memeorandum: Pictured: Home invader teen widow shot dead who 'was coming for her dead 58-year-old husband's drugs' (Beth Stebner/Daily Mail)

7:55 PM ET, January 6, 2012

Top Items:

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, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus, Daily Kos, JSOnline and nation.foxnews.com

Rasmussen Reports:

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.

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, Guardian, Washington Post, Hot Air, 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 …

Discussion: New York Times, National Review, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and American Power

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Iowan Casts Doubt on Winner of Caucus

Discussion: Iowa Caucuses, Online NewsHour, The Week, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online, Business Insider, Wake up America, Iowa Caucus 2012, The BRAD BLOG, The Reaction and ThinkProgress

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

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

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Gingrich: Romney should drop out if he doesn't win New Hampshire primary

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

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Paul blasts Santorum as ‘serial hypocrite’

Discussion: The Politico

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

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

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
CNN/Time Poll: Romney and Santorum soar in South Carolina

Discussion: The Caucus and Business Insider

Wall Street Journal:
Romney Wins but Takes a Beating

Discussion: Eunomia and GOP 12

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

Discussion: CNN

WMUR:
Poll: Romney Holds Onto Big Lead In NH

Discussion: ABCNEWS

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

Discussion: The Page

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

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Shakesville

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

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

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Bain, Barack and Jobs — America's recovery from recession has been so slow that it mostly doesn't seem like a recovery at all, especially on the jobs front. So, in a better world, President Obama would face a challenger offering a serious critique of his job-creation policies, and proposing a serious alternative.

Discussion: Business Insider, ABCNEWS and Daily Kos

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

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

Discussion: Indecision Forever

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

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

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

Discussion: 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Opinion L.A., Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters.org blogs and The New Republic

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

Discussion: The Hill

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

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

Discussion: Belmont Club and Betsy's Page

Washington Post:
Obama's recess appointments are unconstitutional

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

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’

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

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

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, Daily Kos, The Politico, Cato @ Liberty and The Caucus

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

Beth Stebner / Daily Mail:

Pictured: Home invader teen widow shot dead who 'was coming for her dead 58-year-old husband's drugs' — Shot dead intruder on New Year's Eve who broke in carrying 12-inch knife and was allegedly after dead husband's drugs — The man who broke into an 18-year-old Oklahoma widow's home …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, NewsBusters.org blogs and Power Line

Bruce Vielmetti / JSOnline:

Embezzlement probe also results in sex charges — By Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel — The secret John Doe investigation into embezzlement of funds intended for veterans also produced a jarring unrelated sex crime case against the domestic partner of a former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker.

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Political Carnival and We Party Patriots

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, Business Insider, Jammie Wearing Fools and Althouse