memeorandum: Bush, Clinton dismiss political statements stemming from quake (Bridget Johnson/The Hill)

12:25 PM ET, January 17, 2010

Top Items:

Kirk Can't Vote After Tuesday — GOP lawyers say Paul Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day. — Appointed Senator Paul Kirk will lose his vote in the Senate after Tuesday's election in Massachusetts of a new senator and cannot be the 60th vote for Democratic health care legislation, according to Republican attorneys.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Ben Smith's Blog, Clusterstock and The Strata-Sphere

Steve Kornacki:

Latest Coakley Internal: Brown +2 — I've been told reliably that Martha Coakley's internal poll for Friday night showed Republican Scott Brown leading by two points, 47 to 45 percent. Her campaign's three-night average for Friday, Thursday and Wednesday is the same — a 47 to 45 lead for Brown.

Discussion: The Natural Truth, Politics Daily, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, The Politico, The Strata-Sphere, Taegan Goddard's …, The Lonely Conservative, National Review Online and Scared Monkeys

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Enthusiasm gap in Massachusetts — HYANNIS, Mass. - As the two candidates running in the special Senate election here barnstormed across the state Saturday, the enthusiasm gap between the two parties was on vivid display. — Democrat Martha Coakley, Massachusetts' attorney general …

Discussion: Public Policy Polling, Boston Globe, Political Punch, The Lonely Conservative, Althouse, Commentary, Real Clear Politics, The Other McCain, theblogprof, Orange County Register and The Hill

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Sen. Kirk: New Mass. senator will be sworn in ‘as quickly as possible’ — A new Massachusetts senator will be sworn in as quickly as possible, Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.) pledged Sunday. — Kirk, the senator in the interregnum until Tuesday's special election to permanently fill the seat …

Discussion: National Review

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Will Obama Repudiate Smear Campaign? — Silence is complicity. — So the Massachusetts Democratic Party is alleging, in a mailer, that “1,736 women were raped in Massachusetts in 2008. Scott Brown wants hospitals to turn them all away.” — This is as ridiculous as it is offensive.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Power Line, The Daily Caller and Hot Air

Christina Lamb / Times of London:
Voters desert President Barack Obama in Ted Kennedy seat

Discussion: Washington Post, Real Clear Politics and DaTechguy's Blog

Jules Crittenden:
Political Prescience Hurtfully Poo-Poo'd

Discussion: sisu, Boston Globe, Riehl World View and neo-neocon

David / Blue Mass. Group:
BMG Exclusive: Scott Brown thought maybe Obama was born out of wedlock

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Taylor Marsh, TPMDC, Red Mass Group, The Confluence, Hullabaloo, The Washington Independent, The Reality-Based Community, NO QUARTER, The Political Carnival, Talking Points Memo, The New Republic, DaTechguy's Blog, The Caucus and Boston Globe

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Over the top in Mass. — Via Sargent, an extremely sweeping charge …

Discussion: Liberal Values, The Daily Caller, No Sheeples Here, Riehl World View, Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, The Corner on National …, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Right Wing Nut House and Taylor Marsh

Dan Roem / Hotline On Call: MA SEN Shows Similarities To '09 VA GOV

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Massachusetts Race Tests Staying Power of Democrats

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Washington Monthly, Associated Press, The Caucus, The Politico, The Confluence, RedState, Connecting.the.Dots, The Corner on National …, New York Times, TalkLeft and AMERICAblog News

Jon Keller / Wall Street Journal:
The Backlash Is Coming! The Backlash Is Coming!

Discussion: Hot Air, SCSUScholars, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times and The Moderate Voice

Robert Cruickshank / Firedoglake: MA-Sen: We've Seen This Movie Before

Times of London:

World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown — A WARNING that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it. — Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change …

Discussion: TigerHawk, Fausta's Blog, JustOneMinute, Bishop Hill, Weasel Zippers and Biased BBC

Before It's News:

Joe Lieberman Endorsement Scott Brown Latest Polls Show Widening Lead — Hartford, CT- Joe Lieberman may be close to announcing his suppport for Massachusetts Senate Candidate Scott Brown. Citing the historical Healthcare Reform Bill as the main issue attracting Lieberman to endorse Brown's Campaign.

Discussion: The Hill, Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, RedState and theblogprof

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The Great Tea Party Rip-Off — Even given the low bar set by America's bogus conversations about race, the short-lived Harry Reid fracas was a most peculiar nonevent. For all the hyperventilation in cable news land, this supposed racial brawl didn't seem to generate any controversy whatsoever in what is known as the real world.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog and Prairie Weather

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

New York Times Ready to Charge Online Readers — New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. appears close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its website, according to people familiar with internal deliberations. After a year of sometimes fraught debate inside the paper …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Silicon Alley Insider, Althouse and Pressing Issues

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:

Bush, Clinton dismiss political statements stemming from quake — Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton made the news show rounds Sunday morning to put on a show of unity in the wake of the Haiti earthquake and dismiss controversial partisan statements that have come from pundits in the aftermath.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Clinton, Bush: Haitian aid well-spent

Discussion: The Politico

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Dems try to tar Brown as Birther, thinly — The DSCC is making hay this morning of this clip in which Scott Brown, in the process of praising President Obama's mother for deciding to have him at age 18, expresses some doubt — and chuckles uncomfortably — over the question of whether his parents were married when he was born.

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Counterprogramming Obama: Curt Schilling … “Get a sense of the demographic they're going for here?” Normal Americans? — The only people who will be at the Obama-Coakley curling iron rally will be welfare queen union thug members who are getting a special exemption on taxes …