memeorandum: STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY (CNN)

4:10 PM ET, June 4, 2012

Top Items:

Who Survives? — Our final poll in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election comes after an impressive debate performance by Democrat Tom Barrett — who may have saved his best for last. The highlight for many viewers was when Barrett took beleaguered Republican Gov. Scott Walker …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, National Review, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Beast

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Walker leads by 3 points — PPP's final poll on the Wisconsin recall finds Scott Walker ahead, but also a race that's tightening. Walker leads Tom Barrett 50-47. That's down from 50-45 on a PPP poll conducted three weeks ago and it's also down from a 52-45 lead that Walker posted in a Marquette Law poll released last week.

Brendan O'Brien / Reuters:
Two new polls show tight race in Wisconsin recall

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Kos and The Page

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Morning Plum: Wisconsin recall fight tightening?

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Maddow Blog, New York Times and National Review

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Recall Battle in Wisconsin May Snarl Obama Camp

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Beast, Via Meadia, The Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org and JSOnline

David Catanese / Politico:
Shell-shocked Wisconsin readies for recall

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Ballot Box and The Hill

Mark Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:
PPP's Final Wisconsin Poll Shows Scott Walker Edging Tom Barrett

Discussion: Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Recall Elections Blog and Weekly Standard

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
Labor groups, Tea Party pour resources into Wisconsin ahead of recall election

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, iWatch News Latest Stories, ThinkProgress, americanthinker.com, Daily Kos and CNN

BuzzFeed:

Obama's 2008 Donors Don't Give In 2012 — Nearly 90% of the Americans who gave $200 to Obama's 2008 campaign haven't re-upped this year. Disillusionment, and hard times: “I wish he was the socialist they accused him of being,” says one. — Donors who gave $200 to Barack Obama in 2008 but have not yet in 2012, by location.

Discussion: American Prospect, GOP 12, RedState, Politico, Hot Air, Power Line, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, The Confluence, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, americanthinker.com, hogewash, Washington Free Beacon and GayPatriot

New York Times:

Romney Team Declares War With Boos and a Surprise Event — At Mitt Romney's Boston headquarters, there was pure glee. — Word had just leaked that David Axelrod, the chief strategist for President Obama's campaign, would arrive the next morning to attack Mr. Romney on the steps of the State House, a half-mile away.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABCNEWS, The Caucus and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:
5 Facts About The Massachusetts Economy Under Mitt Romney

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Pema Levy / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Romney Camp Defends Poor Jobs Record: He Inherited A Bad Situation

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, American Prospect, Campaign 2012, Rumproast and National Review

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

This Republican Economy — What should be done about the economy? Republicans claim to have the answer: slash spending and cut taxes. What they hope voters won't notice is that that's precisely the policy we've been following the past couple of years. Never mind the Democrat in the White House …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Weasel Zippers, Washington Monthly, National Review, The Maddow Blog, The Mahablog, The New Republic, Prairie Weather, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Paul Krugman and Eclectablog

Rodney Ho / Radio & TV Talk:

Neal Boortz announces retirement after more than four decades in radio, replaced by Herman Cain — After more than four decades on the airwaves in Atlanta, Neal Boortz this morning announced that he is ending his syndicated talk show on January 21, 2013, replaced by former presidential candidate Herman Cain.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake and Outside the Beltway

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
Radio Host Neal Boortz To Retire, Will Be Replaced By Herman Cain

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, GOP 12 and Alan Colmes' Liberaland, more at Mediagazer »

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

Arab Spring... Muslims Behead Christian Man in Tunisia While Reciting Anti-Christian Islamic Prayer — A Muslim mob recently beheaded a Christian man in Tunisia while reciting Islamic prayer. — And, they filmed it. — Before the Obama years, Tunisia was considered to be the most moderate Arab state.

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Weasel Zippers

Raymond Ibrahim / Gatestone Institute:
Graphic Video: Muslims Slaughter “Apostate” in Tunisia

Discussion: Israel Matzav

New York Post:

Timothy Cardinal Dolan blasts NYT over report he authorized payments to pedophile priests — Timothy Cardinal Dolan yesterday blasted a report that he authorized payments to pedophile priests — and said no such payments are being made to New York clerics. — Dolan, while serving …

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Joe. My. God.

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

Sarah Palin to rally conservative online army — The conservative blogosphere has yet to move past the death of patron saint Andrew Breitbart, but it will get a major jolt this month from an equally provocative hero: Sarah Palin. — The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and Conservatives4Palin

BuzzFeed:

Meet The Romney Birthers — “I find it unacceptable that we cannot find a qualified American.” Chester Arthur's legitimacy also in question. — A popular meme among Romney birthers, who believe the Republican's Mexican roots make him ineligible for the presidency.

Discussion: rense.com and Guardian

Patterico's Pontifications:

Audio and Transcripts from the Hearing Where Aaron Walker Was Arrested for Blogging About a Public Figure — Last week, I told you that Aaron Walker was arrested for blogging about a public figure. I published a report of the events of the hearing, which was consistent with another report …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, The Jawa Report, Nice Deb, Truth Before Dishonor, hogewash, The Lonely Conservative, American Power and Twitchy

CNN:

Poll: Romney's favorable rating jumps, but Obama still more popular — Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney's favorable ratings are on the rise, but a new national poll indicates that President Barack Obama remains more popular than his Republican challenger. — According to a CNN/ORC International …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Politico, Questions and Observations, US Politics, The Page, No More Mister Nice Blog and GOP 12

Justin Sink / Ballot Box:

Rep. Hayworth adviser who suggested hurling acid at Dems resigns — The campaign adviser who suggested that opponents “hurl some acid at those female Democratic senators” has resigned from the congressional campaign of Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.). — “Jay Townsend has offered …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Wonkette and The Raw Story

Robert Kuttner / American Prospect:

Our Most Widely Ignored Public Intellectuals — A prophet, says the Bible, is not without honor save in his own country. As the most prestigious economic dissenters of this era, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman form a category of two: astonishingly prescient, widely read, and largely ignored by those in power.

Discussion: Economist's View

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

Cuomo Seeks Cut in Frisk Arrests — Wading into the debate over stop-and-frisk police tactics, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask legislators on Monday for a change in New York State law that would drastically reduce the number of people who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.

Discussion: City Room, Cato @ Liberty, The Stranger …, Outside the Beltway, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, The Agonist, Guardian, Gothamist, Business Insider, The Raw Story, Boing Boing and Joe. My. God.

Louise Radnofsky / Wall Street Journal:

Big Changes in College Health Plans — Schools Are Raising Premiums Sharply or Dropping Offerings Altogether as Low-Benefit Options Are Disallowed — Some colleges are dropping student health-insurance plans for the coming academic year and others are telling students to expect sharp premium increases …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Via Meadia, The Lonely Conservative and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Bill McMorris / Washington Free Beacon:

Red Star Over Hollywood — China's communist regime is negotiating private deals with American film studios and financing the purchase of America's second largest theater chain, leaving experts and human rights activists fearing the spread of dictatorial soft power and censorship to American shores.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Have We Reached an Economic Tipping Point for the President? - Today's Q's for O's WH - 6/4/2012 — TAPPER: Who specifically is “rooting for failure”? — CARNEY: I think that when you have a situation where action is not being taken on Capitol Hill where it is obvious …

Bloomberg:

AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age As High As 80 After Crisis — AIG Will Continue to Expand Globally, CEO Says — American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe's debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase.

Discussion: Political Economy and US Politics

Financial Times:

How to preserve America's recovery — For the third year running America's economic recovery appears to be stalling. Last month's jobs number, which at 69,000 was barely enough to keep pace with population growth, was the third in a row to disappoint. Just as ominously …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Brad DeLong

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Easy Monday: Paycheck fairness, judicial vote in the Senate — The Senate returns from its weeklong break at 2 p.m., and will start with some debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act before moving to a judicial nominee vote at 5:30 p.m. — While debate on the paycheck bill could hit …

Discussion: Feministing and Daily Kos