memeorandum: Senate GOP pushes for Keystone vote on highway measure (Ben Geman/The Hill)

7:05 PM ET, February 13, 2012

Top Items:

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Santorum Catches Romney in GOP Race — Obama Leads Both in General Election Matchups — OVERVIEW — Rick Santorum's support among Tea Party Republicans and white evangelicals is surging, and he now has pulled into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Guardian, Firedoglake, Washington Post, The Caucus, Opinion L.A., GOP 12, Hot Air, Los Angeles Times, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's … and The Page

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Santorum moves ahead in Michigan — Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich. — Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity …

National Review:

Santorum's Turn — At the moment Rick Santorum appears to be overtaking Newt Gingrich as the principal challenger to Mitt Romney. Santorum has won more contests than Gingrich (who has won only one), has more delegates, and leads him in the polls. In at least one poll, he also leads Romney.

Discussion: Business Insider, The Atlantic Online, Runnin' Scared, Politico, Hot Air, Washington Post, Eunomia, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, americanthinker.com, The Caucus, The Daily Dish, The Hill, The Maddow Blog, Donklephant, Media Decoder and News Desk

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Santorum Surges to Tie Romney — Race takes another turn as Santorum gains 14 points since winning Feb. 7 GOP contests — PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are now statistically tied for the lead in Republican registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination — 32% to 30%, respectively.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Ballot Box, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers and Associated Press

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Severe Conservative Syndrome — Mitt Romney has a gift for words — self-destructive words. On Friday he did it again, telling the Conservative Political Action Conference that he was a “severely conservative governor.” — As Molly Ball of The Atlantic pointed out, Mr. Romney “described conservatism as if it were a disease.”

Discussion: Latest Open Salon Blog, The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather and Globe and Mail

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
GOP Gov. McDonnell warns Santorum not to demean military women

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Democracy in America:
Romney's Santorum problem

Discussion: Ballot Box, Eunomia, Politico, Daily Kos, The Week and The Hinterland Gazette

Bob McDonnell / CNN:
McDonnell hits Santorum over ‘emotions’ remarks

Discussion: The Hill and National Review

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Dem lawmaker: Obama budget is a ‘nervous breakdown on paper’ — Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) expressed concern President Obama's budget would go too far to rein in government spending in the midst of an economic recovery, calling the forthcoming proposal a ‘nervous breakdown on paper.’

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, Politico, Weasel Zippers and Ron Paul 2012 Presidential …

Susan Cornwell / Reuters:

Obama proposes $800 million in aid for “Arab Spring” — (Reuters) - The White House announced plans on Monday to help “Arab Spring” countries swept by revolutions with more than $800 million in economic aid, while maintaining U.S. military aid to Egypt. — In his annual budget message to Congress …

Discussion: LifeNews.com, Rush Limbaugh, Mail Online, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch

James Pethokoukis / The Enterprise Blog:
Obama's ‘rosy’ budget scenario doubles down on class warfare

Discussion: Bloomberg, National Review and American Spectator

David Rogers / Politico:
Obama budget slated for $3.8 trillion

Discussion: Colorado Peak Politics, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and CNN

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Republicans See Broken Promises and Gimmicks in Obama Budget

Discussion: Center for American Progress, ThinkProgress, Reuters, ABCNEWS, PERRspectives, The Maddow Blog, RedState and Hot Air

Lornet Turnbull / Seattle Times:

Gregoire signs gay marriage into law — With Gov. Chris Gregoire's signature on Monday, Washington joins six other states and the District of Columbia in allowing same-sex couples to marry. — OLYMPIA — Surrounded by applauding gay couples and with media from around the country looking on …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, msnbc.com, Outside the Beltway and ACS Blog

Geoff Mulvihill / Associated Press:

NJ Senate OKs gay marriage bill in milestone vote — TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers gave their blessing to legalizing gay marriage for the first time Monday as the state Senate passed a bill that would allow nuptials for same-sex couples, despite Gov. Chris Christie's insistence that he will veto such legislation.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Politico, Washington Monthly, Business Insider and Truthdig

Edith Honan / Reuters:
New Jersey Senate approves gay marriage; veto looms

Discussion: Daily Kos, Prop 8 Trial Tracker and Campaign 2012

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Washington Governor Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Discussion: The Political Carnival and Booman Tribune

Jake Shermanand Manu Raju / Politico:

House GOP scrambles payroll tax cut calculus — In a dramatic reversal, House GOP leaders said Monday they'll attempt this week to pass a 10-month extension of the payroll tax holiday without saying how they'd pay for it. — Republicans say it's not their first choice …

Discussion: CNN, Swampland and The New Republic

Bernie Becker / The Hill:
House GOP leaders drop demand that payroll tax cut be offset

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, RedState and The Maddow Blog

Speaker:
Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy Statement on Payroll Tax Cut Conference Negotiations

Discussion: Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Times, The Political Carnival, A plain blog about politics, ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice and Campaign 2012

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPMDC — GOP Drops Demand For Offsetting Payroll Tax Cut

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Washington Post

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Tucker Carlson takes on the media — The top editors at the Daily Caller have come out with the first in a series of articles about the liberal media watchdog Media Matters For America, and in doing so they have suggested that MSNBC and reporters from the Washington Post, POLITICO …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Erick's blog and Big Journalism

Tucker Carlson / The Daily Caller:
Inside Media Matters: Sources, memos reveal erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations

Vince Coglianese / The Daily Caller:
Inside Media Matters: David Brock's enemies list

Discussion: Big Journalism

David Frum / The Daily Beast:

Norquist: Romney Will Do As Told — Is Mitt Romney so weak he won't be able to stand up to Congress? — Grover Norquist, head of the Americans for Tax Reform advocacy group, speaks at a session entitled “Scrap the Code: Towards Pro-Growth Tax Reform” at the conservative Americans for Prosperity …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Eunomia and The Political Carnival

Richard Florida / The Atlantic Cities:

Why America Keeps Getting More Conservative — Even with the president's approval rating showing signs of life and the Republicans busily bashing themselves over the head — “one is a practicing polygamist and he's not even the Mormon,” retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently quipped …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, In America, The Reaction, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Althouse

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Obama's Broken Deficit Promise — “This is big,” wrote White House director of new media Macon Phillips in a February 23, 2009 blog post, “the President today promised that by the end of his first term, he will cut in half the massive federal deficit we've inherited. And we'll do it in a new way: honestly and candidly.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, The Hill and Hullabaloo

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Jack Lew's misleading claim about the Senate's failure to pass a budget resolution

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Fox News, The Heritage Foundation, Budget Committee, A plain blog about politics, Michelle Malkin, CNN, Hot Air, Power Line, Washington Free Beacon and Campaign 2012

Byron Tau / Politico:

W.H. ruling reopens cabinet access — President Obama's decision to encourage his donors to give to a super PAC does more than just empower an outside group looking to level the playing field with Republican groups. — It also opens to the door to a kind of influence peddling that was banned …

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog and About.com US Politics

Michael Beckel / iWatch News by The Center …:
Four Cabinet members willing to help Democratic super PACs

Discussion: Politico

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Whitney Houston album price hike sparks controversy — Sony Music under fire after cost of greatest hits set on iTunes rises by more than 60% after singer's death — Sony Music has come under fire after it increased the price of a Whitney Houston album on Apple's iTunes Store hours after the singer was found dead.

Discussion: VentureBeat, ThinkProgress, Truthdig, The Daily Caller, Colorlines and Metro.co.uk

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

‘Former Homosexual’ Calls for Dan Savage's Arrest — DL Foster, an anti-gay activist and professed “former homosexual,” called for the arrest of author Dan Savage for his role in founding the It Gets Better Project, which has consistently been in the crosshairs of Religious Right activists …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Towleroad News #gay

Associated Press:

Justice Breyer robbed at West Indies vacation home — WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed last week by a machete-wielding intruder at his vacation home in the West Indies, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Monday. — The 73-year-old Breyer, wife Joanna and guests were confronted …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Mediaite and The Caucus