memeorandum: Florida Defends New Effort to Clean Up Voter Rolls (Lizette Alvarez/New York Times)

9:30 AM ET, October 10, 2013

Top Items:

Andrew Dugan / Gallup:

Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low — Falls 10 percentage points from September's 38% — This article is part of an ongoing series analyzing how the government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling are affecting Americans' views of government, government leaders …

Politico:

GOP quietly backing away from Obamacare — A fight over Obamacare? That's so last week. — With the government shutdown firmly in its second week, and the debt limit projected to be reached next Thursday, top House and Senate Republicans are publicly moving away from gutting the health care law …

Discussion: MadMike'sAmerica …, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Lead with Jake Tapper and Ross Douthat

Politico:
Mitch McConnell, Senate GOP search for way out

Discussion: RedState, naked capitalism and Roll Call

Washington Post:
Key Republicans signal willingness to back down on effort to defund health-care law

Discussion: Slate, blog.sfgate.com, The Week, The Lead with Jake Tapper, Townhall.com, The Raw Story, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, ABC News, BillMoyers.com, PoliticusUSA, National Review, CNN and Myajc Blogs

Justin Sink / The Hill:
House GOP ‘negotiators’ to meet Obama

Discussion: The Hill, CNN and Taking Note

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

As Pressure Mounts, House G.O.P. Weighs Short-Term Debt Deal — WASHINGTON — House Republicans, increasingly isolated from even some of their strongest supporters more than a week into a government shutdown, began on Wednesday to consider a path out of the fiscal impasse that would raise …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, The Hugh Hewitt Show, WJLA-TV, Prairie Weather, Daily Kos, The Fix, Gawker and Calculated Risk

Wall Street Journal:

CONNECT — WASHINGTON—The partisan logjam that has paralyzed the capital showed signs of easing Wednesday, as conservative Republicans warmed to the idea of a short-term increase in the country's borrowing limit and House GOP leaders prepared for their first meeting with President Barack Obama since the government shutdown began.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Post and The World's Greatest …

Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:
Heritage Action Bails On Debt Ceiling Fight

Discussion: Campaign for America's Future, Business Insider, Firedoglake, National Review, Hot Air and Conservative Intelligence …

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
New GOP strategy: Offer deal on debt limit, but keep shutdown fight going

Discussion: The Plum Line and Hot Air

U-T San Diego / utsandiego.com:
President Obama's shameful death-benefit theater

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Hot Air, National Review, Instapundit and Stars & Stripes

Michael Isikoff / NBC Politics:
Kochs to Congress: Focus on spending, not Obamacare

Discussion: NBCNews, Taylor Marsh, his vorpal sword, msnbc.com, Crooks and Liars and Politico

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Wolf Blitzer: White House Should Take GOP ‘Advice,’ Delay Obamacare Website

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Dana Bash / CNN:
Senior House GOP source: Debt deal may require Democratic help

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, The Impolitic, Booman Tribune, Hullabaloo and Politico

CNN:

Rebels kidnap Libyan PM Ali Zeidan, his office says — (CNN) — Armed men kidnapped Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan at dawn Thursday and took him to an undisclosed location, his office said. — The gunmen escorted the prime minister from the Corinthian Hotel in Tripoli into a convoy of waiting cars …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Outside the Beltway

Reuters:

Libyan PM briefly held by gunmen angry at U.S. Qaeda capture — (Reuters) - Libya's prime minister was seized and held for several hours on Thursday by former rebel militiamen angry at the weekend capture by U.S. special forces of a Libyan al Qaeda suspect in Tripoli.

Discussion: The Hill and Spectator

BBC:
Libyan PM Ali Zeidan detained by militia

Discussion: Telegraph, TalkLeft and Informed Comment

Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:

Eleanor Holmes Norton confronts Obama on D.C. budget bill — Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) had what some colleagues called “a heated exchange” and what she described as “a conversation” with President Obama during a White House meeting Wednesday afternoon regarding the District's budget constraints …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and WJLA-TV

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Holmes Norton: Obama is ‘a big boy’

Discussion: Politico

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Let's Get Cynical — Why should we trust the government—especially now? — “An old friend who has been active in politics for more than 30 years tells me he's giving up,” claims Robert Reich in a Puffington Host post: " 'I can't stomach what's going on in Washington anymore,' he says.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Scared Monkeys

Quinnipiac News + Events:

Release Detail — October 10, 2013 - Christie Holds Almost 2-1 Lead In New Jersey Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Say Override Gov Veto On Same-Sex Marriage — Despite strong support for same-sex marriage, which New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is blocking …

Discussion: msnbc.com and CNN

New York Times:

Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country's most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Prairie Weather and DealBook

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

Developments in Financial Markets and the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet — The Manager of the System Open Market Account reported on developments in domestic and foreign financial markets as well as the System open market operations during the period since the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met on July 30-31, 2013.

Discussion: Income Investing and New York Times

Michael Falcone / ABC News:

When Does Wall Street Cast Its Vote? — NOTABLES — A GLIMMER OF A DEAL?: A House Republican leadership source says House GOP leaders are coalescing around a plan to provide a six-week extension of the debt limit - putting off the threat of default until early December and allowing …

Discussion: Yahoo! News and ABC News

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Alice Munro Wins Nobel Prize in Literature — Alice Munro, the renowned Canadian short-story writer whose visceral work explores the tangled relationships between men and women, small-town existence and the fallibility of memory, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

Discussion: The Week, National Review, Gawker, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Marginal Revolution

Binyamin Appelbaum / New York Times:

Yellen's Path From Liberal Theorist to Fed Voice for Jobs — BERKELEY, Calif. — When the economists Janet L. Yellen and George A. Akerlof hired a baby sitter for their son in the early 1980s, they decided to pay more than the going wage. They reasoned that a happier baby sitter would provide better care.

Discussion: DealBook, Campaign for America's Future, NBCNews, Real Time Economics, National Review, Economix and CNN

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Announcing Fed Nomination, Obama Praises Yellen

Discussion: The Talking Dog, The Week and The Mahablog

Robert Gehrke / Salt Lake Tribune:

Most Utahns disapprove of Sen. Mike Lee, want him to compromise — Public opinion » The senator says his position won't change. — | The Salt Lake Tribune — More than half of Utah voters now disapprove of the performance of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, with support for the junior senator …

Discussion: The Hill and Talking Points Memo

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Ted Cruz poll shows GOP gained in fight over Obamacare despite shutdown — BARACK OBAMA OBAMACARE REPUBLICAN PARTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY POLLS TED CRUZ PENNAVE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN — Sen. Ted Cruz during a closed-door lunch on Wednesday argued to his Republican colleagues that the campaign …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, TheBlaze.com and Talking Points Memo

Julian Assange / WikiLeaks:

Press Release - First Letter from Julian Assange to Benedict Cumberbatch Over The Fifth Estate — Today WikiLeaks publishes the first letter from Julian Assange to Benedict Cumberbatch regarding “The Fifth Estate”, a Dreamworks movie about WikiLeaks set to open in the UK on Friday 11 Oct …

Discussion: The Verge, Gawker, Mashable, Politico and Washington Free Beacon

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Scarborough: A NYT Editor Told Me Krugman's Column Is Newspaper's ‘Biggest Nightmare’ — MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Thursday that a public editor at the New York Times considers liberal columnist Paul Krugman's work to be an ongoing “nightmare” for the newspaper.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Weekly Standard

Caitlin McDevitt / Politico:

Alec Baldwin dishes on new show — Set your DVR. Actor Alec Baldwin is making his MSNBC debut this weekend. The star's weekly show, “Up Late With Alec Baldwin,” premieres on Friday night from 10-11, ET. — Ahead of the launch, Baldwin told POLITICO's Patrick Gavin how the show came together and what viewers can expect:

Discussion: Deadline.com, NewsBusters and TVNewser