memeorandum: Democrats land top recruit Tennant for Senate race in W. Va. (Alexandra Jaffe/Ballot Box)

4:20 PM ET, September 13, 2013

Top Items:

Poll Finds Republicans Gain Favor on Key Issues — The Republican Party is gaining a public-opinion edge on several key issues ahead of the 2014 elections, as Americans question President Barack Obama's leadership on Syria and worry about the country's overall direction, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Discussion: NBCNews, his vorpal sword, Firedoglake, American Power, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, Via Meadia, The Hill, The Lonely Conservative, Washington Free Beacon and Hit & Run

Domenico Montanaro / NBCNews:

Poll: 44 percent of Americans oppose raising debt ceiling — Americans overwhelmingly do not think Congress should raise the nation's debt limit as President Barack Obama and Congress prepare once again to wage battle over the issue, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Discussion: WND, JustOneMinute, The Plum Line, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Hot Air, First Read, Talking Points Memo and National Review

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:

NBC/WSJ poll: GOP on the rise — Republicans are now leading Democrats on handling several key issues, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. — The poll, released Friday, shows more Americans think that the Republicans are doing a better job on the economy, foreign policy and reducing the federal deficit.

Off-Ramp | 89.3 KPCC:

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher: I arm-wrestled Vladimir Putin ... and lost! — Russian President Vladimir Putin, champion arm-wrestler. ; Credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images — KPCC's Washington correspondent Kitty Felde writes: … What happened next is the juicy part.

Discussion: Politico, NBCNews, Post Politics and Business Insider

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Congressman: I Once Lost A Drunken Arm-Wrestling Match To Vladimir Putin — “We decided to settle it like men do when they've had a little bit too much to drink.” — View Video › — Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California arm-wrestled Vladimir Putin back in the early 1990s, and it didn't go well.

Discussion: The Hill

John Hudson / Foreign Policy:

Exclusive: John McCain Will Attack Vladimir Putin in the Pages of Pravda — In a first-of-its kind arrangement, the editors of Russian newspaper Pravda have tentatively agreed to publish a column by Sen. John McCain that will attack the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Discussion: Post Politics, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, WorldViews, Wall Street Journal and ABC News

Ian Swanson / The Hill: Putin gets his revenge on Obama

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

The House GOP Is About to Crack Up: Three Theories Why — Lots of people think John Boehner has lost control of the House Republican caucus. Apparently John Boehner does, too. — On Wednesday, the speaker and his lieutenants had to stage yet another embarrassing retreat—this time …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Paul Krugman, The Plum Line, Politico, The Dish, Business Insider, Wonkblog, Daily Kos, The Week, Washington Monthly, First Read and Mother Jones

Politico:

Will Democrats haul out hookers in David Vitter fight? — Senate Democrats have had all they can take from David Vitter and his fixation on Obamacare — and they're dredging up his past prostitution scandal to hit back. — Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, has infuriated Democrats this week …

Discussion: The World's Greatest …, Yahoo! News, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Taegan Goddard's …, cn|2 Politics, Reuters and E2-Wire

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Forty-three House Republicans back bill to defund ObamaCare

Discussion: Roll Call, Shakesville and The Hill

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Boehner Seeking Democrats' Help on Fiscal Talks

Discussion: Politico, First Read, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo

MacIver Institute:

Wisconsin's Third Largest Teachers Union Decertified on August 31st — UPDATE: — [Kenosha, Wisc...] The Kenosha Education Association (KEA), the state's third largest teachers union, was officially decertified on August 31, 2013 according to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, National Review and UrbanGrounds

Mary Katharine Ham / Hot Air:
Demise: Wisconsin's third-largest school district says no thanks to union representation

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and JSOnline

Brian McNicoll / cei.org: Kenosha Teachers Vote Down Union, Empowered by Wisconsin Labor Reforms

Robert F. Worth / New York Times:

Listing Demands, Assad Uses Crisis to His Advantage — WASHINGTON — Not long ago, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria seemed a remote and embattled figure, with the United States threatening airstrikes and other Arab leaders denouncing him for having used chemical weapons against his own people.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Hugh Hewitt Show and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
Decisiveness Overrated? White House Thinks Yes

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Pirate's Cove

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The fruits of epic incompetence

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Defense One, The Dish, Booman Tribune, VodkaPundit, Althouse, Yahoo! News and Right Turn

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:
Obama to visit Southeast Asia in October

Discussion: Politico

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Senator talks “House of Cards” and football... and mentions this may be his last term — Would we be better off buying cable stations one at a time instead of in bundles? Sen. John McCain says yes, and has introduced legislation that would make it happen.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers and Hot Air

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
McCain hints at retirement in 2016

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Rod Bastanmehr / Alternet:

Trayvon Martin's Medical Examiner: Prosecution Threw the Case — Fired Zimmerman trial coroner says conviction was never going to happen. — A recent revelation in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case could, and should spark a new wave of outrage. — Dr. Shiping Bao …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Scared Monkeys and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Rand Paul On The War Path — Once dismissed by the GOP establishment as a gadfly, Paul is starting to look a lot like the leader of his party — and his enemies are panicking. “There's a big transition in the Republican Party,” the Kentucky senator says in a BuzzFeed interview.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Fix, Little Green Footballs, ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard, Politico, Hit & Run and BOR

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

In Email, Zimmerman's Local Police Chief Agrees He's Another ‘Sandy Hook’ Waiting To Happen — Police Chief Steve Bracknell, who is responsible for the Florida town where George Zimmerman resides, agreed in a series of emails that Zimmerman is a “ticking time bomb” and another “Sandy Hook” waiting to happen.

Discussion: NBCNews, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette, Salon, addictinginfo.org, Mediaite and Shakesville

Richard Wolffe / msnbc.com:

Inside the Obama campaign: A plot against Cutter — The Obama campaign looked in the mirror and saw a political problem. — It had researched every piece of its own message machine and found one area that required urgent fixing. Focus group data suggested that the campaign needed more women on television.

Richard Wolffe / The Daily Beast:
No Drama Obama's Dramatic 2012 Reelection Campaign

Discussion: The Week, The Huffington Post and Weasel Zippers

Sacramento Bee:

California lawmakers approve measure to allow driver's licenses for illegal immigrants — In the waning hours of the 2013 legislative session, the Assembly on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to receive driver's licenses.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, National Review and Weasel Zippers

Marc Lifsher / Los Angeles Times:
California Legislature approves raising minimum wage to $10

Discussion: American Prospect, The Week, Hullabaloo and Washington Post

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

15 JOURNALISTS HAVE JOINED OBAMA ADMINISTRATION — According to the Atlantic, Time managing editor Rick Stengel's decision to join the Obama administration is just the latest example of a new trend among mainstream media journalists who are making it official by joining the Obama administration.

Discussion: protein wisdom

The Atlantic Wire:
Rick Stengel Is at Least the 15th Journalist to Move to the Obama Administration

Discussion: Mediaite and Capital New York, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

Elite Syrian Unit Scatters Chemical Arms Stockpile — Assad Regime Has Moved Weapons to as Many as 50 Sites — A secretive Syrian military unit at the center of the Assad regime's chemical weapons program has been moving stocks of poison gases and munitions to as many as 50 sites …

Discussion: War Is A Crime .org, New York Times, Hot Air, Israel Matzav, americanthinker.com, National Review and NPR

The Atlantic Online:

The Death of Gun Control — Why the recall of two Colorado legislators is a major setback for gun-safety advocates nationally — Ever since the Senate voted down gun-control legislation in April, some advocates have remained convinced there was still hope. As of Tuesday, that hope is officially dead.

Discussion: Hit & Run, American Thinker and The Gateway Pundit