memeorandum: Bloomberg Backs Plan to Limit Arrests for Marijuana (Thomas Kaplan/New York Times)

5:40 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: Addicting Info, National Review, Weekly Standard, 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.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Ballot Box, Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Washington Free Beacon, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, Hullabaloo, Mother Jones, Campaign 2012, National Review, americanthinker.com, Balloon Juice, wisdems.org and USA Today

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Gov. Walker knocks Obama for shying away from Wisconsin recall

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and Guardian

Josh Eidelson / Salon:
Wisconsin's resentment factor

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Daily Dish

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

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, The Daily Caller, americanthinker.com and Ballot Box

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, News Desk and The Page, more at Mediagazer »

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

Discussion: The New Republic, The Caucus, Washington Post, Via Meadia, Politico, The Daily Beast, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, NewsBusters.org and JSOnline

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

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

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

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

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: CNN, Politico, 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

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Romney-backed solar firm flops, Dems pounce

Discussion: Hit & Run, RedState, CNN and Daily Kos

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

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

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, Moe_Lane's blog, GOP 12, Hot Air, Power Line, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, The Confluence, Politico, The Moderate Voice, americanthinker.com, Outside the Beltway, hogewash, Washington Free Beacon and GayPatriot

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

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:
Bloomberg Backs Plan to Limit Arrests for Marijuana

Discussion: New York Magazine, City Room, The Daily Caller, Gothamist, nyc.gov and Washington Free Beacon

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

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: Balloon Juice, The Daily Dish and Joe. My. God.

ABCNEWS:

RNC Web Video Lampoons Obama's Anna Wintour Fundraising Effort — The Republican National Committee released a new web video Monday lampooning the Obama campaign's latest fundraising effort, a web ad with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour that came out Friday, the same day as the dismal jobs report.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, Political Economy, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
New GOP ad hits Obama campaign for Wintour ad, jobs report

Discussion: Business Insider, Ed Driscoll, Moe_Lane's blog, National Review, ABCNEWS and CNN

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 …

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

Reid: GOP doesn't want equal pay for women — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that Senate Republicans oppose equal pay for women, citing as evidence their expected opposition to the Democratic Paycheck Fairness Act in a scheduled Tuesday vote.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Easy Monday: Paycheck fairness, judicial vote in the Senate

Discussion: Feministing and Daily Kos

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: Weasel Zippers and The Jawa Report

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

Discussion: Israel Matzav

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

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: Washington Monthly, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and Conservatives4Palin

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, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Partisan Polarization Surges in Bush, Obama Years — Trends in American Values: 1987-2012 — OVERVIEW — As Americans head to the polls this November, their values and basic beliefs are more polarized along partisan lines than at any point in the past 25 years.

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Daily Mail:

Fugitive ‘cannibal’ porn star arrested in Berlin after escaping police raid on his Paris hotel room — The international manhunt for gay porn star killer Luka Rocco Magnotta has ended with his arrest in the German capital Berlin. — Magnotta, 29, was seized in an Internet cafe …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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, ThinkProgress, Politico, Questions and Observations, The Page, No More Mister Nice Blog, US Politics and GOP 12

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

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: Wonkette, ThinkProgress and The Raw Story

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 …