memeorandum: Minn. Democrat drops re-election bid over sex with teen boy (Doug Stanglin/USA Today)

12:30 PM ET, August 23, 2012

Top Items:

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Team Obama breaks precedent to try to spoil Romney's convention — Bucking protocol, President Obama and the Democrats are planning a full-scale assault on Republicans next week during their convention. — Bucking protocol, President Obama and the Democrats are planning a full-scale assault …

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Jammie Wearing Fools and Pirate's Cove

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

The Morning Plum: The Obama campaign's theory of the presidential race — Should President Obama be trying to persuade voters that the economy is recovering? — Some Democratic strategists think that could jar against public perceptions that things aren't really getting better.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Prospect, The Maddow Blog, Brad DeLong, The Fix and Prairie Weather

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Are the Democrats Delusional On Abortion? — The Democrats apparently think they have hit the jackpot with Todd Akin's moment of stupidity, but I'm not so sure. How, exactly, are they going to take advantage of Akin's blunder? By talking ceaselessly about abortion.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Weekly Standard

Bill Clinton / CNN:

TRENDING: Clinton stars in new Obama ad — (CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton takes center stage in a new ad released by President Barack Obama's re-election campaign on Thursday. — The former president, who's been a top surrogate for Obama this year, largely praises Obama in the spot …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, ABCNEWS, Business Insider and www2.timesdispatch.com

CNN:
Republicans say they'll nominate Romney, despite potential storm

Discussion: Election 2012

Katie Glueck / Politico:
RNC: We have plan for Isaac

Discussion: Religion Dispatches, Riptide 2.0 and Towleroad News #gay

Dan Gilgoff / CNN:
Cardinal Dolan to offer closing prayer at Republican Convention

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay

Deroy Murdock / National Review:
Akin: Face the Wrath of the GOP Convention

Discussion: Mediaite, Conservatives4Palin and The New Civil Rights Movement

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Dem Convention becomes anti-Akin affair

Discussion: National Review, Politico, Nice Deb, Scared Monkeys, American Power, The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative, CatholicVote.org, ABCNEWS, Instapundit, Althouse, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and American Vision

New York Times:

Polls Say Medicare Is Key Issue in 3 Swing States — The Romney-Ryan proposal to reshape Medicare by giving future beneficiaries fixed amounts of money to buy health coverage is deeply unpopular in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to new polls that found that more likely voters …

Discussion: Washington Wire, CNN, CBS News, The Caucus, Politico, The Moderate Voice, The Future of Capitalism, Outside the Beltway, AEIdeas, ABCNEWS, Taegan Goddard's …, USA Today, Election 2012 and The BLT

Quinnipiac University:

Ryan Micro-Bump In Florida, Wisconsin, But Not Ohio, Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times Swing State Poll Finds — FLORIDA: Obama 49 - Romney 46, compared to Obama 51 - 45 percent August 1 — OHIO: Obama 50 - Romney 44, unchanged from August 1 — WISCONSIN: Obama 49 - Romney 47, compared to Obama 51 - 45 August 8

Discussion: Ballot Box, GOP 12, Firedoglake, The Fix, theGrio, Hotline On Call, First Read, USA Today, Post on Politics, The Hinterland Gazette, Riptide 2.0, Washington Examiner, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and FiveThirtyEight

Colby Itkowitz / Morning Call:

Morning Call/Muhlenberg Poll: Paul Ryan doesn't move race in Pennsylvania — The first poll of Pennsylvania voters since Mitt Romney made Paul Ryan his running mate found the pick did nothing to move the race. — President Barack Obama maintains his lead in the lean-blue state …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Election 2012

CNN:
Romney, Obama tied up in three swing states

Discussion: ABCNEWS and The Caucus, more at Mediagazer »

Jammie Wearing Fools:
Battleground States Poll: Curiously, So-Called War on Women Not an Issue

Discussion: CBS News, GOP 12 and Hot Air

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Crossroads launches $4.2 million Senate offense focused on Dem-leaning races

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Hotline On Call

Rasmussen Reports:

Missouri Senate: McCaskill (D) 48%, Akin (R) 38% — What a difference one TV interview can make. Embattled Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill has now jumped to a 10-point lead over her Republican challenger, Congressman Todd Akin, in Missouri's U.S. Senate race.

Discussion: Power Line, New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Daily, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Ballot Box, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Riehl World News, Conservatives4Palin, The Hinterland Gazette, Guardian, American Spectator, The New Civil Rights Movement, Hotline On Call and National Review

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Akin mess could be watershed moment for conservative movement

Discussion: Power Line and A plain blog about politics

Kate Nocera / Politico:
Todd Akin in Tampa with top social conservatives

Discussion: Ann Coulter, afa.net, rightwingwatch.org, Ballot Box, Midwest Democracy, Hot Air, Election 2012 and The Hill

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Michelle Obama: ‘Get to the Polls on November the 2’ — Michelle Obama, speaking yesterday at a campaign event in Florida: … The presidential election this year is November 6.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and Daily Pundit

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Obama: Team Romney coming on strong, playing dirty, time to ‘put them away’ — President Obama joined a group of former NBA stars at a fundraiser at New York's Lincoln Center Wednesday night. With Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and other basketball legends sitting nearby …

Discussion: CatholicVote.org and The Lonely Conservative

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
President Obama: Todd Akin ‘Somehow Missed Science Class’

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Raw Story, Politicker, Outside the Beltway and Right Wing News

Stephen Braun / Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: Energy loan watchdog an Obama donor — WASHINGTON (AP) — A veteran Wall Street executive who performed an independent review that exonerated the Obama administration's program of loans to energy companies contributed $52,500 to re-elect President Barack Obama in the months since completing …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air and americanthinker.com

Pew Social & Demographic Trends:

The Lost Decade of the Middle Class — Fewer, Poorer, Gloomier — CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW — As the 2012 presidential candidates prepare their closing arguments to America's middle class, they are courting a group that has endured a lost decade for economic well-being.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, American Prospect, The Agonist, BBC, The Demos Blog, Real Time Economics, Connecting.the.Dots, Business Insider, Newsy and Economix

WMUR:

Sheriff candidate says he wouldn't reject deadly force to stop abortions — Candidate says he believes elective, late-term abortions aren't lawful — Candidate's abortion comments draw criticism — A Republican candidate for Hillsborough County Sheriff said Wednesday …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, CBS Boston, Applesauce, Gawker, The New Civil Rights Movement, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Raw Story

Ryan O'Connor / bedford-nh.patch.com:
Szabo Compares Abortions to Slavery, Condones Use of Deadly Force

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Hinterland Gazette

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

Fear of a Black President — As a candidate, Barack Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with America's original sin, slavery. But as our first black president, he has avoided mention of race almost entirely. In having to be “twice as good” and “half as black,” …

Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:

MITT ROMNEY SETS GOAL OF NORTH AMERICAN ENERGY INDEPENDENCE BY 2020 — A crucial component of Mitt Romney's Plan for a Stronger Middle Class is a comprehensive energy strategy to achieve North American energy independence by 2020 and establish America as an energy superpower in the 21st century.

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh, Right Wing News and First Read

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney says plan will achieve North American energy independence by 2020

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times and Election 2012

Matt Higgins / CBS St. Louis:

Cops: Lesbian Fakes Attack In Which She Carved Anti-Gay Slurs Into Skin — LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former University of Nebraska women's basketball star faked an attack in which she allegedly carved anti-gay slurs into her skin because she felt it would spark change, police said Tuesday.

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY

Christina Ng / ABCNEWS:
Police Accuse Nebraska Woman of Faking Anti-Gay Hate Crime

Discussion: The Other McCain and Riehl World News

Mark Oppenheimer / New York Times:

Dan Savage and Brian Brown Debate Gay Marriage Over the Dinner Table — THE ancient Greek symposium, which combined drinking with elevated discussion, was often held in a private house; at Parisian salons, conversation frequently took place in the bedroom. Once upon a time …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Atlantic Online, Althouse, Good As You, Towleroad News #gay, Advocate, Balloon Juice, The New Civil Rights Movement and Joe. My. God.

myFOXlubbock.com:

Lubbock Co. Judge warns of potential danger if Obama is re-elected — Lubbock County Judge Tom Head and Commissioner Mark Heinrich went into great detail Monday night on FOX 34 News @ Nine about why it is necessary to raise the tax rate by 1.7 cents the next fiscal year.

Doug Stanglin / USA Today:

Minn. Democrat drops re-election bid over sex with teen boy — A Minnesota Democrat who had sex with a 17-year-old boy at an I-35 rest stop says he is dropping his re-election bid, just hours after he said he would stay in the race, according to news reports.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Doug Ross, JONATHAN TURLEY and Nice Deb

Eric Lipton / New York Times:

Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility — WASHINGTON — Early in the Obama administration, a lobbyist for the Illinois-based energy producer Exelon Corporation proudly called it “the president's utility.” And it was not just because it delivers power to Barack Obama's Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago.

Discussion: American Power and Washington Free Beacon

Bloomberg:

Jobless Claims In U.S. Climb For Second Week To One-Month High — The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits climbed last week to a one-month high, showing little progress in the labor market. — Jobless claims rose by 4,000 for a second week to reach 372,000 …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Lonely Conservative, The Spectacle Blog and Conservatives4Palin