and Washington Examiner

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: The Moderate Voice, iWatch News, US Politics, The Mahablog, Don Surber, The Hinterland Gazette, ABCNEWS, 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 Huffington Post, ABCNEWS, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Daily Kos, The Raw Story, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and The Hinterland Gazette

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Palin: I'd vote for Gingrich in South Carolina

Discussion: CNN

David Brooks / New York Times:
South Carolina Diarist

Discussion: The State, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, The American Conservative, Prairie Weather, Poynter and CNN

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

Discussion: CNN

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

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

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

Brendan O'Brien / Reuters:

Enough signatures collected to recall Wisconsin governor — (Reuters) - Organizers of the petition drive to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker submitted what appeared to be more than enough signatures on Tuesday to force the first-term Republican to defend his seat in a special election.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Crooked Timber

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

Monica Davey / New York Times: Organizers Say 1 Million Signed Petition to Recall Wisconsin Governor

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

Donovan Slack / The Politico:

White House locked down because of ‘smoking objects’ — The White House was locked down Tuesday night because of “smoking objects” found near the North Portico as hundreds of protesters rallied outside the executive mansion, Secret Service officials said. — “We had approximately 1,000 …

nbcwashington.com:
Apparent Smoke Bomb Tossed Over White House Fence

Discussion: msnbc.com and Talking Points Memo

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Obama warns left: You won't like budget

Discussion: Reuters, Taylor Marsh, The Lonely Conservative, Hullabaloo, The Politico, Pirate's Cove, nation.foxnews.com, Firedoglake, Liberal Values, Prairie Weather and Shakesville

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: Trail Blazers Blog, Hot Air, 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: Outside the Beltway and ThinkProgress

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, Faith in Public Life, The Daily Dish and Washington Post

CNET:

Google will protest SOPA using popular home page — The tech sector is pulling out the big guns. — Google, the Web's top search company and one of technology's most influential powers in Washington, will post a link on its home page tomorrow to notify users of Google's opposition …

Discussion: Emily L. Hauser, TechCrunch, Political Mojo and Techdirt, more at Techmeme »

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
It's Baaaaaaaaack: Lamar Smith Says SOPA Markup To Resume In February

Discussion: Deadline.com, Engadget, Daily Kos, Making Light and Insert Coin, more at Techmeme »

Joel Gehrke / Campaign 2012:

WH: Newt's Obama food stamp charge is ‘crazy’ — President Obama's White House spokesman dismissed as “crazy” Newt Gingrich's claim that Obama has “put” people on food stamps, citing the ailing economy as the cause for the expanded use of welfare programs. — “Well, you know as well as I …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Gingrich On Food Stamp Comment: “Among The Politically Correct, You Are Not Supposed To Use Facts …

Discussion: Big Government and RedState

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

Ashley Parker / The Caucus:
Romney Says His Effective Tax Rate Is About 15 Percent

Discussion: Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, New York Times, Political Mojo, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Raw Story and Gothamist

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

Discussion: Wonkette

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, Outside the Beltway, Emerging Europe Real Time, Associated Press, CNN, Talking Points Memo, USA Today, Reuters, Wonkette, The Hill, The Caucus, Eunomia, News Desk and Ricochet Conversations Feed

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

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