memeorandum: Payroll tax cut package pushes nation closer to hitting debt ceiling (Peter Schroeder/The Hill)

2:20 PM ET, February 19, 2012

Top Items:

Santorum says Obama agenda not “based on Bible” — COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum challenged President Barack Obama's Christian beliefs on Saturday, saying White House policies were motivated by a “different theology.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, American Power, The Reaction, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Raw Story, Taylor Marsh, americanthinker.com, Eschaton and Booman Tribune

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Santorum says he accepts that President Obama is ‘a Christian’ — Rick Santorum said Sunday that he “wasn't suggesting the president was not a Christian” when he said on the campaign trail that President Obama's agenda was based on “some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible.

Discussion: Politico and Ballot Box

Meghashyam Mali / Ballot Box:

Ron Paul gains votes in delayed Maine caucus, but Romney keeps lead — GOP hopeful Mitt Romney held on to his lead in Maine's caucuses Saturday after votes postponed by bad weather were finally tallied. — Ron Paul gained 83 votes on Romney following the caucus in Washington county …

Discussion: CNN and Outside the Beltway

Des Moines Register:

Obama trails three of four Republican candidates in latest Iowa Poll — © Des Moines Register and Tribune Co. — President Barack Obama trails three of the four Republican candidates in head-to-head match-ups if the election were held today, according to a new Iowa Poll.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Hit & Run, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post and Taegan Goddard's …

Meghashyam Mali / Ballot Box:
Poll shows Obama trailing three GOP challengers in Iowa

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and HotAirPundit

Kim Murphy / Los Angeles Times:

Texans rally against Keystone XL oil pipeline easement — Eddy Radillo was among dozens of Texans who rallied outside the Lamar County Courthouse in Paris, Texas, against plans to condemn land for an easement for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. (Sam Craft/The Paris News)

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Tim Eaton / Austin American-Statesman: Protesters in Austin try to clog pipeline proposal, support North Texas landowner

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Payroll tax cut package pushes nation closer to hitting debt ceiling — The payroll tax package that Congress passed on Friday accelerated the timeline for another battle over the debt ceiling. — Last summer's bitter clash over the debt limit took the nation to the brink of default …

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Sunday Morning Layup Drill — ‘Hope and Change’ is sooo 2008 - Team Obama is looking for a new slogan for 2012: — WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Winning The Future. Greater Together. We Don't Quit. — They may not be official but those are all phrases that could in one form …

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Gingrich: Romney will be ‘badly weakened’ if he loses Michigan — Newt Gingrich said Sunday that rival Mitt Romney's campaign would be “very badly weakened” by a loss in the Feb. 28 Michigan primary and dismissed the idea - floated by some conservatives concerned about the GOP field's performance …

Discussion: Politico, CNN and Hot Air

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Voting Rights Act under siege — In a political system where even the most trivial issues trigger partisan rancor, the Voting Rights Act has stood for several decades as a rare point of bipartisan consensus. — Until now. — An intensifying conservative legal assault on the Voting Rights Act …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The ‘Safe, Legal, Rare’ Illusion — AMID the sound and fury of the latest culture-war battles — first over breast cancer dollars and Planned Parenthood, and then over the White House's attempt to require that religious employers cover contraception and potential abortifacients …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Rod Dreher

Margalit Fox / New York Times:

John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74 — He crossed the Atlantic because it was there, and the Pacific because it was also there. — He made both crossings in a rowboat because it, too, was there, and because the lure of sea, spray and sinew, and the history-making chance …

Paul Krugman:

Austerity and Growth — Or, actually, shrinkage. — Watching Europe sink into recession - and Greece plunge into the abyss - I found myself wondering what it would take to convince the chattering classes that austerity in the face of an already depressed economy is a terrible idea.

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Kevin Sack / New York Times:

Lives Forever Linked Through Kidney Transplant Chain 124 — RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Rick Ruzzamenti admits to being a tad impulsive. He traded his Catholicism for Buddhism in a revelatory flash. He married a Vietnamese woman he had only just met. And then a year ago, he decided in an instant to donate his left kidney to a stranger.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Suburban Guerrilla

Michael D. Tanner / New York Post:

Misconception — With his mandate that all employers, including religiously affiliated institutions such as Catholic hospitals and charities, provide workers with health insurance that covers contraceptives, President Obama handed Republicans a terrific opportunity to talk about the growing intrusiveness of government.

Discussion: Don Surber

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Cantor sees ‘window of opportunity’ to pass additional jobs growth measures — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) previewed the upcoming Republican legislative agenda Sunday, saying the GOP would be pushing two measures it believes would spur small business growth.

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

David Catanese / Politico:

Babeu comes out, denies allegations — Arizona GOP congressional candidate Paul Babeu acknowledged Saturday he is gay but forcefully denied charges he threatened an ex-lover with deportation after their relationship soured. — “All of the allegations are false except one, I am gay,” Babeu said.