memeorandum: Sununu apologizes for Obama remarks (Dylan Byers/Politico)

11:50 PM ET, July 18, 2012

Top Items:

Mitt Romney Taxes For 2010 Not Fully Disclosed … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Politics, Taxes , Video, Mitt Romney Tax Returns, Mitt Romney Taxes, Election 2012, Fbar, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Taxes 2010, Politics News

Discussion: New York Magazine, Firedoglake, Start Making Sense, Salon, Daily Kos and Discourse.net

Abby Huntsman / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Never Thought He'd Have To Release Tax Returns: Bain Sources … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Video, Mitt Romney Bain Capital, Mitt Romney Tax Returns, Mitt Romney Taxes, Bain Capital, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Quit, Politics News

Discussion: Reuters, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, AEIdeas, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS and Guardian

CNN:

Why won't Romney release more tax returns? — Editor's note: Edward D. Kleinbard is a professor at Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. He is the former chief of staff of Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. Peter C. Canellos, a lawyer, is former chair of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section.

Discussion: Guardian, Connecting.the.Dots and Towleroad News #gay

Tarini Partiand Scott Wong / Politico:
Dems look to keep heat on Romney over tax returns

Discussion: CNN and Riehl World View

CNN:
Another day on the trail: Dancing horses, cronyism

Discussion: The Caucus, ABCNEWS, Politico, ABCNEWS, msnbc.com and The Impolitic

New York Times:

Economic Fears Hurting Obama, Poll Indicates — Declining confidence in the nation's economic prospects appears to be the most powerful force influencing voters as the presidential election gears up, undercutting key areas of support for President Obama and helping give his Republican challenger …

Discussion: American Power, The Caucus, Weekly Standard and The Daily Dish

Latino Decisions:

New poll: After SB1070 decision Obama widens lead over Romney among Latinos — Latino Decisions released new national poll of Latino registered voters showing Barack Obama winning 70% of the Latino vote compared to 22% for Mitt Romney. The poll, commissioned by the Center …

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, Politico, American Prospect, Politicker, The Reaction, Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Naked Politics and The Hinterland Gazette

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama lead in New Mexico declining — PPP's newest New Mexico poll finds the race for President there getting a lot more competitive. Barack Obama continues to lead but his advantage is down to 5 points at 49-44, a far cry from the leads of 14 and 15 points he had on our previous two polls of the state.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politico and Business Insider

BuzzFeed:

How The Romney Campaign Decided To Take The Gloves Off — Surrogates will bring up cocaine, Fast and Furious, and ties to Blagojevich, one aide says. What Romneyland is thinking. — Image by Win McNamee / Getty Images — IRWIN, Penn. — Standing before hundreds of roaring partisans …

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

“Vetting” Genie Out of the Bottle — I don't want to over-react to John Sunnunu's bizarre outburst yesterday, or put too much weight on McKay Coppins' report today that it represented a Romney campaign decision to “take the gloves off” and go nuclear on the president.

Discussion: Washington Post

Steve M. / No More Mister Nice Blog:
DEAD ANDY BREITBART IS NOW ROMNEY'S TOP CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice, The Mahablog and Booman Tribune

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Bachmann: Letter on Clinton aide was ‘distorted’ — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said a letter she and colleagues sent about an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “being distorted.” — She issued the statement shortly after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took to the Senate floor …

Discussion: Politico, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Wonkette

Jason Linkins / The Huffington Post:
Michele Bachmann Points To Huma Abedin As Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrator

Discussion: Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, ABCNEWS, The Raw Story, ansamed.info, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine and Informed Comment

Christopher Kolk / People.com:
Anthony Weiner Shares a Family Photo

Discussion: CNN, CBS News, Politicker, CBS New York, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Politico and New York Magazine

BuzzFeed:

Olympics Documents, Intro Described Romney As Bain CEO — Mitt Romney has spent much of the last week arguing that, despite some public records, he was effectively gone from Bain Capital in February 1999. But in February 2000, Romney was introduced as the “founder and CEO of Capital” …

Discussion: Guardian and Balloon Juice

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Oops!... Obama's Top Bundler Jonathan Lavine Was In Charge of Bain During GST Steel Layoffs

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, American Power, Ed Driscoll and National Review

Patrick Marley / JSOnline:

Second judge rejects state voter ID law — Requirement will not be in place for fall elections — By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel — Madison - A second judge has declared Wisconsin's voter ID law unconstitutional, further guaranteeing that the ID requirement will not be in place for elections this fall.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Election Law Blog and The PJ Tatler

Brennan Center for Justice:
The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, ACS Blog, Right Now, ThinkProgress, American Prospect, Washington Post, Firedoglake and Politico

Hubble Smith / Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Amonix closes North Las Vegas solar plant after 14 months, heavy federal subsidies — The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, heavily financed under an Obama administration energy initiative, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility 14 months after it opened.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, The Heritage Foundation, Business Insider, Las Vegas Sun Blogs, Red Alert Politics and Washington Examiner

Russ Burlingame / ComicBook.com:

Rush Limbaugh: Bane's Creator Weighs In — Not long after Rush Limbaugh was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter this afternoon as asserting that the use of longtime DC Comics villain Bane in the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight Rises was in fact a subtle jab at Bain Capital co-founder Mitt Romney …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The New Republic, The Hill, Rush Limbaugh, Hollywood Reporter, Gawker, Guardian, Washington Examiner and The Hinterland Gazette

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Mack says Smith not a real journalist — The war between Rep. Connie Mack and Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith continued today when the Republican representative told Smith to his face that he wasn't a real journalist. — As my colleage Charlie Mahtesian has reported …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Naked Politics and Connie Mack for Senate

Haaretz:

7 reported killed in terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria — Haaretz brings you minute-by-minute updates on the deadly attack; Israeli rescue services en route to country; Terror attack occurs on 18th anniversary of attack on Jewish community in Buenos Aires.

Discussion: Reuters, Ynetnews, Guardian, thejc.com, Jerusalem Post, Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, msnbc.com, Business Insider, Elder of Ziyon, Mondoweiss, Weasel Zippers, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Spectacle Blog, Atlas Shrugs, The Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

Associated Press:
6 die in Bulgaria as bus carrying Israelis bombed

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Washington Examiner and The PJ Tatler

AJE - Al Jazeera English:

Syria blast strikes at heart of Assad's rule — Blast in Damascus kills Defence Minister Daoud Rajha, Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and other senior officials. — Syria's defence minister and Interior minister are among those who were killed after an explosion struck …

Discussion: BBC, The Long War Journal, Weasel Zippers, DAWN.COM and CNN

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:
Bombing Kills Key Assad Aides as Syria Fighting Rages

Discussion: Telegraph, The Atlantic Online, Wired, The PJ Tatler, Weekly Standard, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Taking Note, News Desk, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, americanthinker.com, Via Meadia and Mother Jones

Andrew Stiles / Washington Free Beacon:

Cronyism Built That — President Obama's record of rewarding political donors with taxpayer dollars and plum administration posts is facing a new round of scrutiny thanks to GOP challenger Mitt Romney's effort to make it a central issue of the campaign. — “[President Obama] …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, detroitnews.com and Jammie Wearing Fools

BuzzFeed:
Obama Official Was Like “A Hooker Dropped Into A Prison Exercise Yard”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, RedState and Hot Air

Merrill Knox / TVNewser:

Hannity Gets First Interview with George Zimmerman — Sean Hannity has secured the first interview with George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. The hour-long exclusive will air on Hannity's Fox News Channel program tonight at 9pmET.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Hinterland Gazette, theGrio and Global Grind, more at Mediagazer »

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Romney camp: ‘Not true’ he paid $0 in taxes — With Mitt Romney declining to release additional years of personal tax returns, the Obama campaign and an array of commentators have floated the possibility that Romney may not have paid any taxes at all in one year or another.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, CNN, National Review, US Politics, Jezebel and Angry Black Lady Chronicles

Hans Nichols / Bloomberg:

Obama Campaign Detectives Hunt For Foreclosed Florida Voters — By day, Lynnette Acosta, a 34-year- old mother of two, is an information-technology manager in Orlando, Florida. By night, she's a sleuth for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, scouring for potential voters.

Discussion: Firedoglake and Political Capital

Jessica Mason / YouTube Blog:

Face blurring: when footage requires anonymity — As citizens continue to play a critical role in supplying news and human rights footage from around the world, YouTube is committed to creating even better tools to help them. According to the international human rights organization WITNESS …

Discussion: Wired, TechCrunch, Hit & Run and Media Decoder

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

The chart that shows just how much reelection trouble Obama is in — A daisy chain of political disaster seems to be forming for President Obama, says political analyst Dan Clifton at Strategas Research. Clifton suggests that “there seems to be a relationship between consumer confidence and whether a president gets reelected.

Discussion: Washington Post

Hunter Walker / Politicker:

Former Navy SEAL Launches PAC To Fight Obama — Ryan Zinke in his Navy days. (Photo: IraqVetsForCongress.com) — Today, Ryan Zinke, an ex-Navy SEAL and Montana State Senator, announced the launch of Special Operations for America, a political action committee dedicated to “the election of Mitt Romney and like-minded candidates.”

Discussion: Hot Air and Atlas Shrugs

Meg Handley / US News:

For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans — The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts — While Americans might enjoy throwing politically-charged barbs at their neighbors to the north, Canadians now have at least one reason to be smug.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Weasel Zippers, Guardian, The Lonely Conservative and newsfeed.time.com

CNN:

CNN's GUT CHECK for July 18, 2012 — n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle — JUST IN ... TIM PAWLENTY MAKES HIS CASE, SAYS FLASHINESS DOESN'T GAS UP YOUR CAR: — Neil Cavuto: How would you defend yourself from that criticism that maybe Mitt Romney needs a flashy running mate?

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air and The Huffington Post