memeorandum: Romney Campaign Doubles Down On Rick Santorum-Arlen Specter Connection (ABCNEWS)

10:15 AM ET, February 24, 2012

Top Items:

Rick Santorum winning more support from Republican women — Over the past several weeks, Republicans have watched squeamishly as presidential contender Rick Santorum has waded into multiple controversies that risk alienating half the 2012 electorate: women.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Pirate's Cove, CNN, The Page and Politico

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

What happens if Mitt Romney wins Michigan? — DETROIT — For the past week, much of the focus of the Republican presidential race has centered on the consequences Mitt Romney will face if he loses Michigan's primary. After a debate in Arizona on Wednesday, the question should be: What will happen if he wins his home state?

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times, Taegan Goddard's …, FiveThirtyEight, ABCNEWS, New York Times and Las Vegas Sun Blogs

Politico:

Democrats: Is Rick Santorum for real? — Last week, the Obama campaign made what seemed, on its surface, like a startling announcement: They were steering some of their opposition researchers, who had been mostly trained on Mitt Romney, to a rocketing Rick Santorum.

Discussion: CNN and Political Insider

James Hohmann / Politico:
Morning Score: Romney on economy

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN and detroitnews.com

Mary Beth Schneider / Indianapolis Star:
Recount puts Santorum on Indiana primary ballot

Discussion: The Hill, GOP 12 and Rasmussen Reports

Steven Rattner / New York Times:
Delusions About the Detroit Bailout

Discussion: The Obama Diary, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic Online, Jared Bernstein, ABCNEWS, The Raw Story and Detroit Free Press

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:
Auto Bailout Now Backed, Stimulus Divisive

Discussion: Daily Kos

The Gallup Organization / Gallup:
Republicans, Democrats Differ Over U.S. Automaker Bailout

Discussion: Swampland and Politico

Investor's Business Daily:

5 Biggest Whoppers In Obama's Energy Speech — Energy: The White House billed President Obama's energy policy speech as a response to mounting criticism of record high gas prices. What he delivered was a grab bag of excuses and outright falsehoods. — Obama's main message to struggling motorists …

Discussion: JunkScience.com, Power Line, Doug Ross, Betsy's Page and New York Times

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Obama: Why, these Republicans are licking their chops over higher gas prices

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Ed Driscoll and The PJ Tatler

Joel Gehrke / Campaign 2012:
Obama: Use ‘algae’ as substitute for oil

Discussion: Houston Chronicle, Wizbang, Cold Fury, The Daily Caller, Pirate's Cove, JunkScience.com, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and The Lonely Conservative

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Romney's Economic Closet — According to Michael Kinsley, a gaffe is when a politician accidently tells the truth. That's certainly what happened to Mitt Romney on Tuesday, when in a rare moment of candor — and, in his case, such moments are really, really rare — he gave away the game.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post and Prairie Weather

Sara Murray / Wall Street Journal:
Romney Taps Bush Hands to Shape Economic Policies

Discussion: The Page

Rosie Gray / Politics:

Ron Paul Fans Outraged At Hearty Post-Debate Handshake — “Ron Paul has got arthritis. That must have hurt him, f**k you Rick!” — Follow — More from Rosie Gray › — Source: youtube.com — Rick Santorum topped off a disappointing debate performance with an oddly enthusiastic handshake with Ron Paul.

Discussion: Hot Air, Althouse, Online NewsHour and BuzzFeed

ABCNEWS:
Romney Campaign Doubles Down On Rick Santorum-Arlen Specter Connection

Discussion: Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Maddow Blog

Larry J. Sabato / Sabato's Crystal Ball:
The Santorum Surge and Its Larger Meaning

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, American Spectator and Wake up America

Tim Mak / Politico:

Reports: Jeb Bush says 2012ers are 'appealing to people's fears' — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Thursday that he found it “troubling” that the 2012 presidential candidates are “appealing to people's fears and emotion” on the campaign trail, according to reports.

Discussion: UPI, CBS Dallas, Weasel Zippers, Fox News and LewRockwell.com Blog

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

New York Times Columnist Mocks Romney's ‘Magic Underwear’ — I hope you're proud. — Mr. Blow may attempt to delete that Tweet, but it can, for now, be found here. Of course, this is the Internet. Nothing ever goes away completely. — One of your columnists responds to a comment he does not like …

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, BuzzFeed, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Big Journalism, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, NewsBusters.org and JustOneMinute

JournalGazette.net:

You choose, we deliver … The Scoop — A written report from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources: (Rochester) Conservation Officers investigated an off-road vehicle accident that occurred in Fulton County on February 22nd during the early evening hours.Today 7:34 am

Discussion: Politico, WANE-TV and 89.3 WFPL News

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Females on Campaign Trail Go For Sexpot Look — Forget about SexyTwitPics. Washington has its own crop of would-be sexy females on the loose. And an unusual trend is developing among campaign and White House reporters of the XX persuasion. They're using provocative …

Discussion: Guardian and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Alvarez / Mediaite:

Bill Maher Presents Obama Super PAC With $1 Million Check — While performing his “StupidCrazyPolitics” show at the San Jose Center For The Performing Arts in San Jose, CA Thursday night, comedian and HBO host Bill Maher announced he would be donating $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Barack Obama Super PAC.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Wilshire & Washington

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Chris Christie Smacks Down WaPo's Capehart: 'I'm Not Going to be Cross-Examined By You' — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart got into quite a heated debate about same sex marriage on MSNBC's Morning Joe Thursday.

Discussion: Washington Post and Power Line

Michael A. Cohen / All Foreign Affairs Content:

The United States Is More Secure Than Washington Thinks — Last August, the Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney performed what has become a quadrennial rite of passage in American presidential politics: he delivered a speech to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org and The Agonist

Paul Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Super PAC Republishes 2007 Romney Ad, Violating Finance Laws, Watchdog Says … 2012 Election , 2012 Elections , Campaign Finance , Mitt Romney , Elections 2012 , Video , Restore Our Future , Super PACs , Election 2012 , Mitt Romney 2012 , Mitt Romney Restore Our Future , Romney , Romney 2012 , Super Pac , Politics News

Discussion: Hot Air and CNN

Luke Rosiak / Washington Times: Former Romney aide's company paid $2 million by super PAC

Boston Catholic Insider:

Fact-Check: Did Romney Lie About Cardinal and Contraception During Wednesday Debate? — As readers know, if there is one thing that gets under our skin here at BCI, it is deception. This one by former Gov. Romney about a situation here in Massachusetts affects how the country perceives values important …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pundit & Pundette and The Spectacle Blog

Shikha Dalmia / Hit & Run:

Cheer Up, Liberty Lovers, Schumpeter Was Wrong — Sometimes, when you are despairing that Joseph Schumpeter was right that capitalism is doomed because its very success inspires the Paul Krugmans and Robert Reichs of the world to spew venom against it, the universe randomly whacks you over the head …

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

‘Lunch-In’ Protests Crackdown on Homemade Lunches — The National Center for Public Policy Research hosted a “lunch-in” today at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. The target of the protest? “[F]ederal school nutrition guidelines that allegedly forced at least one student to forgo …

Discussion: Wonkette, Occupy News and The PJ Tatler

Scott Johnson / Power Line:

A message to Mickey Kaus — Yesterday I clicked on an Instapundit link in this one-sentence post: “Mickey Kaus notes a case of eerie prescience.” Clicking on the link, I was transported to a link-filled post stating: “Eerie Prescience, Esquire Division: A lot of what is written …

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:

Susan G. Komen Hires Consulting Firm To Assess Damage To Reputation … Komen Planned Parenthood , Politics News — After Susan G. Komen for the Cure's controversial decision several weeks ago to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, and the subsequent reversal of that decision …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Firedoglake

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

Same-sex marriage bill approved by Maryland Senate — A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland was approved by the state Senate, which advanced a measure that narrowly cleared the House of Delegates last week. — The final vote by the state Senate ended a yearlong drama …