memeorandum: McMahon launches second Senate campaign (Mark Davis/WCTX-TV)

8:55 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, Hit & Run, 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, Guardian, American Spectator, Swampland, Campaign Stops, World, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite, Truthdig, Hot Air, JOSHUAPUNDIT, THEROOT.COM, Sweetness & Light, Donklephant, Los Angeles Times, RedState, The Democratic Daily, First Read, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Week, Business Insider, Twitchy, Reuters, Mashable!, The Hill, Power Line, National Review, Washington Post, Taking Note, ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, Fortune, The Visible Measures Blog, The Raw Story, Media Decoder, Gawker, BBC, The Huffington Post, bizjournals, Wonkette, Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit, Real Clear Politics, The Daily Beast, Red Alert Politics, Taylor Marsh, VentureBeat, Nice Deb, TheBlaze.com, Washington Examiner, Dave Winer, emptywheel, Little Green Footballs, Mother Jones, The Reaction, Outside the Beltway and The Hinterland Gazette, more at Mediagazer »

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:
IS THE SECRET VIDEO OF ROMNEY AT FUNDRAISER REALLY UNEDITED? WE MAY HAVE PROOF OTHERWISE

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

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Critical audio gap in “complete” Romney tape released by Mother Jones (Update - Corn responds, 1-2 minutes missing)

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Washington Wire, Mashable! and Wonkette

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 »

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 …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

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: CNN, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, Politico, 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, Guardian and The PJ Tatler

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

Discussion: New York Magazine, Politico and The Hinterland Gazette

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rush Limbaugh:
A Golden Opportunity for Mitt Romney

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

BuzzFeed:
Romney Defends Leaked Comments, Hits Obama For 1998 “Redistribution” Line

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

Investor's Business Daily:

Romney's Right—Palestinians Have Rejected Peace — Mideast: Maybe you heard the kerfuffle over Mitt Romney's comments about those who don't pay taxes. But you likely didn't hear his other remarks — that Palestinians don't really want peace. He was right about that, too.

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

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

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, The Caucus, Hot Air, Media Decoder, ABCNEWS, CNN, Althouse and The Lede, more at Mediagazer »

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, alicublog and Brad DeLong

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, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Ballot Box, Taylor Marsh and Datechguy's Blog

CBS News:
Poll: Obama leads in Virginia, Wisconsin; Tight in Colorado

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

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

Discussion: Politico and Weekly Standard

Mark Murray / First Read:
NBC/WSJ poll: Obama's approval on foreign policy drops

Discussion: Politico, Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo and Pat Dollard

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

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

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

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

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Obama 48%, Romney 46% in Swing States — Twenty-two percent of swing-state voters could change their vote preference — PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters in key 2012 election swing states remain closely divided in their presidential vote preferences, with 48% supporting President Barack Obama and 46% Mitt Romney.

Discussion: Politico and americanthinker.com

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, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, The Week, The Daily Dish, Politico and The New Republic

Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times:

Arctic Resources, Exposed by Warming, Set Off Competition — NUUK, Greenland — With Arctic ice melting at record pace, the world's superpowers are increasingly jockeying for political influence and economic position in outposts like this one, previously regarded as barren wastelands.

Discussion: World and American Power

Mitt Romney / USA Today:

I'll deliver recovery, not dependency — Since our founding, America has promoted personal responsibility, the dignity of work and the value of education. Those values made our nation the hope of the earth and our economy the envy of the world. — Efforts that promote hard work …

Discussion: The Hill and Election 2012

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