memeorandum: Sen. Ben Nelson's Retirement Signals Twilight of Blue Dog Democrats (John Avlon/The Daily Beast)

7:55 PM ET, December 28, 2011

Top Items:

Kevinliptak / CNN:

CNN Poll: Romney on top, Gingrich fading & Santorum rising in Iowa — Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Did Newt Gingrich peak too early? — A new survey of people likely to attend Iowa's Republican caucuses indicates that the former House speaker's support in the Hawkeye State is plunging.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Moderate Voice, Campaign 2012, The Caucus, Hot Air, Riehl World View, Politisite, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Poliglot, Daily Kos, National Review, Iowa Caucuses and GOP 12

Erick Erickson / RedState:

No Surprise, Iowa Social Conservatives Are About To Shoot Us All in the Foot Again — I'm hearing several campaigns and external pollsters have a surge for Rick Santorum. With the National Review folks fawning over him again, it probably means a surge is real and any surge by Rick Santorum …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online and Mediaite

Adam Sorensen / Swampland:

CNN/TIME/ORC Poll: Gingrich Collapse Fuels Santorum Surge in Iowa, Solidifies Romney Lead in New Hampshire — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaks before a group of supporters at the Global Security offices in Davenport, Iowa, Dec. 19, 2011.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Indecision Forever, Washington Post, msnbc.com and Ballot Box

Zachary Abrahamson / The Politico:

How the Iowa caucuses work — Four years ago, 120,000 Iowa Republicans turned out in freezing temperatures to vote on their pick for a presidential nominee. The weather report and turnout predictions for next Tuesday's caucuses are still somewhat in the air, but the campaigns' organizing efforts …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, Ballot Box, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Swampland:
Topline Results of Dec. 21-27, 2011, CNN/TIME/ORC Poll

Discussion: ABCNEWS, msnbc.com, The Page and The New Republic

CNN:
Santorum gets late help from super PAC

Discussion: Washington Post and GOP 12

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Polling Gridlock in Iowa Could Produce Last-Minute Momentum

Discussion: Public Policy Polling, Iowa Caucuses, Daily Kos, ABCNEWS and A plain blog about politics

Kevinliptak / CNN:

TRENDING: Gingrich: Campaign worker's signature fraud cost slot on Virginia ballot — Algona, Iowa (CNN) - Newt Gingrich cited fraud Wednesday as the reason he didn't get on the Virginia primary ballot. — Last week his campaign acknowledged they used paid volunteers to scramble …

Discussion: The Politico

New York Times:

The Retooled, Loose Romney, Guessing Voters' Age and Ethnicity — DAVENPORT, Iowa — When Mitt Romney introduces himself to voters, he has a peculiar habit of guessing their age or nationality, often incorrectly. (A regular query: “Are you French Canadian?")

Discussion: Guardian, Indecision Forever, Jezebel, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Hotline On Call, The Politico, Boston Globe, ABCNEWS, Prairie Weather, 24Ahead, Political Mojo and The Caucus

The Politico:

Mitt Romney in striking distance of Iowa win — Don't look now, but Mitt Romney suddenly seems like the Iowa front-runner. — The former Massachusetts governor has carefully tempered expectations in Iowa all year, visiting only a handful of times and saving the bulk of his television spending for the final weeks of the race.

Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:
Commercial Introduces Gay Marriage as an Issue in the Iowa Caucuses

Discussion: The Raw Story and Towleroad News #gay

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Gingrich urged yes vote on controversial Medicare bill, former congresswoman says

Discussion: Ballot Box and iOwnTheWorld.com

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
EMILY's List ranks Gingrich as ‘worst’ GOP presidential candidate

Discussion: CNN, Don Surber, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, The Other McCain, Washington Post and Power Line

Tony Radar / RADAR:

Anthony Weiner Wanted Threesome With Another Man, According To Mistress — Disgraced former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner was caught in online trysts with numerous women, but RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that according to one of his mistresses, he expressed wanting a threesome - with another man.

Discussion: Gothamist, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, iOwnTheWorld.com and Lez Get Real

New York Post:
Anthony Weiner wanted threesome with woman and man

Discussion: M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …

John Avlon / The Daily Beast:

Sen. Ben Nelson's Retirement Signals Twilight of Blue Dog Democrats — Centrist Sen. Ben Nelson's retirement puts the Democrats' Senate majority in jeopardy and could even spell trouble for Obama's reelection. But the absence of his and other independent voices in Congress is the real danger.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Booman Tribune

Investor's Business Daily:
What Ben Nelson's surrender means for 2012

Discussion: The Other McCain

Josh Poltilove / TBO.com:

Tarzan co-star Cheetah dies at Palm Harbor sanctuary — Cheetah the chimpanzee, who acted in classic Tarzan movies in the early 1930s, died of kidney failure Saturday at Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, a sanctuary spokeswoman said. — Cheetah was roughly 80 years old …

Discussion: Associated Press and Telegraph

Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:
Chimpanzee Said to Be Cheetah in ‘Tarzan’ Films Has Died

Discussion: CNN, Jack Shafer, Agence France Presse, Guardian and Nation Now

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

What Moves Republican Crowds in Iowa — DES MOINES — The Republican candidates for president are doing a lot of talking in the last week before voting begins. — But spending a day observing how the crowds react to the candidates can be just as instructive.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, The Impolitic and Prairie Weather

Pew Hispanic Center:

As Deportations Rise to Record Levels, Most Latinos Oppose Obama's Policy — I. OVERVIEW — By a ratio of more than two-to-one (59% versus 27%), Latinos disapprove of the way the Obama administration is handling deportations of unauthorized immigrants, according to a new national survey …

Discussion: The Caucus, L.A. NOW and Prairie Weather

Peter Wallsten / Washington Post:
Wary Hispanic voters favor Obama over GOP rivals

Discussion: Pew Hispanic Center, Booman Tribune and ThinkProgress

Billy Hallowell / TheBlaze.com:

GIRL SCOUTS BOOK REFERS READERS TO LIBERAL GROUP MEDIA MATTERS TO CLEAR UP ‘MEDIA MISINFORMATION’ — In 2010, the Girl Scouts of the USA published a book called “MEdia.” The publication, designed for girls in grades six through eight, is a guide that apparently offers insight into how young people …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The American Pundit, Wizbang, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Erick Erickson / RedState:

TODAY, December 28, 2011, Mitt Romney Calls Obamacare “Conservative” — This isn't a flash back. This is today. Mitt Romney is again declaring the foundation of Obamacare, the individual mandate, “conservative.” — To be sure, it is conservative that one takes responsibility for their own healthcare.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and The Spectacle Blog

Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:

North Korean Mourners Line Streets for Kim Jong-il's Funeral — SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-un, the designated dynastic heir to power in North Korea, walked alongside the hearse of his deceased father, Kim Jong-il, through snow-covered downtown Pyongyang on Wednesday …

Discussion: Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, NewsBusters.org blogs and Gothamist

The Atlantic Online:
North Korea Mourns Kim Jong Il

Discussion: AMERICAN DIGEST and Hot Air

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Perry Pledges To Openly Defy A Supreme Court Decision Striking Down An Anti-Choice ‘Personhood’ Law — At a radio forum sponsored by the anti-abortion and anti-birth control group Personhood USA, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that he would refuse to obey a Supreme Court decision striking down the group's signature anti-choice proposal:

Discussion: CBS News, Ballot Box, The Raw Story and Political Mojo

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

The Times E-Mails Millions by Mistake to Say Subscriptions Were Canceled — Updated The New York Times said it accidentally sent e-mails on Wednesday to more than eight million people who had shared their information with the company, erroneously informing them they had canceled home delivery of the newspaper.

Discussion: TalkLeft, GigaOM and Poynter, more at Techmeme »

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing — U.S. Air Force/GETTY IMAGES - A crew chief from the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron completes post-flight inspections of the RQ-1 Predator after one of its sorties in Balad Air Base, Iraq.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hit & Run, Political Mojo, Hullabaloo, Big Journalism, White House Dossier, Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:

Repo Men — If you're making money on the Wall Street scale — which is nothing like your boring, middle-management in the Fortune 500, Hamptons-and-Mercedes, barely-a-1 percenter type money — then you can buy basically anything. When real-estate investor Robert Rosania put part …

Discussion: Verum Serum and Cold Fury

David Weigel / Slate:

Poll: Newsletters Not Hurting Paul in Iowa — Think about it. If Ron Paul was suffering and taking damage from the stories about his old newsletters, what sort of voters would abandon him? Who'd be offended by signed editorials about fleet-footed blacks and skeezy gay men?

Discussion: 2012 Decoded, Washington Monthly, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway and The Daily Dish

CNN:

‘Liberated’ Gary Johnson seeks Libertarian nomination — (CNN) - Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson announced his intention to seek the Libertarian nomination for president Wednesday. — Calling his choice “both a difficult decision-and an easy one,” in a statement …

Discussion: The Hill, Gary Johnson 2012, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The Politico, Governors Journal and Ballot Access News

Regina Zilbermints / Iowa Caucuses:

Occupy protesters want Romney to release tax returns; he says ‘no’ (includes photos, videos) — Des Moines police arrest a protester at a Wells Fargo bank branch Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. Protesters also were arrested at Mitt Romney's campaign office in Des Moines. (Andrea Melendez/The Register)

Discussion: Political Mojo and Guardian