memeorandum: Lugar, Mourdock in Dead Heat in New Poll (Sean Sullivan/Hotline On Call)

11:35 PM ET, May 2, 2012

Top Items:

Becoming Obama — When Barack Obama met Genevieve Cook in 1983 at a Christmas party in New York's East Village, it was the start of his most serious romance yet. But as the 22-year-old Columbia grad began to shape his future, he was also struggling with his identity: American or international?

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Obama: ‘New York girlfriend’ was composite — One of the more mysterious characters from President Obama's 1995 autobiography Dreams From My Father is the so-called ‘New York girlfriend.’ Obama never referred to her by name, or even by psuedonym, but he describes her appearance, her voice, and her mannerisms in specific detail.

ABCNEWS:

Designer of Ann Romney's $1K Shirt Says It's Off The Rack — CHANTILLY, Va. — The fashion house that makes the nearly $1,000 blouse worn by Ann Romney on morning television earlier this week tells ABC News that they had nothing to do with the wardrobe choice, remarking that they'd prefer to stay out of politics.

Discussion: The Last Tradition, The Gateway Pundit, The Impolitic, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, Naked DC and Stinque

Jada Wong / Styleite:

Ann Romney's Reed Krakoff Bird T-Shirt Costs $990 — Today Mitt and Ann Romney appeared on CBS's This Morning to talk about Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, and a slew of other political things. Sharp eyes over at The Cut noticed that Ann was wearing a bird-printed t-shirt by Reed Krakoff.

Discussion: The Political Carnival, Indecision Forever, New York Magazine and Mediaite

Caitlin McDevitt / Politico:

Ann Romney's $990 shirt - worth it? — Like the shirt that Ann Romney was wearing on Tuesday? It'll cost you a pretty penny. — The bird print top, made by Reed Krakoff costs $990, a saleswoman at the designer's store in Manhattan told Styleite. The piece is part of the Krakoff's spring 2012 ready-to-wear collection.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Washington Free Beacon and Wonkette

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

VIDEO: Wife Of Key Legislator Behind North Carolina's Anti-Gay Amendment Claims It Would Protect ‘Caucasian’ Race — The wife of a prominent North Carolina state senator and supporter of Amendment 1 — a proposed ballot initiative that would outlaw same-sex marriage, civil unions …

Discussion: www2.journalnow.com and Towleroad News #gay

Pam Spaulding / Firedoglake:

Wife of NC State Senator: Amendment One Needed ‘To Protect the Caucasian Race’ — I don't even know where to begin to unpack this trash. Chad Nance who is a freelance journalist in Winston-Salem and is covering the election here in NC, recorded the wife of NC Sen. Peter Brunstetter confirming …

Discussion: Truth Wins Out, The Raw Story and Holy Bullies …

Dustin Ingalls / Public Policy Polling:
Amendment One still up 14 points in N.C.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, FayObserver.com, Washington Post and American Power

Jordan Green / The YES! Weekly Blog:
Racialized remark about marriage amendment attributed to state senator's wife

Discussion: Stinque, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Advocate, The Daily Dish, Wonkette, Towleroad News #gay, Box Turtle Bulletin, Good As You and Joe. My. God.

Joel Siegel / Yahoo! News:

Newt Gingrich $4 Million in Debt; Staffers and Creditors Fume — Newt Gingrich ends his White House dream today with his political committee facing a mountain of debts — owing about $4 million to scores of businesses and campaign workers around the country who fear they will never get paid.

Ginger Gibson / Politico:
Newt Gingrich drops out: ‘Truly wild ride’ is over

Discussion: Rumproast, The Caucus, ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly and Truthdig

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Newt Gingrich brings campaign to a close, with swipes at Obama, jokes at his own expense

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Fox News and ThinkProgress

Chris Moody / Yahoo! News:
Gingrich to formally end 2012 presidential campaign: A moon shot comes to earth at last

Discussion: ABCNEWS, LifeNews.com, Yahoo! Politics!, CNN and Washington Wire

Hillary Chabot / Boston Herald:

Warren: I used minority listing to make friends — Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, fending off questions about whether she used her Native American heritage to advance her career, said today she enrolled herself as a minority in law school directories for nearly a decade …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Volokh Conspiracy, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Althouse and ABCNEWS

Howie Carr / Boston Herald:
White and wrong: On the reservation with Elizabeth Warren

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Amitai Etzioni / CNN:

Why Occupy May Day fizzled — Occupy Wall Street participants stage a march as part of May Day celebrations in New York — Editor's note: Amitai Etzioni is professor of international relations and director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Guardian and Wonkette

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Obama's Not-So-Hot Date With Wall Street

Discussion: Washington Post, Hullabaloo, American Prospect and Politico

Frances Robles / MiamiHerald.com:

George Zimmerman's crude Myspace page from 2005 uncovered — While it includes photos of an ethnically diverse group of friends, the murder defendant's 2005 web presence includes disparaging remarks about Mexicans. — FROBLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM — SANFORD — Just as George Zimmerman's attorney pushes …

Discussion: Mediaite, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, Mashable!, ThinkProgress, The Political Carnival, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Colorlines

Nick R. Martin / tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com: TPMMuckraker — Unearthed: George Zimmerman's MySpace Page

Washington Post:

Chen Guangcheng leaves U.S. embassy; deal to guarantee his safety may be unraveling, friends say — BEIJING — Blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who fled de facto house arrest last month and sought refuge for six days at the U.S. Embassy, left the diplomatic compound on Wednesday …

Discussion: Associated Press, US Department of State, ThinkProgress, CNN, Xinhua News Agency, Swampland, The Enterprise Blog, New York Times, The Agonist and The Page

utsandiego.com:

Man abandoned in DEA cell steps forward — He screamed. He kicked madly at the door. He cried like a baby. Then, locked inside a five-by-10-foot windowless cell and seemingly forgotten, the hallucinations crept in. — Daniel Chong said nothing made sense.

Discussion: Guardian

Sarah Grieco / KNSD-TV:
DEA Ignored All My Cries: Student

Discussion: San Diego …, Gawker, The Raw Story, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, Colorlines and US Politics

Arizona Republic:

Gilbert mass killing: Border militia leader identified as shooter — A border militia leader on Wednesday shot and killed four people at a Gilbert home, including a toddler, before committing suicide, sources said. — Sources identified the shooter as Jason “J.T.” Ready …

Discussion: msnbc.com and Los Angeles Times

John Sides / FiveThirtyEight:

Is Obama More Popular Than He Should Be? — It's well known that presidential approval ratings are a powerful predictor of election outcomes. President Obama's current 47 percent approval rating would be among the lowest approval ratings of any incumbent president who went on to be re-elected.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Hot Air, The Monkey Cage and Ezra Klein

Marquette Law School Poll:

Marquette Law School Poll shows Barrett leads Falk in recall primary; Walker and Barrett within single percentage point — Milwaukee, Wis. - With less than a week until the primary in the historic Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, a new Marquette Law School Poll shows Tom Barrett …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Politico, Hot Air and Althouse

Sean Sullivan / Hotline On Call:

Lugar, Mourdock in Dead Heat in New Poll — Sen. Richard Lugar and Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock are in a dead heat according to a poll released Wednesday that was conducted for the Lunch Pail Republicans, a pro-labor group that announced its support for Lugar on the same day.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Other McCain and M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …

Steve Kornacki / Salon:
It's starting to look over for Dick Lugar

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin and FiveThirtyEight

Bill Clinton / New York Times:

‘The Passage of Power,’ Robert Caro's New L.B.J. Book — “The Passage of Power,” the fourth installment of Robert Caro's brilliant series on Lyndon Johnson, spans roughly five years, beginning shortly before the 1960 presidential contest, including the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis …

Discussion: The New Republic, Lean Left and The Scoop

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMDC — 40 Years Of Workers Left Behind (CHART) — Economic fairness is one of the persistent themes of the 2012 election, and in that spirit the liberal Economic Policy Institute is revisiting the plight of the U.S. worker over the last several decades.

Discussion: Firedoglake, ACS Blog, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, BillMoyers.com and New York Times

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

‘Saturday Night Live’ creator: Romney won't be on show this season — Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels said presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney will not be on the show this season, but left the door open to Romney making an appearance when it returns in the fall.

Discussion: Deadline.com, The Political Carnival and HotAirPundit