memeorandum: McConnell: 50-50 chance Republicans will take the Senate (CNN)

8:05 AM ET, July 9, 2012

Top Items:

Donors arrive at Hamptons fundraisers with advice for Mitt Romney — Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign event June 27 in Sterling, Va. (Win McNamee / Getty Images) — EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. - As protesters assembled on a beach in advance of Mitt Romney's evening event at the home …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh, Addicting Info and Rumproast

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

It Must Have Been Grand — This weekend Team Romney held a round of big dollar fundraisers out in the Hamptons, where New York's rich and super-rich spend their weekends and summers. And if the word went out not to conform to stereotype, well ... apparently no one got the word.

Discussion: Mock, Paper, Scissors

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Romney Donor Says ‘Lower Income’ People 'Don't Understand What's Going On' — Today, Mitt Romney is holding a series of fundraisers in the Hamptons, culminating with a huge event at the home of billionaire David Koch. The LA Times is on the scene and reporter Maeve Reston caught up with a donor on her way into one of the events.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

CNN:
TRENDING: Protesters demonstrate outside of Koch fund-raiser for Romney

Discussion: Power Line, Teamster Nation, Newsday and Politico

Digby / digbysblog.blogspot.co.uk: Our betters, fretting in the Hamptons

Robert Gibbs / CNN:
Gibbs blasts Romney for overseas accounts

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Bill Kristol: Romney camp has reason to ‘worry’ — Political analyst Bill Kristol on Sunday added to conservative criticism of Mitt Romney's campaign, saying it was a troubling sign that Obama was still ahead in the polls despite a still weak economy. — “President Obama has had three …

Discussion: CNN, The Moderate Voice, Politico and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

John Roberts / Fox News:
DNC, RNC chairs debate economy; key lawmakers on effort to repeal ObamaCare

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Washington Examiner

Bernie Becker / The Hill:
DNC chairwoman: Romney ‘most extreme’ on immigration

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Sheldon Alberts / The Hill:

Hill Poll: Majority feel Obama has changed country for worse — Two-thirds of likely voters say President Obama has kept his 2008 campaign promise to change America — but it's changed for the worse, according to a sizable majority. — A new poll for The Hill found 56 percent …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Susan Page / USA Today:
Swing states poll: Amid barrage of ads, Obama has edge

Discussion: Weekly Standard, CNN and Business Insider

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Obama Seeks 2013 Tax Cuts Within Limits — WASHINGTON — With a torpid job market and a fragile economy threatening his re-election chances, President Obama is changing the subject to tax fairness, calling for a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for people making less than $250,000.

Discussion: The Caucus, msnbc.com and Newsy

Jan Crawford / CBS News:

Discord at Supreme Court is deep, and personal — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — (CBS News) Discord at the Supreme Court is deep and personal after Chief Justice John Roberts' surprise decision to side with the liberal justices in upholding a large portion of the president's health care plan.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy

Laura Rubenfeld / BREITBART.COM:

LOS ANGELES JEWISH FEDERATION ENFORCES SHARIAH LAW — On the morning of June 24th, author, blogger, speaker, executive director, and co-founder with Robert Spencer of Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), Pamela Geller was denied her First Amendment Constitutional right of freedom of speech …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Jihad Watch

CNN:

Actor Ernest Borgnine dead at 95 — Ernest Borgnine died on Sunday, July 8, at age 95. He's pictured here in 1973. In his greatest acting achievement, he won an Academy Award for his role in 1955's “Marty.” — HIDE CAPTION — Borgnine through the years

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, New York Times, Boing Boing, LewRockwell.com Blog and The Moderate Voice

Susie Madrak / Crooks and Liars:

On This Week, George Will Scoffs At Global Warming: 'It's Summer, Get Over It' — This is how broken, distorted and hackish our public political dialogue has become: George Will, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist (his record for coasting on that one accomplishment continues) …

Mhigginscbs / CBS Cleveland:

Man Who Introduced Obama At Rally Owes $500G To Former Employer — YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (CBS Cleveland/AP) — An Ohio man who says he once lost his job and introduced President Barack Obama at a rally on Friday had been accused of stealing trade secrets by a former boss.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Jammie Wearing Fools

Jonathan Krohn / Salon:

I was a right-wing child star — At 13, I gave a speech at CPAC. Four years later, I renounced conservatives — and they attacked me for it — Four years ago, at the age of 13, I gave a speech at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference). To be honest, I had no idea how big …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, The Moderate Voice, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic and Booman Tribune