memeorandum: Gingrich, Romney continue attacks in Miami (Marc Caputo/MiamiHerald.com)

9:30 PM ET, January 25, 2012

Top Items:

Kevinliptak / CNN:

CNN/Time Poll: Dead heat in Florida ahead of debate — Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) - One day before the final GOP presidential debate in Florida, it's all tied up between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, according to a new survey. — A CNN/Time/ORC International Poll also indicates …

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Writes Like She Talks, Orlando Sentinel, The Buzz Florida Politics Feed, The PJ Tatler, Taylor Marsh and Saint Petersblog

Wallacegw / CNN:

Speaker tells members what not to wear — Washington (CNN) - Just seconds after an emotional tribute to Arizona Democratic Rep Gabby Giffords in the House of Representatives Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner - who got a little choked up in the moment - suddenly felt the need to remind members …

Discussion: The Politico and Reuters

First Read / msnbc.com:

Santorum hints at leaving FL before Tuesday primary — NAPLES, FL — Failing to show early signs of momentum in the Sunshine State, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday signaled he may be cutting out of Florida before the state's Jan. 31 primary.

Discussion: Ballot Box, Hot Air and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Kevinliptak / CNN:

Gingrich on Clinton impeachment, telling the truth — Doral, Florida (CNN) - At a Latino forum Wednesday Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich talked about character and perceived hypocrisy related to his personal history. — Univision anchor Jorge Ramos asked the former House speaker …

Discussion: The Politico

A.Killough / CNN:
Romney was ‘distinguished panelist’ at Fannie Mae conference

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Romney blasts Gingrich over attacks on debate moderators, news media

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, Reuters and National Review

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Watch Mitt Spin: Romney Claims His Real Tax Rate Is ‘Closer To 45 Or 50 Percent’ — During an interview with Univision, Romney was pressed on whether it was fair for him to pay about 13 percent of his income in taxes — as he did in 2010, according to his recently released tax returns — when many middle class families pay far more.

Discussion: pandagon.net, Daily Kos, Paul Krugman, Riptide 2.0 and The Daily Dish

Wall Street Journal:

Romney's Fair Share — The candidate's tax return is an argument for tax reform. — If Mitt Romney's 2010 tax bill were merely his pretax income, he'd still be a member of the 1%—in other words, the government takes more of his wealth every year than 99% of Americans earn.

Discussion: Jared Bernstein and The Politico

Paul Roderick Gregory / EconWorld:

Warren Buffett's Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year — Warren Buffet's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, served as a stage prop for President Obama's State of the Union speech. She was the President's chief display of the alleged unfairness of our tax system …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

Marc Caputo / Naked Politics:

Rubio scolds Gingrich camp, says ad bashing ‘anti-immigrant’ Romney is ‘inaccurate, inflammatory’ — Sen. Marco Rubio scolded Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign over a Spanish-language radio ad that accuses rival Mitt Romney of being “anti-immigrant” — “This kind of language is more than just unfortunate.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin, Guardian, The Caucus, The PJ Tatler, Ballot Box, Campaign 2012, Riptide 2.0, The Moderate Voice and The Other McCain

Paul Haven / Associated Press:
Castro lambasts US Republican primary as idiotic

Discussion: Gawker and Saint Petersblog

Mackenzie Weinger / The Politico:
Fidel Castro: GOP race is ‘idiocy, ignorance’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Eric Ostermeier / Smart Politics:

“My Message is Simple”: Obama's SOTU Written at 8th Grade Level for Third Straight Year — Obama's SOTU addresses have the lowest average Flesch-Kincaid score of any modern president; Obama owns three of the six lowest-scoring addresses since FDR — For the third consecutive State of the Union Address …

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Hot Air, The Politico, Stinque, Wonkette, No More Mister Nice Blog, Little Green Footballs, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, Althouse and Saint Petersblog

Byron Tau / The Politico:
State of the Union registers at 8th grade reading level

Discussion: Hit & Run, Weekly Standard, Mediaite, The Jawa Report, Washington Wire, ABCNEWS, NewsBusters.org, Reuters, Mail Online and LewRockwell.com Blog

Robert Seidman / TVbytheNumbers:
State of the Union Averages 37.75 Million Viewers, Down 12% From 2011

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Campaign 2012

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

On visit to Arizona, Obama and Gov. Brewer spar over her book — When President Obama landed in Phoenix on Wednesday, he was greeted with sunny skies and a kerfuffle with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer. — After welcoming the president upon his arrival, Obama told Brewer he didn't like the …

Discussion: CNN

Donovan Slack / The Politico:
Brewer?s tense exchange with Obama

Discussion: Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Marie Diamond / ThinkProgress:

Gingrich Pledges To Establish Permanent Base On The Moon ‘By The End Of My Second Term’ — In a speech pandering to Florida's aerospace community ahead of the state's primary, GOP contender Newt Gingrich made a bold pledge to establish a permanent U.S. base on the moon “by the end of my second term.”

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Newt pledges moon base by second term — POLITICO's Ginger Gibson:

Discussion: News Desk, US Politics, LewRockwell.com Blog and Gawker

Bloomberg:

Geithner: Obama Wouldn't Ask Me to Stay in a Second Term — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he doesn't expect President Barack Obama to ask him to stay in office if he's re-elected, and dismissed Wall Street's concerns about financial regulations.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Hill, Shakesville, The Daily Caller and Truthdig

Matt K. Lewis / The Daily Caller:

Mitt Romney's campaign is attacking Newt Gingrich as an “influence peddler.” But it turns out that some of Romney's closest advisers (or the firms they lobbied for) were paid hundreds of thousands — maybe millions — of dollars on behalf of failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Discussion: The Spectacle Blog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Danny Yadron / Washington Wire:
Gingrich Pulls Ad Attacking Romney After Rubio Criticizes It

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Caller and The Buzz Florida Politics Feed

Marc Caputo / MiamiHerald.com:
Gingrich, Romney continue attacks in Miami

Discussion: Naked Politics, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Eunomia, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air and The Caucus

Daniel Strauss / Ballot Box:

Pelosi's office says she has no new dirt on Newt Gingrich — Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office on Wednesday said the minority leader doesn't have any dirt on Newt Gingrich. — Pelosi has suggested in two interviews that she knows something that could prevent Gingrich from becoming president …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, RealClearPolitics Video Log, GOP 12, Gawker, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, The PJ Tatler, New York Magazine and Washington Times

Washington Examiner:
What really happened in the Gingrich ethics case?

Discussion: Hot Air, HillBuzz.org, The Daily Caller, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Wake up America and Riehl World View

Elliott Abrams / National Review:

Gingrich and Reagan — In the increasingly rough Republican campaign, no candidate has wrapped himself in the mantle of Ronald Reagan more often than Newt Gingrich. “I worked with President Reagan to change things in Washington,” “we helped defeat the Soviet empire,” and …

Discussion: Cato @ Liberty, The Atlantic Online, Washington Post and The Spectacle Blog

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Reagan Count: Gingrich 55, Romney 6

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Outside the Beltway, Sister Toldjah, Saint Petersblog, GOP 12, HillBuzz.org and Mediaite

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Wonkbook: Five policies to watch from Obama's State of the Union — Last night's State of the Union will not take a place alongside Barack Obama's 2008 speech on race. It won't be mentioned in the same breath as his 2004 speech in Boston. It didn't even have the intellectual scope …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Huffington Post, The Heritage Foundation, ThinkProgress, Bankrupting America, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Wake up America, Firedoglake and Eunomia

Tim Mak / The Politico:
Right blogs credit Obama on ‘insider’ bill

Discussion: Big Government, laborunionreport's Diary and Pirate's Cove

Erica Martinson / The Politico:

Issa: Obama's energy plan not the real thing — The president's promises to make America energy independent on the back of natural gas drilling aren't the real thing, Rep. Darrell Issa said Tuesday night. — “I think the president very much sent a not-so-veiled threat …

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Reaction

Tina Dupuy / Crooks and Liars:

Awkward Family Photos: Mitt Laundry — Mitt Romney's hurdle in winning the love/respect/admiration/fear of his party can be summed up in one photo: It was taken by his son, Tagg (doesn't Sarah Palin have a kid with that name?) and put on Twitter this week. It's of Romney and his wife Ann …

Discussion: Political Mojo and AlterNet

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

Who Is Sheldon Adelson, the Gingrich Super PAC's Billionaire Backer? — The casino magnate is reshaping the 2012 presidential race, just as he did the landscapes of Las Vegas and Macau. — The shadowy billionaire bankrolling Newt Gingrich's super PAC is a Las Vegas casino magnate who's given tens …

Discussion: The Politico and Eunomia

Elizabeth Chuck / msnbc.com:

Wrongfully convicted man awarded $25 million — A man in New Mexico has been awarded $22 million after being tossed in solitary confinement for 2 years following a DWI arrest. KOB-TV's Marissa Torres reports. — A New Mexico man who said he was forced to pull his own tooth …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Ron Paul 2012