memeorandum: Santorum: Might As Well Have Obama Over Romney (CBS DC)

9:35 AM ET, March 23, 2012

Top Items:

NBC's Andrew Rafferty / msnbc.com:

Santorum: GOP better off with Obama than ‘Etch A Sketch’ Republican — SAN ANTONIO, TX — Rick Santorum today suggested it would be better to stick with President Obama over a candidate that might be “the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future” — a shot at chief rival Mitt Romney.

Discussion: The Reaction, Taylor Marsh, BuzzFeed, today.yougov.com News, Power Line, American Spectator, Rumproast, Hullabaloo, Politico, Guardian, Ballot Box, Hot Air and Rasmussen Reports

Michael A. Memoli / Los Angeles Times:

Santorum suggests Obama preferable to ‘Etch-A-Sketch’ Romney — Rick Santorum holds an Etch-A-Sketch as he speaks during a campaign stop in San Antonio, Texas. (Eric Gay / Associated Press / March 22, 2012) — Rick Santorum's latest attempt to use a Mitt Romney aide's “Etch-A-Sketch” …

Discussion: Don Surber, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Bangor Daily News, more at Mediagazer »

CBS DC:

Santorum: Might As Well Have Obama Over Romney — GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum (Photo Credit: Patrick Smith / Getty Images) — SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday said Republicans should give President Barack Obama another term if Santorum …

Discussion: GOP 12, Pundit & Pundette, YID With LID, iOwnTheWorld.com, Erick's blog, The Agonist, Michelle Malkin, New York Magazine and Fox News

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Santorum leads in LA and other notes... Rick Santorum is headed for a commanding win in Louisiana on Saturday. We find him with 42% to 28% for Mitt Romney, 18% for Newt Gingrich, 8% for Ron Paul, and 2% for Buddy Roemer. — It's interesting to look at these numbers in the context of last week's results in Alabama and Mississippi.

Discussion: New Orleans Times-Picayune, USA Today, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Taegan Goddard's … and The Atlantic Online

Mike Lillis / Ballot Box:
Rep. King: GOP hopefuls not fighting hard enough for balanced budget

Discussion: CNN

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Santorum: Maybe America's better off with Obama than taking a risk on an “Etch-a-Sketch” candidate

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Examiner, The Right Scoop, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Democracy in America

Mario Tama / ABCNEWS:
Santorum Suggests Obama Beats an ‘Etch A Sketch’ Candidate

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Caller, msnbc.com and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Matt Townsend / Bloomberg:
Etch A Sketch Maker Doubles After Romney Aide Mention

Discussion: New Orleans Times-Picayune, MarketBeat, Mashable!, CNN, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, US Politics and Wall Street Journal

Christopher Peleo-Lazar / Hotline On Call:
Etch A Sketch Stock Jumps After Romney Adviser's Comment

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Wall Street Journal, The Raw Story, The Hill, BuzzFeed, Towleroad News #gay, FishbowlDC, Swampland and Mashable!

Jim DeMint / CNN:
DeMint calls for GOP assessment of race, praises Romney

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Politico, The Lonely Conservative, Washington Monthly, Washington Post and GOP 12

Maureen O'Connor / Gawker:

James O'Keefe's Panty-Stealing ‘Rape Barn’ Sex Scandal — It's a right-wing rabble-rouser showdown! Jazz-handed pimp impersonator James O'Keefe is at “#WAR” with a former Project Veritas colleague who is now blogging an O'Keefe tell-all involving stolen panties, drugged beers, a “rape barn …

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Former James O'Keefe ‘Accomplice’ Reveals ‘Barn Incident’ And Harassment Complaint — Last week, we reported that Nadia Naffe, self-described “accomplice” to conservative activist James O'Keefe , had begun publishing a multi-part tell-all series of posts to her blog.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos

NADIA NAFFE: Part II: The Barn Incident

msnbc.com:

Florida governor appoints new prosecutor in Trayvon Martin case — Gun control advocates say the Florida law that authorizes using deadly force to stop someone from committing a serious crime also encourages violent behavior. NBC's Pete Williams reports. — By msnbc.com staff

Discussion: Reuters, Booman Tribune, Crooks and Liars and The Moderate Voice

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

EXCLUSIVE: Sanford Commissioners Who Voted In Support Of Police Chief To Face Recall — SANFORD, FL — Two Sanford city commissioners who, amidst widespread outrage at the police investigation of Trayvon Martin's death, sided with police chief Bill Lee at a meeting last night …

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post

MiamiHerald.com:
Embattled Sanford police chief steps down; special prosecutor named

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Moderate Voice, WESH-TV, Firedoglake, Shakesville, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and CBS News

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:

Obama heckled during energy speech in Ohio — A heckler interrupted President Obama's speech on energy policy Thursday at Ohio State University. — The president, looking frustrated, stopped speaking and addressed the man — “Sir. Im here to speak to these folks. You can hold your own rally.

Meenal Vamburkar / Mediaite:
Pres. Obama To Heckler: 'You Can Hold Your Own Rally. You're Being Rude'

Discussion: CBS News

Carrie Budoff Brown / Politico:

5 things Dems got wrong on health care — President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies thought their political assumptions were airtight during the yearlong battle to overhaul the health care system. — Voters would reward them, they thought, even if Democrats muscled a bill through without Republican support.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, ABCNEWS, New York Times and Balloon Juice

Chris Stirewalt / Fox News:
Obama tries to spread blame on Solyndra, Keystone

Discussion: americanthinker.com, ABCNEWS and Right Wing News

Daily Mail:

SUSPECT ‘KIDNAPPED MAN’ AND THEN ‘WALKED AROUND CITY WITH SWORD IN HIS HAND’ — Suspected serial killer Mohammad Mera, who broke out of an Afghanistan jail in 2008 as part of a mass Taliban escape, once kidnapped another man, it has been reported. — A close family friend …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE

Larry J. Sabato / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

Tilting the Toss Ups - the Eight Races That Will Decide the Senate — Ah, the Senate. The battle for control fascinates us — and all election observers — because there are so many intriguing races and personalities. Yet, as we update our ratings today and move in a new direction …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Senate passes JOBS Act, with tweak — The Senate on Thursday approved a package of bills that relaxes federal regulations to help boost small businesses and startup companies as the economy continues to recover. — Senators passed the JOBS Act on a 73-26 vote Thursday, two weeks after the House voted 390-23 to approve it.

Discussion: The Hill and The Raw Story

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Senate Passes JOBS Act, STOCK Act

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Eric Cantor and Washington Post

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Obamacare: The reckoning — Obamacare dominated the 2010 midterms, driving its Democratic authors to a historic electoral shellacking. But since then, the issue has slipped quietly underground. — Now it's back, summoned to the national stage by the confluence of three disparate events …

Discussion: Power Line and Betsy's Page

Chris Kromm / Pope Watch:

Locke Foundation blog uses racist image in blog on NC's Amendment One (UPDATED) — The Meck Deck, an official blog of the Art Pope-funded conservative John Locke Foundation, this week published racially-charged and homophobic imagery of President Obama in a piece this on the president's opposition …

Discussion: @NCCapitol, Holy Bullies …, Firedoglake, southernstudies.org, Towleroad News #gay, Jesus' General and The Raw Story

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

U.S. Relaxes Some Restrictions for Counterterrorism Analysis — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is moving to relax restrictions on how counterterrorism analysts may retrieve, store and search information about Americans gathered by government agencies for purposes other than national security threats.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, The BLT, emptywheel, The Caucus and CANNONFIRE