memeorandum: S&P On Europe — S&P's downgrade of a bunch of European sovereigns was no surprise. (Paul Krugman)

11:30 PM ET, January 14, 2012

Top Items:

Jeff Mason / Reuters:

Romney opens 21-point lead in South Carolina: Reuters/Ipsos poll — (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opened a wide lead over his rivals in the South Carolina primary election race, trouncing Newt Gingrich and gaining momentum in his march toward the party's nomination, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.

Discussion: The Politico, The Moderate Voice, Don Surber, The Other McCain, Riehl World View and The Hinterland Gazette

ABCNEWS:

SC Republicans Boo Newt Gingrich Over Romney Attacks — At a forum hosted by Mike Huckabee with 800 undecided South Carolina Republicans, Newt Gingrich was loudly booed when he criticized Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital, according to a Republican who attended the closed-press event.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Dish, Hullabaloo, The Lonely Conservative and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Optimistic Poll Data — We are awash in poll data these days, but two recent surveys, both offering grounds for optimism, are worth singling out. The first is a Reuters-Ipsos poll released earlier today that finds Mitt Romney with a 21-point lead in South Carolina.

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
What does Ron Paul want?

Discussion: The Politico, Hit & Run, Booman Tribune and Public Policy Polling

New York Times:
In Reversal, Gingrich Calls for Withdrawal of Film Attacking Romney and Bain

Discussion: The Caucus, Outside the Beltway and New York Magazine

Beltway Buzz:

Evangelicals Throw Support to Santorum — After a two day meeting at a ranch outside of Houston a group of 150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists have coalesced behind Rick Santorum. — Friday night surrogates from every GOP campaign (except that of Jon Huntsman) …

Discussion: Hot Air, Box Turtle Bulletin and The Hinterland Gazette

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Social conservatives back Rick Santorum

Discussion: Politics and Rick Santorum for President

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
150 Social Conservative Activists Settle on Supporting Santorum In Stop Romney Move

Discussion: The Daily Dish, CNN, The Raw Story and The Other McCain

Bernie Becker / Ballot Box:
Group of 150 social conservatives, activists votes to back Rick Santorum

Discussion: The Politico, CNN, The Atlantic Online, FiveThirtyEight, The Other McCain, New York Times, Liberal Values, Rick Santorum for President, The Lonely Conservative and American Spectator

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Santorum wins support of evangelical leaders at Texas meeting

Discussion: CNN, Sky Dancing and Firedoglake

Kim Geiger / Los Angeles Times:
Religious leaders rally behind Rick Santorum

Discussion: The Impolitic, The New Civil Rights Movement and Applesauce

Josh Dorner / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Social Conservatives Officially Unite on Rick Santorum As Romney Alternative

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Macon Phillips / White House.gov Blog:

Obama Administration Responds to We the People Petitions on SOPA and Online Piracy — The White House has responded to two petitions about legislative approaches to combat online piracy. In their response, Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget …

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Deadline.com, AllThingsD, The Raw Story, Gothamist, The Daily Caller, VentureBeat, Engadget, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and GigaOM, more at Mediagazer »

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:
SOPA shelved until ‘consensus’ is found

Discussion: The Verge and The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Under voter pressure, members of Congress backpedal (hard) on SOPA

Discussion: The Politico, Sky Dancing, Techdirt, Wake up America, Balloon Juice, Electronic Frontier Foundation and CNET, more at Techmeme »

Lamar Smith:
Smith to Remove DNS Blocking from SOPA

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Clayton Cramer's Blog, Mashable!, VentureBeat and Threat Level

Paul Krugman:

S&P On Europe — S&P's downgrade of a bunch of European sovereigns was no surprise. What was somewhat surprising — and which went unmentioned in almost all the news stories I've read — was why S&P has gotten so pessimistic. From their FAQs: … And today we read about the response:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, National Review, mainly macro and Hullabaloo

Financial Times:

Merkel says eurozone must act fast — By Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin and Scheherazade Daneshkhu in Paris — German chancellor Angela Merkel has called on eurozone governments speedily to implement tough new fiscal rules after Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of France and Austria and seven other second-tier sovereigns.

CNBC:
S&P Cuts Credit Ratings for Nine Euro Zone Nations

Discussion: Firedoglake, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post and Questions and Observations

ABCNEWS:

Romney Gives Unemployed Woman Cash on Ropeline — SUMTER, S.C. — Amid shaking hands and signing campaign posters, Mitt Romney did something he has never done before on the ropeline: He took out his wallet and handed a wad of cash to a woman waiting to shake his hand.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, The Lonely Conservative and Washington Post

CNN:

Police arrest Italian captain of cruise ship that ran aground, killing 3 — Cruise ship runs aground off Italy — Porto Santo Stefano, Italy (CNN) — The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground — killing three people, injuring 20 and leaving dozens unaccounted for …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Associated Press, The Hinterland Gazette, Runnin' Scared, Scared Monkeys and Gawker

BBC:
Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia: Search for missing

Discussion: The Stir By CafeMom, Suburban Guerrilla, The Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story

ZIP / Weasel Zippers:

Unreal: Obama Regime Condemns Assassination Of Iranian Nuke Scientist... In other words, Obama condemns Israel's Mossad for doing something we should be doing.

Thomas Beaumont / Associated Press:
Santorum: US wrong to condemn Iran scientist death

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Israel Matzav and Jihad Watch

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Mitt Romney's new problem: A rising sun — Mitt Romney was on the campaign trail in South Carolina yesterday, and brought up the issue he expects to ride into the White House: the U.S. economy. Unfortunately for the former governor, the message isn't quite the same as it was a few months ago.

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Reality-Based Community

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Warns Israel on Strike — Officials Lobby Against Attack on Iran as Military Leaders Bolster Defenses — WASHINGTON—U.S. defense leaders are increasingly concerned that Israel is preparing to take military action against Iran, over U.S. objections, and have stepped up contingency planning …

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Tikun Olam, Weasel Zippers, Informed Comment, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Israel Matzav, Sky Dancing, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Dish and emptywheel

Jeffrey Sachs / The Huffington Post:

How the Wall Street Journal Misleads About Federal Jobs — The editorial board of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal has a simple game. They want to cut taxes for the rich and government services for the rest, and end regulations of banks and the environment.