memeorandum: Obama's State of the Union will include new push for tax reform (Michael A. Memoli/Los Angeles Times)

10:35 PM ET, January 24, 2012

Top Items:

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: The Loyal Opposition, The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, Little Green Footballs, The Star-Ledger Editorial Page, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Hot Air, National Review, CNSNews, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, Mad Kane's Political Madness, Connecting.the.Dots and Campaign 2012

Greg Hengler / Townhall.com:

Andrea Mitchell: “Top Romney Advisor” Said “Party Elites” Will Find Alternative If Mitt Loses Florida … Dude!? — ANDREA MITCHELL: “I talked to a top Romney adviser tonight who said, 'Look, if Mitt Romney can not win here in Florida then we're going to have to try to reinvent …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Other McCain, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Eunomia and A plain blog about politics

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: Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Other McCain, neo-neocon, Weekly Standard, Wizbang, Don Surber, The Enterprise Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Eunomia, JustOneMinute, Ricochet Conversations Feed, ProfessorBainbridge.com and Ross Douthat

weaskamerica.com:

Florida Surprise — We have a motto at We Ask America Polls: The Numbers are the Numbers. That means that if the audience we dial meets our standards, we don't second-guess the results-even if the numbers buck conventional wisdom. — That's the situation we face with our first Florida poll …

Discussion: Saint Petersblog

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Gingrich won't ‘allow’ moderators to silence crowd at future debates

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, 2012 Decoded, Daily Kos, COURAGE IN AMERICA, CNN, Stinque, Don Surber, The Mahablog, Political Insider, GOP 12, Wake up America, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, The Caucus, Hullabaloo and Ballot Box

Wallacegw / CNN:
Pro-Romney super PAC makes major ad purchase in Florida

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Post, The Hill, Ballot Box, msnbc.com and iOwnTheWorld.com

Jonathan Easley / Ballot Box:
Gingrich overtakes Romney nationally

Discussion: CNN, FiveThirtyEight, ABCNEWS, The Politico, Weasel Zippers, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and Saint Petersblog

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
SEIU, Obama super-PAC team up to hit Romney in Spanish

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

CHART: What Romney would pay under his own tax plan — Now that Mitt Romney has released his tax returns for 2010, we can have a stab at answering another key question. What would Romney himself pay in taxes if his tax policies become law? — In 2010, Romney enjoyed an income of $21.7 million.

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Maddow Blog

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: Campaign 2012, Reuters, Hot Air, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, National Review, GOP 12, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and ThinkProgress

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Atlantic Online and Indecision Forever

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Newt-Mitt Electability Gap Shrinks

Discussion: The Politico, The PJ Tatler and Ricochet Conversations Feed

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

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, Washington Post and Prairie Weather

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
What the battle over Romney's wealth is really about, in one poll finding

Discussion: Riehl World View, GOP 12, National Review, Campaign 2012 and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's tax returns shed some light on his investment wealth

Washington Post:

In State of the Union, Obama expected to warn that middle class threatened by economic unfairness — President Obama will warn the nation Tuesday evening that the decades-old promise of a secure and rising middle class is threatened by economic unfairness as he delivers an election-year State …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Saint Petersblog and The New Republic

Wallacegw / CNN:

Boehner: Politics President Obama is running on ‘almost un-American’ — Washington (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner Tuesday forcefully denounced the Democrats' campaign theme that they are for the middle class and Republicans are for the wealthy - saying the politics the president is running on are “almost un-American.”

Discussion: The Caucus, The Hill, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Little Green Footballs

Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
White House SOTU talking points

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Reaction, New York Times, Hot Air, National Review and The Gateway Pundit

Michael A. Memoli / Los Angeles Times:
Obama's State of the Union will include new push for tax reform

Discussion: Firedoglake, On Point with Tom Ashbrook and Political Mojo

James Joyner / Outside the Beltway:
State Of The Union Address Obsolete

Discussion: Washington Post

Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:

Google announces privacy changes across products; users can't opt out — View Photo Gallery — Google announced a new privacy policy and terms of service on Jan. 24. Here's a look at some of the Google products that will be affected by the policy change.

Discussion: Guardian, TechCrunch, News on ZDNet Australia, CBS San Francisco, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, Mashable! and Prairie Weather, more at Techmeme »

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama To Announce Mortgage Crisis Unit Chaired By New York Attorney General Schneiderman … Barack Obama , Obama State Of The Union , State Of The Union , State Of The Union Address , Obama , Obama Speech , President Obama , Video , Eric Schneiderman , Obama Address …

Discussion: Politics, Guardian, Daily Kos and GOP.com

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Grassley: Author of legal opinion on recess appointments may have seen her last Senate confirmation — Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Monday evening that he doubts that the Senate will ever confirm again the Obama administration Justice Department official …

Discussion: The Politico and ThinkProgress

Popular Mechanics:

Supreme Court Privacy Ruling Is About More Than GPS Tracking: Analysis — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that attaching a GPS tracker to your car amounts to a search, and therefore law-enforcement officers must get a warrant before they can do it. Read deeper, though …

Discussion: ACS Blog

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 …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, The Impolitic and Booman Tribune

Politics:

Read Obama's State Of The Union — Feisty, and full of veiled shots at Mitt Romney. “I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.” — The speech begins and ends …

Discussion: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Matt Stopera / BuzzFeed:

The Most Badass Excerpt From Barney Frank's Interview With The NY Times — Barney Frank was interviewed about a variety of subjects by the NY Times recently. Here's how he answered a question about his views on marijuana. — Interviewer: You've long argued for the decriminalization of marijuana.

Kevin Paul Dupont / Boston Globe:

On a day for team, Thomas left them shorthanded — Tim Thomas separated himself from his Bruins' teammates yesterday afternoon when he refused to join them at the White House, a day meant to celebrate their 2011 Stanley Cup championship. — The two-time Vezina Trophy winner later …

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, Hit & Run, Stinque, The Spectacle Blog, PERRspectives, NewsBusters.org blogs and Israel Matzav

The Gallup Organization / Gallup:

U.S. Economic Confidence Best Since May — Current index score is similar to that of one year ago — PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. economic confidence is at -25 in the week ending Jan. 22, improved from -29 the prior week and the best since the week ending May 22, 2011.

Discussion: Washington Post and The New Republic

Dylan Byers / The Politico:

The first Occupy candidate: Nate Kleinman — Nathan Kleinman, a 29-year-old member of the Occupy Philadelphia movement, intends to run for congress in Pennsylvania's 13th district against Democratic incumbent Allyson Schwartz. — “The petition gathering period starts today and lasts for three weeks …

Discussion: Politics

Apple:

Apple Reports First Quarter Results — Highest Quarterly Revenue and Earnings Ever All-Time Record iPhone, iPad and Mac Sales — Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 first quarter which spanned 14 weeks and ended December 31, 2011.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, MacRumors, New York Times, The Verge and Daring Fireball, more at Techmeme »

Nicole Burgin / AM740 and FM102.3:

Food containing fetuses targeted under new Oklahoma bill — You might think this is a story out of ‘The Onion’ but it is a real story. — An Oklahoma lawmaker files a bill to ban the making and selling of food or products that use aborted human fetuses. — State Senator Ralph Shortey …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Wonkette, Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Raw Story and Shakesville

Seung Min Kim / The Politico:

Joint panel at crossroads on tax holiday, Keystone — Lawmakers staked out clear lines Tuesday at the first session of the conference committee charged with negotiating an extension of the payroll tax holiday — with no clear path toward a deal. — Democrats still want to hike taxes on the wealthy.

Wall Street Journal:

We Don't Need More Foreign Oil and Gas — America is poised to be the world's clean energy leader. — In the hubbub around the president's decision not to approve the proposed Keystone XL pipeline between Canada and the United States, Americans missed the big picture.

Discussion: Doug Ross, Reuters, New York Times, Power Line, ThinkProgress and Washington Post