memeorandum: John Boehner splits with John McCain on Syria strikes (Jake Sherman/Politico)

1:40 PM ET, March 6, 2012

Top Items:

A Guide to Super Tuesday Possibilities — With only 10 states voting on Super Tuesday, it would be easy to dismiss it as a little wimpy compared to past years. — But nearly 20 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention will be chosen on Tuesday night — and the outcome …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly, Runnin' Scared, Guardian, Shakesville, News Desk, The Week and The Caucus

Josh Putnam / Frontloading HQ:

Santorum Can't Get to 1144 — ...and neither can Gingrich. — FHQ has been saying since our Very Rough Estimate of the delegate counts a couple of weeks ago that Romney is the only candidate who has a chance to get there. But, of course, I have not yet shown my work.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, A plain blog about politics, Right Wing Nut House, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's …, ABCNEWS, weaskamerica.com and Metro

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:

Super Wednesday: GOP establishment lays down the law to the right — When the rooster crows on Super Wednesday, the insider establishment that runs the GOP will lay down the law to Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and all true conservatives: It is time to unite behind the candidate …

Discussion: CNN and The Other McCain

James Hohmann / Politico:
Super Tuesday: Ron Paul's parallel campaign

Discussion: CNN

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:
Super Tuesday Preview: Math Trumps Momentum (The Note)

Discussion: msnbc.com, GOP 12, Guardian, FiveThirtyEight, Politico and Daily Kos

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
10 things to watch on Super Tuesday

Discussion: Don Surber, The Daily Caller, Pirate's Cove, Hot Air, CNN and Washington Wire

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:
Ohio victory could seal the deal for Romney

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Ballot Box

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Axelrod: Romney gave ‘cowardly answer’ on Limbaugh controversy — Top Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod on Monday blasted Mitt Romney, accusing him of failing to appropriately criticize radio host Rush Limbaugh for his attacks on a college student who testified before Congress.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, RedState and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Media Matters / Media Matters for America:

UPDATED: Limbaugh Reportedly Loses Another Station Over Sandra Fluke Smears — Since Rush Limbaugh began his misogynistic attacks on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, several companies have announced that they have pulled advertising from his program — a flow that has not ceased since his supposed “apology” on Saturday.

Discussion: Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Balloon Juice, US Politics, StopRush.org and rightwingwatch.org

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
Six More Advertisers Ditch Rush

Discussion: Bloomberg, Taegan Goddard's … and Mediaite

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Who's Still Advertising On Rush?

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Mahablog, The Last Tradition, Mediaite, Media Decoder, The Daily Dish, Philly.com, Examiner and Washington Monthly, more at Mediagazer »

Chris Carroll / Stars & Stripes:
Women vets want Limbaugh off of AFN

Discussion: Firedoglake, New England Public Radio News, The Political Carnival and ThinkProgress

petergabriel.com:
News Feed » Peter's response to ‘Sledgehammer’ on the Rush Limbaugh show

Discussion: The Huffington Post, skippy the bush kangaroo, Daily Kos and Dependable Renegade

Mitt Romney / Washington Post:

How I would check Iran's nuclear ambition — Beginning Nov. 4, 1979 , dozens of U.S. diplomats were held hostage by Iranian Islamic revolutionaries for 444 days while America's feckless president, Jimmy Carter, fretted in the White House. Running for the presidency against Carter the next year …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, PERRspectives, The Enterprise Blog, Washington Wire, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Lynn Sweet, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Washington Free Beacon, CNN, Hullabaloo, ThinkProgress and The Raw Story

Algemeiner.com:

Israel's Channel 2: U.S. Officials Believe Netanyahu Has Already Decided to Strike Iran — Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday. Photo: Israel PM Office. — Channel 2 in Israel, sourcing a “senior American official” …

Discussion: Wake up America, Weekly Standard, Power Line, Pat Dollard, The Daily Dish, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Wall Street Journal:

Reagan Was A Sure Loser Too — Conventional wisdom about Republican presidential prospects sounds mighty familiar. — Not since Herbert Hoover has a party out of power had such an opportunity to run against everything that troubles the American family—prices, interest rates, unemployment …

Discussion: Campaign 2012

Associated Press:
Obama to announce mortgage refinance package at first news conference of year

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative and The Gateway Pundit

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Republican Policies for Iran Differ Little From Obama's

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politico, Washington Post and Outside the Beltway

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Holder Explains Threat That Would Call for Killing Without Trial — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. asserted on Monday that it is lawful for the government to kill American citizens if officials deem them to be operational leaders of Al Qaeda who are planning attacks …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wired, ThinkProgress, The Last Tradition, Pirate's Cove, ACLU, Flopping Aces, JustOneMinute, Mother Jones, emptywheel, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Brennan Center for Justice, Politico and The Caucus

The United States Department of Justice:
Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at Northwestern University School of Law

Discussion: emptywheel, Mother Jones, Lawfare, The BLT, Global Guerrillas, CNN, Attackerman, Hit & Run, Los Angeles Times, Salon, Global Public Square, The League of Ordinary …, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Law Blog

Kevin Johnson / USA Today:
Holder: Constitution doesn't cover terrorists

Discussion: The Raw Story and LewRockwell.com Blog

Washington Post:
Holder: U.S. can lawfully target American citizens

Discussion: Clayton Cramer's Blog

rt.com:

Leaked: Bin Laden not buried at sea, body moved on CIA plane to US — Osama bin Laden (Reuters / Stringer) … The body of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was not buried at sea, according to leaked emails of intelligence firm Stratfor, as revealed by WikiLeaks.

Discussion: Althouse, The Gateway Pundit and Daniel W. Drezner

Julia O'Malley / The News Tribune:

If Murkowski calls herself moderate, her votes should be too — Back from Washington, D.C., for the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, Sen. Lisa Murkowski learned the hard way not to get between women and birth control. She said she now regrets her support for a measure …

Discussion: The Hill, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, The Impolitic and emptywheel

Adn_jomalley / Anchorage Daily News:
If Murkowski is moderate, her votes should be too

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog, ThinkProgress and Wonkette

David Giambusso / New Jersey Online:

U.S. Representative Donald Payne dead at 77 — U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, the dean of New Jersey's congressional delegation, died after a months-long battle with colon cancer today, according to three sources close to the Payne family. The longtime politician was 77.

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post, News Desk, Hotline On Call, Politicker and The Political Carnival

Jana Winter / Fox News:

EXCLUSIVE: Infamous international hacking group LulzSec brought down by own leader — Hector Xavier Monsegur is “Sabu,” the unemployed, 28-year-old father of two who allegedly commanded the loosely organized international hacker team LulzSec. — Hector Xavier Monsegur is “Sabu,” …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, TPM Idea Lab, Tucson Citizen, Mashable! and Pat Dollard

Tamar Lewin / New York Times:

Black Students Face More Discipline, Data Suggests — Black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students, according to new data from the Department of Education. — Although black students made up only 18 percent of those enrolled in the schools sampled …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, National Review, Feministe, Rod Dreher, Althouse, msnbc.com, Prairie Weather and Eduwonk

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Ann Romney: 'I Don't Even Consider Myself Wealthy' — Apparently “Romneying” — defined as “accidentally bragging about your place high up in the economic stratosphere” — runs in the family. — His wife, Ann Romney, inexplicably talked about her wealth this afternoon during an interview on Fox News.

Discussion: The Daily What, Verum Serum, Jezebel, Examiner, TBogg, Colorlines, The Reaction and Daily Kos

Amy Bingham / ABCNEWS:
Ann Romney: 'I Don't Even Consider Myself Wealthy'

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, The Lonely Conservative, US Politics and Hot Air

Dylan Byers / Politico:

NBC's Chuck Todd on the geographic bias — In a recent conversation on matters mostly but not altogether unrelated, NBC News political director and White House correspondent Chuck Todd argued that the partisan nature of our national discourse is driven by geographic — rather than ideological — biases:

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and American Prospect

Ben Shapiro / BREITBART.COM:

OBAMA ALLY WON'T RELEASE ALINSKY TAPE — Sources inform Breitbart.com today that Pam Dickler, director of the 1998 production of The Love Song of Saul Alinsky in Chicago that included a panel discussion featuring then-State Sen. Barack Obama, has a video tape of the play. — And she won't release it.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Business Insider, Southern Beale, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Jawa Report and EconomicPolicyJournal.com

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Romney Rebounds Among Conservatives, But GOP Contenders All Stay Underwater — Mitt Romney's rebounded among strong conservatives since his wins in the Michigan and Arizona primaries, potentially bolstering his prospects in the race for the Republican nomination.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Mother Jones