memeorandum: No balloons to close Democratic convention (CNN)

5:20 PM ET, September 5, 2012

Top Items:

CNN:

TRENDING: First on CNN: DNC secretly scheduled guests: Actresses Johansson, Portman, Washington — Charlotte (CNN) - Clint Eastwood meet Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Kerry Washington. — The three actresses, firmly anchored in Hollywood's royalty, have been secretly scheduled …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, PopWatch, The Daily Caller, Reuters, Deadline.com, Politico, Riehl World News and Jammie Wearing Fools

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

‘Best weather of the entire week’: Local meteorologist puzzled by Obama speech move — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The chief meteorologist at a Charlotte television station is questioning the decision by Democrats to move President Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention to a smaller venue because of the weather.

Discussion: Daily Mail, The Jawa Report, Babalú Blog, Mediaite, BuzzFeed, Weekly Standard, Los Angeles Times, iOwnTheWorld.com, Fox News, Michelle Malkin, Joe. My. God. and Washington Post

Byron Tau / Politico:

Obama speech moved indoors — Democratic officials confirm to POLITICO that President Obama's prime time address will be moved indoors to the Time Warner Center. — The Thursday address was scheduled to be at Bank of America stadium — an outdoor venue with more than 70,000 seats.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Firedoglake and Taylor Marsh

Chris Moody / Yahoo! News:

Kal Penn: President Obama ‘consistent’ on marijuana policy — CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Actor Kal Penn stumped for President Barack Obama Tuesday night here at the Democratic National Convention, and not surprisingly, the “Harold & Kumar” star steered clear of discussing the incumbent's record on drug policy.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hit & Run and Election 2012

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

DNC 2012: Obama's crowd downsized by 50K — The audience for President Barack Obama's convention speech just got a lot smaller - and Republicans think they know why. — The Democrats' decision Wednesday to move Obama's acceptance address from the outdoor Bank of America Stadium to the indoor …

CNN:
BREAKING: Obama's speech to move indoors

Discussion: Politico, Grist, Washington Monthly, Pirate's Cove, The Other McCain, Towleroad News #gay and The Caucus

CNN:
For Democrats, 2016 jockeying begins over breakfast

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Politico

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Convention Speech Moved From Stadium

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, New York Times and Wonkette

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

FACT CHECK: FIRST LADY'S FALSE FAIRY TALE OF STRUGGLE — First Lady Michelle Obama's pitch to voters last night relied on the premise that she and her husband understand what it is to struggle to make ends meet. She spoke movingly about their early years—about how a young Barack Obama drove a car that was …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Just Another Blog …, The Lonely Conservative, Babalú Blog, Wizbang, NewsBusters.org blogs, Macsmind, Nice Deb, The Right Scoop and The Gateway Pundit

Eric Ostermeier / Smart Politics:

Michelle Obama's DNC Speech Written at 7 Grade Levels Above Ann Romney's — The First Lady's speech Tuesday was written at a 12th grade level - the highest in history among the wives of presidential nominees and far above Ann Romney's lowest mark of a 5th grade level

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, BuzzFeed and Daily Kos

ABCNEWS:

Transcript: Michelle Obama's Democratic Convention Speech — Below is the full transcript, as prepared for delivery, of First Lady Michelle Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night. — Thank you so much, Elaine...we are so grateful for your family's service and sacrifice …

CNN:
No balloons to close Democratic convention

Discussion: Politico and ThinkProgress

Mike Flynn / BREITBART.COM:
NOT 2008: BIG DROP IN VIEWERS FOR DAY ONE OF DEM CONVENTION

Discussion: Deadline.com, The Lonely Conservative, PoliPundit.com and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

CNN:
Ann Romney challenges women to ‘wake up’

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and Politico

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Democrats Run A Convention On Two Tracks

Discussion: The Caucus, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, AEIdeas and Politico

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:

Monica Lewinsky's Former Rabbi To Deliver Benediction After Bill Clinton Speaks At DNC — ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This could get awkward. — Rabbi David Wolpe of Los Angeles' Sinai Temple, where Monica Lewinsky and her family were congregation members …

Discussion: Politico, Michelle Malkin, ABCNEWS, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and Washington Examiner

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Bill Clinton's 8 digs at Obama

Discussion: CNN, The PJ Tatler and Riehl World News

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Republicans push to pre-empt Bill Clinton

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jamelle Bouie / Washington Post:
The GOP's absurd effort to drive wedge between Clinton and Obama

Discussion: Election 2012, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, First Read, PERRspectives, Sky Dancing, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Maddow Blog and Daily Kos

Matt Bai / The Caucus:
In Clinton and Warren, Competing Messages for the Middle Class

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

CNN:

CNN Fact Check: About those 4.5 million jobs ... San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro touted 4.5 million new jobs created during the Obama administration. Was he right? — (CNN) — Anyone watching the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night heard the number 4.5 million several times.

Discussion: Business Insider, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, Politico, Riehl World News, Jammie Wearing Fools and BuzzFeed

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Democratic Disinformation from Charlotte — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We heard a number of dubious or misleading claims on the first night of the Democratic National Convention: — The keynote speaker and others claimed the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, would raise taxes on the “middle class.”

Discussion: NPR, ThinkProgress, Red Alert Politics, Online NewsHour, The Maddow Blog, The Agonist, Obama Isn't Working, USA Today, The Daily Dish and New Orleans Times-Picayune

Investor's Business Daily:
Better Off? Let's Count the Ways We're Not

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice and ThinkProgress

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
The Truth Behind The GOP Claim That Obama Hasn't Created A Single Net Job

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Maddow Blog and Newsy

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 4: The Simple Case for Why Obama Is the Favorite — I've been tiptoeing around this point, because I don't think that our forecast model ought to represent the totality of our analysis about the election. — But if you look at the right-hand column of this page …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Guardian, Prairie Weather and The Daily Dish

Wall Street Journal:
Caddell and Schoen: A Campaign in Need of a Clintonian Pivot

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

DWS attacks Examiner for ‘deliberately’ misquoting her, but here's the audio … CHARLOTTE - Earlier this evening, in an appearance on Fox News, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused the Washington Examiner of “deliberately” misquoting her comments claiming …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Hot Air, The Hill, FishbowlDC, Mondoweiss, Mediaite, Betsy's Page, The PJ Tatler, Nice Deb, Washington Free Beacon, The Lonely Conservative, NewsBusters.org, American Spectator, Election 2012, GayPatriot, The Gateway Pundit and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
Democrats omit Jerusalem reference from party platform

Discussion: ThinkProgress, JTA, Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway and Election 2012

Haim Saban / New York Times:
The Truth About Obama and Israel

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mondoweiss and Washington Free Beacon

Lee Fang / thenation.com/blogs/168901:

Exclusive: Paul Ryan Quietly Requested Obamacare Cash — Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is barnstorming the country, promising to repeal every provision of the Affordable Care Act if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected. But a letter he wrote to the Obama administration may undermine this message.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

RNC Highlights: Romney Shares Top Billing With Eastwood — Fewer Watch Convention Coverage than in 2008 — OVERVIEW — The public paid far less attention to this year's Republican convention than it did to the GOP convention four years ago. Just 37% say they watched …

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Ross Douthat, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Political Capital, Politico, Deadline.com, GOP 12, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos and FiveThirtyEight

Bloomberg:

ECB Plan Said To Pledge Unlimited, Sterilized Bond-Buying — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's bond-buying proposal involves unlimited purchases of government debt that will be sterilized to assuage concerns about printing money, two central bank officials briefed on the plan said.

Discussion: Firedoglake, FT Alphaville, Hit & Run, Business Insider, naked capitalism and Calculated Risk

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
The European Central Bank's Ongoing Power Grab

Discussion: Mother Jones, Business Insider, FT Alphaville and Firedoglake

Vanity Fair:

Barack Obama to Michael Lewis on a Presidential Loss of Freedom: “You Don't Get Used to It—At Least, I Don't” — Michael Lewis and Barack Obama. — “Don't be looking to the sidelines all sheepish,” Barack Obama yells at Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Lewis in “Obama's Way,” …

Discussion: Business Insider, Felix Salmon, BuzzFeed, Weasel Zippers, ABCNEWS and USA Today

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

A media lovefest in Charlotte — The Democratic National Convention is just getting underway, but already I've been given the treatment. Lots of treatments, actually. — I've had my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Mediaite and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

S.C. Dem. Chair Compares GOP Gov. to Hitler's Mistress — South Carolina Democratic chairman Dick Harpootlian compared his state's Republican female governor, Nikki Haley, to Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun this morning at a breakfast in Charlotte, North Carolina. — South Carolina's the State reports: