memeorandum: Hoyer loves his new view (Christina Wilkie/The Hill)

4:50 PM ET, January 20, 2011

Top Items:

Mark Weaver / 630 WMAL:

Michelle Obama's ‘Get Moving’ Program Linked to Pedestrian Deaths — WASHINGTON — The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian deaths increased in the first half of 2010 and the First Lady's program to get Americans to be more active could be partly responsible.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Wake up America, The Impolitic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Pirate's Cove, Rumproast and The Powers That Be

Amanda Carey / The Daily Caller:

First Lady's anti-obesity campaign could be causing more pedestrian deaths — Pedestrian deaths increased sharply during the first half of 2010, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). The reason may be First Lady Michelle Obama and her “Let's Move” campaign.

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Guardian, Wonkette and FrumForum

Scott McCabe / Washington Examiner:
Exercise, iPods could be causing pedestrian deaths

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online and The Incidental Economist

TBogg: Michelle Obama Wants To Death Race 2000 Kill Your Fat Ass

James Joyner / Outside the Beltway:
Michelle Obama “Linked” to Pedestrian Deaths

Discussion: Hot Air, Detroit News, JustOneMinute, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite and USA Today

The Fix:

A three-way pileup atop 2012 GOP presidential race — Former Govs. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), Sarah Palin (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Mass.) make up the top tier of the 2012 Republican presidential field, according to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, GOP 12, Weigel, Conservatives4Palin, Lone Star Report Blog, PoliticsPA, Right Turn, Public Policy Polling, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Swampland, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's …, msnbc.com and 24Ahead

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama looking stronger — PPP's monthly look ahead to next year's Presidential race finds Barack Obama in his best position against the major Republican contenders since 2009. — The GOP hopefuls who would make it most competitive against Obama continue to be Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, each of whom he leads by 5 points.

Discussion: Firedoglake, GOP 12, Taegan Goddard's …, The Politico and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Are the political winds changing?

Discussion: The Plum Line, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, GOP 12 and The Other McCain

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Huckabee's book tour lavishes attention on Iowa, South Carolina

Discussion: ABCNEWS, GOP 12 and Ben Smith's Blog

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
NBC/WSJ poll: Obama bouncing back

Discussion: Salon, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, Reuters, Associated Press, Daily Kos, AOL News, Wall Street Journal and The Page

Dan Friedman / The Atlantic Online:

GOP Can Force a Senate Vote on Repeal — While the health care repeal that the House passed Wednesday has little chance of passage in the Senate, Republicans will probably succeed in eventually forcing a vote on the measure — albeit with at least a 60-vote threshold.

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Salon and AmSpecBlog

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
How Should Dems Manage the Healthcare Repeal Circus?

Discussion: Ezra Klein

Myglesias / Yglesias:
Senate Democrats and Health Care Repeal

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Wall Street Journal:
The Repeal Vote — An historic repudiation of an entitlement that is only 10 months old.

Discussion: Hit & Run and Right Turn

Donna Smith / Reuters:
House backs repeal of Obama healthcare law

Discussion: HR Morning and Informed Comment

Jon Ward / The Daily Caller:

A number of the House GOP's leading conservative members on Thursday will announce legislation that would cut $2.5 trillion over 10 years, which will be by far the most ambitious and far-reaching proposal by the new majority to cut federal government spending.

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America and AmSpecBlog

The Politico:
Republicans lay out $2.5 trillion in cuts

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Washington Examiner:
Can't reduce federal spending? Here's a plan to cut $2.5 trillion by 2021

Discussion: Cubachi, The Foundry and Big Government

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Rick Santorum plays race card on President Obama — In eye-brow raising comments, possible presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is questioning how President Barack Obama - as an African-American - can support abortion rights. — Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, TPMDC, NJDC Blog and FrumForum

David Brody / The Brody File:
Rick Santorum Responds to Brody File on Comment About President …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, CNN, AmSpecBlog, TPMDC, GOP 12 and Right Wing Watch

The Note:

SPOTTED: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan Waiting for Jury Duty — ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports: If you thought Supreme Court justices are exempt from jury duty in their local courts, think again. — Justice Elena Kagan was spotted among a crowd of prospective jurors huddled in a waiting lounge this morning at D.C. Superior Court.

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Advocacy Group Says Justices May Have Conflict in Campaign Finance Cases

Discussion: CNN, Common Cause, National Review, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, Law Blog, The Caucus, Patterico's Pontifications, Wonk Room, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, FrumForum and Prairie Weather

Ezra Klein:

If Obama wants to be bold, he should be bold — Peter Baker has a lot of juicy tidbits about the frequent infighting and petty spats that split the White House economic team over the past two years, but the individual who comes off worst in the article is not Larry Summers or Christina Romer or Peter Orszag or Rahm Emanuel.

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, Booman Tribune, Grasping Reality …, Commentary, The Caucus, Felix Salmon and The Moderate Voice

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Palinoia, the Destroyer — What's behind the left's deranged hatred. — Why does their hatred of her burn so hot? — Ask them, and they'll most likely tell you: Because she's a moron. But that is obviously false. To be sure, her skills at extemporaneous speaking leave much to be desired.

Discussion: Don Surber, The Other McCain, The Mahablog, Mediaite, Conservatives4Palin, Classical Values and Power Line

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Delusions of world-historical grandeur — One thing that is endlessly amusing about the contemporary right is their comical lack of historical proportion, their frequent tendency to compare their current situation to the plight endured by history's leading victims of oppression, persecution, and genocide.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and TPMDC

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly: AN UNSHAKABLE PERSECUTION COMPLEX.... I missed the speech yesterday …

Jose Lambiet / Page2Live.com:

Parents of Giffords' doc supported Tea Partier Christine O'Donnell with Palm Beach cash — The name of Michael Lemole, the University of Arizona neurosurgeon who's been treating U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brain injuries since the Jan. 8 shooting, may sound familiar to Palm Beachers.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Patterico's Pontifications

P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Palm Beach Post Columnist Slams Parents of Rep. Giffords Doctor …

Discussion: Page2Live.com, The Jawa Report and Michelle Malkin

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Goodbye to a Guy Named Joe — On Wednesday, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced that he won't be a candidate for re-election in 2012. Normally people look particularly appealing when they're promising to go away. This time, not so much. — “I can't help but also think about …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, A plain blog about politics, Opinion L.A., The Huffington Post, Commentary, Connecting.the.Dots, Daily Kos, The Impolitic, Balloon Juice, Swampland, First Draft and The New Republic

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Palin Putting Out Presidential Feelers in Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tasked her aides with quietly gauging her level of support for a potential presidential campaign by making inquiries to a select pool of likely allies and grassroots activists in Iowa, RealClearPolitics has learned.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Politico, The Note, Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin, GOP 12, Washington Post, TPMDC and National Review

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Obama to Close Political Office and Start 2012 Campaign — WASHINGTON — President Obama will close the office of political affairs at the White House, aides said, restructuring his organization to prepare for his re-election campaign, which is to start building a fund-raising and grassroots operation based in Chicago by late March.

Discussion: The Fix, Lynn Sweet, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Political Punch and msnbc.com

Reuters:

Fixing Social Security is progressive — Last week, 200 progressive organizations launched a public campaign directed toward President Barack Obama that argues against any fix to Social Security that would touch future benefits. This is not only bad for Social Security; it's not particularly progressive.

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

The Huffington Post:
Obama's Social Security Talk Is Turning Voters Off, Pollsters Say

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars, The Confluence, Daily Kos, Suburban Guerrilla, Taylor Marsh, The Agonist, AMERICAblog News and Open Left

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

Fox News Poll: Most Say Prayer Helped Save Congresswoman Giffords — Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survive the Tucson shooting, according to a Fox News poll (Reuters). — Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona …

Murphy / The Beast:

The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010 — Charges: The A.Q. Khan of the culinary world, her secret recipes are demonstrably more dangerous to America than a nuclear armed North Korea. When not delighting delusional hicks on “Huckabee,” she's cooking up coronary-clogging treats like the …

Discussion: Liberty Street, Althouse and Pharyngula

Amie Parnes / The Politico:

Walmart joins FLOTUS health push — In an unusual endorsement, Michelle Obama appeared with Walmart executives at a community center on Thursday as the discount giant announced long-term plans to encourage healthy eating, including cutting prices of fresh fruits and vegetables and working …

Discussion: ABCNEWS and FrumForum

The Hugh Hewitt Show:

Karl Rove begins to handicap the next presidential and Senatorial cycle — HH: Joined now by Karl Rove, author most recently of Courage And Consequence. Karl, Happy New Year to you. — KR: Same to you. How are you? — HH: I'm great. I've got to ask you about this state dinner …

Spencer Ackerman / Danger Room:

Petraeus Team: Taliban Made Us Wipe Village Out [Updated] — Expect more Afghan villages to be destroyed by American rockets and bombs — if, that is, the Taliban “saturate” them with homemade explosives and kick out the villagers. But the U.S.-led coalition isn't going to destroy populated areas …

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Registan.net, Swampland and Gawker

Paul Bedard / US News:

House GOP Lists $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts — Moving aggressively to make good on election promises to slash the federal budget, the House GOP today unveiled an eye-popping plan to eliminate $2.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. Gone would be Amtrak subsidies …

Discussion: Hit & Run