memeorandum: Obama to raise $3.1 million in NYC (Donovan Slack/The Politico)

8:55 AM ET, January 20, 2012

Top Items:

Speaker Newt Gingrich and Mrs. Gingrich Release 2010 Income Tax Return and Gingrich Foundation Tax Return — Atlanta, GA - Today, Newt and Callista Gingrich released their 2010 federal income tax return, which they filed jointly with the Internal Revenue Service.

Discussion: The Page, Campaign 2012, Telegraph, Washington Post, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Washington Wire and Mediaite

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:

Palin: ‘Dumb arses’ in media ‘overplayed their hand’ with Gingrich — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has now weighed in on the controversy surrounding an ABC interview with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's ex-wife, and Palin had some tough words for the media.

Discussion: The Politico, Don Surber, The Caucus, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, Mediaite and Wizbang

Brian Ross / ABCNEWS:

Exclusive: Gingrich Lacks Moral Character to Be President, Ex-Wife Says — Newt Gingrich lacks the moral character to serve as President, his second ex-wife Marianne told ABC News, saying his campaign positions on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family values do not square …

The Hill:

Gingrich's attack on the media sets feisty tone for GOP debate — Newt Gingrich lashed out at reports on his ex-wife's accusations and Mitt Romney stumbled in South Carolina. — CHARLESTON, S.C. — A fiery attack by Newt Gingrich on the news media for raising questions about his acrimonious divorce set …

Discussion: Reuters, Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit, The Politico and Los Angeles Times

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Gingrich maintains 6 point lead — Thursday may have been one of the most eventful days of the Republican campaign so far, but the state of the race in South Carolina didn't change much. Newt Gingrich continues to lead Mitt Romney by 6 points, 35-29, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each tied for third at 15%.

Discussion: Politics, The Hill, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Benjy Sarlin / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPM2012 — Newt: CNN ‘Despicable’ To Bring Up ‘Trash’ Open Marriage Story — CNN wasted no time in asking Newt Gingrich the burning question of the day: did he, as his wife claims in interviews, ask for an open marriage so he could carry on his affair with then-mistress Callista Gingrich?

Discussion: Oliver Willis, Talking Points Memo, Seeing the Forest and Hullabaloo

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Republican Debate Audience Boos Mitt Romney Over Releasing Tax Returns

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Campaign 2012 and Washington Post

New York Times:
Debate Opens With Questions on Gingrich's Marriages

Discussion: The New Republic, Slate, Outside the Beltway, FITSNews, ABCNEWS and The Caucus

A.Killough / CNN:
BREAKING: Romney calls Santorum

Discussion: The Politico, The BRAD BLOG, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, Rush Limbaugh and Washington Post

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Romney dodges question on releasing multiple years of tax returns

Discussion: The Politico

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Romney's Incredible Luck Continues

Discussion: Washington Post, msnbc.com, The Politico, Big Government, The Reaction, The Daily Caller, Political Mojo and The Daily Dish

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Gingrich Tied With Romney in South Carolina Forecast

Discussion: Public Policy Polling, Iowa Caucuses, The Politico, The Reaction, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, CBS News, Hit & Run, Hot Air, The Stranger … and Indecision Forever

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Limbaugh On Gingrich Cheating On His Ex-Wife: 'Newt's A Victim'

Discussion: Daily Kos, Rush Limbaugh, Gawker, Mail Online and Washington Post

Richard Adams / Guardian:
South Carolina Republican debate - as it happened

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos and The Politico

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Palin Says Interview With Ex-Wife Will Help Gingrich ‘Soar’

Discussion: CBS News and The Political Carnival

Paul Werdel / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Romney Snaps At Questioner, 'America's Right, And You're Wrong!

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community

Smitty / The Other McCain:
GOP MADNESS @ FINAL FOUR

Discussion: Politics, ABCNEWS, PJ Media and The Lonely Conservative

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Newt Gingrich cuts off media when asked about extramarital affairs

Discussion: The Politico, Reuters, CNN and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Wall Street Journal:
Fewer Debaters, Plenty of Heat

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, Fox News and ABCNEWS

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site — The federal authorities on Thursday announced that they had charged seven people connected to the Web site Megaupload, including its founder, with running an international criminal enterprise centered on copyright infringement on the Internet.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Right Wing News, Scared Monkeys, Rolling Stone, msnbc.com, Gothamist, FP Passport, Gizmodo, Engadget and Media Decoder, more at Mediagazer »

The United States Department of Justice:

Justice Department Charges Leaders of Megaupload with Widespread Online Copyright Infringement — WASHINGTON - Seven individuals and two corporations have been charged in the United States with running an international organized criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy …

Discussion: Guardian, The Verge, TalkLeft, Threat Level, Stuff.co.nz, GigaOM, Law Blog, Washington Post, Pat Dollard, Big Government, Deadline.com, Techdirt, Gizmodo, Truthdig and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Sam Biddle / Gizmodo:

Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline — Anonymous has sure been quiet lately, but today's federal bust of Megaupload riled 'em up good: a retaliatory strike against DoJ.gov (and plenty of other foes) leaving them completely dead.

Discussion: rt.com, Ars Technica, Gawker, The Gateway Pundit, TalkLeft, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, The Moderate Voice and Unqualified Offerings, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Barakat / Associated Press:
Popular file-sharing website Megaupload shut down

Discussion: Washington Post, Gizmodo, Company Town, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Mashable!, Associated Press and BuzzFeed, more at Techmeme »

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:
FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

Discussion: Ars Technica, The Raw Story, TechCrunch, GigaOM, Law Blog and Kathy Gill, more at Techmeme »

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:
Feds shutdown file-sharing site one day after web protest

Discussion: The Politico

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Romney to Occupy protester: Go back to Russia — The Romney campaign is proudly circulating this video of Mitt Romney dressing down an Occupy Wall Street protester with this line: “America's right, and you're wrong.” — “GREAT VIDEO,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom Tweeted just now.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo and Balloon Juice

Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity — President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn't often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Salon.com, Power Line, The Huffington Post, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Ron Radosh, Doug Ross, The Heritage Foundation, Via Meadia, Campaign 2012, New York Times and FP Passport

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Secretary Clinton won't testify on Keystone pipeline rejection

Discussion: The Politico and New York Times

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

The Ex Factor — Romney gets a break from Gingrich's former wife. But why has she changed her story? — Bye-Ku for Rick Perry — Trounced in Iowa — New Hampshire and—the third one — I can't. Sorry. Oops — Mitt Romney just got his biggest break in over a week.

Discussion: Mail Online, Don Surber, TalkLeft, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Washington Wire

Evan McMorris-Santoro / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Looking The Other Way: South Carolinians Yawn Over Newt ‘Bombshell’

Discussion: Washington Post, Rush Limbaugh, Firedoglake and Indecision Forever

Jennifer Martinezand Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

Senate Dems released from PIPA, sources say — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid won't whip Democratic votes for an online anti-piracy bill, according to sources familiar with his plans. — The decision deals a severe blow to movie, music and television producers, who had hoped to withstand …

Discussion: Guardian and PolitickerNY

Aaron D. Rubinger / Jerusalem Post:

Déjà Jew — Is European anti-Semitism different today or is there a feeling that we've been here before? — The term déjà vu brings to mind the English expression, been there, done that. The odd sensation of reliving something for the second time unnerves us precisely …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Weasel Zippers and Atlas Shrugs

Reuters:

Exclusive: Senior al Qaeda figure killed in drone strike — A militant who acted as a senior operations organizer for al Qaeda was targeted and killed in one of two U.S. drone strikes launched against targets inside Pakistan last week, a U.S. official said.

Discussion: The Long War Journal, Weasel Zippers and The Jawa Report

Donovan Slack / The Politico:

Obama to raise $3.1 million in NYC — The president was expected to appear at four fundraisers in Manhattan tonight with a total haul of at least $3.1 million. — According to guest counts and ticket prices released by the White House, his first event at swish, Upper East Side eatery Daniel …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, White House Dossier, Weasel Zippers and Towleroad News #gay