memeorandum: Poll: Ted Cruz leads in Iowa; Donald Trump stays atop NH, SC (CBS News)

4:10 PM ET, December 20, 2015

Top Items:

3rd Democratic debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant — Three Democratic candidates participated in tonight's ABC presidential primary debate at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley.

Discussion: Slate, No More Mister Nice Blog, Front Page Magazine, Informed Comment, Slantpoint, Mother Jones, New York Times and Althouse

ABC News:

‘This Week’ Transcript: Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR ‘THIS WEEK’ ON DECEMBER 20, 2015 and it will be updated. ANNOUNCER: Starting right now on ABC's THIS WEEK, debate night showdown — the key moments from the final face-off of 2015.

Discussion: Politico, The Week and hillaryclinton.com

Bradford Richardson / The Hill:

Ex-DNC head: Kasich-Rubio ticket would scare me most — Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) general chairman Ed Rendell says his party's scariest opposition in 2016 would be a GOP presidential ticket comprised of Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Discussion: Politico

CBS News:

Poll: Ted Cruz leads in Iowa; Donald Trump stays atop NH, SC — Donald Trump, the national front-runner, keeps his big lead in two of the three early states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, but now Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has moved past Trump into a lead of his own in Iowa.

Discussion: Hot Air

Kristen East / Politico:

CBS poll: Cruz still ahead in Iowa — Ted Cruz maintains a strong lead over Donald Trump in Iowa, according to the results of a poll released Sunday. — The Texas senator, in the CBS poll, grabbed the support of 40 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa.

Discussion: Bloomberg.com news and Scared Monkeys

Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:

Hillary Clinton: ISIS is “going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.” — No evidence for Hillary Clinton's claim that ISIS is using videos of Donald Trump as recruiting tool — During a Democratic presidential debate …

Discussion: Associated Press, RedState, International Business Times, New Republic, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Zachary Warmbrodt / Politico:

Trump, Sanders call each other liars — Donald Trump took to the talk shows Sunday to push back on attacks lobbed at the Republican presidential front-runner by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic debate Saturday night.

Discussion: whorunsGov and ABC News

The Huffington Post:
Pussy Riot On Trump: We Laughed When Vladimir Putin Rose To Power, Too

Discussion: Independent Journal, Raw Story and Mediaite

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
14 key moments from the Democratic debate

Discussion: ABC News, Yahoo Politics, Washington Monthly, Des Moines Register, Hot Air, Bloomberg Business, Slate, New York Times, NPR, The Moderate Voice, TIME, Business Insider, Washington Post and Bloomberg.com news

Bill Curry / Salon:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz must go, and the case Bernie Sanders must make tonight

Discussion: BizPac Review and Mediaite

Lisa Hagen / The Hill:
Trump's lead grows in post-debate poll

Discussion: Guardian, Raw Story, addictinginfo.org and Zero Hedge

Jonathan Swan / The Hill: Trump tops Google searches before Dem debate

Allegra Kirkland / Talking Points Memo: Clinton: Trump ‘Is Becoming ISIS’ Best Recruiter'

ABC News:
Transcript for Democrats Debate What Should Take Priority: Ousting Assad or Fighting ISIS?

Discussion: Yahoo Politics and Politico

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
O'Malley: Clinton ‘Shamefully’ Used 9/11 To Hide ‘Cozy’ Wall Street Ties

Discussion: The Week

CBS News:
Ted Cruz to air parody ad during “SNL”

Discussion: CBS Dallas

Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:

What was fake on the Internet this week: Why this is the final column — There is nothing — NOTHING — too crazy for the Internet hoax beat. Pregnancy by flu shot? Six days of total darkness? In the past 82 weeks, I'm prettyyyy sure I've seen just about everything.

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Hullabaloo, more at Mediagazer »

Kevin Baker / New York Times:

Political Party Meltdown — The strategists who wanted greater ideological purity may have gotten more than they bargained for. — DURING the tumultuous wartime summer of 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt fielded an incredible proposal. His Republican opponent from 1940, Wendell Willkie …

CBS News:

Fake bomb diverts Air France flight en route to Paris — NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan authorities are questioning several suspects who were on an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that was forced to land early Sunday in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa after a device suspected to be a bomb was found in a lavatory.

Discussion: CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS Minnesota and Scared Monkeys

Norimitsu Onishi / New York Times:

U.S. Support of Gay Rights in Africa May Have Done More Harm Than Good — LAGOS, Nigeria — Suspicious neighbors and landlords pry into their private lives. Blackmailers hunt for victims on the social media sites they use to meet other men. Police officers routinely stop them to search …

Discussion: Towleroad

Rama Lakshmi / Washington Post:

Hundreds protest release of New Delhi rapist — NEW DELHI — Hundreds of protesters gathered in the heart of the Indian capital on Sunday to protest the release of the juvenile who was convicted of raping a young woman in a moving bus three years ago. — Authorities released the rapist …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Jezebel

Amy Dacey / Medium:

Here's what happened with NGP VAN, the Sanders Campaign, and the Clinton Campaign — And here are the steps we are taking to address the problem — The Democratic National Committee, through its software partner NGP VAN, provides tools for Democratic campaigns that are invaluable and second to none.

Discussion: Mashable and Politico

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Amid DNC dust-up, Sanders raises $1 million in a single day, campaign associate says

Discussion: Independent Journal

ABC News:
Sanders Apologizes to Clinton Over Accessing Voter Data

Discussion: Yahoo, abc13.com, alan.com, Washington Post, Associated Press, The Week, Bloomberg Business, Politico, Bloomberg.com news and The Gateway Pundit

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:

Trump: Fellow Republicans are ‘jealous as hell’ of Putin's praise — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Saturday that anyone who criticizes the warm compliments he has swapped with Russian President Vladimir Putin is simply “jealous as hell.”