memeorandum: Gay Lawmakers' Growing Presence Suggests Shift in Attitudes (Jeremy W. Peters/New York Times)

3:10 PM ET, January 26, 2013

Top Items:

Thomas Beaumont / bigstory.ap.org:

AP NEWSBREAK: HARKIN WON'T SEEK 6TH SENATE TERM — You are here — Home » United States Congress » AP NewsBreak: Harkin won't seek 6th Senate term — CUMMING, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin will not seek re-election in 2014, the Iowa Democrat said Saturday.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Roll Call, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, The Raw Story, Washington Times, Weekly Standard and Ballot Box

James Hohmann / Politico:

Harkin retirement: Jump ball in Iowa — Democratic Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin announced Saturday he will not seek re-election in 2014, giving Republicans a shot at picking up his seat but increasing the likelihood of a contentious GOP primary. — “It'll be wide-open as far as both parties,” Republican state chairman A.J. Spiker said.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Eric Jones / harkin.senate.gov:

Senator Harkin Announces His Plans for the Future — Thanks Iowans for dedication during his nearly 40 years in public service - outlines full HELP Committee agenda for next two years — CUMMING, Iowa - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement on his plans for the future …

Discussion: Addicting Info

Jeremy Herb / Ballot Box:
Harkin won't seek another term in Senate

Discussion: CNN

Jennifer Jacobs / USA Today:
Iowa Sen. Harkin will not seek re-election

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Daily Kos

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Boehner full of regret over ‘fiscal-cliff’ moves — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is sharing his regrets about his “fiscal-cliff” strategy, less than a month after the House bitterly swallowed a last-minute deal hatched in the Senate. — In a private speech to the Ripon Society on Tuesday …

Discussion: The Agonist and The PJ Tatler

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Rep. Ryan: Republicans can't play the ‘villain’ in Obama's ‘morality play’ — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Saturday warned that President Obama was working to delegitimize the Republican Party, and urged conservatives not to fall into the president's trap by playing the villain.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Reaction

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:
Thune: Democrats must pass a budget

Discussion: CNN

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Noonan: Lessons Conservatives Need to Learn

Discussion: ProfessorBainbridge.com, The Mahablog, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hot Air

Joanna Stern / ABCNEWS:

Starting Today, It's Illegal to Unlock Your Cellphone — You likely have a cellphone that you bought from a carrier, like AT&T, Verizon or Sprint, and that phone only works on that carrier's cellular and data network — unless you “unlock” it. — That is a software process that allows …

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog

The New Yorker / Page-Turner:

What Nate Silver Gets Wrong — Can Nate Silver do no wrong? Between elections and baseball statistics, Silver has become America's secular god of predictions. And now he has a best-seller, “The Signal and the Noise,” in which he discusses the challenges and science of prediction …

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Republicans' Effort To Rig Electoral College Gets National Backing — Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R), who was the chief elections officer when the state experienced massive voting problems in 2004, is planning to lead a national effort to rig the electoral college in favor …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Addicting Info

Gary Heinlein / detroitnews.com:
Michigan legislators weigh changes to Electoral College rules

Discussion: New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones, Naked Politics, FiveThirtyEight, The Maddow Blog and Business Insider

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Obama wants country to appreciate Hillary — President Barack Obama said Friday that he wanted to do a joint interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because he wants the country to appreciate the extraordinary role she has played in his administration.

Abby Livingston / Roll Call:

Five Races in Which the Gun Debate Matters — In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., the politics of gun control turned upside down — or so the proponents of increased firearms regulations would like to believe. The reality, however …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

MaryAnn Murtha / Washington Post:
Mark the date, not the town

Discussion: Althouse

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Gay Lawmakers' Growing Presence Suggests Shift in Attitudes — WASHINGTON — When Mark Takano ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice in the early 1990s, his opponents tried to smear him as a “homosexual liberal” and a “nutzoid.” One of them even had pink fliers printed that asked, “A Congressman for Riverside ... Or San Francisco?”

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and Althouse

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Sarah Palin Parts Ways With FOX News — After a three-year run as a paid contributor to the nation's highest-rated cable news channel, Sarah Palin and FOX News have cut ties, according to a source close to the former Alaska governor. — “It's my understanding that Gov. Palin was offered a contract by FOX …