memeorandum: Obama administration defends healthcare law in Supreme Court brief (Sam Baker/The Hill)

5:50 PM ET, January 6, 2012

Top Items:

South Carolina Primary: Romney 27%, Santorum 24%, Gingrich 18% — What a difference a caucus makes. Rick Santorum who two months ago had one percent (1%) support among likely South Carolina Republican Primary voters now is running a close second there with 24% of the vote.

Dylan Byers / The Politico:

What Newt said about food stamps — Newt Gingrich's comments about African-Americans and food stamps, made at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire yesterday, have made the expected media rounds — from Slate to The Daily Beast to The Associated Press to MSNBC — but the interpretation has changed somewhat along the way.

Discussion: CNN, Daily Kos, The Caucus, JSOnline and nation.foxnews.com

Adam Sorensen / Swampland:

TIME/CNN/ORC Poll: Romney Storms Ahead in South Carolina — In another sign of the front-runner's growing strength. Mitt Romney has taken the lead in South Carolina, according to a TIME/CNN/ORC poll released Friday. — The poll, which surveyed likely primary voters on Wednesday and Thursday …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hot Air, Guardian, Washington Post, The Politico, Talking Points Memo and Outside the Beltway

Emily Schultheis / The Politico:

New Paul S.C. ad hits Santorum on ‘betrayal’ — Ron Paul's campaign is out with this new ad in South Carolina, which hits Rick Santorum on his “record of betrayal.” — “One serial hypocrite exposed,” the ad says, showing clips of Newt Gingrich. “Now another has emerged: Rick Santorum …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Iowan Casts Doubt on Winner of Caucus — At just before 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn addressed reporters who had spent the night following the historically close Republican caucus race between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

Discussion: The Week, Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online, Iowa Caucuses, ABCNEWS, Business Insider and Wake up America

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

CNN/Time Poll: Romney and Santorum soar in South Carolina — (CNN) - Mitt Romney's numbers in South Carolina are surging, and he now has a solid lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new survey of likely GOP primary voters in the Palmetto state.

Discussion: The Caucus and Business Insider

David Brooks / New York Times:

A New Social Agenda — I'm to Rick Santorum's left on most social issues, like same-sex marriage and abortion. I'm also put off by his Manichaean political rhetoric. He seems to imagine America's problems can best be described as the result of a culture war between the God-fearing conservatives and the narcissistic liberals.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Caucus, Crooks and Liars, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABCNEWS, The Daily Dish, The Atlantic Online, The Mahablog, The Hill, driftglass and Connecting.the.Dots

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Gingrich: Romney should drop out if he doesn't win New Hampshire primary — Newt Gingrich said if Mitt Romney doesn't win the New Hampshire primary, he should drop out of the race. — “Look, this is one of his best states other than Utah and Massachusetts.

Discussion: Ballot Box, CNN, The Caucus and The Politico

Rasmussen Reports:
New Hampshire: Romney 42%, Paul 18%, Santorum 13%, Huntsman 12%

Discussion: RedState, Opinion L.A., CBS Boston, The Other McCain, Eunomia, Big Government, Campaign 2012, Hot Air and GOP 12

Geneva Sands-Sadowitz / The Hill:
Gingrich turns fire on Santorum

Discussion: CNN, The Daily, Washington Post, Hot Air, The Hill, Washington Times and Ballot Box

Wall Street Journal:
Romney Wins but Takes a Beating

Discussion: Eunomia and GOP 12

ABCNEWS:
Gingrich on Romney Debating the President: ‘Obama is Going to Laugh at Him’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Mj Lee / The Politico:
Newt: Obama will ‘laugh’ at Mitt

Discussion: CNN

Shushannah Walshe / ABCNEWS:
Pro-Santorum SuperPAC Buys Ad Time in South Carolina

Discussion: GOP 12 and The Page

KCCI-TV:
Could Typo Rewrite Caucus History?

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
A worthy challenger — After every other conservative alternative …

Discussion: National Review, The New Republic, Prairie Weather, New York Times, GOP 12, The Other McCain, The Atlantic Wire and New York Magazine

Elicia Dover / ABCNEWS:
Gingrich's NAACP, Food Stamp Remarks Stir Controversy

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Outside the Beltway and ThinkProgress

Brad Cooper / Kansas City Star:

Legislator apologizes for ‘YoMama’ email about first lady — Kansas legislator acknowledges forwarding email note mocking first lady's name, hair style. — Kansas House Speaker Mike O'Neal on Thursday apologized for an email that made fun of first lady Michelle Obama's hair style and mockingly called her “Mrs. YoMama.”

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, THEROOT.COM, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Post

Scott Rothschild / The Lawrence Journal-World:
Speaker O'Neal apologizes for forwarding email that calls Michelle Obama “Mrs. YoMama”

Discussion: Wonkette, The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress and The Raw Story

Mackenzie Weinger / The Politico:
Mike O'Neal sorry for Michelle ‘YoMama’ email

Discussion: Indecision Forever

Reuters:

Special report: Romney's steel skeleton in the Bain closet — (Reuters) - It was funny at first. — The young men in business suits, gingerly picking their way among the millwrights, machinists and pipefitters at Kansas City's Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Balloon Juice, Washington Monthly, rubber hose, ThinkProgress and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Another Romney layoff victim, this one a conservative, speaks out — Reuters published a blockbuster story today on GS Technologies, a steel mill in Kansas City that was acquired by Bain Capital, leading to the layoffs of some 750 workers. In this case, the workers lost promised severance pay …

Discussion: GOP 12, Wonkette and Riehl World View

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama takes victory lap — Two days after defying Republicans and appointing Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Obama took a little time to gloat. — Making a victory lap of sorts at the independent agency, Obama cracked a joke …

Discussion: The Politico and Weasel Zippers

Washington Post:
Obama's recess appointments are unconstitutional

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, The Volokh Conspiracy, RedState, NewsBusters.org blogs and Investor's Business Daily

New York Post:
This power grab's a sign of weakness

Discussion: Belmont Club and Betsy's Page

Rick Perlstein / Crooks and Liars:

Santorum's ‘Freedom’ is Pretty Much Slavery — Rick Santorum got high marks for his near-victory speech in Iowa. In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne called it “by far the best speech Tuesday night.” Santorum's address impressed me, too, but for a different reason: his astonishing endorsement …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

ABCNEWS:
Rick Santorum Says by the Time He Had Campaign Cash, All the N.H. TV Time Was Bought Up

Discussion: The Hill

Julia Preston / New York Times:

Path to Green Card for Illegal Immigrant Family Members of Americans — Obama administration officials announced on Friday that they will propose a fix to a notorious snag in immigration law that will spare hundreds of thousands of American citizens from prolonged separations from immigrant spouses and children.

Discussion: Time, ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, The PJ Tatler, Indecision Forever, 24Ahead, The Politico, Law Blog, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers, Colorlines, Hullabaloo and Feministing

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Obama to make major green-card reform

Discussion: Wonkette, The Political Carnival and Jammie Wearing Fools

David Frum / FrumForum:

All Good Things... FrumForum launched itself almost exactly three years ago, on Inauguration Day 2009. Over the subsequent interval, our hundreds of contributors have reached more than 5 million individual readers. I like to think that together we have helped to move the national debate.

Discussion: driftglass

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

House Democrats Rush Floor Demanding Republicans Come Back To Work, GOP Cuts Off C-SPAN — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and a group of Democratic lawmakers took to an empty House floor today to demonstrate that they were willing to work while Republicans lawmakers are at home.

Discussion: The Raw Story

ABCNEWS: House Democrats Demand GOP ‘Come Back From Vacation’

Shaila Dewan / New York Times:

U.S. Adds 200,000 Jobs; Unemployment Rate at 8.5% — The United States added a robust 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, in a sign that the long-awaited economic recovery has finally built up a head of steam. — The nation's unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December …

Discussion: Calculated Risk, Hot Air, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, White House.gov Blog, NewsBusters.org blogs, Reuters, Felix Salmon, Economix, Brookings Institute, Taylor Marsh, Campaign 2012, News Desk and Gothamist

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
A good jobs report — and a good year

Discussion: Calculated Risk, The Moderate Voice, American Prospect and Washington Monthly

Carol Felsenthal / Chicago magazine:

Jodi Kantor Goes Inside the Obamas' Marriage in New Book — INSIDE THE EAST WING: A new book pulls back the curtains on the First Couple — This month, Jodi Kantor, 36, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times, delves into the lives of the president and First Lady with The Obamas (Little, Brown and Company, $29.99).

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
White House proposes 0.5 percent pay increase for federal workers

Discussion: Hot Air, The Politico, Cato @ Liberty and The Caucus

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Santorum Booed Again For Saying Gays Aren't Entitled To Marriage Or Military Service — Rick Santorum received another round of “boos” for his opposition to allowing openly gay people to serve in the military and same-sex marriage, during a town hall in Keene, New Hampshire this morning.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Little Green Footballs and The Reaction

James Oliphant / Los Angeles Times:
Rick Santorum jeered after comparing gay marriage to polygamy

Discussion: Opinion L.A., NewsBusters.org blogs, Taylor Marsh and The New Republic

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Short NBC gig for Chelsea? — Chelsea Clinton's much-trumpeted deal with NBC seems to be nearly done. Her contract is for only 90 days, and while she'll provide the network with two more stories, sources say it is not certain she'll immediately sign again.

Discussion: The Politico, Jammie Wearing Fools, Business Insider and Althouse