memeorandum: The Power Broker — After weeks of temporizing, Mitt Romney … (New York Times)

2:15 PM ET, January 24, 2012

Top Items:

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Gingrich won't ‘allow’ moderators to silence crowd at future debates — Newt Gingrich says he won't “allow” the moderators of future GOP presidential debates to keep the crowd out of it. — Speaking on Tuesday to Fox News, Gingrich took the opportunity that was denied him at Monday night's debate, and blasted the media.

Discussion: CNN, GOP 12, 2012 Decoded, The Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus, The Mahablog, Political Insider, Stinque, The Daily Caller and Hullabaloo

Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:

Gingrich Threatens to Skip Debates if Audiences Can't Participate — Newt Gingrich insists his fans will not be silenced. — Mr. Gingrich, a former House speaker, on Tuesday morning threatened not participate in any future debates with audiences that have been instructed to be silent.

Discussion: Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Connecting.the.Dots, National Review and Campaign 2012

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Debate Winner: Mitch Daniels — I've got to think Monday night's debate further swelled the groundswell of support for Mitch Daniels. The liveliest part of the debate was at the beginning, when Mitt went after Newt—and Republicans all over America watched with fascinated horror at the thought that these are the two GOP frontrunners.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, American Prospect, The Mahablog, Ross Douthat, Balloon Juice, The Maddow Blog, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, Zandar Versus The Stupid, COURAGE IN AMERICA and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:

Mitt Romney's tax returns shed some light on his investment wealth — Mitt Romney offered a partial snapshot of his vast personal fortune late Monday, disclosing income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million last year — virtually all of it profits, dividends or interest from investments.

Wall Street Journal:

Romney's Taxes: $3 Million — Candidate Paid a 14% Effective Tax Rate for 2010 on $21.7 Million in Income — WASHINGTON—GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid a 14% effective income tax rate in 2010 after making $3 million in tax-deductible charitable donations and drawing …

Discussion: The Politico, National Review, news.talkingpointsmemo.com, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Wake up America, Reuters, Above the Law, americanthinker.com, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, The Raw Story and The Page

Jon Cohen / Washington Post:

Public sours on Romney in January — The number of Americans with negative views of Mitt Romney has spiked in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, compounding the former Massachusetts governor's challenges as he tries to rally from Saturday's big loss in South Carolina.

Discussion: GOP 12, Campaign 2012, Washington Monthly, Reuters, ThinkProgress, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

What the battle over Romney's wealth is really about, in one poll finding — The battle to define Mitt Romney as emblematic of everything that's wrong with our economy and tax code is largely about winning back a core Democratic constituency that Obama badly needs in 2012: Blue collar whites.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Riehl World View and Daily Kos

Susan Jones / CNSNews:
Gingrich on Debate's No-Clapping Rule: 'Media Doesn't Control Free Speech'

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, Don Surber, 2012 Decoded and Ballot Box

Brad Plumer / Washington Post:
Tax rates of presidential candidates, in one chart

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Indecision Forever

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Newt up 5 in Florida — PPP's first post-South Carolina poll …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Orlando Sentinel, Shakesville, Patterico's Pontifications, Ballot Box, Scared Monkeys, American Prospect, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos, Wake up America, americanthinker.com, Liberal Values, Hot Air, The Politico, Donklephant, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Swampland

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Gingrich's former firm releases Freddie Mac contract

Discussion: Hot Air

A.Killough / CNN: Dick Armey: Daniels could still run

The Caucus:
Romney Tax Returns Show 2-Year Income of $45 Million

Discussion: New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Campaign 2012, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Althouse, News Desk, David Cay Johnston, Naked Politics, Mediaite, Swampland, The Daily Dish, Gawker and DealBook

New York Times:
The Power Broker — After weeks of temporizing, Mitt Romney …

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog and Prairie Weather

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Newt Gingrich releases Freddie Mac contracts: Read them here

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Political Mojo and Naked Politics

Catalina Camia / USA Today:
Mitt Romney to pay $6.2M in taxes for 2010-2011

Discussion: The Reaction, Tax Foundation, NewsBusters.org blogs and The PJ Tatler

Jim Efstathiou Jr / Bloomberg:

Buffett's Burlington Northern Among Winners From Keystone Denial — Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration's decision to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)'s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Big Government, UrbanGrounds and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Byron Tau / The Politico:

Buffett's secretary to join Obama — Billionaire Warren Buffett's longtime secretary will be joining first lady Michelle Obama in her box at tonight's State of the Union, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer announced on Twitter. — Debbie Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Washington Wire, CNN, Weasel Zippers, Pundit & Pundette and The PJ Tatler

Alicia M. Cohn / Ballot Box:
Romney: Obama will use State of the Union to ‘divide nation’

Discussion: CNN

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Buffett's secretary to join first lady at State of the Union address

Discussion: The Politico

Reuters:
Obama to tout natural gas benefits in State of Union

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Lynn Sweet, Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

The GOP Deserves to Lose — That's what happens when you run with losers. — Let's just say right now what voters will be saying in November, once Barack Obama has been re-elected: Republicans deserve to lose. — It doesn't matter that Mr. Obama can't get the economy out of second gear.

Discussion: Don Surber, Eunomia, The Enterprise Blog and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Popularity Swings Sharply for GOP Field — Unfavorable views of Mitt Romney have soared, doubts about Newt Gingrich remain widespread and Barack Obama has advanced to his highest personal popularity in more than a year — all in advance of the State of the Union address in which Obama makes his case for a second term.

William Galston / The New Republic:
Five Things To Watch For In the State of the Union

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

CBS News:
Obama to lay out economic vision in SOTU

Discussion: CBS Dallas

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Hello, I must be going — I have some news to share: after three-and-a-half years at the Washington Monthly, I'm moving on. My last post will be tomorrow and I'll start my new career at MSNBC on Monday morning. — Working for the Monthly has been an amazing experience …

Simon Tomlinson / Daily Mail:

The classiest telling off in concert hall history? Witty musical response of violinist who was interrupted mid-solo by mobile phone ringtone — It is the most infuriating addition to any performance for artist and audience alike. — While engrossed in a captivating piece of theatre …

Genevra Pittman / Reuters:

Abortion safer than giving birth: study — (Reuters Health) - Getting a legal abortion is much safer than giving birth, suggests a new U.S. study published Monday. — Researchers found that women were about 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live baby than to die from complications of an abortion.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, LifeNews.com, Feministing and Shakesville

Artur Davis / National Review:

Draft Jeb Bush — In the early months of the election year, a polarizing president with a lackluster approval rating bided his time as the opposition party unraveled. Its nominating fight dissolved into chaos as the establishment front-runner collapsed, and an insurgent with a talent …

Discussion: GOP 12, Hot Air, Hotline On Call and COURAGE IN AMERICA

Adam Serwer / Political Mojo:

“Self Deportation”: It's a Real Thing, and It Isn't Pretty — Mitt Romney unveiled a novel solution for illegal immigration during Tuesday night's GOP debate, saying that he'd rely on “self-deportation” to reduce the number of unauthorized immigrants in the US. — Or at least it sounded novel.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Raw Story

Declan McCullagh / CNET:

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops — American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, The Verge, Gizmodo, Vox Popoli and msnbc.com, more at Techmeme »

New Jersey Online:

Gov. Christie calls for referendum on issue of legalizing gay marriage — BRIDGEWATER — Gov. Chris Christie called today for the Legislature to put on the fall ballot a voter referendum on whether to legalize gay marriage, which Democratic lawmakers have made a top priority.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.