memeorandum: TRENDING: Palin in conservative spotlight next month (Paul Steinhauser/CNN)

12:40 PM ET, February 18, 2013

Top Items:

Mike Allen / Politico:

HILLARY CLINTON UNVEILS FIRST PHASE OF NEW LIFE — Rubio's last laugh — POTUS golfs with Tiger — 10th anniv. of Iraq war is March 19; MSNBC special 9 p.m. — Yoko Ono is 80 — EXCLUSIVE: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will hit the paid speaking circuit this spring (likely April or May) …

Discussion: CNN, Taylor Marsh, p m carpenter's commentary, Prairie Weather and msnbc.com

New York Times:

Obama's Plan Sees 8-Year Wait for Illegal Immigrants — WASHINGTON — A plan by President Obama for an overhaul of the immigration system would put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship that could begin after about eight years and would require them to go to the back of the line behind …

Discussion: p m carpenter's commentary, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, rubber hose, Associated Press, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, ABCNEWS and The Hill

BuzzFeed:
White House Press Corps “Extremely Frustrated” Over Lack Of Access To Obama Golf Trip

Discussion: Daily Kos

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
Press corps expresses ‘frustration’ over lack of access to Obama

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and The Rightnewz

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Gingrich: Republicans Will Oppose Any Immigration Plan Backed By Obama Because They Hate Obama

Discussion: The Plum Line, NewsBusters blogs and NBC Latino

Zack Colman / The Hill:
Green groups rally on climate, urge Obama to reject Keystone pipeline

Discussion: Truthdig, Politico, The Gateway Pundit and The PJ Tatler

Nicki Rossoll / ABCNEWS: Newt Gingrich: 'I'll take a Paul Ryan Position' on the Possibility of a Political Run

CNN:
Obama tees off with Tiger Woods

Discussion: Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers and The Hill

Dylan Stableford / Reuters:

McCain claims ‘massive cover-up’ on Benghazi — While discussing the contentious confirmation hearings for defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, things got a bit heated on Sunday's “Meet The Press” when Sen. John McCain referred to the lack of information from the White House surrounding the Sept. 11 …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hot Air

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:

No excuse to lift the filibuster — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) revealed on “Fox News Sunday” that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel responded to his letter jointly signed by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) asking whether he made the reported comment at Rutgers University that the State Department …

Discussion: New York Times, Outside the Beltway, The Spectacle Blog and Weekly Standard

Michael O'Brien / First Read:
McCain concedes: Hagel ‘will probably have the votes necessary’

Discussion: About.com US Politics

Leonard Greene / New York Post:

Alec fast & slur-ious — Blasts Post fotog in a ‘racist’ rant — Actor Alec Baldwin allegedly called a black Post photographer a racial epithet, a “crackhead” and a “drug dealer” during a confrontation on an East Village street yesterday morning, prompting police to intervene.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, TODAY, Weasel Zippers, TMZ.com, Gawker, theGrio, Breaking News …, Poynter, Gothamist, BuzzFeed and The Raw Story

Jerry Mitchell / Clarion-Ledger:

Historic oversight corrected: Film ‘Lincoln’ inspires look into slavery vote — Oscar-nominated “Lincoln,” which depicts the political fight to pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, played a role in Mississippi officially ratifying the amendment this month — a century and a half later.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Mediaite, The Raw Story, Taegan Goddard's … and Gawker

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Former Gov. Palin to address CPAC 2013 — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) will speak at next month's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). — “We are pleased to again welcome Governor Sarah Palin to CPAC in March,” said American Conservative Union (ACU) Chairman Al Cardenas in a statement.

Discussion: Reuters and Towleroad News #gay

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

TRENDING: Palin in conservative spotlight next month — Washington (CNN) - One year after giving the keynote address at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Sarah Palin will be back to speak again. — The American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC, one of the oldest …

City Press:

Exclusive - The case against Oscar — A bloodied cricket bat is the central piece of evidence in the unfolding murder investigation into ReevaSteenkamp's death. — City Press can reveal that police are investigating different scenarios involving the bat - one of which is that her boyfriend …

Discussion: CNN, The Sun, msnbc.com, The Week, New York Post, Guardian, Scared Monkeys, Deadspin, Mail&Guardian, The Hinterland Gazette, Telegraph, TMZ.com and alan.com

Ramesh Ponnuru / New York Times:

Reaganism After Reagan — TODAY'S Republicans are very good at tending the fire of Ronald Reagan's memory but not nearly as good at learning from his successes. They slavishly adhere to the economic program that Reagan developed to meet the challenges of the late 1970s and early 1980s …

Discussion: msnbc.com

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court to Hear Alabama County's Challenge to Voting Rights Act — EVERGREEN, Ala. — Jerome Gray, a 74-year-old black man, has voted in every election since 1974 in this verdant little outpost of some 4,000 people halfway between Mobile and Montgomery.

T.W. Farnam / Washington Post:

Congressional staffers often travel on tabs of foreign governments — About a dozen congressional staffers flew business class on a trip to China last summer and stayed at luxury hotels while touring the Great Wall and the Forbidden City and receiving a “briefing on ancient artifacts and dynasties” at the Shanghai Museum.

Discussion: Cause of Action

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Report: Rubio PAC raises $100,000 from sale of water bottles — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has raised more than $100,000 thanks to his water break moment during last week's GOP response to the State of the Union, according to a report. — Rubio's political action committee began selling …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Marco Rubio Has Sold More Than 3100 Water Bottles, Raising $100,000

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Weasel Zippers, Riptide 2.0, Washington Examiner and The Moderate Voice

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Raise That Wage — President Obama laid out a number of good ideas in his State of the Union address. Unfortunately, almost all of them would require spending money — and given Republican control of the House of Representatives, it's hard to imagine that happening.

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Daily Kos