memeorandum: Drug Money From Mexico Makes Its Way to the Racetrack (Ginger Thompson/New York Times)

5:55 PM ET, June 12, 2012

Top Items:

Shifting the Economic Narrative — What is clear from this fresh look at public consciousness on the economy is how difficult this period has been for both non-college-educated and college-educated voters - and how vulnerable the prevailing narratives articulated by national Democratic leaders are.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Washington Monthly, Washington Examiner, Hot Air, The Daily Beast, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers and The Democratic Daily

BuzzFeed:

Clintonites Hit The Panic Button For Obama — Carville, Greenberg, Penn, and Schoen all say the re-elect is off course. The Obamans have always loved criticism from Clintonworld. — (Getty Images / MANDEL NGAN) — Former aides to President Bill Clinton are calling for a dramatic shift …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and Ed Driscoll

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Dems call for fresh message, warn of ‘impossible headwind’ — President Barack Obama and his party may face an “impossible headwind in November” unless it shifts to a more forward-looking economic message aimed squarely at the middle class, three Democratic strategists warn in a memo out this week.

Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:

Obama Is Losing A Stunning Amount Of African-American Support In North Carolina — WATCH: What Obama's Embarrassing Primaries — In Kentucky And Arkansas Last Month Mean — President Barack Obama is rapidly losing support among African-American voters in North Carolina …

Discussion: Instapundit, Race 4 2012 and National Review

Caitlin McDevitt / Politico:

Spike Lee: Obama win not a sure thing — Spike Lee is predicting a tough road to reelection for President Obama. — “This thing is not a lock,” the filmmaker told GQ in a recent interview. “It is not a lock that President Obama is getting a second term and people have to really rekindle the enthusiasm that we had the first time.”

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney holds small lead in NC

Discussion: Firedoglake, Pat Dollard, Guardian, Ballot Box and Business Insider

Mark Anthony Green / GQ:
Nobody's Martyr: A GQ&A with Spike Lee

Discussion: Mediaite and Pat Dollard

Neil King Jr / Washington Wire:
Black Support for Obama Ebbs In North Carolina

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jeff Weiner / Orlando Sentinel:

George Zimmerman's wife arrested, charged with perjury — At her husband's bond hearing, Shellie Zimmerman was asked repeatedly about money. Among the questions: How much did the couple collect in donations through the PayPal account George Zimmerman set up on his website?

Discussion: msnbc.com, Black Youth Project, New York Magazine, Gawker, Colorlines and Outside the Beltway

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: George Zimmerman's wife arrested on perjury charge — Shellie Zimmerman is accused of lying under oath at her husband's bail hearing. Mug shot: — You can read the full statement of probable cause HERE. ABC News is reporting that bond has been set at $1,000.

Casey Glynn / CBS News:
Shellie Zimmerman, wife of George Zimmerman, arrested for perjury

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Riptide 2.0 and Riehl World View

Jeff Weiner / Orlando Sentinel:
Zimmerman ‘does not properly respect the law,’ judge says in order revoking bond

Discussion: Daily Kos

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Dems block McCain resolution on special counsel for leaks — Senate Democrats blocked a resolution introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to introduce an outside special counsel to investigate a number of recent military and intelligence leaks.

Discussion: CBS News and Michelle Malkin

Jordy Yager / The Hill:
Sen. Cornyn calls on Holder to resign

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller and “The Lid”

Fred Lucas / CNSNews:
Holder: ‘I Stuck by My Guns’

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, Weasel Zippers and Althouse

Tim Mak / Politico:

Jeb Bush comments have blogs in uproar — Conservatives in the blogosphere lashed out at Jeb Bush for saying that Ronald Reagan and his father, George H.W. Bush, would not have fit well in the modern Republican Party, ripping the former Florida governor as a “RINO” and dismissing his “steaming pile of nonsense.”

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, The Moderate Voice, Babalú Blog, GOP 12, Power Line, pandagon.net, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Riehl World View

Michael Stafford / Cagle Post:
Why I Gave Up On Being a Republican

Discussion: The Daily Beast

CBS Miami:

Doctors Release Pictures Of Causeway Cannibal Victim — MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Doctors have released photographs of Ronald Poppo, more than two weeks after the homeless man had much of his face chewed off during an attack by so-called Causeway Cannibal Rudy Eugene over the Memorial Day weekend.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Riehl World View, Guardian, The Raw Story and Gawker

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Follower Problem — If you go to the Lincoln or Jefferson memorials in Washington, you are invited to look up in admiration. Lincoln and Jefferson are presented as the embodiments of just authority. They are strong and powerful but also humanized. Jefferson is a graceful aristocratic democrat.

Discussion: National Review, Balloon Juice, The Daily Caller, The Mahablog, First Draft, No More Mister Nice Blog, Philly.com, Angry Bear and driftglass

Bruce Bartlett / Economix:

The Fiscal Legacy of George W. Bush — Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul. He is the author of “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform - Why We Need It and What It Will Take.”

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Daily Dish, The New Editor, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and Liberal Values

Politico:

Obama: GOP campaign fits in a single tweet — OWINGS MILLS, Md. — President Obama accused the Republicans of running a campaign focused exclusively on blame. — “You can pretty much put their campaign on a tweet and have some characters to spare,” Obama said at a fundraiser outside of Baltimore.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Indecision Forever and The PJ Tatler

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Pileup at the White House — It has been a Junius Horribilis for President Obama. — Job growth has stalled, the Democrats have been humiliated in Wisconsin, the attorney general is facing a contempt-of-Congress citation, talks with Pakistan have broken down, Bill Clinton is contradicting Obama …

Discussion: WBAY-TV, neo-neocon, The Moderate Voice, The Week, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Taylor Marsh

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
John Bryson's leave of absence adds to Obama's bad news

Discussion: Hot Air, ABCNEWS, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Moe Lane

Monica Davey / New York Times:

North Dakota Considers Eliminating Property Tax — BISMARCK, N.D. — Since Californians shrank their property taxes more than three decades ago by passing Proposition 13, people around the nation have echoed their dismay over such levies, putting forth plans to even them, simplify them, cap them, slash them.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, americanthinker.com, Gawker, Althouse, Rush Limbaugh, Valley News Live, Washington Post, Randy's Roundtable, The Enterprise Blog and msnbc.com

Dennis Cauchon / USA Today:
North Dakota voters to decide on abolishing property tax

Discussion: Wonkette

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Times Have Changed, It's OK to Lie — Last month David Corn noted that Mitt Romney was claiming that “government” would control half the economy once Obamacare was up and running. He's still saying it, and today Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post gives it a score of four Pinocchios and says Romney should drop it.

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Impolitic and The New Republic

Reuters:

Top conservative says read my lips: Don't sign ‘no new tax’ pledge — Spinners and Winners — As a conservative Republican, Lindsey Graham has never had a problem promising not to raise taxes. Like almost every other Republican member of Congress, during his last re-election campaign …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Daily Beast, Daniel W. Drezner, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Talking Points Memo

Joe Scarborough / Politico:

Why I voted for Ron Paul — I operate on instinct. So I should not have been surprised by my own gut reaction to the absentee ballot that lay before me on the kitchen table. — I scanned the list for Republican primary candidates and let instinct take over. — Mitt Romney? Not on your life.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Arlington, Va.:

Actor Kal Penn Meets With Young Obama Supporters in Arlington — Actor Kal Penn met with more than 100 young supporters of President Obama in Rosslyn and on Columbia Pike last night. — At Cafe Asia in Rosslyn, Penn spoke to a young professionals event about the importance of the upcoming presidential election.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Emily Heil / Washington Post:

White House softball team smoked by pot lobby's bats — Anyone notice a cloud hanging over the Mall last week? That might have been the White House softball team getting absolutely smoked by the team fielded by the marijuana lobby. — The One Hitters, the team of pro-pot activists, beat STOTUS (the Softball Team of the U.S.) 25-3.

Discussion: Wonkette and The Jawa Report

Valerie Strauss / Washington Post:

$1.1 million-plus Gates grants: ‘Galvanic’ bracelets that measure student engagement — In the 'you-can't-make-up-this-stuff' category, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is spending about $1.1 million to develop a way to physiologically measure how engaged students are by their teachers' lessons.

Discussion: Daily Pundit and Joanne Jacobs

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

First-Ever Trans Senate Witness: ‘To Be Unemployed Is Very Devastating, Demeaning, And Demoralizing’ — This morning, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would extend employment protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Discussion: TransGriot, Feministing, The New Civil Rights Movement, Washington Blade, GLAAD, Box Turtle Bulletin and Towleroad News #gay

Associated Press:

U.S.: Russia is sending Syria attack helicopters — The Obama administration said Tuesday that Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and is warning about a dramatic escalation in the Arab country's 15-month conflict.

Discussion: Associated Press, ThinkProgress, Israel Matzav, americanthinker.com and BBC

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

Does Mitt Romney need ‘Obamacare’? — Republicans are cheerleading for the Supreme Court to strike down President Barack Obama's health care law. — But there's one Republican who might be sorry: Mitt Romney. — There's fear in some GOP circles that if the court wipes the Affordable Care Act off …

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog and iOwnTheWorld.com

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Sherrod Brown: Government does create jobs, and we Democrats need to say so — It's good to see the two presidential campaigns squaring off over the real causes of the ongoing unemployment crisis, but let's face it: When it comes to whether we are actually going to do anything to create jobs …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

IU News Room:

IU community mourns passing of Distinguished Professor and Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The entire Indiana University community mourns the passing today of Distinguished Professor Elinor Ostrom, who received the 2009 Nobel Prize …

Discussion: Real Time Economics, Hit & Run, msnbc.com, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The Volokh Conspiracy