memeorandum: The Power of the Super-PAC Wanes as Trump Prepares for Iowa Test (Bloomberg Business)

2:15 PM ET, February 1, 2016

Top Items:

Mark Savage / BBC:

Adele: Donald Trump ‘had no permission’ to use music — Pop star Adele has issued a statement to distance herself from Donald Trump, after he used her music at his rallies. — The Republican presidential candidate, whose slogan is “Make America great again”, has recently …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo and AOL

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart:

Sarah Palin: 'Wasn't Hard' To Choose Between Donald Trump And Ted Cruz — Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin joined the Today show to talk about her endorsement of Donald Trump as Iowans go to caucus tonight for the Republican presidential primary. — “This was probably a tough call for you …

Scott Stump / TODAY.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Palin talks Iowa, GOP and controversial PTSD comments — Sarah Palin joined TODAY on Monday to talk about the Republican hopefuls in the Iowa caucuses, and she also addressed controversial comments she made on the campaign trail involving PTSD and President Obama.

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, KFOR-TV, Business Insider and The Week

The Independent:

Adele tells Donald Trump: You don't have permission to use my music — Adele has told Donald Trump that he does not have permission to use her songs at campaign rallies after fans expressed their anger that the Presidential hopeful was using the singer's hits as his warm-up music.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Times, Guardian, Mediaite and The Week

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:
Palin: ‘I Never Blamed President Obama’ For My Son's PTSD (VIDEO)

Discussion: Daily Kos

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

How Clinton is plotting to go after Trump — DES MOINES, Iowa — It's tunnel-vision time for Hillary Clinton as she battles Bernie Sanders here — but she's casting some serious side-eye in Donald Trump's direction. — After months of laughing off Trump — and assuming his ascent would propel …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Post and NPR

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

How Trump Did It — What they heard as they ate deli sandwiches around Donald Trump's hulking, wooden conference table sounded like the businessman's typical bravado. These 25 New York political operatives had come to ask him to run for governor. But Trump had another plan—a very specific plan—to run for president.

Justin Wolfers / New York Times:
Now a Solid Bet: Donald Trump's Nomination Chances Are Better Than 50 Percent

Discussion: Washington Post, PredictWise and The Week

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
Trump, king of free media, finally bankrolls campaign

Discussion: USA Today, BuzzFeed, Raw Story, Hot Air and National Review

Bloomberg Business:

The Power of the Super-PAC Wanes as Trump Prepares for Iowa Test — With billionaire Donald Trump sitting firmly atop the Republican field, the willingness of big establishment donors to underwrite his competitors' war chests has fizzled. — About 17 donors gave $1 million …

Discussion: Washington Post

Associated Press:
Bush Doing Whatever It Takes to Stay Relevant

Discussion: Politico, The Other McCain, The Resurgent, ABC News, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Florida Politics and BuzzFeed

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
Jeb Bush super PAC cash plummets

Discussion: Daily Kos

Isaac Arnsdorf / Politico:
GOP candidates start limping in the money race

Discussion: The Week

W. James Antle III / Washington Examiner:

Cruz rally interrupted by yelling, vomiting man — DES MOINES — Ted Cruz didn't get far into his speech at his Iowa caucus eve rally before he got an unwelcome interruption. — “God bless Iowa,” Cruz began. “God bless you!” someone in the audience shouted back.

Discussion: Toronto Star, Mediaite, Raw Story and Death and Taxes

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Huckabee Defends Trump's Abortion Flip-Flop While Attacking Cruz As Insincere

Discussion: Hot Air and LifeNews.com

Maeve Reston / CNN:
At Ted Cruz event, Phil Robertson calls gay marriage ‘evil’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Raw Story, FOX6Now.com, Advocate, The Week, Right Wing Watch, WTVR-TV and Towleroad

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Hillary Clinton May Win Iowa After All — It would be entirely reasonable to presume that Bernie Sanders has momentum in Iowa. He's gained on Hillary Clinton in national polls. He keeps pulling further ahead of Clinton in New Hampshire. And he's made substantial gains in Iowa relative to his position late last year.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Bloomberg Business, Business Insider, TalkLeft and The Mahablog

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post: Trump, Clinton cautiously optimistic ahead of Iowa caucuses

Charlie Spiering / Breitbart:
Bloomberg's Joshua Green: There Is No Rubio ‘Surge’ In Iowa

Discussion: Opinion Savvy and No More Mister Nice Blog

Fox News:

Official: Withheld Clinton emails contain ‘operational’ intel, put lives at risk — EXCLUSIVE: Highly classified Hillary Clinton emails that the intelligence community and State Department recently deemed too damaging to national security to release contain “operational intelligence” …

Discussion: The Hill, The New York Observer, Power Line, The Daily Caller, Townhall.com, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, Hot Air, The Right Scoop and Washington Times

Hugh Hewitt / Washington Examiner:
Hillary's emails disqualify her from the presidency

Discussion: Viking Pundit and Hot Air

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Iowa poll reveals a line of attack that could sink Trump — DES MOINES — The final poll ahead of Monday's caucuses showed Donald Trump rallying to a five-point lead over Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with two days to go before voting, but it also revealed a line of attack that could sink Trump.

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Florida Politics, American Thinker, Weekly Standard, Fox News Insider, The Right Scoop and FiveThirtyEight

Meridith McGraw / ABC News:
Donald Trump Admits Being a ‘Little Bit Nervous’ About Today's Iowa Caucuses

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, Florida Politics and The Week

John Wagner / Washington Post: A more agitated Sanders tries to fend off attacks of nervous establishment

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

U.S. Senator Disenfranchised By Iowa Caucus Rules — On Monday night, a minority of Iowa voters will gather for the nation's first contest to choose major party candidates for the presidency. Even if the caucuses see record turnout, less than 40 percent of eligible voters are likely to show up.

Discussion: Associated Press and Vox

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Condemns Cruz's ‘Most Disgraceful’ Voter Violation Mailers

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Wind, Sun and Fire — So what's really at stake in this year's election? Well, among other things, the fate of the planet. — Last year was the hottest on record, by a wide margin, which should — but won't — put an end to climate deniers' claims that global warming has stopped.

Joe Romm / ThinkProgress:
Why The Renewables Revolution Is Now Unstoppable

Discussion: MIT Technology Review and New York Times

Dan Bilefsky / New York Times:

Benoît Violier, Top French-Swiss Chef, Dies at 44 — LONDON — The French-Swiss chef Benoît Violier, who scaled the heights of gastronomy to preside over a small Swiss restaurant that was named the best in the world in December, has died in what seems to have been suicide, according to the police.

Discussion: Eater and The Week

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

GOP braces for a post-Iowa collision — DES MOINES, Iowa — The bruised and battered Republican Party establishment is bracing for a collision — with the candidates running under its banner. — With the GOP political class growing increasingly worried that insurgents Donald Trump …

Discussion: New York Times

Associated Press:
Among GOP Rivals to Trump and Cruz, Rubio Has Most Cash

Discussion: ABC News and Washington Monthly

Joe Weisenthal / Bloomberg Business:

BofA: The Oil Crash Is Kicking Off One of the Largest Wealth Transfers In Human History — A $3 trillion shift. — Economists are still hotly debating whether the oil crash has been a net positive for advanced economies. — Optimists argue that cheap oil is a good thing for consumers …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight

Austin Wright / Politico:

U.S. general blasts Cruz's carpet bombing as ‘inconsistent with our values’ — The U.S. commander in charge of the military coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said today carpet bombing the terrorist network would be “inconsistent with our values” - a remark almost certainly aimed …

Discussion: ABC News and Business Insider