memeorandum: First Thoughts: Winning ugly (msnbc.com)

11:50 AM ET, February 29, 2012

Top Items:

Romney Wins Arizona; Tight Race in Michigan — SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — Mitt Romney won the Arizona primary on Tuesday, based on surveys of voters leaving polls, but was locked in a tight battle with Rick Santorum in Michigan, where Mr. Santorum hoped to use his strong showing in his rival's native state …

Discussion: NY Daily News, New Yorker, The Moderate Voice, ThinkProgress, Guardian, The Caucus, Scared Monkeys, Religion News Service, Shakesville, The Reaction, msnbc.com, Wall Street Journal, ABCNEWS, Towleroad News #gay, Politico and The Page

msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Winning ugly — Romney wins ugly in Michigan... But that win silences the talk about a white knight riding to the GOP's rescue... February took a toll on Romney... Did Santorum lose Michigan more than Romney winning it?... On to Super Tuesday... And Snowe's retirement gives Democrats …

Discussion: GOP 12

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

G.O.P. Greek Tragedy — Rick should scat. — Mitt Romney needs to be left alone to limp across the finish line, so he can devote his full time and attention to losing to President Obama. — Robo-Romney, who pulled out victories in his home state and in Arizona, and Sanctorum are still in a race to the bottom.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, The PJ Tatler and Daily Kos

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:

Odds of a Brokered Convention Are Increasing — We're finally close enough to Super Tuesday to get a sense of how the overall delegate count might work out in the GOP primary. The end result: Assuming that none of the four candidates drops out of the race, it looks increasingly …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Hot Air, Dean's World, Mother Jones and Firedoglake

Jonathan Martin / Reuters:

Michigan and Arizona primaries 2012: Mitt Romney wins ugly — NOVI, Mich. - Mitt Romney may have won ugly in Michigan, but his narrow victory will temper the mounting criticism of his candidacy, even though his resilience is about to be tested again in some of the biggest prizes of Super Tuesday.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Hot Air, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Power Line, NationalJournal.com, The Daily Beast, Marbury and The Moderate Voice

Geneva Sands-Sadowitz / The Hill:
RNC chairman: Not a ‘fan’ of Santorum robocall tactic

Discussion: CNN

Meghashyam Mali / Ballot Box:
Poll finds Santorum up by double-digits in Ohio

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
5 takeaways from Arizona and Michigan

Discussion: Pirate's Cove and Algemeiner.com

Josh Lederman / The Hill:
After tough race, Romney beats Santorum in Michigan primary

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico and Ballot Box

Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:
Huckabee Will Host a Presidential Forum on Fox News

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The New Republic, The Lonely Conservative, Politico, ABCNEWS, GOP 12 and Ballot Box

Hillary Chabot / Boston Herald:
John McCain: Close curtain on GOP ‘Greek tragedy’

Discussion: National Review, The Daily Dish, Connecting.the.Dots, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and The Hill

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
Romney Camp Will Haunt Santorum With Robocall Story

Discussion: GOP 12, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com and BuzzFeed

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
In Ohio, fierce primary fight may hurt GOP's chances for the fall

Discussion: New York Times, Reuters, Riehl World View and The Page

Michael A. Memoli / Los Angeles Times:
Exit polls: 1 in 10 voters was a Democrat in Michigan primary

Discussion: The Hill, rebelpundit, Big Government, Daily Kos, FiveThirtyEight and Associated Press

CNN:
EXIT POLLS: Michigan

Discussion: CBS News, Swampland, Firedoglake, The Other McCain and Campaign 2012

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Will Olympia Snowe Join Americans Elect? — Olympia Snowe's retirement statement seemed like it dropped a huge hint, and I'm surprised it hasn't received any attention: … This sounds exactly like the kind of rhetoric emanating from Americans Elect, the third-party group that believes …

Discussion: American Prospect, The Maddow Blog, The Caucus, Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hill and Mother Jones

Washington Post:

Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe to retire in blow to GOP — Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe will not seek reelection in 2012, she announced Tuesday. — Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on Dec. 17, 2011, after leaving the floor of the Senate. (J. Scott Applewhite - AP)

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, UrbanGrounds, Feministing, Salon, Pine Tree Politics, Wonkette, Michelle Malkin, Swampland, The Political Carnival, The Democratic Daily, Balloon Juice, The Confluence, Shakesville, The Moderate Voice and The Page

Mike Allen / Politico:
Playbook: Leap Day edition

Discussion: Portland Press-Herald and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Matthew Gagnon / Pine Tree Politics:
Snowe Fall(out) — Speculation has already begun in the frenzy …

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Outside the Beltway, Ballot Box, Hot Air and Guardian

Religion News Service:

Franklin Graham apologizes for questioning Obama's faith — WASHINGTON (RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham apologized Tuesday (Feb. 28) to President Obama for questioning his Christian faith and said religion has “nothing to do” with Graham's decision not to support Obama's re-election.

Discussion: USA Today

Tim Mak / Politico:
Report: Rev. Franklin Graham apologizes to Obama

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Political Carnival and Religion Dispatches

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Worried Dems pressing Obama on gas prices — Congressional Democrats are ramping up pressure on President Obama to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to prevent rising gas prices from threatening the economy and their election-year prospects. — They are growing anxious that the price …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and CNNMoney.com

Alex Guillen / Politico:
Chu: DOE working to wean U.S. off oil, not lower prices

Discussion: Randy's Roundtable, The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Speaker, The Gateway Pundit, Campaign 2012 and ThinkProgress

Sacramento Bee:

Support for gay marriage takes dramatic leap in California, new poll shows — A new poll shows gay marriage has arrived in California - in public opinion if not in state lawbooks. — Golden State registered voters now favor same-sex unions by 59 percent to 34 percent …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Steve Rothaus' Gay …, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

House votes to overturn Supreme Court decision on eminent domain — The House on Tuesday afternoon approved legislation that overturns a 2005 Supreme Court decision that affirmed the ability of states to take control of private property under the doctrine of eminent domain and hand it to another private developer.

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:

Obama makes a play for Scalia — Not surprisingly, the federal government quotes that opinion a lot in its court briefs. — Sutton hinted that he didn't like the mandate but said Supreme Court precedent favors a growing expansion of Commerce Clause power and that Congress has latitude to address national problems.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Matthew Pennington / Associated Press:

US: NK agrees to suspend nuclear activities — WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States says North Korea has agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and agree to a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. — State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said Wednesday the North …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Reuters

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Rules Chairman Dreier announces retirement after 16 House terms — House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) on Wednesday morning announced from the House floor that he would not seek reelection this year. — “We all know that this institution has an abysmally low approval rating …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Steven Shepard / NationalJournal.com:

Despite Detroit Comeback, Public Opposes Bailout — A majority of Americans think the federal government should not have helped out U.S. automakers that were in financial trouble, but rather should have allowed them to go it alone, according to a new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Wall Street Journal, Michelle Malkin and Weasel Zippers

Olympia Meola / Richmond Times-Dispatch:

McDonnell signs repeal of one-gun-a-month law — Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill Tuesday to overturn Virginia's landmark one-handgun-a-month law, a restriction put on the books in the early 1990s when gun trafficking was seen as a problem along the East Coast.