memeorandum: SEC: Taking on Big Firms is ‘Tempting,’ But We Prefer Whaling on Little Guys (Chip Somodevilla/Rolling Stone)

10:20 AM ET, May 31, 2012

Top Items:

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:

NBC-Marist polls: Obama, Romney deadlocked in three key states — President Obama phones Mitt Romney to congratulate him for locking up the GOP nomination. NBC's Steve Handelsman reports. — President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are deadlocked …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Shakesville, Taegan Goddard's …, National Review, PoliPundit.com, ABCNEWS and New York Times

Jim Vandeheiand Mike Allen / Politico:

To GOP, blatant bias in vetting — On the front page of its Sunday edition, the New York Times gave a big spread to Ann Romney spending lots of time and tons of money on an exotic genre of horse-riding. The clear implication: The Romneys are silly rich, move in rarefied and exotic circles, and are perhaps a tad shady.

Discussion: Weekly Standard and No More Mister Nice Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Marist Poll:

5/31: Obama and Romney Vie for Lead in Colorado — President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are neck and neck in Colorado, a state Obama won by nine points in 2008. Among registered voters statewide including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, Obama receives 46% to 45% for Romney.

Discussion: CNN and Hot Air

Marist Poll:
5/31: Obama and Romney Tied in Iowa

Discussion: Politico

Marist Poll:
5/31: Obama and Romney Neck and Neck in Nevada

Discussion: 2012 Decoded

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Bloomberg Plans a Ban on Large Sugared Drinks — New York City plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts, in the most ambitious effort yet by the Bloomberg administration to combat rising obesity.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, JustOneMinute, The New Republic, Gawker, americanthinker.com, The Gateway Pundit, Fausta's Blog, New York Magazine, Villainous Company, The PJ Tatler, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Campaign 2012, Weekly Standard, Wizbang, Washington Free Beacon, Gothamist, Pirate's Cove and Ricochet Conversations Feed

NY1.com:
Mayor Bloomberg Seeks Ban On Large Sugary Drinks In City Eateries

Discussion: NY Daily News, Weasel Zippers, Joe. My. God. and Connecting.the.Dots

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Video: Fox's “Four years of hope and change”; Update: “Not authorized at the senior executive level of the network” — Considering the source. — I don't disagree with much, if anything, in this video presented earlier today on Fox & Friends. Neither, I suspect, will many of our readers.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, TVNewser, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, Salon, TheBlaze.com, Mediaite, American Power, ThinkProgress, Politico, Yahoo! News, ABCNEWS and The Daily Dish

David Zurawik / Baltimore Sun:
With Romney now official, Fox News gets shamelessly political

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, The Huffington Post, Guardian, TVNewser, Media Matters for America, The Moderate Voice, msnbc.com, Inside Cable News, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

Oliver Willis / Media Matters for America:
Fox's Anti-Obama Attack Ad Is Nearly $100,000 In Free Advertising For GOP

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice, Gothamist and Nice Deb

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Obama Video on Fox News Criticized as Attack Ad

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, NewsBusters.org, Media Matters for America and Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

David Jackson / USA Today:

Obama team bashes Romney record as governor — President Obama's re-election team kicks off its campaign against Mitt Romney's term as governor of Massachusetts today with a new video and anti-Romney testimony from state Democrats. — The four-minute film notes that Romney raised state fees …

Discussion: The Reaction

CNN:

Romney's Massachusetts record under scrutiny in Obama campaign video — (CNN) - Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts received renewed scrutiny from his opponent's campaign Thursday in the form of a Web video, which uses Democratic officials from the state to discredit …

Discussion: The Caucus, Politico, The Hill, ABCNEWS and Connecting.the.Dots

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Romney campaign's surreal arguments about the economy

Discussion: Eclectablog, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Daily Kos and The Maddow Blog

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line: E.J. Dionne's self-refuting shot at Mitt Romney

Boston Globe:

Warren says she told schools of heritage — Acknowledges identifying as Native American after hirings — Governor Deval Patrick (right) endorsed Elizabeth Warren's Senate candidacy at a campaign event on Wednesday. (Yoon S. Byun / Globe Staff) — Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Ballot Box, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Politico and Washington Free Beacon

Mj Lee / Politico:
Warren admits telling about heritage

Discussion: Boston Globe and The Volokh Conspiracy

Wall Street Journal:

Wisconsin Unions See Ranks Drop Ahead of Recall Vote — Public-employee unions in Wisconsin have experienced a dramatic drop in membership—by more than half for the second-biggest union—since a law championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker sharply curtailed their ability to bargain over wages and working conditions.

Discussion: Power Line, americanthinker.com, Firedoglake and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:

National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 1st quarter 2012 (second estimate); Corporate Profits, 1st quarter 2012 (preliminary estimate) — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Business Insider, Hot Air, Calculated Risk and BizzyBlog

Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:

Republican Foreign Policy Establishment Slow to Embrace Romney — Henry A. Kissinger gave his endorsement to John McCain more than a year and a half before the last presidential election, explaining in April 2007 that Mr. McCain's “record, character, and belief that America's best days lie ahead” …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The American Conservative, Outside the Beltway, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, msnbc.com, The Caucus, CNN, A plain blog about politics, The Moderate Voice, Towleroad News #gay, The Page and Campaign 2012

John McCormick / Bloomberg:
Condoleezza Rice Endorses Romney Citing His Leadership

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mediaite and The Hill

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Buddy Roemer quits 2012 race — Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer announced in a statement this morning that his quixotic independent campaign for president has come to an end. — After failing to get access to the GOP primary debates last year, Roemer had decided to run as an independent …

Discussion: CNN and Taegan Goddard's …

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: It Was Never Bill Clinton's Party — Yesterday, we got word that Artur Davis, the former Democratic representative from Alabama's majority-black Seventh Congressional District and failed 2010 gubernatorial candidate, jumped from the Democratic party to the Republican party.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Right Sphere and Betsy's Page

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Walmart Ends Financial Support For ALEC — The world's largest retailer, Walmart, has become the nineteenth group to leave the American Legislative Exchange Council. Walmart's departure from the right-wing legislation-crafting group is particularly salient because the big box chain …

Discussion: Reuters and We Party Patriots

David Ariosto / CNN:

Porn actor suspected of dismembering acquaintance still on the loose — (CNN) — The search continued Thursday for a gay porn actor suspected of dismembering his acquaintance, posting the video of the incident online and mailing the severed limbs to different locations in Ottawa …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Towleroad News #gay

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

In Milwaukee Post, Cardinal Authorized Paying Abusers — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York authorized payments of as much as $20,000 to sexually abusive priests as an incentive for them to agree to dismissal from the priesthood when he was the archbishop of Milwaukee.

Discussion: CNN, New York Magazine and Joe. My. God.

Dan Rather / Reuters:

Report: Chavez's cancer has ‘entered the end stage’ — A special report from Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of HDNet's Dan Rather Report — This reporter has been told that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that has “entered the end stage”.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com and Weasel Zippers

New York Times:

On Edwards Jury's Eighth Day, Alternates Are Sent Home — GREENSBORO, N.C. — After more than 45 hours of jury deliberations over eight days, there is still no verdict on whether former Senator John Edwards is guilty of violating federal campaign laws. — But some moments in the courtroom …

Discussion: The Page and WHNT-TV

Dan Savage / The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper:

O They Will Know We Are Christians... ...by our hate: — A four-year-old child at a church in Indiana gets a standing ovation when he sings “Ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven.” Looks like it was at a wedding. Paul Loebe at Free Thought Blogs: … The Apostolic Truth Tabernacle is in Greensburg, Indiana.