memeorandum: Romney plans posh weekend donor retreat featuring Rove and V.P. hopefuls (Philip Rucker/Washington Post)

3:35 PM ET, June 20, 2012

Top Items:

Obama grants Holder request on ‘Furious’ documents as contempt vote looms — DEVELOPING ... President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Fox News Insider, Hot Air, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The PJ Tatler, NO QUARTER, Weekly Standard, nation.foxnews.com, RedState, Sister Toldjah, Weasel Zippers, The Shark Tank, Pirate's Cove, The Rightnewz, Pundit & Pundette, Jammie Wearing Fools, Macsmind and Sense of Events

Tom Cohen / CNN:

Obama invokes executive privilege in showdown over Holder documents — Washington (CNN) — An extraordinary House committee hearing began considering a contempt measure against Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday even though President Barack Obama asserted executive privilege …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, The Moderate Voice, Politico, americanthinker.com, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, The Political Carnival and Vodkapundit

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Obama Executive Privilege Asserted Over Fast And Furious Documents … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Eric Holder, Barack Obama , Barack Obama , Video, Executive Privilege, Executive Privilege Obama, Executive Privilege President Obama, Eric Holder Contempt, Eric Holder Fast And Furious …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, New York Magazine and American Spectator

Byron Tau / Politico:

Boehner: Privilege claim implies White House cover-up — On the heels of President Obama's decision to shield Department of Justice documents under the doctrine of executive privilege, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner wondered if White House officials were being involved in a cover-up.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:

Fast and Furious scandal: Obama invokes executive privilege; House panel moves forward with Holder contempt vote — President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Donovan Slack / Politico:

White House: No cover-up, GOP playing politics with Fast & Furious — The White House is responding to allegations of a coverup from House Speaker John Boehner by accusing him and other House Republicans of playing politics. — The statement by White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer:

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Evan Perez / Wall Street Journal:
White House Intervenes in Holder Rift

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, The Right Scoop, GOP.com, Hot Air, Questions and Observations, Conservatives4Palin and Mediaite

Politico:
President Obama uses executive privilege on Fast and Furious

Discussion: Univision News Tumblr

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Obama asserts executive privilege ahead of Holder contempt vote

Discussion: CNN, The Moderate Voice and Townhall.com

Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:
Obama invokes executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Chicago Boyz, The Powers That Be and The Right Scoop

John H. Cushman Jr / New York Times:
Obama Claims Executive Privilege in Gun Case

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Taylor Marsh

New York Post:
Is this the end of Eric Holder's games?

Discussion: National Review and RedState

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Matthews Slimes GOP as Racist for Going After Holder: An ‘Ethnic’ ‘Stop-and-Frisk’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Michelle Malkin:
Transparency: Eric Holder runs for White House cover; obtains executive privilege over Fast …

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line: White House asserts executive privilege claim to further DOJ's Fast and Furious cover-up

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:

Obama Leads In Poll As Voters View Romney As Out Of Touch — Barack Obama has opened a significant lead over Mitt Romney in a Bloomberg National Poll that reflects the presumed Republican nominee's weaknesses more than the president's strengths. — Obama leads Romney 53 percent …

Discussion: Ballot Box, No More Mister Nice Blog, Power Line, Washington Wire, Ezra Klein, Firedoglake, The New Republic, Mediaite, Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, The Page, The New Civil Rights Movement, New York Magazine, National Review, Jammie Wearing Fools and Shakesville

David J. Lynch / Bloomberg:

Americans Say They'Re Better Off Since Obama Took Office — A plurality of Americans now say they are better off than they were when President Barack Obama was inaugurated, providing a surprising lift to Obama's re- election campaign despite troublesome economic news.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, American Prospect, Politico, iOwnTheWorld.com and The Political Carnival

CNN:
New poll: Obama has double digit advantage

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Political Carnival

Maggie Habermanand Alexander Burns / Politico:

The 2012 campaign is the smallest ever — For years, operatives, reporters and potential nominees envisioned the 2012 presidential campaign as a titanic clash of media-swarmed combatants with big ideas about the future. In the Republican primaries, this was almost a mantra: this is the most important campaign in a generation.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, pandagon.net, Taylor Marsh and Riehl World View

First Read / msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Why Rubio probably won't be the pick — Why Rubio probably won't be Romney's VP pick... And why T-Paw seems to be rising... Obama campaign releases two new TV ads hitting Romney's record as Massachusetts governor... Romney's boxed in on immigration... Romney raises money in Michigan …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Booman Tribune, www2.wsls.com, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Washington Wire, Daily Kos and Hot Air

BuzzFeed:

Mitt Romney Is Terrible For Traffic — We admit it, and so do other bloggers and editors: Nobody seems to want to read stories about Mitt Romney. For the candidate, a blessing or a curse? — In the war of partisan trash talk that frequently consumes online political media …

Discussion: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh and Weasel Zippers

Mike Allenand Jim Vandehei / Politico:

Tim Pawlenty's stock soars in Romney-world — Tim Pawlenty has jumped to the top of the vice presidential shortlist of several Mitt Romney advisers after emerging as the most effective — and well-liked — surrogate for the GOP nominee-to-be, according to several Republicans familiar with campaign deliberations.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Indecision Forever, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog and msnbc.com

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Middle class could face higher taxes under Republican plan, analysis finds — The tax reform plan that House Republicans have advanced would sharply cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and could leave middle-class households facing much larger tax bills, according to a new analysis set to be released Wednesday.

Discussion: American Prospect, Daily Kos, Eclectablog and Balloon Juice

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Study: House Republican Budget Would Raise Taxes On The Middle Class, Cut Them For Millionaires

Discussion: American Prospect

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Soak The Middle Class

Discussion: U.S. Congress Joint … and blog.sfgate.com

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For immediate release — Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the economy has been expanding moderately this year. However, growth in employment has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated. Business fixed investment has continued to advance.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Reuters, Ezra Klein, ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, FT Alphaville, Bloomberg, Business Insider, ABCNEWS, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire and Felix Salmon

Jordan Michael Smith / Salon:

New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims — “I don't think the Bush administration would want to see these released,” an expert tells Salon — Over 120 CIA documents concerning 9/11, Osama bin Laden and counterterrorism were published today for the first time, having been newly declassified and released to the National Security Archive.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, US Politics, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, The Mahablog, Suburban Guerrilla and Hullabaloo

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand / The Huffington Post:

Food Stamp Vote In Senate Blocks Bid To Restore $4.5 Billion In Aid … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Video, 2012 Farm Bill, Farm Bill, Farm Bill 2012, Kirsten Gillibrand, Debbie Stabenow, Debbie Stabenow Food Stamps, Farm Bill Food Stamps, Food Stamp Cuts, Food Stamps, Kirsten Gillibrand Farm Bill, Politics News

Discussion: Firedoglake and ThinkProgress

Wall Street Journal:
Food Stamp Fiasco

Discussion: protein wisdom and The Lonely Conservative

Salena Zito / Townhall.com:

The End of the New Deal Democrat — U.S. Rep. Mark Critz said Tuesday he will skip the Democratic National Convention in favor of campaigning in Pennsylvania, much like top elected Democrats in neighboring West Virginia who are disgruntled with President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Politico, PoliticsPA, Ballot Box and Washington Free Beacon

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Romney plans posh weekend donor retreat featuring Rove and V.P. hopefuls — Fresh off the best fundraising stretch of his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney plans to spend this weekend strategizing and fraternizing with his biggest bundlers at a posh resort in Park City, Utah.

Discussion: msnbc.com, ABCNEWS, GOP 12 and Shakesville

Scott Jaschik / Inside Higher Ed:

E-mails show U.Va. board wanted a big online push — By — E-mail messages were flying among leaders of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia in the weeks leading up to the ouster of Teresa A. Sullivan as president of the university. The e-mail messages show …

Discussion: naked capitalism