memeorandum: ‘This was all planned’: Former IG says Hillary, State Dept. are lying (Paul Sperry/New York Post)

12:30 PM ET, January 31, 2016

Top Items:

Donald Trump reclaims lead in latest Iowa Poll — Donald Trump has muscled ahead in Iowa, regaining his lead on the brink of the first votes being cast in the 2016 presidential race. — Trump stands at 28 percent, while rival Ted Cruz has slid to 23 percent.

Jennifer Shutt / Politico:

Rubio tamps down expectations — Marco Rubio tried to cast his campaign as the Republican primary's underdog on Sunday, saying it does not have the polling numbers of Ted Cruz's campaign or the financial backing of Jeb Bush's super PAC network. — “Ted Cruz is clearly the front-runner going into tomorrow night.

Discussion: The Hill

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

The big Iowa test: Can Trump and Sanders turn enthusiasm into votes? — DES MOINES — With campaign events all across Iowa on Saturday overflowing with voters, the Republican and Democratic contests have been reduced to the same question: Can the muscle of traditional and methodical organizing overcome …

Discussion: Politico

John McCormick / Bloomberg Business:
Trump Overtakes Cruz in Final Iowa Poll Before Caucuses

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Vox Popoli, Trail Blazers Blog, Yahoo Politics and The Last Refuge

Margaret Talev / Bloomberg Business:
Clinton Has Slim Lead Over Sanders in Iowa Poll

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Global Gathering and New York Times

Des Moines Register:
Clinton keeps slim edge over Sanders in latest Iowa Poll

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, NBC News, TIME, American Prospect, New York Times and Daily Kos

Caleb Howe / RedState:
RESULTS ARE IN: Winner of Des Moines Register's Final Iowa Poll Before The Caucus

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Des Moines Register:
A closer look at the GOP's Iowa Poll results

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Washington Post

Jennifer Shutt / Politico:

Trump: Not essential that I win Iowa — Donald Trump said on Sunday he would like to win the Iowa Caucuses, but that he doesn't believe his campaign has to win the first primary state in the country to remain successful. — “No, I don't have to win it. And right now, you and I are sitting in New Hampshire.

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:

Uncomfortable Question for Ted Cruz on Obamacare Silences the Room — HUBBARD, Iowa — Senator Ted Cruz is often asked about doing away with President Obama's health care law. He is rarely pressed by voters on what will replace it. — But at a middle school cafeteria here, a man, Mike Valde, presented him with a tragic tale.

Discussion: @politifact, Politico, Slantpoint, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Associated Press:

Turnout Is Name of the Game in Monday's Iowa Caucuses — The 2016 presidential contenders are begging their Iowa supporters to get to the caucuses Monday and Donald Trump, true to form, is in-your-face about it. — “You're from Iowa,” Trump told a Dubuque crowd Saturday. “Are you afraid of snow?”

Discussion: ABC News and The Stream

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:

Iowa Official Criticizes Cruz Campaign Over Mailer — HAMLIN, Iowa — Iowa's secretary of state chastised the presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz on Saturday for sending a mailer that he said violated “the spirit of the Iowa caucuses” and misrepresented state election law.

Discussion: Washington Post, Mother Jones and Althouse

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:
Trump rips ‘dishonest’ and ‘deceptive’ Cruz mailer

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Raw Story and American Power

Tessa Berenson / TIME:
Cruz Campaign Under Fire for Sending Iowans Controversial Letter

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, The Reality-Based Community, Independent Journal Review, BuzzFeed, American Power and RedState

MaryAlice Parks / ABC News:
Iowa Political Parties Acknowledge Major Gap in Online Caucus Tool

Discussion: Associated Press

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
Flag thrown on Ted Cruz's Iowa ground game

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Washington Monthly, BizPac Review, Althouse and The Last Refuge

Paul Sperry / New York Post:

‘This was all planned’: Former IG says Hillary, State Dept. are lying — The State Department is lying when it says it didn't know until it was too late that Hillary Clinton was improperly using personal e-mails and a private server to conduct official business — because it never set …

Discussion: Power Line

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Clinton: I didn't generate any ‘top secret’ emails

Discussion: ABC News and RedState

Theodore Schleifer / CNN:

First on CNN: Main Cruz super PACs struggled to raise money in fall and winter — (CNN)The main super PACs supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign only raised a few million dollars in the second half of 2015, a modest sum that far trails the huge checks they collected in the opening days of the campaign.

Discussion: The Week

Mark Townsend / Observer:

10,000 refugee children are missing, says Europol — The EU's criminal intelligence agency warns pan-European gangs are targeting minors for sex work and slavery — At least 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees have disappeared after arriving in Europe, according to the EU's criminal intelligence agency.

Discussion: Daily Mail, France 24 and Veterans Today

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:

Koch network spent nearly $400M in 2015 — INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - The Koch brothers' donor network spent close to $400 million last year, and is on its way to spending an unprecedented $889 million supporting right-wing politics and causes during the 2016 cycle.

Thomas Fuller / New York Times:

Unemployed, Myanmar's Elephants Grow Antsy, and Heavier — WA KALU PU, Myanmar — Dragging giant tree trunks up and down the steep hillsides of sweltering jungles is a tough job. But there is something worse, say owners of Myanmar's logging elephants: having no job at all.