memeorandum: Obama-Romney Race Competitive in 2012 Swing States (Lydia Saad/Gallup)

2:10 PM ET, May 7, 2012

Top Items:

Mark Halperin / Swampland:

The View from One Prudential Plaza: Why the Obama Campaign Is So Confident About Beating Romney — President Obama pauses while speaking at a campaign event in Columbus, Ohio, on May 5, 2012 — Barack Obama's decision to base his re-election campaign outside of Washington seems to be working pretty darn well.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and ABCNEWS

James Hohmann / Politico:

Battleground Poll: Obama, Romney in dead heat — A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll finds a dead heat in the presidential race six months before the election. — Mitt Romney edged out President Barack Obama 48 percent to 47 percent among likely voters …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, American Spectator, White House Dossier, LifeNews.com, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, msnbc.com and ThinkProgress

Susan Page / USA Today:

Swing states' poll: Big challenges loom for Obama, Romney — Six months out, it's a tie. — The first USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll since the GOP settled on a presumptive nominee shows big challenges for each side: Mitt Romney in generating enthusiasm and a personal connection with his supporters …

Discussion: Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Campaign 2012, msnbc.com, GOP 12, The Hill, Mediaite, CNN and National Review

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Obama-Romney Race Competitive in 2012 Swing States — Obama currently holds advantage on strength of support and enthusiasm — PRINCETON, NJ — In the first USA Today/Gallup swing-state poll conducted since Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee, Romney and President Barack Obama …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Firedoglake, GOP 12, American Prospect, The Moderate Voice, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:

It's the Economy, Smartypants — Karl Rove's signature contribution to campaign politics was the insight that the most effective way to defeat an opponent was not to attack his greatest weakness, but to attack his greatest strength. (There's some vivid detail from Joshua Green's classic 2004 article on Rove's history as a campaigner.

Discussion: Mother Jones and ABCNEWS

James Hohmann / Politico:
Poll: 2012 race a dead heat

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wake up America, GOP 12, Hit & Run, Washington Post, The Page, Associated Press and National Review

James Hohmann / Politico: Battleground Poll: Obama, Romney in dead heat

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Those Revolting Europeans — The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it's about time. — Both countries held elections Sunday that were in effect referendums on the current European economic strategy, and in both countries voters turned two thumbs down.

Brian Topp / Globe and Mail:
With Hollande's defeat of Sarkozy, France dodges a bullet

Discussion: The Reaction

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
Can This Man Save The Eurozone Economy?

Discussion: Firedoglake, Elysée, Ezra Klein, Via Meadia, The Barrometer, American Prospect, Agence France Presse, Free exchange, Guardian and The Daily Dish

BuzzFeed:
Report: Rahm Emanuel Doubts New French President

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Guardian

John Cassidy / Rational Irrationality:
Sarko's Defeat: Good and Bad News for Obama

Discussion: Cafe Hayek, Outside the Beltway, Scared Monkeys, Reuters and Left Coast Rebel

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

A Scramble as Biden Backs Same-Sex Marriage — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Sunday that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriages and was heartened by their growing acceptance across the country, a position that moves well beyond the “evolving” views that President Obama has said he holds on the issue.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Althouse, The Caucus, msnbc.com, Politico, JustOneMinute, Capital New York, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Campaign 2012, Gay Politics, The Daily Dish and ThinkProgress

Drew Katchen / msnbc.com:
Education Secretary Arne Duncan: I believe in same-sex marriage

Discussion: Guardian, Politicker, Politico and Gay Politics

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Arne Duncan Endorses Marriage Equality

Discussion: Business Insider, Shakesville, Washington Blade, Indecision Forever, Poliglot, The Raw Story, Taylor Marsh, Catholic Bandita, Towleroad News #gay, The Reaction and 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com

Washington Wire:
What Did Joe Biden Actually Say on Gay Marriage?

Discussion: Politicker and Wall Street Journal

Donovan Slack / Politico:
Arne Duncan's support of gay marriage draws praise from advocates, ratchets up pressure on Obama

Discussion: National Review, White House Dossier, Guardian, Human Rights Campaign, Newsy and The Hill

BuzzFeed:

Mitt Romney Was Arrested For Disorderly Conduct In 1981 — The charges were dropped after Romney threatened to sue. “I was not a disorderly person,” Romney said. — Mitt Romney campaigns in Pittsburgh. — It's a little reported anecdote, but in 1981 presumptive Republican Presidential …

Discussion: Catholic Bandita, GOP 12, Daily Kos, Naked DC and Indecision Forever

Matthew Lee / Associated Press:

Clinton hopes to see female US president — KOLKATA, India (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she has no desire to make another run for the White House but hopes to see an American woman president in her lifetime. — Politely turning aside questions …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway and ABCNEWS

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
Hillary Clinton : I will see a woman in White House

Discussion: The Hill

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:
Tom Brokaw: ‘It Is Time To Rethink’ White House Correspondents Dinner (VIDEO)

Discussion: Mediaite, FishbowlDC, The Daily Caller and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Peter Grier / Christian Science Monitor:

Why Ron Paul's big wins in Maine and Nevada matter — When Ron Paul delegates show up at the Republican National Convention in August, they may be strong enough to throw the event into disarray - just at the moment Mitt Romney needs to show the GOP united behind him.

Discussion: Business Insider and Hit & Run

Steve Mistler / Portland Press-Herald:
Ron Paul in Maine: Delegates in hand, but trouble afoot?

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, The New Republic, The Stranger …, Balloon Juice and Las Vegas Sun

Adweek:

Secret Meeting Has ‘Washington Post’ Buzzing As paper struggles, big-name journalists meet with the paper's top business exec By Lucia Moses — Washington Post staffers are buzzing about a secret meeting between some 10 big-name Post journalists including Dana Priest, David Finkel and Carol Leonnig …

Discussion: Forbes, Capital New York, Poynter, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, New York Magazine and JIMROMENESKO.COM, more at Mediagazer »

Kevin Sieff / Washington Post:

Secret U.S. program releases high-level insurgents in exchange for pledges of peace — KABUL — The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence …

Discussion: Power Line, The Jawa Report, Hit & Run, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, ThinkProgress, Reuters, New York Magazine, This ain't Hell … and The PJ Tatler

Kate Taylor / New York Times:

Another Cuomo Book, This Time by Him — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, already the subject of two forthcoming books, is planning to write one of his own. — Mr. Cuomo's book will not be a memoir, aides said Sunday, but a reflection on his tenure as governor and his approach to governing.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Cindy Adams / New York Post:
Andy's life & tome

Discussion: Gothamist

Michelle Kosinski / msnbc.com:

Prostitute at center of Secret Service scandal: Agents were ‘stupid brutes’ — MADRID, Spain — A woman identifying herself as the Colombian prostitute at the center of a scandal involving U.S. Secret Service personnel has called the group of agents “stupid brutes” who put partying above President Barack Obama's security.

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Raw Story and Business Insider

Peter Berkowitz / Wall Street Journal:

Why Colleges Don't Teach the Federalist Papers — At America's top schools, graduates leave without reading our most basic writings on the purpose of constitutional self-government. — It would be difficult to overstate the significance of The Federalist for understanding the principles …

Discussion: Power Line

Dave Umhoefer / PolitiFact:

Behind the rhetoric: Why Scott Walker was able to raise unlimited funds — Democrats and their recall allies decry the law that has helped Gov. Scott Walker out-raise his opponents combined by $11 million dollars without regard to normal campaign contribution limits.

Discussion: FreakOutNation

Pamela Owen / Daily Mail:

Did dinosaurs cause climate change? Huge creatures may have contributed to their own demise because they produced so much flatulence, say scientists — Dinosaurs may be partly to blame for a change in climate because they created so much flatulence, according to leading scientists.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers