memeorandum: Romney wins CPAC straw poll, barely edges Santorum nationally (Alexander Burns/Politico)

6:40 PM ET, February 11, 2012

Top Items:

Santorum surges into the lead — Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul. — Part of the reason for Santorum's surge is his own high level of popularity.

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Romney wins The Washington Times/CPAC Straw Poll — Returns to top after two years on the outs — Mitt Romney won The Washington Times/CPAC Presidential Straw Poll on Saturday, and also nipped Rick Santorum as the top choice of conservatives nationwide, according to a new version …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, BuzzFeed, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos and The Other McCain

Sarah Palin / CNN:

TRENDING: Palin calls on Romney to work harder for the conservative vote — Washington (CNN) - Sarah Palin issued a warning to Mitt Romney Saturday, calling on the former Massachusetts governor to do a better job explaining his record to conservatives or risk dampening voter turnout in November …

Discussion: Politico, The PJ Tatler, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Page

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

CPAC ‘severely’ conflicted over Mitt Romney — Mitt Romney wanted to use his CPAC speech Friday to allay concerns about his candidacy on the Republican right, but with one ad-libbed word he reinforced conservative fears that he's not one of them. — “I was a severely conservative Republican governor …

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, Outside the Beltway, AlterNet and Washington Blade

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Romney wins CPAC straw poll, barely edges Santorum nationally — Mitt Romney won the CPAC presidential straw poll with 38 percent of the vote, finishing with a single-digit lead over runner-up Rick Santorum, who pulled 31 percent support. Newt Gingrich was a distant third, with 15 percent, followed by Ron Paul, with 12 percent.

Discussion: CNN

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Palin Says Brokered Convention Would Not Hurt G.O.P. — Sarah Palin said Saturday that Republicans should be in no hurry to wrap up the presidential nominating contest, declaring that a competitive campaign until the August convention in Tampa would not complicate the party's efforts to defeat President Obama.

Discussion: GOP 12, Conservatives4Palin and New York Times

CNN:

Romney wins prized straw poll at conservative gathering — Washington (CNN) - GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the close-watched Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll on Saturday. — Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, took 38% of the vote in the poll.

Discussion: The Raw Story

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Breaking: Romney wins CPAC straw poll

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Shannon Travis / CNN: Romney does campaign first as Paul hopes for first win in Maine

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The Bettor's Case for Santorum

Discussion: Liberal Values, Public Policy Polling, Enik Rising, Booman Tribune and Hit & Run

ABCNEWS:

Which Republican Presidential Candidate Supported Sotomayor? — Pop quiz: Which Republican presidential candidate supported the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor? — Hint: It's the same one who endorsed a pro-abortion-rights presidential candidate in an earlier campaign. — Give up?

Discussion: National Review

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:

Bishops: Contraception deal ‘unacceptable’ — Hours after calling the Obama administration's contraceptives compromise a “first step,” the Catholic bishops said Friday night they have “two serious objections” to the new policy and will fight its enactment. — First, the U.S. Conference …

Discussion: Religion Dispatches, dotCommonweal, Outside the Beltway, Jezebel, Balloon Juice and Hot Air

usccb.org:
Bishops Renew Call To Legislative Action On Religious Liberty

Discussion: Hot Air, Balkinization, iOwnTheWorld.com, New York Times, Politico, National Review, dotCommonweal, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Pundit & Pundette, The Gateway Pundit, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, CNN, CBS New York, The Page and The PJ Tatler, more at Mediagazer »

Lee Smith / Weekly Standard:

Assad@axisofevil.com . . . Leaked emails show Westerners truckling to the Syrian regime. — In the fall of 2007 Israel reportedly hacked into Syria's air defense systems and disabled them, as a prelude to bombing a nuclear facility in the Syrian desert. This vaunted cyber exploit …

Discussion: Israel Matzav

Jonathan S. Landay / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
U.S. officials: Al Qaida behind Syria bombings

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com and Hot Air

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

The Contraception Controversy Would Have Been Avoided If Obama Were President — Helene Cooper and Laurie Goldstein of the Ministry of Truth pick up the pom-poms to cover the contraception controversy and assure their readers of two points - Obama is caving in to the Religious Left …

Discussion: New York Times, The Lede and Truthdig

CNN:

Ahmadinejad: Major nuclear announcement expected within days — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the 25th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on February 8, 2012 — (CNN) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Saturday that the nation will reveal …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch