memeorandum: President Ron Paul (Michael Barone/Washington Examiner)

1:05 PM ET, April 14, 2010

Top Items:

Election 2012: Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41% — Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is - virtually dead even. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, USA Today, WILLisms.com, Below The Beltway, Liberty Maven, Big Journalism, AmSpecBlog, HotAirPundit, GOP 12, LewRockwell.com Blog, Real Clear Politics and Hit & Run

Shawn Millerick / Now! Hampshire:

Source: State Dems scrambling to deploy tea party ‘crashers’ — New Hampshire Democrats are engaged in a statewide search for liberal activists willing to attend so-called tea parties on Thursday and carry signs expressing racist or fringe sentiments, a Democratic source with knowledge of the effort tells NowHampshire.com.

Discussion: Wake up America, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah, Althouse, TPMDC, alicublog, Confederate Yankee, Neptunus Lex, The Mahablog, JammieWearingFool and Rasmussen Reports

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:

President Ron Paul — Here's a shocker: pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that in a race between Barack Obama and Ron Paul, 42% of likely voters would vote for Obama and 41% would vote for Paul. This, despite the fact that Paul gets lower support from Republicans (66%) than Obama does from Democrats (79%).

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

GOP operatives crash the tea party — Just days after the first widespread tea party demonstrators hit the streets a year ago Thursday, Joe Wierzbicki, a Republican political consultant with the Sacramento firm Russo Marsh + Rogers, made a proposal to his colleagues that he said could …

Discussion: CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Right Now and No More Mister Nice Blog

Sean Higgins / Investor's Business Daily:

Hoyer Admits: Tea Party Spurs Members To Consider Retiring — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters today that the Tea Party movement is making some members of Congress mull retirement. — “Do I think the negative atmosphere that has been created by the Tea Party …

Discussion: RedState

Rasmussen Reports:
Tea Party Profile: Many Ways To Describe A Movement

Discussion: Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin.com, Althouse and RedState

Bernie Quigley / Pundits Blog:
The Tea Party one year on: Federalism and nationalism

Discussion: The Politico

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer. — Forty-seven percent. — That's the portion of American households that owe no income tax for 2009. The number is up from 38 percent in 2007, and it has become a popular talking point on cable television and talk radio.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Economix, Zandar Versus The Stupid, No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, PoliBlog, DailyHowler.com, Prairie Weather and Real Time Economics

Arthur C. Brooks / Wall Street Journal:

‘Spreading The Wealth’ Isn't Fair — Surveys show Americans think taxes are already too high, even for the rich. — Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the 17th-century French minister of finance, once remarked that “the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount …

Discussion: The New Republic, Fausta's Blog and The Enterprise Blog

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Why FL-19 isn't a health care referendum — In the immediate wake of soon-to-be Rep. Ted Deutch's (D) victory in a special election in Florida's 19th district on Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee released a statement casting it as a rejection of Republican claims that health care …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Associated Press, Washington Monthly and AmSpecBlog

Brian Skoloff / Associated Press:

Democrat wins Fla. US House special election — BOCA RATON, Fla. — Republican backlash over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul had little effect in the nation's first U.S. House race of 2010. — Florida Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch handily won Tuesday's special election …

Discussion: msnbc.com, National Review Online, Open Left, MyDD and Balloon Juice

The Politico:
Hawaii special has Dems in knots

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and The Page

Harold McGee / New York Times:

The Curious Cook: Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap, for Some — FOOD partisanship doesn't usually reach the same heights of animosity as the political variety, except in the case of the anti-cilantro party. The green parts of the plant that gives us coriander seeds seem to inspire …

Discussion: JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Awl, Outside The Beltway and Whatever

Geoffrey R. Stone / New York Times:

Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution — AS the Senate awaits the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, a frank discussion is needed on the proper role of judges in our constitutional system. For 30 years, conservative commentators have persuaded the public that conservative judges apply the law …

Discussion: Bench Memos …, The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice, Law Blog, Althouse and Politics Daily

Manu Raju / The Politico:
Dems: Ignore GOP in court choice

Discussion: Slate, Wonk Room and The Hill

Emily Bazelon / Slate:
Are Judge Diane Wood's abortion rulings truly indefensible?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Bench Memos …, Hit & Run and SCOTUSblog

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama/Bush Nearly Divided — Americans are now pretty evenly divided about whether they would rather have Barack Obama or George W. Bush in the White House. 48% prefer Obama while 46% say they would rather have the old President back. — Bush had atrocious approval ratings for his final few years …

Discussion: Power Line, Sense of Events, RedState, The Corner on National … and GayPatriot

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Obama Puts His Own Mark on Foreign Policy Issues

Discussion: Laura Rozen's Blog, msnbc.com, Commentary and Washington Post

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Bernanke to Unemployed: Drop Dead — Ben Bernanke's economic forecast indicates a dire future for the currently unemployed and also for young Americans who'll be graduating from school this spring and next: … That sounds right to me. And if Congress asked me to give my forecast, that's what I would give.

Discussion: Washington Post

Sewell Chan / New York Times:
U.S. Must Start to Rein In the Deficit, Fed Chief Says

Discussion: The Caucus, Real Time Economics, Prairie Weather, The Page and FT Alphaville

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Obama steps up financial overhaul push, putting pressure on GOP — The White House is intensifying its pressure on Republicans in Congress to support a financial overhaul bill. — Just before a meeting with Democrats and Republicans to discuss the legislation, President Barack Obama …

Discussion: CNN

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit

Jay Sorgi / 620WTMJ:

Thompson Denies Report He Will Not Run for US Senate — MILWAUKEE - According to a source who has spoken with TODAY'S TMJ4 HD's Charles Benson, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson says he will not run for Senator Russ Feingold's seat. — Thompson is set to announce his future at a “tea party” rally in Madison on Thursday.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Eye, Hot Air, National Review Online, Ben Smith's Blog, TPMDC, Daily Kos and The Political Carnival

Miriam Jordan / Wall Street Journal:

Arizona Clears Strict Immigration Bill — Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday passed one of the toughest pieces of immigration-enforcement legislation in the country, which would make it a violation of state law to be in the U.S. without proper documentation. — It would also grant police the power …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Fox News

Nicholas Riccardi / Los Angeles Times:
Arizona passes strict illegal immigration act

Discussion: Feministe and RaceWire

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:

How Bad Could 2010 Really Get For Democrats? — Though Election Day is still months away, pundits have already begun to speculate on possible outcomes for this year's midterms. There's a general consensus that Democrats will lose seats in November, but beyond that opinions vary widely on how big those losses might be.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere and Wake up America

Robert Wright / Opinionator:

The Price of Assassination — I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me 20 years ago that America would someday be routinely firing missiles into countries it's not at war with. For that matter, I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me a few months ago that America would soon …

Discussion: The Confluence, Balkinization, Opinio Juris and Newshoggers.com

msnbc.com:

First moonwalker blasts Obama's space plan — NBC News: Neil Armstrong says rocket cancellation is ‘devastating’ — The first man to walk on the moon blasted President Barack Obama's decision to cancel NASA's back-to-the-moon program on Tuesday, saying that the move is “devastating” to America's space effort.

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Punch, New York Times, The Confluence, Newsweek Blogs, Outside The Beltway, LewRockwell.com Blog, The Hill, Below The Beltway, The Page and JammieWearingFool

Peter Elkind / Fortune:

Eliot Spitzer's flameout — (Fortune) — It was one of America's most shocking political sex scandals, instantly transforming New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer — who had terrified Wall Street during his political climb — into the infamous “Client 9.” — In Rough Justice, his new book out April 20 …

Discussion: New York Post, Ben Smith's Blog and New York Magazine

Ezra Klein:

Sen. Mark Warner: Mitch McConnell 'either doesn't understand or chooses not to understand' — When Sen. Mitch McConnell said that the Senate financial-regulation bill meant “endless taxpayer-funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks,” he was, knowingly or not, taking aim at a policy …

Discussion: The Agenda on National …

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

House GOP coy on plans for unemployment extension — House Republicans wouldn't say on Wednesday whether they would join their Senate counterparts to demand that an unemployment extension be paid for. — House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that while Republicans were concerned …

Discussion: The Politico

Wall Street Journal:

Crist Advisers Push Independent Bid — Florida Governor Insists Independent Bid Isn't in the Cards Despite Conservative Primary Opponent's Big Lead in Polls — Gov. Charlie Crist, right, listens to teacher Scott Whittle's views on a merit-pay bill Tuesday in Tallahassee.