memeorandum: FDA staffers sue agency over surveillance of personal e-mail (Washington Post)

7:15 PM ET, January 30, 2012

Top Items:

Newsmax Wires / NewsMax.com:

InsiderAdvantage Poll: Gingrich Surging, Race ‘Tighter Than Expected’ — More ways to share... Mixx — Stumbled — LinkedIn — Vine — Buzzflash — Newstrust — Technocrati — Forward Article — A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted Sunday night of likely Republican voters …

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, Hot Air, Ballot Box, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, The Other McCain, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Riehl World View, Washington Monthly, Wake up America, Taylor Marsh, The Political Carnival, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and American Spectator

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Mitt Romney On Fox & Friends: ‘I Wish I Could Claim I Was Hispanic’ — On Monday morning's Fox and Friends, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney let out another one of those “I'm running for office, for Pete's sake!” bursts of honesty which, like a burlesque revue at a leper colony, are revealing, but not in a good way.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and THEROOT.COM

Matt K. Lewis / The Daily Caller:
An internal Gingrich campaign memo obtained by The Daily Caller shows …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, Wake up America and Taegan Goddard's …

Quinnipiac University:
Romney Romps To 14-Point Lead In Florida GOP Primary, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds

Walter Shapiro / The New Republic:
Doing It For the Gipper: Why Old People Could Be Newt Gingrich's Saving Grace

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and ABCNEWS

Wallacegw / CNN:
Over 600,000 have already voted in Florida primary

Discussion: The Politico

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Little Movement in Florida

Discussion: Firedoglake, Daily Kos, The Politico, Hot Air and BuzzFeed

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Gingrich forces outspent by nearly $12 million on Florida airwaves

Discussion: CNN, The Atlantic Online, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Babalú Blog, Wake up America, Campaign 2012, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

E .J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

Obama's Breach of Faith Over Contraceptive Ruling — Obama's breach of faith over contraceptive ruling — One of Barack Obama's great attractions as a presidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual concerns of religious believers.

Discussion: Political Mojo, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Outside the Beltway, Ross Douthat, National Review, Taylor Marsh, RedState, Prairie Weather and The Huffington Post

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Contraception and “Religious Liberty” — It's been underway for a good while now. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' offensive to label federal requirements that religiously affiliated non-church institutions offer coverage for contraceptive services in employee health plans as an assault on …

Discussion: Religion Dispatches, Washington Post and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Nita Chaudhary / The Huffington Post:
Birth Control Matters

Discussion: ECHIDNE of the snakes and Hullabaloo

Michael Brendan Dougherty / Business Insider:
Here Is The Anti-Obama Administration Letter That Was Read To Almost Every Catholic Sitting In Church On Sunday

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, The Gateway Pundit, Power Line, The PJ Tatler and American Spectator

CBO's Latest 10 Documents:

COMPARING THE COMPENSATION OF FEDERAL AND PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYEES — HOW DOES THE COMPENSATION OF FEDERAL CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES COMPARE WITH THAT OF EMPLOYEES IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR? — Employees of the federal government and the private sector differ in ways that can affect compensation.

Discussion: The Politico, Economix, National Review, The Enterprise Blog and The Atlantic Online

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
CBO: Federal workers better compensated than in private sector

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Obama's Bodyguard — Meet the Democratic leader who's blasting Republicans and reaching out to a peeved Congress. — The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee is running late, prepping for an MSNBC interview while she brushes her tangled mass …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Mj Lee / The Politico:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz hits Reince Priebus on Concordia jab

Discussion: The Hill, Verum Serum, Right Wing Watch, Mediaite and ThinkProgress

Justin Sink / The Hill:
RNC chief doubles down on comparing Obama to disgraced Capt. Schettino

Discussion: Hot Air

Richard Hartley-Parkinson / Daily Mail:

'I'm going to destroy America and dig up Marilyn Monroe': British pair arrested in U.S. on terror charges over Twitter jokes — Two British tourists were barred from entering America after joking on Twitter that they were going to ‘destroy America’ and ‘dig up Marilyn Monroe’.

Discussion: PointOfLaw Forum, Boing Boing, msnbc.com, Runnin' Scared, The Lede, Mashable!, ABCNEWS, The Not-So Private Parts, Mediaite, GigaOM, Schneier on Security, The Daily What and The PJ Tatler, more at Techmeme »

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

GOP Voters Continue to Give Field Subpar Ratings — Obama Seen as More Understanding than Romney, Gingrich — Amid a bruising primary campaign, Republicans remain unimpressed with their party's presidential field. In fact, more Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Ballot Box

Mackenzie Weinger / The Politico:
Obama best understands people, poll finds

Discussion: Ballot Box and CNN

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Romney Ties Obama in Swing States; Gingrich Trails

Discussion: USA Today, The PJ Tatler, Guardian, Daily Kos, The Politico and Hot Air

Anita Singh / Telegraph:

Jonathan Franzen: e-books are damaging society — Jonathan Franzen has launched a passionate defence of the printed book, warning that our desire for the instant gratification of e-books is damaging for society. — Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom, is being hailed as one of America's greatest novelists

Discussion: Mashable!, The Daily Dish, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and normblog, more at Mediagazer »

Alison Flood / Guardian:
Franzen warns ebooks are corroding values

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and Althouse

Washington Post:

Obama: The most polarizing president. Ever. — President Obama ran — and won — in 2008 on the idea of uniting the country. But, each of his first three years in office have marked historic highs in political polarization, with Democrats largely approving of him and Republicans deeply disapproving.

Discussion: Democracy in America, Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, JustOneMinute, Pirate's Cove, Shakesville, Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Stinque and National Review

Rosie Gray / Politics:

State Senator Behind “Don't Say Gay” Bill Refused Service At Restaurant — Tennessee state senator Stacey Campfield, who recently said that it is “virtually impossible” to contract HIV through heterosexual sex, was kicked out of a restaurant in Knoxville. He went quietly.

Discussion: The Daily What, WBIR-TV, Nashville for the 21st Century and Towleroad News #gay

Matt Lakin / Knoxville News-Sentinel:
Bistro at the Bijou owner boots, bans state Sen. Stacey Campfield for AIDS remarks

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, Nashville for the 21st Century and The Raw Story

ProPublica:

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners — by Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica and Chris Arnold, NPR News … Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates.

Discussion: Firedoglake, NPR, Angry Bear, Political Mojo, ABCNEWS, The Consumerist, Questions and Observations, Real Time Economics, HousingWire, EconLog, Truthdig and ThinkProgress

Dylan Byers / The Politico:

Newt's promise: No reporters as moderators — Newt Gingrich lashed out at the media today during a rally in Pensacola, Florida, suggesting that all reporters are in the tank for President Obama: — “As your nominee, I will not accept debates in the fall in which the reporters are the moderators …

Discussion: Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

msnbc.com:
Gingrich: I wouldn't accept debate versus Obama moderated by reporters

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Racial code words obscure real issues — Two weeks ago at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., I asked each GOP presidential candidate some pointed questions about the racial politics that will play a big role in the presidential campaign.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber and Weasel Zippers

Bobby Bank / ABCNEWS:

Donald Trump Staff in Talks With Financiers, Campaign Managers to Explore Third Party Bid — ABC News' Huma Khan and Jennifer Wlach report: — Donald Trump's top political adviser told ABC News he's speaking to “high-level political operatives” to explore a third-party bid for the real estate mogul …

Discussion: M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …

Helia Ebrahimi / Telegraph:

Agent Provocateur sales boosted by US First Lady Michelle Obama — Agent Provocateur saw sales jump by more than 12pc, helped by US First Lady Michelle Obama spending $50,000 (£31,794) in one shopping spree. — Michelle Obama's shopping spree caused part of Madison Avenue to be closed off

Discussion: Wonkette, Gawker, The Politico, Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and Campaign 2012

Josh Putnam / Frontloading HQ:

I'll see your white knight and raise you a filing deadline. Why It's Too Late for Entry in the Republican Nomination Race — Way back in the summer (of 2011), FHQ began fielding calls and emails from a number of media outlets asking about the filing deadlines for primaries and caucuses in the various states.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, A plain blog about politics, Race 4 2012, Swampland and American Prospect

Karen Famighetti / Media Matters for America:

Wash. Post's Parker Wildly Distorts Charitable Giving Of Obama, Romney — On this morning's edition of The Chris Matthews Show, panelist Kathleen Parker claimed that Mitt Romney has “give[n] away “42 percent of his income, compared to Obama, who gave away 1 percent to charity.