memeorandum: First Thoughts: The most important seven days of Romney's political life? (msnbc.com)

1:10 PM ET, February 21, 2012

Top Items:

Sex, Lies and Rick Santorum — The politics of the double standard on social issues. — When Barack Obama was campaigning for president in 2008, he declared that marriage is between a man and a woman. For the most part, his position was treated as a nonissue. — Now Rick Santorum is campaigning for president.

Discussion: National Review and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Santorum Expands Lead, but Romney Gets Electability Vote — Fifty-eight percent of Republicans say Romney has best chance to beat Obama — PRINCETON, NJ — Rick Santorum now holds a 10-percentage-point lead in Gallup's Daily tracking of national Republicans registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination.

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, The Other McCain, Investor's Business Daily, Hot Air, Arizona Republic, The Week, TIME Ideas, Lists, GOP 12, Ballot Box, Washington Wire and Towleroad News #gay

Politico:

Mitt Romney's burn rate a boon for Barack Obama — Mitt Romney is burning through cash more than twice as fast as he's raising it, new reports filed Monday show — a clear sign that a protracted GOP primary fight could leave the front-runner limping into a general election fight with President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN and Daily Kos

Mike Littwin / Denver Post:

Santorum's phony theology — I don't usually go first to Rick Santorum for enlightenment, but I think he may be onto something with this “phony theology” business. — It's not clear exactly what he meant when he said over the weekend that Barack Obama's policies were based on a “phony theology,” and not the Bible.

Discussion: The Agonist

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Santorum leads in Washington — Wedged between the Michigan/Arizona primaries and Super Tuesday the Washington state GOP caucus hasn't received a lot of attention. At least for now it looks like it could give Rick Santorum some momentum headed into the critical March 6th contests.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Erica Werner / Associated Press:
Obama peddles modest American dream

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, Grim's Hall and The Lonely Conservative

Peter Overby / NPR:
Romney Benefits From Campaign, SuperPAC Funds

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Daily Kos and Guardian

Steven Bertoni / Money Talks:

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Says He Might Give $100M To Newt Gingrich Or Other Republican — Sheldon Adelson: The GOP's $25 billion man … Sheldon Adelson plays as stubbornly in politics as he does in business. So the criticisms that he's trying to personally buy the presidential election …

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times, Swampland, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, Politico, TheBlaze.com, Washington Post, DownWithTyranny!, Daily Pundit, Ballot Box and Political Insider

msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: The most important seven days of Romney's political life?

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly and Newsy

Politico:
Pro-Rick Santorum PAC picks up another mega-donor

Discussion: Boston Globe, Shakesville, Guardian and The Raw Story

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
‘Super PAC’ Role Grows for Republican Campaigns

Discussion: Firedoglake, USA Today, Media Decoder, FiveThirtyEight, ABCNEWS, CNNMoney.com, Bloomberg, Washington Post, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Caucus

Saul Loeb / ABCNEWS: January Fundraising: Campaigns and Super PACs, Side by Side

Peter H. Gleick / The Huffington Post:

The Origin of the Heartland Documents — Climate Change , Global Warming , Heartland Institute , Heartland Institute Leaked Documents , Green News — Since the release in mid-February of a series of documents related to the internal strategy of the Heartland Institute to cast doubt on climate science …

Andrew C. Revkin / Dot Earth:

Peter Gleick Admits to Deception in Obtaining Heartland Climate Files — Peter H. Gleick, a water and climate analyst who has been studying aspects of global warming for more than two decades, in recent years became an aggressive critic of organizations and individuals casting doubt …

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, Vox Popoli, Balloon Juice, Right Wing News, Watts Up With That?, The Huffington Post, Guardian, Instapundit and TBogg

New York Times:
Activist Says He Lied to Obtain Climate Papers

Discussion: JunkScience.com

Felix Salmon:

The improbable Greece plan — Greece is now officially a ward of the international community. It has no real independence when it comes to fiscal policy any more, and if everything goes according to plan, it's not going to have any independence for many, many years to come.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Newshoggers.com, Jared Bernstein, Paul Krugman and National Review

Peter Spiegel / Agence France Presse:

Greek debt nightmare laid bare — A “strictly confidential” report on Greece's debt projections prepared for eurozone finance ministers reveals Athens' rescue programme is way off track and suggests the Greek government may need another bail-out once a second rescue - set to be agreed on Monday night - runs out.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, National Review, Political Mojo, Via Meadia and Financial Times

Reuters:
Europe seals new Greek bailout to avert default

Discussion: Politico, EU Referendum and Associated Press

Wall Street Journal:
Europe Reaches a Greek Deal

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, The Big Picture and americanthinker.com

Associated Press:
Greece secures bailout to avoid debt default

Discussion: Firedoglake and Balloon Juice

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Affirmative Action Case — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a major case on affirmative action in higher education, adding another potential blockbuster to a docket already studded with them. — The court's decision in the new case holds …

Discussion: Feministing

Scott Jaschik / Inside Higher Ed:

Supreme Court takes up affirmative action case — WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to consider whether the University of Texas at Austin has the right to consider race and ethnicity in admissions decisions. Those bringing the case hope the Supreme Court will restrict …

Discussion: Washington Post and msnbc.com

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:
Supreme Court will hear case on affirmative action at colleges

Discussion: PoliPundit.com

JournalGazette.net:

You choose, we deliver … Indiana — Authorities are searching for an Indianapolis man who fled on foot, accused of shooting at a state trooper near a southern Indiana highway.Today 9:03 am — Rep. Bob Morris said he did some Web-based research and found allegations that the Girl Scouts …

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, The Maddow Blog, We Party Patriots, The Raw Story, Balloon Juice, Towleroad News #gay, BuzzFeed and Booman Tribune

Chris Geidner / Poliglot:

Proposition 8 Proponents to Seek Full Ninth Circuit Review — Charles Cooper, the lead attorney for the proponents of Proposition 8, tells Metro Weekly that the proponents of the California marriage amendment will be asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to review …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.

Jonathan Strong / Roll Call:

Associate Confronted Rep. Ron Paul About Flights — In March 2005, David James called Rep. Ron Paul's (R-Texas) Congressional office for some documentation. — James's nonprofit group, the Liberty Committee, had paid for one of Paul's flights, and James needed a receipt or boarding pass to document the expense.

Discussion: Examiner, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Online NewsHour, The Spectacle Blog and msnbc.com

Capital Flows / Opinions That Matter:

The “Robo-Signing” Settlement: Seeds of Recovery, Or Chaos? — George Mason law professor Todd J. Zywicki fears that the “robo-signing” agreement will lead to further efforts to bleed the banks, all the while delaying the necessary clearing of the housing market.

ABCNEWS:

The Presidential Planner - Obama Touts Payroll-Tax Cut — President Obama will spend this morning touting the agreement to extend the payroll-tax cut and urging Congress to take additional steps to help the middle class. — “Because of this bipartisan action, the typical American family …

Discussion: Right Wing News

David Weigel / Slate:

My Candidate Ate Here — There are so many serious factoids to pull out of the four remaining Republicans' FEC reports. Here's an unserious one. Below, the restaurants or food-selling establishments patronized by the campaigns in January. We can break them down into two neat categories.