memeorandum: Feisty small penguin nips Newt Gingrich's finger during tour of St. Louis Zoo (Associated Press)

9:20 AM ET, April 17, 2012

Top Items:

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Romney, Obama in Tight Race as Gallup Daily Tracking Begins — Romney voters slightly more certain they will vote — PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney is supported by 47% of national registered voters and Barack Obama by 45% in the inaugural Gallup Daily tracking results from April 11-15.

CNN:

CNN Poll: Gender gap and likeability keep Obama over Romney — (CNN) - President Barack Obama holds a nine-point lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney thanks in part to the perception that the president is more likeable and more in touch with the problems facing women and middle class Americans, according to a new national poll.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, Ballot Box, Hot Air, Los Angeles Times, Wake up America, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, The Mahablog, The Hill and The Huffington Post

CNN:

CNN/ORC poll: Most Americans say tax system favors wealthy — (CNN) - As procrastinators rush to file their 2011 tax returns by the Tuesday deadline, a new poll shows more than two-thirds of Americans believe the revenue system benefits the wealthy while being unfair to average workers.

Discussion: The Hill and Reuters

Washington Post:
Poll: Romney rallies GOP, faces big popularity deficit for general election

Discussion: ABCNEWS, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus and New York Magazine

BuzzFeed:
By Historic Standards, Obama Is In Trouble

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, The Atlantic Online, Campaign 2012, Indecision Forever, GOP 12 and Business Insider

Warren Buffett / CNN:
CNN Poll: 7 out of 10 support ‘Buffett Rule’

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Reuters, New York Magazine, Politicker, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress and Politico

CNN:
Romney woos Red Sox Nation

Discussion: The Hill and Israel Matzav

Chris Francescani / Reuters:

Trayvon Martin's killer showed signs of injury: neighbors — (Reuters) - Neighbors of George Zimmerman say he had bandages on his nose and head the day after he shot dead Trayvon Martin, supporting statements by the neighborhood watch volunteer that he was beaten in a confrontation with the black Florida teenager.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Right Wing News, Business Insider and Weasel Zippers

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Trayvon Martin: Reuters Finds Bandages On Zimmerman, But Why Now? — Matt Drudge links to a Reuters story with the following “news”: — Trayvon Martin's killer showed signs of injury: neighbors — (Reuters) - Neighbors of George Zimmerman say he had bandages on his nose and head …

Discussion: Pat Dollard

Nile Gardiner / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

Is Hillary Clinton becoming an embarrassment as Secretary of State? — The pictures of Hillary Clinton dancing the night away in Colombia during the Summit of the Americas are now all over Twitter, and were first reported by ABC News: … The overwhelmingly liberal US media is treating …

Discussion: Daily Mail, New York Post, Hullabaloo, AMERICAN DIGEST, Mediaite, Don Surber, Fox News, ABCNEWS, nation.foxnews.com and TMZ.com

David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online:
Hillary Clinton Loses the Scrunchie in Colombia

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Guardian, The Confluence, Pat's Papers and New York Post

Russell Goldman / ABCNEWS:

Dog Seamus ‘Loved’ Trips Atop Family Car, Says Ann Romney — Seamus, Mitt Romney's Irish setter who traveled with his young family strapped to the roof of their station wagon, “loved” those trips, despite once getting ill, Ann Romney told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, Campaign 2012, ThinkProgress, Gawker, New York Magazine, US Politics and Hot Air

ABCNEWS:
Transcript: Mitt and Ann Romney's Interview With Diane Sawyer

Discussion: Ballot Box

ABCNEWS:
Romney Tells Obama to ‘Start Packing’ in ABC News Exclusive Interview

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Yahoo! News, CNN, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Guardian, Gothamist and Hot Air

Caitlin McDevitt / Politico:

Newt Gingrich bitten by a penguin — Newt Gingrich loves animals, but sometimes love hurts. A small penguin at the St. Louis Zoo bit the former House speaker on the finger last week, the AP reports:

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:
Feisty small penguin nips Newt Gingrich's finger during tour of St. Louis Zoo

Discussion: Daily Kos, Jezebel, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Hill and New York Magazine

Roseanne Barr / The Daily Beast:

Roseanne Barr on Ann and Mitt Romney and the Mommy Wars — Let us not be dragged back into the “working mom versus stay-at-home mom” dialogue. By Roseanne Barr. — I almost got sick to my stomach when I heard Hilary Rosen's unfortunate words regarding Mrs. Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Politico, NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers and PopWatch

Bloomberg:

U.S. Minimum Wage Lower Than in LBJ Era Needs A Raise — Here's an unhappy observation about the minimum wage: Congress last increased the rate in stages in 2006, topping it out at $7.25 an hour in 2009, or $15,080 a year. — That amount, when adjusted for inflation …

Discussion: Corrente

ABCNEWS:

Sen. Tom Coburn's New Book ‘The Debt Bomb’ Warns of Economic Crisis — The leading Republican budget hawk in the Senate, Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK., is coming out Tuesday with a new book that provides a harsh critique of Congress and a dire warning for the future economic situation of the nation.

Discussion: The Hill

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Notes on Poll-Watching, as Shift Toward General Election Season Begins — In a couple of weeks, we'll be starting our FiveThirtyEight forecasts for the general election. But there's still a fair amount of work to get those ready, and we seem to be seeing an increasing number of head …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and GOP 12

Jonathan Gilbert / Telegraph:

Barack Obama makes Falklands gaffe by calling Malvinas the Maldives — Barack Obama made an uncharacteristic error, more akin to those of his predecessor George W Bush, by referring to the Falkland Islands as the Maldives. — Barack Obama made a gaffe more associated with predecessor George W Bush

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Betsy's Page, The Spectacle Blog, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, nation.foxnews.com, National Review, The Daily Caller, Pat Dollard and Jammie Wearing Fools

Katie Roiphe / The Daily Beast:

Spanking Goes Mainstream — From the steamy bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey to HBO's Girls, sexual domination is in vogue. Katie Roiphe on why women's power at work may be fueling the craze. Plus, Fifty Shades of Grey's naughtiest bits. — If every era gets the sadist it deserves …

Discussion: Guardian, Feministing, Gawker, Jezebel, Gothamist and Shakesville

David Nir / Daily Kos:

WI-Gov: Scott Walker takes leads, but sits right at the 50% mark — Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos. 4/13-15. Likely voters. MoE: ±2.9% (2/23-26 results): … These numbers show a drop for Democrats from PPP's last survey of the race, which of course makes you ask, why? What's changed?

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, National Review, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Power Line, Politico, Firedoglake, Tom Barrett for Governor, Weekly Standard and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:

Christie approval remains strong — A new Monmouth University poll shows Chris Christie sporting a fetching 51%/35% approval rating in New Jersey — numbers that mirror another recent poll. — The breakdown: — a. Indies like Christie's performance by an impressive 54%/28%. That's +26%.

Discussion: Weekly Standard

CBS News:

(CBS/AP) Under pressure to take action on rising gasoline prices, President Obama on Tuesday will ask Congress to implement a plan that entails strengthening federal supervision of oil markets and increasing penalties for market manipulation, a senior administration official confirms to CBS News.

Discussion: Business Insider

Henry Paul Monaghan / The New Republic:

A Conservative Law Professor on the Obvious Constitutionality of Obamacare — The Constitution of the United States creates a national government of enumerated and therefore limited powers. Accordingly, troubled members of the Court should be applauded for their efforts to search for the limits …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Balkinization, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ACS Blog, The Maddow Blog and theGrio

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Bob Beckel Screams ‘F**k’ Live On Hannity, Refuses To Believe He Was On Air — Bob Beckel didn't realize when the commercial break ended during tonight's final segment of Hannity, caught in a heated off-camera argument with fellow panelist Jennifer Stefano.

Discussion: Business Insider

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

In Senate, Republicans Block Debate on ‘Buffett Rule’ — WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a move to open debate on the so-called Buffett Rule, ensuring that a measure pressed for months by President Obama and Senate Democrats to ensure that the superrich pay a tax rate …

Discussion: Washington Post, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Gothamist, Truthdig and CNN