memeorandum: Alabama and Mississippi primaries: Mitt Romney could seal deal in Dixie (Jonathan Martin/Politico)

3:10 PM ET, March 13, 2012

Top Items:

The Obama Poll Drop Mystery: Explained! — Yesterday morning, a new Washington Post poll showed a sharp drop in President Obama's approval rating, from 50 percent approval (and 46 percent disapproval) to the reverse. People on Twitter started tittering. Jonathan Bernstein insisted it was all just random statistical noise.

Discussion: American Prospect, Prairie Weather, Indecision Forever, Business Insider, The Caucus, Ezra Klein, The Daily Dish, The New Republic, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight and Outside the Beltway

New York Times:

Obama Approval Rating Shows Serious Slip in New Poll — Despite improving job growth and an extended Republican primary fight dividing his would-be opponents, President Obama is heading into the general election season on treacherous political ground, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Voters blame president for gas prices, experts say not so fast — How much does the president have to do with the price of gasoline? — A lot, say American voters. According to oil experts and economists, not so much — at least in the short term. — Today's oil prices are the product …

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Times, National Review, Questions and Observations, ABCNEWS, Pirate's Cove, Ezra Klein, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, Campaign 2012, The Enterprise Blog and Cafe Hayek

Shannen W. Coffin / National Review:
New York Times: It's Just a Poll. Nothing to See Here.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, CBS News and Cold Fury

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Psst! Obama lost the birth control mandate debate

Discussion: JustOneMinute, National Review, LifeNews.com, Los Angeles Times and Wake up America

Stephanie Condon / CBS News:
Poll: Obama's approval rating sinks to new low

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Alabama and Mississippi primaries: Mitt Romney could seal deal in Dixie — RICHLAND, Miss — In a topsy-turvy GOP primary, where the unexpected has been the norm, such a final plot twist may be altogether fitting: the Mormon Yankee who thinks cheese grits are a revelation effectively seals the nomination in Alabama and Mississippi.

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, Washington Wire, The Moderate Voice, NBC Politics, Christian Science Monitor, Swampland, The Caucus, PERRspectives, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, Shakesville, BuzzFeed, New York Times, Washington Post, The Page and Ballot Box

Greg Giroux / Bloomberg:
Super-PAC Ads Dominate Republican Race in Alabama, Mississippi

Discussion: Washington Monthly, WWL-TV, ABCNEWS, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Politico, al.com, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air and The Caucus

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Polling in Deep South Has Posed Challenges

Discussion: Time, The Other McCain, Crooks and Liars, Guardian and americanthinker.com

Alec MacGillis / The New Republic:
Is The South Too Republican For Republicans?

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Caucus and The Moderate Voice

Washington Post:
Poll: Voters want super PACs to be illegal

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Fox News, Politico, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and Ballot Box

Quin Hillyer / American Spectator: Drenched in Campaign Silliness

Andrew Malcolm / Investor's Business Daily:

Online, liberals far less tolerant than normal people — Not exactly shocking news for those exposed to them for years, but the respected Pew Research Center has determined that political liberals are far less tolerant of opposing views than regular Americans.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Jawa Report, americanthinker.com, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Patterico's Pontifications

Pew Internet:

Social networking sites and politics — Home - > - Reports - > - Social networking sites and politics - > - Main findings - > - Social networking sites and politics — Main findings — Social networking sites have become places where political conversation, debate, and proselytizing occur, especially during campaign seasons.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Volokh Conspiracy and Mashable!

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Pew: Liberals most intolerant online

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll, The Daily Caller and American Spectator

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Let's Talk About the Real Issues, Mr. President — The far Left continues to believe American voters are not smart enough to grasp the diversionary tactics it employs to distract us from the issues our President just doesn't want to talk about - issues that affect us all every day and must be addressed.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Little Green Footballs, Power Line, Washington Wire, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Israel Matzav, The Mental Recession and Cold Fury

Ben Shapiro / BREITBART.COM:

OBAMA TARGETS BREITBART, PALIN, HANNITY WITH HEAVILY-EDITED AD — The Obama re-election campaign has released an internet ad targeting Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, and Breitbart.com. Coming up short in the fundraising department and under fire for President Obama's longtime association …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, Hot Air, protein wisdom, Conservatives4Palin and Patterico's Pontifications

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Rush Limbaugh Syndicator Suspends National Ads For Two Weeks — Radio-Info.com reports that Premiere Networks, which syndicates the Rush Limbaugh show, told its affiliate radio stations that they are suspending national advertising for two weeks. Rush Limbaugh is normally provided …

Discussion: Radio-Info.com, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars, Mother Jones, The Political Carnival, Cagle Post, The Maddow Blog, Addicting Info, NewsHounds blog, Prairie Weather, The Raw Story, rubber hose, Washington Post, Mediaite and The Last Tradition, more at Mediagazer »

David Frum / The Daily Beast:
Mike Huckabee Brings on Rush Limbaugh's Decline

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Mahablog, News Desk, Mediaite, The Impolitic and Runnin' Scared

Frank Bruni / New York Times:
One-Way Wantonness

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Feministing, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Moderate Voice, Runnin' Scared, the daily howler, Addicting Info, Daily Kos, CNN, Sister Toldjah and JONATHAN TURLEY, more at Mediagazer »

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

Sarah Palin's foolishness ruined U.S. politics — At some point while watching HBO's absolutely smashing (and terrifying) movie “Game Change,” it occurred to me that Sarah Palin has ruined America. The movie has been scalloped out of the book by the same name and focuses on Palin, rather than on the entire 2008 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Rumproast, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Right Sphere, Wonkette and The Reality-Based Community

Sandra Fluke / CNN:

Slurs won't silence women — Editor's note: Sandra Fluke is a third-year law student at Georgetown University Law Center and has served as president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice. — (CNN) — Last month, students from several Catholic universities gathered to send …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Townhall.com, JustOneMinute, rightwingwatch.org, Feministing, Mediaite, NewsBusters.org blogs and The PJ Tatler

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
HBO's ‘Game Change’ promoted by same PR firm that represents Sandra Fluke

Discussion: protein wisdom

Eryn Brown / Los Angeles Times:

All red meat is bad for you, new study says — A long-term study finds that eating any amount and any type increases the risk of premature death. — Eating any amount and any type of red meat increases the risk of premature death, a new study says. (William Thomas Cain / Getty Images / March 12, 2012)

Discussion: Archives of Internal …, Gothamist, Opinion L.A., Truthdig, Jezebel, Guardian and americanthinker.com

David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online:

The Problem With Polls About Whether Obama Is a Muslim — By asking voters what they think about the president's religion, pollsters help to perpetuate a falsehood. — Liberal blogs and sites are having a field day with new data from Public Policy Polling that shows that 52 percent …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, BuzzFlash.org and 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com

Rick Santorum / CNN:

TRENDING: Santorum rails against Maher on ‘Christian madrassa’ comment — (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum hit back against Bill Maher Monday night after the liberal talk show host criticized Santorum for home-schooling his children, calling his home a “Christian madrassa.”

Discussion: Hot Air

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims' Group — Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, rightwingwatch.org, Joe. My. God. and Campaign 2012

Saul Loeb / National Post:

Dick Cheney cancels Toronto trip, says Canada is too dangerous — TORONTO — Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney has cancelled an April appearance in Toronto citing concerns Canada is too dangerous. — “He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high,” …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Guardian, The Mahablog, National Review and The Raw Story

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:

Obama energy chief disavows '08 remark favoring higher gas prices — Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday disavowed his 2008 comments about increasing gas prices to European levels, remarks that Republicans have pounced on in recent weeks. — “I no longer share that view,” …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and BREITBART.COM

Jack Brammer / Lexington Herald-Leader:

House panel turns down anti-bullying bill despite pleas from parents — FRANKFORT — After an emotional debate, the House Education Committee voted down an anti-bullying bill Tuesday that identified classes of students who might be harassed by their peers. — The vote came after parents …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

What if George W. Bush had done that? — President Barack Obama has forged a surprising consensus on opposite ends of the political spectrum: They wonder how on earth he gets away with it. — A series of recent moves — from aggressively filling his reelection war chest to green-lighting shoot …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Heritage Foundation

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary — Technical information: (202) 691-5870 • www.bls.gov/jlt Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Job Openings and Labor Turnover - January 2012 — There were 3.5 million job openings on the last business day of January, unchanged from December …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Economic Policy Institute, The Enterprise Blog and Calculated Risk

New York Times:

U.S. Officials Debate Speeding Afghan Pullout — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is discussing whether to reduce American forces in Afghanistan by at least an additional 20,000 troops by 2013, reflecting a growing belief within the White House that the mission there has now reached the point of diminishing returns.

Discussion: Washington Post, Yahoo! News, Firedoglake, Reuters, Guardian, Daniel W. Drezner, FP Passport, ThinkProgress, Global Spin, The Hill, Political Insider, News Desk and Balloon Juice

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Biden: Obama 'would've been a one-term president' if bin Laden mission had failed — President Obama would have ended up a one-term president if last summer's mission to kill Osama bin Laden had failed, according to Vice President Biden. — Biden, speaking Monday night at a small fundraising event …

Discussion: Mediaite

Jenna Portnoy / New Jersey Online:

Gov. Christie: I have no regret about ‘idiot’ remark toward Navy SEAL — BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — Not only does Gov. Chris Christie not regret calling a Navy SEAL and one-time Democratic candidate for office an “idiot” at a town hall last week in Roebling, today he took the criticism further, labeling him a jerk, too.

Discussion: Gothamist