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

9:25 AM ET, February 14, 2012

Top Items:

Dalia Sussman / The Caucus:

Santorum Catches Up With Romney in New Poll — After his surprise triple victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Rick Santorum has begun soaring among Republican primary voters, erasing Mitt Romney's lead in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, GOP 12, Washington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Connecting.the.Dots, msnbc.com and ABCNEWS

CBS News:

Poll: Rick Santorum takes slight lead in GOP race — CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto. — Rick Santorum has pulled slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in Republican primary voters' preference for the presidential nomination …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The New Republic, Hot Air, Politico, The Hill, Daily Kos and Ballot Box

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.

Rick Santorum / CNN:

Protestors disrupt Santorum event, get arrested — (CNN) - A group of protesters disrupted a Rick Santorum campaign rally in Tacoma, Washington, on Monday, prompting the presidential hopeful to brand it as a “radical element” that represents “true intolerance.”

Discussion: CBS News and Campaign 2012

Trip Gabriel / The Caucus:

On California Swing, Gingrich Predicts Another Comeback — PASADENA, Calif. — As Newt Gingrich swooped down on donor-rich California for several days of fund-raising, he still managed on Monday to fit in a couple of rallies, where both voters and reporters peppered him with questions …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Media Decoder and New York Times

Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Santorum Surges to Tie Romney

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Associated Press, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Ballot Box, CNN and Firedoglake

Democracy in America:
Romney's Santorum problem

Discussion: Salon.com, American Spectator, Jay Bookman, Vox Popoli, Eunomia and The Hinterland Gazette

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

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, Politico, Boston Globe, GOP 12 and The Daily Caller

Tucker Carlson / The Daily Caller:

Media Matters memo called for hiring private investigators ‘to look into the personal lives’ of Fox employees — A little after 1 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2009, Karl Frisch emailed a memo to his bosses, Media Matters for America founder David Brock and president Eric Burns.

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, FishbowlDC and Betsy's Page

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

Discussion: Power Line, Big Journalism, Politico, RedState, Michelle Malkin, Ed Driscoll, Wonkette, Weasel Zippers and Washington Monthly, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Tucker Carlson takes on the media

Discussion: The Daily Caller, American Spectator, RedState, Mediaite and Big Journalism

Bernie Becker / The Hill:

House GOP leaders drop demand that payroll tax cut be offset — House Republicans said Monday that they would offer a measure to extend the current payroll tax cut for the rest of the year, dropping a previous demand that the tax break be offset. — The move marks a sharp turnaround for GOP leaders …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, The Maddow Blog, americanthinker.com, Wall Street Journal, The PJ Tatler and RedState

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Military Cuts and Tax Plan Are Central to Obama Budget

Discussion: The Big Picture, Budget Committee, The Maddow Blog, Economix, Mail Online, Capital New York and Washington Post

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
House Republicans Yield on Extending Payroll Tax Cut

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post and Prairie Weather

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

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Political Carnival, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Campaign 2012, New York Times, ThinkProgress and Balloon Juice

Jake Shermanand Manu Raju / Politico:
House GOP scrambles payroll tax cut calculus

Discussion: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, The New Republic, CNN and Swampland

Bianca Vazquez Toness / WBUR:

WBUR Poll: Brown, Warren Running Neck And Neck In Senate Race — BOSTON — A new WBUR-MassINC poll shows U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren running neck and neck. Forty-six percent of people polled said they would vote for Warren compared to 43 percent for Brown.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hotline On Call and americanthinker.com

Wall Street Journal:

Apple, Suppliers Test Tablet With Smaller Screen — By By LORRAINE LUK in Taipei and JESSICA E. VASCELLARO in San Francisco — TAIPEI-Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen, people familiar with the situation said …

Discussion: Mashable!, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:
Verizon, AT&T to Sell 4G iPad

Discussion: Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

ABCNEWS:

Political Punch — “Dogs Against Romney”? Democrats Say Unleash the Hound! — Tomorrow outside the Westminster dog show at Madison Square Garden at noon the group “Dogs Against Romney” will protest “to ensure pet lovers are aware that Mitt Romney is mean to dogs,” according to the group's press release.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and The Raw Story

Rusty / Dogs Against Romney: For Immediate Release: Dogs Against Romney Press Event: Westminster Dog Show, NYC.

Mitt Romney / detroitnews.com:

Romney op-ed: Taxpayers should get GM shares' proceeds — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns in Portland, Maine. The candidate contends that the Obama administration should sell its ownership in GM and return the money to taxpayers. (Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press)

Discussion: emptywheel, Balloon Juice and Campaign 2012

Hilary Leila Krieger / Jerusalem Post:

Obama set to okay Egypt, PA aid despite tension — Palestinians to see only slight roll back despite unity deal with Hamas; Egypt aid to remain at 2012 level. — By REUTERS/Larry Downing — WASHINGTON - Despite recent tensions between the US and Egypt and a new Palestinian Authority government set …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Israel Matzav

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, Campaign 2012, Doug Ross, National Review, Sister Toldjah, Firedoglake and American Spectator

Susan Cornwell / Reuters:
Obama proposes $800 million in aid for “Arab Spring”

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

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Republican Women Senators Breaking Ranks With Party, Come Out In Favor Of Obama Contraception Rule — While GOP senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to fight the Obama's administration's modified regulation requiring health insurers and busnisses to offer contraception …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Washington Post, The Impolitic, Firedoglake, emptywheel, The Raw Story, Pundit & Pundette and Daily Kos

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: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Eunomia and The Political Carnival

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Clinton: We need Assad's consent to put troops in Syria — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a clear and unified message coming out of their meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday: They are looking for a political solution in Syria …

Discussion: US Department of State, Israel Matzav and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Bishops' Obsession With The Sex Lives Of Others — They've been dominating the news, haven't they? And they are prepared to go down screaming over contraception in health insurance plans handled between patient and insurer. Letters were read recently in every parish.

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community and dotCommonweal

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: Politico, CNN, iOwnTheWorld.com, Mediaite, The Hill and The Caucus

Neil Munro / The Daily Caller:

Obama hikes subsidy to wealthy electric car buyers — The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles — to $10,000 per buyer. — That mammoth subsidy would cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress …

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, Hot Air, The Heritage Foundation, Don Surber and Weasel Zippers