memeorandum: Pawlenty Meeting With Veep Vetter? He's Not Telling (Bill Clark/ABCNEWS)

5:40 PM ET, August 8, 2012

Top Items:

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Romney spokesperson cites Massachusetts health law — A Mitt Romney spokesperson offered an unusual counterattack Tuesday to an ad in which a laid-off steelworker blames the presumptive GOP nominee for his family losing health care: If that family had lived in Massachusetts …

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:

Team Obama denies knowing story of man in its TV ad, call — When President Obama's aides said they weren't familiar with former Missouri steelworker Joe Soptic's life story, all they had to do was check their own campaign archives. — Soptic, laid off from Bain Capital-owned GST Steel …

Discussion: The Hill, National Review, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Examiner

Deborah Charles / Reuters:

Obama's lead over Romney grows despite voters' pessimism — (Reuters) - Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the future but voters do not seem to be holding it against Democratic President Barack Obama, who slightly expanded his lead over Republican rival Mitt Romney this month, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll says.

Discussion: theGrio, Ballot Box, Business Insider and The Moderate Voice

Quinnipiac University:

Wisconsin, Virginia, Colorado White House Races Close, Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News Swing State Poll Finds — Watch Video: Assistant Director Tim Malloy discusses poll results — Clip Information and Download: — FLV File -For Website (1920x1080/225MB) Original .MP4 File -For Broadcast (1920x1080/289MB)

Discussion: Washington Post, GOP 12, Hotline On Call, Guardian, Business Insider, Firedoglake, First Read, USA Today and Public Policy Polling

New York Times:

Polls See Sharp Divide in 3 Swing States — For all of the Democratic attacks painting Mitt Romney as an out-of-touch elitist who will help the rich at the expense of the middle class, he is maintaining the traditional — and sizable — Republican advantage among a politically vital constituency …

Discussion: CBS News, The Caucus, Rasmussen Reports, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, CNN, American Prospect, The Confluence, USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, Taylor Marsh and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

The 1600 Report:

Ad linking Romney to death of the wife of a laid off steelworker not accurate — CNN White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar — A new attack ad by a Super PAC backing President Obama appears to blame Mitt Romney for a woman's death from cancer after his company, Bain Capital …

Olivier Knox / ABCNEWS:
Obama campaign: Don't blame us for ad blaming Romney for cancer death

Discussion: CNN

Erick Erickson / RedState:
The Moment All the Doubts About Romney Resurfaced on the Right

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, USA Today, The Maddow Blog, Erick's blog, The PJ Tatler, Washington Post and Politico

Gregory Simmons / ABCNEWS:
VP Shortlister Rob Portman Comes Out Swinging in Colorado

Discussion: ABCNEWS

NationalJournal.com:

Expect Romney to Surprise With Running Mate Pick — Every month at the Hotline, we publish our veepstakes rankings, the list of the most likely running mates to serve on Republican Mitt Romney's presidential ticket. It's preceded by a vigorous staff-wide debate on the merits of the numerous contenders.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, 2012 Decoded, The Hill and GOP 12

Bill Clark / ABCNEWS:
Pawlenty Meeting With Veep Vetter? He's Not Telling

Discussion: ABCNEWS and GOP 12

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Wikipedia locks possible VPs' pages

Discussion: New York Magazine, AEIdeas, Washington Post, ABCNEWS and BuzzFeed

TechPresident:
GAME OVER: WIKIPEDIA LOCKS DOWN POTENTIAL VP PAGES IN RESPONSE TO COLBERT MISCHIEF-MAKING

Discussion: The Hill, USA Today, Mediaite and New York Magazine

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

Why the Reaction Is Different When the Terrorist Is White — Atrocities like the attack on the Sikh congregation in Wisconsin introduce terrifying dissonance into America's post-9/11 mindset. — Members of the Sikh congregation mourn their dead. / Reuters

Discussion: The Awl, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, Wired, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos and Mother Jones

Matthew Jaffe / ABCNEWS:
Alleged Wisconsin Gunman Wade Michael Page's Ex-Girlfriend Arrested

Discussion: JSOnline, The Hinterland Gazette, The Other McCain, The Jawa Report, New York Magazine and Newsy

New York Post:

Jewish gal shows up IOC with a gold salute to Munich 11 — It wasn't a gloved-fist salute from the medal stand, but Jewish-American gymnast Aly Raisman made quite a statement yesterday by winning a gold medal and invoking the memory of the Israeli athletes killed 40 years ago in Munich.

Discussion: JOSHUAPUNDIT, Swampland, Taylor Marsh and Althouse

Bill Shea / Messenger News:

King plans immigration order lawsuit — Opposes initiative to stop deportation — HUMBOLDT - U.S. Rep. Steve King said Tuesday that he will sue President Barack Obama over an executive order that would stop the deportation of certain young illegal immigrants.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The PJ Tatler

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Report: Rep. Steve King mulling bill to repeal everything Obama has signed

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Raw Story

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Let's Have a Maximum Income — Rich people across the Western world are anxiously watching France, where president Francois Hollande is vowing to raise the top tax rate—on earnings over $1.2 million a year—to 75 percent. Tres bien, Mr. Hollande. The problem with this otherwise fine idea …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Vodkapundit

Liz Alderman / New York Times:
‘Les Riches’ in France Vow to Leave if 75% Tax Rate Is Passed

Discussion: National Review, CNBC, americanthinker.com, The Lonely Conservative, Via Meadia and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Reuters:

Paul Ryan veep prospects split GOP — As Mitt Romney's vice presidential selection nears and buzz about Rep. Paul Ryan's prospects builds, a split is emerging among Republicans about whether the choice of the House Budget chairman and architect of the party's controversial tax and spending plan …

Discussion: National Review, PERRspectives, Los Angeles Times, Daily Kos, Politico, Althouse, The Daily Beast, ABCNEWS, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Wire, The Huffington Post and The Other McCain

First Read:
First Thoughts: The final three

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Maddow Blog, Kansas City Star, Influence Alley, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:

Ron Haskins, GOP Welfare Reform Architect, Blasts Mitt Romney Ad … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Video, Election 2012, Romney Campaign, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Welfare, Mitt Romney Welfare Reform, Ron Haskins, Ron Haskins Welfare …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NPR, Associated Press, Hit & Run, CNN, The New Republic, The Heritage Foundation, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:
Mitt Romney: “Under Obama's plan (for welfare) …

Dylan Matthews / Washington Post:

The Romney campaign says stimulus doesn't work. Here are the studies they left out. — “The negative effect of the administration's ‘stimulus’ policies has been documented in a number of empirical studies,” write economists Glenn Hubbard, Greg Mankiw, John Taylor and Kevin Hassett in a paper released by the Romney campaign.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed and AEIdeas

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Economists to Romney campaign: That's not what our research says

Discussion: Taking Note and The Maddow Blog

Steve Erickson / American Prospect:

The GOP's Kamikaze Candidate — I spent most of July in the upper Midwest and was reminded that not everyone in America passes the summer fixated on politics. They go to the beach, catch fish, grill burgers, eat ice cream, try to stay cool, see The Dark Knight Rises without recognizing …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

How Romney's Pick of a Running Mate Could Sway the Outcome — We haven't had that much to say about Mitt Romney's choice of a vice-presidential nominee — mostly because it just isn't something that lends itself to rigorous analysis. — But let's focus on the part of the problem where our tools …

Discussion: Swampland, Outside the Beltway and Booman Tribune

Chris Moody / Yahoo! News:

One night in Rob Portman's haunted hotel — LEBANON, Ohio—The sun is setting on this small town in southwest Ohio, and when darkness reigns, strange things happen at the Golden Lamb Inn. Or so I'm told. — The Inn, owned by the family of Ohio Sen. Rob Portman for the better part of the last century …

Discussion: FishbowlDC and Mediaite

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

Bryan Fischer: Children Of Same-Sex Couples Must Be Saved Through ‘Underground Railroad’ Kidnapping — The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer has sunk to a new, disturbing low with his anti-gay statements. In two separate tweets last night, he called for an “Underground Railroad …

Discussion: rightwingwatch.org, The Raw Story and The Hinterland Gazette

Alexandra Zawia / Hollywood Reporter:

Harry Belafonte on Capitalism, Media Moguls and His Disappointment With Jay-Z and Beyonce (Q&A) — At the Locarno Film Festival to pick up the Golden Leopard Honor Award, the singer and actor also talks about his fears of a Fourth Reich and why Mitt Romney shouldn't be president.

Discussion: theGrio, Associated Press, Mediaite and The Hinterland Gazette

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Romney confuses ‘Sikh’ with ‘sheik’ — WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Mitt Romney mistakenly confused the words “Sikh” and “sheik” at a fundraiser here Tuesday night when he offered his condolences to the victims of last weekend's shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Daily Kos, CNN and New York Magazine

Sandra Fluke / The Huffington Post:

Why I'm Standing With President Obama Today … Elections 2012 , Barack Obama , Mitt Romney , Planned Parenthood , Barack Obama 2012 , Elections 2012 , Sandra Fluke , Women's Rights , Barack Obama Denver , Women's Health , Mitt Romney 2012 , Obama Reelection , Politics News

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Althouse and The Lonely Conservative

Sally Jenkins / Washington Post:

Gabby Douglas needs to avoid letting others set her narrative for her — LONDON — Shirley Temple stopped believing in Santa Claus when she was 6. “Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph!” she said. Gymnast Gabby Douglas had a similar hard encounter with reality …

Discussion: Shakesville

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Papa John's Founder Warns That Obamacare Will Lead to Imperceptably Small Increase in Pizza Prices … - Pat Robertson's Slam of Atheists for the Sikh Shootings Is Actually a Sign of Progress - Why Do Olympic Track Cyclists Have Such Weird Wheels on Their Bikes?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, The Impolitic, The Maddow Blog, New York Magazine and Politico