memeorandum: CNN Poll: Race tightening up in battleground Ohio (CNN)

6:15 PM ET, October 9, 2012

Top Items:

Sesame Workshop / The Sesame Workshop Blog:

Sesame Workshop Response to Campaign Ads — Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down.

Toby Harnden / Daily Mail:

Obama ‘believed he had BEATEN Romney’ in Denver debate - after ignoring advice of top aides on preparation — President Barack Obama did not take his debate preparation seriously, ignored the advice of senior aides and walked off the stage in Denver believing he had got the better of Mitt Romney …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Washington Examiner and Belmont Club

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

Obama Ad About Big Bird Cannot Find One Prominent Wall Street Criminal Prosecuted By Administration — This is an amusing ad by the Obama campaign, poking fun at Mitt Romney's comment in the first debate about eliminating funding for PBS and Big Bird. President Obama has been getting …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hit & Run, Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Riehl World News and Moe Lane

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

Team Obama Big Bird ad mocks Mitt — ...and by serious, we mean not at all serious. — The Obama campaign is out this morning with a goofy video of the Big Bird variety, mocking Mitt Romney, as the president has put it, as going easy on Wall Street but heavy on Sesame Street.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, nation.foxnews.com, Politicker, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, GOP 12, Riehl World News, Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, Moe Lane and Gawker

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Obama camp: Ad responds to ‘outcry’ — While some have questioned the campaign's seriousness and intent to put money behind the ad in swing states, Psaki maintained that it is running on cable networks - albeit during comedy shows - that swing-state viewers watch.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, National Review and Washington Examiner

Emily Schultheis / Politico:

Romney hits Obama on Big Bird focus — Mitt Romney, speaking to a crowd of about 1,200 on a farm here in Van Meter, Iowa, criticized President Obama's recent focus on Big Bird on the campaign trail. — “You have to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about saving Big Bird,” he said.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Bob Owens, The Lonely Conservative, The Daily Dish and Weasel Zippers

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Sesame Street asks Obama campaign to take down attack ad featuring Big Bird

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Wizbang, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Naked DC, Weasel Zippers, American Spectator, The Lonely Conservative, The Right Scoop, The PJ Tatler and The Other McCain

CNN:
Romney plucks Big Bird attack

Discussion: Politico

CNN:
Team Romney word on the street for Big Bird tactics: ‘Troubling’

Discussion: The People's View and Politicker

William Kristol / Weekly Standard: Sesame Street Liberalism

David Horsey / Los Angeles Times:
Romney would ground Big Bird but send military spending soaring

Discussion: House of Eratosthenes and Shakesville

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:
One Month To Go, And The Polls — They Are A Changin' (The Note)

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Free Beacon, CNN, Washington Wire and Mediaite

Byron Tau / Politico:
Sesame Street asks Obama to pull ad

Discussion: The Hill, Riehl World News and Orlando Sentinel

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Romney 49%, Obama 47% Among Likely Voters — Registered voter trend suggests Obama is recovering from post-debate drop — PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney holds a slight edge over Barack Obama — 49% to 47% — in Gallup's initial “likely voter” estimate, encompassing interviews from Oct. 2-8.

Politico:

Inside the campaign: The Romney rebellion — For months, Ann Romney and her eldest son, Tagg, were dutifully supportive of the political professionals running Mitt Romney's campaign. All the while, their private frustration was mounting. — Shortly before the final debate, it finally boiled over.

Discussion: NY Daily News, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, TBogg, Wonkette, Taylor Marsh, Hotline On Call, Online NewsHour, The Hinterland Gazette, GOP 12, Marbury, Washington Free Beacon, White House Dossier and Detroit Free Press

CNN:

CNN Poll: Race tightening up in battleground Ohio — (CNN) - On the day that both presidential candidates are campaigning in Ohio, a new poll indicates a close contest in the race for the Buckeye State's 18 electoral votes. — According to a CNN/ORC International poll (PDF) …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Politicker and Business Insider

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Why The Gallup Poll Numbers Are Likely To Get Worse For Obama In The Next Two Days — The effect of last week's debate is still being priced into the market. — Via: gallup.com — Mitt Romney's two-point lead over President Barack Obama in Gallup's crucial new survey of likely voters …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Guardian, National Review, The Daily Dish and GOP 12

Kos / Daily Kos:
Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation poll: Romney takes the lead in post-debate period

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Sister Toldjah, Spectator, Israel Matzav, Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Moderate Voice, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, The Agonist, The Maddow Blog, The Strata-Sphere and Althouse

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
How Romney flipped Obama's narrative

Discussion: Poliglot, Democracy Project and PoliticusUSA

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Romney surges past Obama in second poll

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, The Hinterland Gazette, Instapundit, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, Da Tech Guy's Blog, Prairie Weather, Jay Bookman and Connecting.the.Dots

Stephen Gandel / Fortune:

Welch can't take the heat: I quit — The former top GE executive says he will no longer write for Fortune following coverage of his jobs conspiracy tweet. — FORTUNE — Jack Welch has left our building, metaphorically that is. — Welch said he will no longer contribute …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Balloon Juice, Wonkette, PoliticusUSA, Media Decoder, Mediaite, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Business Insider, The Raw Story and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

No White House Press Briefing in Last 15 Days — The White House has not held a press briefing in the last 15 days, according to records on the White House's website. The last one was held on September 24, 2012, by White House press secretary Jay Carney. — However, in that 15 day time period …

Discussion: Hot Air

iowahawk:
White House Scientists Struggle to Contain Outbreak of Scrutonium

Discussion: Naked DC

Fox News:

AP publishes unflattering pic of Romney bending over — This photo of Mitt Romney posing with students of Fairfield Elementary School in Fairfield, Va., was published Monday by the Associated Press.AP — It was a news photo that, as Gawker quipped, was “ripe for captioning.”

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, NewsBusters.org blogs, Riehl World News and ABCNEWS

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

In Speech, Schumer Rejects Idea of Tax Code Overhaul — WASHINGTON — Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senate's third-ranking Democrat, threw cold water Tuesday on what had been an emerging consensus for a bipartisan deficit- reduction plan — an overhaul of the tax code …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Jared Bernstein and New York Magazine

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Schumer Tells Dems To Grow A Spine In Tax Negotiations With GOP

Discussion: Firedoglake

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:

“Nones” on the Rise — One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation — Executive Summary — The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public - and a third of adults under 30 - are religiously unaffiliated today …

Wall Street Journal:

Goldman Turns Tables on Obama Campaign — When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, no major U.S. corporation did more to finance his campaign than Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — This election, none has done more to help defeat him. — Prompted by what they call regulatory attacks …

Discussion: The New Republic, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Maddow Blog, Washington Wire and Business Insider

Politico:
CEOs wield clout, wage battle to get a budget deal

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation and Business Insider

Eric Kleefeld / Talking Points Memo:

Josh Romney: Dad ‘Learned How To Debate An Obstinate Child’ — Josh Romney, one of Mitt Romney's sons, told a pointed joke Tuesday about President Obama's debate performance, while warming up the crowd for his father at a campaign rally in Van Meter, Iowa. — “I don't know if you guys saw …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Angry Black Lady Chronicles

Ross Tuttle / The Nation:

Stopped-and-Frisked: ‘For Being a F***king Mutt’ [VIDEO] — Exclusive audio obtained by The Nation of a stop-and-frisk carried out by the New York Police Department freshly reveals the discriminatory and unprofessional way in which this controversial policy is being implemented on the city's streets.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Gawker, The Raw Story, Colorlines and The Agitator

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

The Hack Gap Rears Its Ugly Head Yet Again — The hack gap is a liberal problem of long standing. Put simply, we liberals don't have enough hacks. Conservatives outscore us considerably in the number of bloggers/pundits/columnists/ talking heads who are willing to cheerfully say whatever …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Salon, Firedoglake, The New Republic, The Week and American Prospect

Washington Post:

Taliban says it shot ‘infidel’ Pakistani teen for advocating girls' rights — PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A 14-year-old Pakistani activist who won international acclaim for speaking out for girls denied education under the Taliban was shot and seriously wounded Tuesday on her way home from school, authorities said.

Discussion: New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable!, Jay Bookman, World and Blogs of War

Brookings Institute:

Mitt Romney's Tax Proposals: Understanding the Debate — For months, Mitt Romney had been advocating tax cut proposals that would reduce revenues by about $5 trillion over the next decade, and that were heavily tilted toward the rich. Yet he did not explain how he would pay for these cuts, just that he somehow would.