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7:05 PM ET, February 24, 2012

Top Items:

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Romney speech falls flat in Detroit — Mitt Romney spoke to several empty seats Friday in Detroit, in a speech that offered Democrats more fodder for their attacks and failed to deliver the major economic address his campaign promised. — Television cameras showed rows of empty chairs …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Reuters, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Politico, Guardian, TBogg, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Other McCain, Wonkette, Outside the Beltway, Algemeiner.com and Hullabaloo

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Romney Boasts: He Has Not One, But Four, American Cars — He also thinks Michigan's trees are “just the right height.” — (Original Photo Source: Getty Images) — DETROIT, Michigan—Mitt Romney addressed the Detroit Economic Club today and proved once again why he's hard to relate to.

Discussion: Guardian, Gawker, National Review and The Daily Caller

Carlos Osorio / ABCNEWS:

Mitt Romney's Ford Field Fumble? — ABC News' David Muir, Michael Falcone and Emily Friedman report: — DETROIT - Standing on the 30-yard line of Detroit's Ford Field, Mitt Romney delivered what was billed as a major economic speech before a crowd of about 1,200 supporters on Friday.

Discussion: Plutocrap

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

Discussion: The Caucus, msnbc.com, The Maddow Blog, Angry Bear, The Hill, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, A plain blog about politics, Brad DeLong, CNN, Gallup, Politico, Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, Jared Bernstein, ABCNEWS and Detroit Free Press

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Mitt Romney: Wife Ann drives ‘a couple of Cadillacs’

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wake up America and Daily Kos

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:

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: Wake up America, Taylor Marsh, The Week, Los Angeles Times, Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, Politico, Indianapolis Star, Politics, Sabato's Crystal Ball and The Page

Politico:
The ‘gotcha’ campaign — MILFORD, Mich. — Caught …

Discussion: Arizona Republic, Riehl World View, The Other McCain, Daily Kos, ABCNEWS and Hot Air

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:
Santorum Swings Hard At Romney, Says His Team Is ‘All Democrats’

Discussion: Daily Kos

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
What happens if Mitt Romney wins Michigan?

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, detroitnews.com, News Desk, Online NewsHour, MLive.com, Shakesville, The Huffington Post, FiveThirtyEight, ABCNEWS and Las Vegas Sun Blogs

Kyle Leighton / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Why Mitt Romney Might Be Even Weaker Than You Think

Discussion: The Obama Diary and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Romney Takes Michigan Forecast Lead

Discussion: News Desk, Ballot Box, The Spectacle Blog, GOP 12 and Rasmussen Reports

Tim Mak / Politico:
Arlen Specter: Rick Santorum ‘so far to the right’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, CNN, PennLive.com, PhillyNow and On Top Magazine Headlines

Alex Roarty / 2012 Decoded:
Republican Race's Volatility is Historic

Discussion: Washington Monthly

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: Wizbang, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, JunkScience.com, Patterico's Pontifications, Betsy's Page, Doug Ross, Power Line, Hot Air and New York Times

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Out of Gas — The folly of blaming Obama for higher gas prices. — Consumers are paying ever-higher prices for gas — Magdalena Jankowska/iStockphoto — Several months' worth of strong labor market data have put a crimp in Republican plans to run against Barack Obama as the second coming of Herbert Hoover.

Discussion: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, ThinkProgress, The White House, The Week, Institute for Energy Research, Firedoglake, White House.gov Blog, The Maddow Blog, The Democratic Daily, Washington Post and Center for American Progress

Jammie Wearing Fools:
Pelosi 2008: Bush to Blame for High Gas Prices; Pelosi 2012: Wall Street to Blame for High Gas Prices

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Daily Pundit and Mother Jones

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Obama 2008 Ads Focused On Gas Prices

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, Wake up America, USA Today, The Heritage Foundation, Ed Driscoll, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
White House says nothing ‘off the table’ in dealing with gas prices

Discussion: Algemeiner.com

Sandhya Somashekhar / Washington Post:

Karen Santorum: husband's presidential run is 'God's will' — Rick Santorum's wife granted a rare interview Thursday, telling conservative talk show host Glenn Beck that she initially had been against her husband running for president but finally concluded it was “God's will.”

Discussion: Hot Air, The Raw Story, Shakesville and Althouse

Rebecca Kaplan / NationalJournal.com:
Santorum: Obama College Plan Aimed at ‘Indoctrination’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Love Joy Feminism, Sky Dancing, Wonkette, Little Green Footballs and A plain blog about politics

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Karen Santorum: Husband's surge 'is God's will'

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania — the Transcript — I have made a transcript of the Pennsylvania case in which state judge Mark Martin, a Muslim convert and U.S. Army reservist who served in Iraq, relied on a sharia law defense (as well as some evidentiary contortions) …

Discussion: Hot Air, Power Line, Patterico's Pontifications, PoliPundit.com, Opposing Views and Atlas Shrugs

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania

Discussion: Verum Serum, Sister Toldjah, The American Conservative, The PJ Tatler, The Volokh Conspiracy, Cold Fury, Weasel Zippers, Pirate's Cove, The Jawa Report, iOwnTheWorld.com and Jihad Watch

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

Palin said her divorce was ‘when,’ not ‘if’ — Sarah Palin, in 2007, indicated she was contemplating a divorce. — In a Sept. 26, 2007, email obtained by The Associated Press, Palin wrote to an aide and her husband, Todd Palin: “So speaking of. .. If we, er, when we get a divorce …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Associated Press:
Emails show Palin wanted to leave Alaska governor's job months before she resigned

Discussion: Politico, msnbc.com, Mediaite, Wonkette and The Jane Dough

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: The Moderate Voice, CBS Dallas, ABCNEWS, Hot Air, Crooks and Liars, Fox News, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Newsy, LewRockwell.com Blog and Booman Tribune

Joe Klein / Swampland:
Did Jeb Bush Actually Say That?

Discussion: UPI and ABCNEWS

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Romney's Stadium Speech Today Dwarfed By Obama Stadium Speech In 2008 — At this very moment, Mitt Romney is holding an event at Ford Stadium which has failed to attract enough people to come even close to filling it up (in fact, you could fit Romney's 1,200 person crowd in the 65,000-seat stadium 54 times over).

Discussion: 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Guardian and The Atlantic Online

Byron Tau / Politico:

Gregoire: Obama the ‘inspiration’ on gay marriage — Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) defended President Obama's record on gay rights, saying that the president was the “inspiration” for her state's recent same-sex marriage legalization bill. — “I think we probably have succeeded as much as we have because of his leadership.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Weasel Zippers

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:
Maryland Senate passes same-sex marriage bill

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Mercury News, Crooks and Liars, The BLT, The Impolitic, CNN, Mother Jones, The Page, US Politics and The Reaction

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Democratic governors discuss bypassing Congress with Obama — President Obama met with a group of Democratic governors on Friday and discussed plans to work around Congress toward policy goals. — Gov. Jack Markell, the Democratic governor of Delaware and the vice chairman …

Discussion: Politico, Weasel Zippers 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: The Maddow Blog, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Prairie Weather, Wall Street Journal, Balloon Juice and Washington Post

Amanda Peterson Beadle / ThinkProgress:

Buchanan To Republicans: You're Overeaching On Birth Control — Women's health care has dominated political discussions as GOP-controlled state legislatures consider legislation to extremely curtail women's access to abortions and right-wing leaders claim the Obama administration is infringing …

Discussion: Wonkette

Elizabeth Warren / The Boston Globe:

Denying women coverage under any guise is a big step backward — MAYBE YOU saw the pictures. Five middle-age men seated at a congressional hearing table to discuss freedom of religion and contraception. And not a single woman was on the panel. Unbelievable.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Politico, JustOneMinute and Daily Kos