memeorandum: Inheritance tax could be scrapped in exchange for resurrection of mansion tax (James Kirkup/Telegraph)

8:25 AM ET, September 19, 2012

Top Items:

Michael Barbaro / The Caucus:

A Mood of Gloom Afflicts the Romney Campaign — SALT LAKE CITY - Mitt Romney's traveling press secretary walked to the back of the candidate's plane midflight on Tuesday and teasingly asked a pair of journalists in an exit row if they were “willing and able to assist in case of an emergency.”

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politico, Connecting.the.Dots and Balloon Juice

David Corn / MoJo Articles:

WATCH: Full Secret Video of Private Romney Fundraiser — Mitt Romney wanted the full tape. Here it is. — On Monday and Tuesday Mother Jones published exclusive video that captured Mitt Romney speaking to donors at a May 17 fundraiser, which was held at the home of private equity mogul Mark Leder.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, American Spectator, Swampland, The Moderate Voice, Campaign Stops, World, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, Truthdig, Hot Air, JOSHUAPUNDIT, THEROOT.COM, Sweetness & Light, Donklephant, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Democratic Daily, New York Magazine, The Week, Business Insider, Twitchy, Mashable!, Reuters, The Hill, Power Line, Washington Post, National Review, Taking Note, CNN, Fortune, ABCNEWS, The Visible Measures Blog, Gawker, Washington Wire, Media Decoder, The Raw Story, BBC, The Huffington Post, bizjournals, Real Clear Politics, Wonkette, The Gateway Pundit, Hullabaloo, The Daily Beast, Red Alert Politics, Taylor Marsh, First Read, Nice Deb, VentureBeat, TheBlaze.com, Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner, Guardian, Dave Winer, Mother Jones, Little Green Footballs, The Reaction, Outside the Beltway and The Hinterland Gazette, more at Mediagazer »

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Sen. Brown denounces Romney comments — Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) came out in opposition to Mitt Romney's controversial remarks on the “47 percent.” — Brown, who has been distancing himself from elements of the Republican Party, joins GOP Senate candidate in Connecticut Linda McMahon in coming out against the statements.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, Politico, CNN, The Huffington Post, Linda McMahon for Senate 2012, Business Insider, The Hill, Jesus' General, The Hill, Mediaite, The Maddow Blog, Mother Jones, Hotline On Call, Riehl World News, The PJ Tatler and Guardian

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:

IS THE SECRET VIDEO OF ROMNEY AT FUNDRAISER REALLY UNEDITED? WE MAY HAVE PROOF OTHERWISE — Tuesday afternoon, the site Mother Jones released what was described as the “full,” “raw and uncut” video of Mitt Romney's comments at a private campaign fundraiser, which has drawn immense criticism from both sides.

Discussion: Associated Press, Michelle Malkin, Twitchy, Moe Lane, ABCNEWS and Washington Wire

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Romney struggles to steady campaign after secret videos

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Examiner, Talking Points Memo, The PJ Tatler, NewsBusters.org blogs, Swampland and The Young Turks …

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
47 Skidoo — Uh-oh, Romney's lost the election again.

Discussion: Slate, Washington Wire and Scared Monkeys, more at Mediagazer »

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Romney Defends Blunt Comments Captured on Video

Discussion: Washington Times, The Hill, Hot Air, The Caucus, Media Decoder, ABCNEWS, CNN, Althouse and The Lede, more at Mediagazer »

Tony Romm / Reuters:
Mitt Romney ‘47 percent’ recording may have been illegal

Discussion: The Caucus, Politico, The Week, NewsBusters.org blogs and BuzzFeed, more at Mediagazer »

Rush Limbaugh:
A Golden Opportunity for Mitt Romney

Discussion: Washington Post, UrbanGrounds, Washington Monthly, Jerusalem Post, Althouse, Washington Examiner and Vox Popoli

CNN:
Romney sticks by his ‘47%’ remarks, hits back

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Election 2012, Ballot Box, Talking Points Memo and Politico

Mark Murray / First Read:

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama leads Romney nationally by 5 points — Fueled by increased optimism about the economy and nation's direction, President Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by 5 points among likely voters and now sees his job-approval rating reaching the 50 percent threshold for the first time since March …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Daily Beast, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Ballot Box, Taylor Marsh and Datechguy's Blog

CBS News:

Poll: Obama leads in Virginia, Wisconsin; Tight in Colorado — (CBS News) President Obama holds a narrow lead over Mitt Romney in the key swing states of Virginia, Wisconsin and Colorado, according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times survey.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Morning Call and Taegan Goddard's …

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Massachusetts Miscellany —PPP's newest Massachusetts poll …

Discussion: Politico and Weekly Standard

Washington Post:
Post Poll: Obama up 8 points over Romney in Virginia

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh, The Democratic Daily, CNN, Prairie Weather, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Ballot Box and Politico

James Taranto / Peggy Noonan's Blog:

Time for an Intervention — What should Mitt Romney do now? He should peer deep into the abyss. He should look straight into the heart of darkness where lies a Republican defeat in a year the Republican presidential candidate almost couldn't lose. He should imagine what it will mean for the country …

Discussion: US Politics, Swampland, alicublog and Brad DeLong

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Mitt Romney's ‘Severe Conservatism’ — “I was a severely conservative Republican governor,” Mitt Romney told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2012. — Severely conservative? — Conservatives snickered. “I may be a little giddy here,” Rush Limbaugh said.

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Post, The Week, The Daily Dish and Politico

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Romney Has Support Among Lowest Income Voters

Discussion: New York Magazine, Politico and The Hinterland Gazette

Jonathan Easley / Ballot Box:
Gallup poll: Obama's convention bump gone, lead down to 1 point

Discussion: Gallup, Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Ricochet Conversations Feed, CNN and Politico

Erick Erickson / RedState:
Conservatives Agree: Romney's Right

Discussion: Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, The Daily Beast, American Prospect, The Raw Story, Weekly Standard, Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Reuters:

Romney woes jangle GOP nerves — If political campaigns have nine lives, nervous Republicans feel Mitt Romney has used up at least eight. — While insisting the party is still short of full-fledged panic, the video of Romney disparaging Americans who don't pay income taxes …

Discussion: TheBlaze.com

Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:

Romney's missteps could cost party the Senate, strategists say — Republicans believe Mitt Romney's mistakes could prevent them from winning back the Senate. — Romney's failure to close the gap with President Obama less than 50 days before the election, as well as a variety of high-profile gaffes …

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama to Romney: ‘You have to work for everyone’ as president — President Obama on Tuesday lectured Mitt Romney for “writing off a big chunk of the country” in his first remarks about the GOP presidential nominee's controversial statements at a closed-door fundraiser.

Discussion: Pat Dollard

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Obama: 'There's More Than Enough Blame to Spread Around'

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Talking Points Memo:

Mary Matalin: Thanks To Romney, We Can Single Out ‘Parasites’ — Conservative commentator Mary Matalin hailed Mitt Romney's “47 percent” line on CNN as good news for Republicans. — “There are makers and takers, there are producers and there are parasites,” she said.

Discussion: The Agonist, Balloon Juice and Hullabaloo

BuzzFeed:

Romney Defends Leaked Comments, Hits Obama For 1998 “Redistribution” Line — On Fox News Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee hit the president for a recently uncovered clip in which he says he “actually likes redistribution.” Romney also defended his comments about 47% of Americans who he says will vote for Obama.

Discussion: Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Business Insider, New York Magazine and The Lonely Conservative

Damian Paletta / Washington Wire:
The Data Behind Romney's 47% Comments

Discussion: Shot in the Dark, Betsy's Page, Weekly Standard, Babalú Blog, National Review, Vodkapundit, AEIdeas and Speakeasy

CNN:
Eastwood: If they were ‘dumb enough to ask me...’

Discussion: TMZ.com, Politico, Firedoglake, Gothamist, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

Fred Thys / WBUR:

WBUR Senate Poll: Warren Leads Brown By 5 — BOSTON — A WBUR poll of 507 likely Massachusetts voters (PDFs — topline, crosstabs) finds Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren leading Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, 45 percent to 40 percent. The survey has a 4.4 percent margin of error.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Election 2012 and The Fix

Rosalind Rossi / Chicago Sun Times:

Chicago Public Schools teachers' strike over — The Chicago teachers' strike is over. — The Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates voted Tuesday to end its strike after seven days, meaning classes will be in session Wednesday for 350,000 Chicago Public Schools students.

Discussion: Joanne Jacobs, Daily Kos and Taylor Marsh

Chicago Tribune:
Chicago teachers anxious as union meets on contract offer

Discussion: Reuters, HillBuzz.org, Firedoglake, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, Weasel Zippers, The Glittering Eye, Eduwonk, Washington Examiner and Washington Free Beacon

Bryan Caplan / EconLog:

Will False Belief in the SIVH Destroy Romney's Candidacy? — Many people believe that voters' positions are determined by their objective self-interest. I call this the SIVH - the Self-Interested Voter Hypothesis. A massive body of evidence shows that the SIVH is just plain wrong.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Hit & Run

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

NEWSPAPER AD REVENUES COLLAPSE TO 1950 LEVELS — There are three important things to keep in mind when looking at this gorgeous graph: … Sometimes it doesn't feel like we're winning, because the corrupt media still has the power to create its own reality - to create the illusion …

Discussion: Power Line and Nice Deb

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

FiveThirtyEight Forecast: G.O.P. Senate Hopes Slipping — Democrats are now favored to retain control of the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast, breaking a summer stalemate during which control of the chamber appeared about equally likely to go either way.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Washington Monthly