MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Overflow crowds were a recurring theme in Herman Cain's five stops throughout Alabama today, a state not commonly associated with early presidential campaigning and that does hold its primary until March 13.

During a news conference at Alabama Republican Party headquarters, Cain said he was visiting the state because of the important role its electorate will play in next year's election. Throughout his stops today, local Republicans who introduced the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, said he made plans to visit Alabama in July when when he hovered near the bottom of the polls. It is his second trip to the state as a presidential candidate.

During his press conference Cain was pressed about a memo reported by The New York Times that instructed staffers not to speak to Cain while riding in a car with the candidate.

Cain said he welcomes conversation but is not adverse to telling people to give him quiet when he needs to prepare for events.

"If I’m trying to prepare for a speech, I do tell people to shut up," he said.

He also said he believes it is a mistake for Rick Perry to skip debates.

"Personally, I think it's a bad decision," Cain said, "because, from my perspective and our perspective, debates are my friend, because it allows a candidate to introduce him or herself to millions of people. If it were not for the debates, and if it were not for the Tea Party movement in this country, I wouldn’t be sitting at the top of the polls."

Today Cain joined Mitt Romney as the only two candidates to qualify for the presidential ballot in Alabama.

The phrase of the week at the White House has been "executive action."  That's what the administration has termed the announcements the President has made about changes to government mortgage and student loan programs.

The thing is, no one is quite sure what an executive action is.  What is clear is that these Presidential moves have not been "executive orders." According to the C-Span Glossary an executive order is "a presidential directive with the force of law” that doesn’t need congressional approval. And the White House clarifies that executive orders are "binding because as Chief Executive the President has the power to command the executive branch."

But the trusty C-Span Glossary has no entry for "executive action" and tonight the White House clarified why, it's because it's kind of a catch all term. "It just means something the executive branch does.  The use of any of a number of tools in the executive branch’s toolbox," said one administration official.

Executive actions can include "regulation, enforcement, statements of policy...and numerous other things," the official continued.

So, basically, it's anything the President does that doesn't modify a law.  Multiple officials have said this is a continuation of changes President Obama has called for in various departments throughout his presidency. 

It's just that this week, the packaging is a little prettier.

CONCORD, NH -- Rick Perry took a broad swipe at Mitt Romney in the former Massachusetts governor's backyard Friday, telling local radio station WKXL that Romney could not be counted on to be a "consistent" president. 

"Consistency I think is very important," he said, "You may not agree with me on everything, but you don't have to wake up in the morning and wonder is Rick Perry going to be the same guy in two years that he was two years ago. And the answer to that is yup, he will be." 

Pressed by hosts to criticize Romney by name, Perry said Romney has changed positions on gun rights and the Obama-passed health care law. 

"Like it or not, the governor has been on opposite sides on a lot of issues," Perry said. "He was for banning handguns, now he's Mr. Second Amendment. He was the father of Obamacare."

"I don't believe in government-mandated health care," he added. "Not in a state, and not in a federal government."

Perry said that his strong emphasis on social issues, like abortion and faith does not preclude him from doing well in in independent-heavy New Hampshire. 

"Your position on social issues is going to be your position," Perry said. "I've got mine, and I'm going to be very strong in standing up for them whatever that may be. I'm no expert when it comes to what religion that you're going to choose or what have you. But what I am an expert on is job creation."

Perry also tweaked the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters, noting a quote from one of the activists sent to him by his son Griffin.

"He said you know, we got here at 9 am and those people -- and this was in Toronto -- I think Bay Street is their comparable -- he said those bankers that we came to insult, they'd already been at work for two hours when we got here at 9 o'clock. And when we get ready to leave, they're still in there working. I guess greed just makes you work hard."

The radio interview, which included questions from GOP Senate gubernatorial candidate and noted New Hampshire conservative Ovide LaMontagne took place in Concord Restaurant The Barley House. After the interview, the candidate accepted a "Texas Perry Burger" from the chef, which consisted of a coffee-rubbed beef, brisket, coleslaw, barbecue sauce, an onion ring, and a jalapeno bun. 

"I'm all over it," Perry said before nibbling at a single fry. (He declined to take a big bite in front of press, opting instead for the take-out option.) 

"That's awesome," he said.

*** UPDATE *** Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul sends on this response: 

NEW YORK – In broad discussions Thursday about education in the United States, four GOP candidates for president gave voice to a shared conviction that the federal government should not exert influence over how -- and what -- American children learn.

And all but Rick Santorum agreed that the federal government shouldn't be subsidizing student loans.

The discussions were part of “The Future of American Education,” a forum held jointly by the non-profit College Board, and News Corporation, which owns FOX News. Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann participated in the event -- though Cain and Bachmann joined via satellite.

Asked if he agrees that funding college education is essentially a federal entitlement, Herman Cain said, “No I do not. And here’s why. Let’s go back to my guiding principle. If you want to solve a problem, go to the source closes to the problem. I believe that if a state wants to help with college education, they should do that. Secondly, you have people living within communities and within states that are willing to help fund those kinds of programs.

"So I do not believe that it’s the responsibility of the federal government to help fund a college education.”

The event came only a day after President Obama announced new programs that would lower college loan burdens. That development served as a philosophical foil for at least two of the candidates.

Michele Bachmann criticized the plan as an example of federal overreach. 

“It’s an abuse of power from the executive to impose via an executive order a wholesale change in the student loans,” Bachmann charged.

Gingrich said he’d like to “re-privatize” the student-loan program “before the President bankrupts the entire country.” 

He called the college-loan system “a Ponzi scheme, even by Governor Perry’s standards.”

The event also exposed how some of the candidates’ deeply-held beliefs apply to the world of education. 

Asked how a state like Alabama – whose test scores rank low compared to other states -- might improve itself were federal guidelines for education removed, Cain insisted that “competition” would exert pressure on low-performing states to improve.

“If a state continues to lose its resources, because they’re not able to provide a good education,” Cain said, “I happen to believe that the forces of competition over time will cause them to make changes.”

Cain did not say, however, where the money would or wouldn’t come from. The Obama administration has tried to incentivize schools with money in Race to the Top, a program many Republicans had seemed to agree with before this campaign. Education was the one area that the GOP would praise the president, until recently.

Gingrich was the only one willing to continue to say so during the event.

"I have a lot of respect for [Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan," the former speaker said. "I worked with Secretary Duncan on getting more charter schools around the country, and I actually went around the country with Reverend Al Sharpton and Secretary Duncan in what was truly a fairly unusual trio."

That was greeted with laughter. "That's right," Gingrich said. "One of the things that we were able to do, which Secretary Duncan fully appreciated, we could automatically get press coverage where ever we went. Just the spectacle of the three of us standing there. But -- it was a good cause. One of the few places -- relatively few places -- I agree with the president on."

Rick Santorum cast the debate over education as a question of values, and made reference to his decision to home-school his seven children.

“Are we teaching the kind of virtues that are necessary for us to have a civilization in which we can live together?” he asked.

Presidential primary politics also crept into the event. Both Santorum and Gingrich hit Perry hard for indicating he would sit out upcoming debates.

“I would never skip a debate,” Santorum told reporters during a press conference. “I’m about talking directly to the American public,” Santorum added, “and not hiding behind $15 or  $20 million of slick ads to try to sell me to the voters.”

That could also be because Santorum has raised only a total of $1.3 million and has just $190,000 cash on hand.

Gingrich, who has previously been a critic of the debate format, rose to its defense Thursday, telling reporters, “I don't see how somebody can say that they can't debate Rick Santorum, or Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul, but they'll be ready to debate Barack Obama.”

A new jobs report, Hermain Cain continues his unorthodox campaign, President Obama heads to Cannes, France, for the G20 Summit, David Plouffe on Meet the Press, and Cain’s not the only one with a Web video.

Video edited by NBC's Andrew Gross and Domenico Montanaro.

Calling the coverage of his presidential campaign “distorted,” Congressman Ron Paul used a series of four television interviews as an opportunity to detail his path to the Republican nomination, distinguish his positions from his rivals, and explain his support in the polls.

“We keep going up. We don’t surge, but we never drop,” Paul said on FOX Tuesday. “Others have surged in the polls and they will be top of the pack and all of a sudden they are dropping off quickly. So, ours is very, very steady. And we haven’t lost ground, but we do need to prove ourselves. And that’s why we’re working very hard in the early stage. And I think January is a big month for us.”

He said Wednesday, “A lot of individuals come and go in the polls, up and down. And my support has been pretty steady and continues to grow.”

Paul went on to describe specifically where his campaign must win and how serious he takes the early voting states.

“We have directed most of our attention to New Hampshire and Iowa and Nevada, you know, the early states," he said. "But I would say, come January, it will be make or break for us. There's no doubt.”

In the online edition of a FOX show Wednesday, Paul was asked if he needs to win Iowa, and where he needs to finish.

“In the top," he said. "I would be disappointed with third, but … if I come in third, I’m still alive. But I think I better do first or second in a couple of those. I have to do well in January.”

Trying to stay in the top of the Republican pack, Paul tried to separate himself from GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney telling NBC’s David Gregory on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” there would not be much difference between President Obama and the GOP “establishment” candidate.

“Would there be a change in foreign policy?" Paul asked rhetorically. "No, there would not. Would either one of them work on a true audit of the Fed and a change in monetary policy that the Federal Reserve can't monetize debt? No. … There would not be a significant difference between the two.”

Paul also put President Obama’s campaign promises alongside that of Republicans and then highlighted what they did once elected.

“Obama was elected as a peace candidate and he expanded the war. And he goes into war without any congressional approval. … When the Republicans get in … they give you No Child Left Behind, prescription drug programs.”

Paul went on to say the "Occupy" movement and the Tea Party have the same interest -- change.

“Whether it's the occupiers or whether it's the tea party people, they're saying, ‘Enough is enough,’" Paul said. "They want some changes, and that's what they're looking for.”

Looking back to positions the 76-year-old candidate has held since first getting elected to public office in the 1970’s, Paul said the other candidates don’t share his longstanding concern on the debt.

“I think the question is how serious do the other candidates and the people of this country think this debt is? I happen to think it is very serious," Paul said on FOX Tuesday. "I was concerned in the '70’s because I thought the situation was set-up because of the change of the monetary system that it would lead to endless spending and endless debt and that's where we are. So, I think we have to take this very seriously. … I'm not bashful about cutting spending. But it's just that I see this sovereign debt crisis worldwide is much more serious than anybody wants to admit. The other candidates aren't offering really any cuts.”

The round of interviews followed his campaign’s “Black This Out” fundraiser, what his campaign calls a "money bomb." It raised more than $2.75 million in five days from more than 40,000 donors, according to the campaign.

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley has ordered an independent review of Department of Energy loan guarantees in wake of the Solyndra scandal.

According the Obama administration, "Daley is directing that an independent analysis be conducted to evaluate the state of the Department of Energy loan portfolio and make recommendations to the Administration about how to improve the loan monitoring process. This review will focus on the current state of the loan portfolio and improvements to the monitoring program.”

Daley said, “And while we continue to take steps to make sure the United States remains competitive in the 21st century energy economy, we must also ensure that we are strong stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

Congress has been investigating the now-bankrupt California solar company amid revelations that federal officials offered continued support despite warnings that it was ailing financially. 

The House Energy and Commerce Committee could vote next week to subpoena White House records related to the loan.

Former Treasury official Herb Allison has been tapped by Daley to conduct the review. Allison will conduct a 60-day audit of DOE's loan portfolio. Following the 60-day review, Allison will issue a public report to the administration.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Michele Bachmann’s campaign may soon have a new addition to its South Carolina team.

Republican consultant Wesley Donehue said Bachmann’s senior South Carolina adviser Ron Thomas asked him to join the campaign to help with communications and strategy here.

Donehue added that he would help the campaign this weekend as a trial run before any firm decision is made regarding his position with the campaign.

“I have promised to help them Friday and Saturday," he said. "And that is as far as it has gone."

Bachmann’s husband Marcus will be here today and tomorrow and will submit his wife’s filing papers at the South Carolina Republican Party headquarters this afternoon. Tomorrow, he will address the South Carolina Federation of Republican Women’s annual convention, while Bachmann will speak to the group via Skype.

Donehue runs Columbia-based political Internet firm Donehue Direct, whose clients have included South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Joe Wilson. Donehue also leads political and communications strategy for the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus.

Donehue is a former colleague of Republican consultants Warren Tompkins and Terry Sullivan (now Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s chief of staff) who led Mitt Romney’s 2008 South Carolina campaign.

The Bachmann team also made staffing changes in Iowa this week, naming Republican operative Eric Woolson campaign manager. Woolson served that role for Mike Huckabee’s campaign in 2008. 

NASHUA, N.H. -- Ron Paul says don't blame the rich for income inequity.

"When you do you destroy jobs, you destroy the middle class, the transfer of wealth from the poor to the middle class to the very wealthy and we see that," Paul said at a speech before the Chamber of Commerce here. "The danger of this, though, is to blame those who are earning money and have a good living for all the problems. See, there's a big difference if you earn money because you produce a good product and you didn't receive any benefits from the government, you shouldn't be penalized."

The stock market rise and new GDP growth numbers yesterday may have been a positive uptick for the economy, but the changes did not impress Paul. He described the economic growth marginal and superficial.

"At the same time, real income went down 1.7 percent," Paul said. "We are getting consumers to spend money and dig deeper holes for themselves. But the real income is down. That is what the real problem is when you destroy currency."

Consistent with his usual stump speech, Paul criticized the Federal Reserve Bank for what he calls "artificially low" interest rates that have created a "bubble" in the economy.

"When the bubble is formed, everybody is happy," he told about 90 businesspeople over breakfast. "Looks like a perpetual wealth machine, but it's nothing more than a bubble. There's plenty of bubbles that we have depended on. First it was a NASDAQ bubble, then it was a housing bubble; right now I think we have a bond bubble."

CONCORD, N.H. -- Rick Perry said he is unsure whether he would skip any future scheduled debates.

"I don't know whether we're going to forgo any debates," the Texas governor said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the New Hampshire Secretary of State's office, where he filed for that state's primary. "There are a lot of debates. Shoot I might be a good debater before this is all over.

"We haven't made any decisions about what we're gonna do."

He also again characterized his remarks about the president's birth certificate as a joke, disputing that the controversy counted as "a mistake"

"Listen, I don’t consider making fun of something being a mistake. I don’t think Americans see that as anything other than a distraction, just like I see it as a distraction," he said before brandishing his postcard-size hypothetical tax form. "I don’t see this as a mistake."

He also addressed gay marriage, immigration, and his chances in New Hampshire.

Gary Johnson's place on the New Hampshire ballot cost him 50% more than it should have.

The filing fee in the Granite State is $1,000, but after an embarrassing misstep by his campaign yesterday -- failing to file by proxy on the last day it could do so -- the former New Mexico governor hopped on a $500 one-way flight to get from Arizona to New Hampshire to file in person.

“As the first-in-the-nation primary state New Hampshire is an important focus for our campaign,” Johnson said said in a statement this morning. “I’ve spent a lot of time in New Hampshire -- even biking across it -- and look forward to continuing to take my message to the voters of this great State.”

The longshot candidate even rented a home in the state.

*** UPDATE *** More from NBC's Jo Kent in Concord: At the filing today, Johnson said, "I shouldn't be here right now, meaning I was not intending to be here in person. I was intending for this to be filed beforehand. If anybody is responsible I guess it's me."

Johnson's procrastination did not entirely work against him. By filing 45 minutes before Rick Perry, he was greeted by a full court of press awaiting the Texas governor.

"You got the right person? I'm Gary Johnson not Rick Perry," he joked to the crush of cameras.

This is not the first time a candidate has nearly missed New Hampshire's deadline after campaigning in the Granite State. In the 2004 cycle, Dennis Kucinich flew from Washington to Concord to file in person on the final day after his campaign realized they were not allowed by state law to register on his behalf, according to Gardner. Kucinich was serving in Congress at the time.

This afternoon, Johnson flies back to Arizona to continue his three-day swing there.

A rough week for Romney and Perry… A sign that the economy is about to turn the corner, or is it just more of the same?… Today’s the NH filing deadline, which means the GOP presidential field will be officially set by day’s end… NYT on holes in Obama’s lobbyist-money ban… The battle to define “Occupy Wall Street”… Is Issue 2 in Ohio closer than the polls suggest?… And Jan Brewer’s redistricting power play in AZ.

By NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, Brooke Brower, and Natalie Cucchiara

*** A rough week for Romney and Perry: It was a rough week for both Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, in which their chief vulnerabilities received a good bit of exposure. In Ohio, Romney tried not to take a hard position on an issue -- a referendum on Ohio’s law curbing collective bargaining rights -- that he had already once supported. And after a day of being criticized, Romney finally told reporters he was 110% in favor of the law. What got exposed: the suspicion that he doesn’t have a core set of beliefs and will say and do anything to win office. Perry, meanwhile, had a double whammy this week: 1) his flirtation with birtherism and 2) his campaign’s announcement that it would limit participation at future debates. What got exposed: the fear that Perry will say and do things that are a bit too extreme for the independent voter, as well as real doubts that he has the debating skills to compete with President Obama. Of course, it’s just one week, but it was a tough one for the two men that have the best shot of being their party’s presidential nominee. Both candidates have a narrative problem, and the one that makes the most progress in fixing that problem will be the nominee.

*** Turning the corner on the economy? Or just more of the same? When it comes to the U.S. economy, however, it’s been a rough last six months for President Obama. But yesterday’s news -- GDP growth at 2.5% for the quarter -- was the best economic news the White House has had in a while, signaling that there probably won’t be a double-dip recession. But as NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) likes to remind us, every time it seems the economy has turned a corner, there turns out to be another corner. Still, with the Europe deal, coupled with the fact that the GDP numbers were real (not artificially boosted by delayed inventory replenishing or government stimulus), this is the first time that the phrase “green shoots” might actually apply.

*** NH filing deadline, 2012 race to take a back seat: Here are two other macro-points on the presidential contest we want to make. One, today is the filing day in New Hampshire, which means we’ll know for sure what the field is after today; you won’t be able to change it. Two, with the Super Committee’s Thanksgiving deadline coming up, the presidential race might actually take a back seat – at least for a few weeks -- to what’s happening in Washington. Of course, the same dividing lines that caused Boehner and Obama from failing to come to a grand bargain are still there. And now with political finger-pointing taking place among committee members themselves, this seems destined to end in stalemate. What’s worse: There’s talk the deadline of Nov. 23^rd is not real. In fact, even the threatened automatic cuts, which wouldn’t go into effect until 2013, seem less real today. Who doesn’t envision Congress saying, “Well, no agreement, the automatic cuts will take place in 2013” -- only to have the lame duck Congress after the ’12 election react to the election results and go in another direction?

*** Holes in Obama’s lobbyist ban: During the 2008 presidential primary campaign, the news media and rival campaigns would knock Barack Obama’s ban on accepting lobbyist donations by pointing out that rule applied only to current registered lobbyists -- not those who were past lobbyists or who worked for firms that lobby. Well, the New York Times today revisits that story. "Through interviews and public records, The New York Times identified at least 15 major fund-raisers for the Obama campaign who have been involved in different aspects of the lobbying and influence industry... While none of the bundlers is currently registered as a federal lobbyist, at least four of them have been in the past. And a number of the bundlers work for prominent lobbying and law firms." Releasing a statement, the Obama campaign pushed back against the article. “[E]very step of the way, the president has promoted reform while candidates like Mitt Romney have thrown up their arms and attempted to thrive off the system as it is. Rather than include that context, the Times let the perfect be the enemy of the good, punishing efforts to promote reform.”

*** While the GOP candidates raise lobbyist money without hesitation: Indeed, the Washington Post today runs a story about the GOP presidential race with this headline: “Lobbyists playing key role in 2012 fundraising.” From the story: “More than 100 registered lobbyists have contributed to Romney, giving nearly $200,000 in direct donations, according to a Washington Post analysis of donor and lobbying records. A team of lobbyist fundraisers has also bundled together nearly $1 million in contributions for Romney’s campaign, disclosure records show.” So the Obama camp is correct: Their lobbying ban goes farther than their opponents do. But the ban -- and their rhetoric around it -- does open them up to criticism when they’re not 100% pure. This is why so many Democrats (including many veterans of the Clinton administration) thought it was a silly pledge in the first place, because it was going to be impossible to follow the SPIRIT of it. The Obama campaign is VERY sensitive to stories like this, because it does cut to the core of who Candidate Obama ran as in 2008. It explains the aggressive statement from them today.  

*** On the 2012 trail: It’s a busy day in New Hampshire, with Romney holding a town hall meeting in Manchester, and with Perry filing his candidacy papers in Concord before giving a speech in Manchester… Paul’s also in the Granite State… Bachmann is in Iowa… Gingrich is in South Carolina… And Cain makes several stops throughout Alabama.

*** A weekend heads up: The Des Moines Register poll on the GOP race in the Hawkeye State comes out on Saturday night.

*** Defining 'Occupy': Since Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) declared she "created much of the intellectual foundation" for the "Occupy Wall Street" protests," the fight has been on to define the movement. The Massachusetts GOP today is out with a Web video hitting Warren called, "Matriarch of Mayhem." The state party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have been doing as much to target "Occupy" as they've tried to define Warren herself. Their goal: to make it a movement that's hard to support, too extreme. The jury is still out on OWS. The October NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed a plurality support the movement (by a 37%-18% margin). But 45% said they either had no opinion, hadn't heard of them, or weren't sure.

*** Issue 2 closer than the polls suggest? Per the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, labor is trying to warn its troops that the contest over the Ohio referendum to keep or repeal its anti-collective-bargaining law is much closer than the polls are showing. “‘Those predicting a blowout for our side are basing their analysis on flawed public polling samples,’ reads the [labor] memo, which was circulated to labor and political operatives involved in the fight by Brian Rothenberg, the executive director of Progress Ohio, which is partly bankrolled by labor… ‘Modeling turnout for an off year ballot initiative is notoriously difficult,’ the memo continues. ‘This is especially true in a state like Ohio where polling on ballot initiatives has been very unreliable.’”

*** Brewer’s power play: And don’t miss this: “Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has taken the first step Wednesday in what had been previously called ‘the nuclear option’ in seeking a more Republican-friendly redistricting map,” Roll Call reports. “The GOP governor began the impeachment process for removing members from the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission by submitting a letter outlining her grievances to commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis.”

*** Friday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Commission, on what can be done to help housing… Charlie Cook and Stu Rothenberg look at the latest developments in some key 2012 Senate races… Heritage Action’s Mike Needham on how they’re scoring Congress and what it means for members… NBC’s Brian Williams with a preview of Monday’s premiere of Rock Center… And more 2012 news with former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, Comcast’s Robert Traynham and GOP strategist Phil Musser.

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Perry Communications Director Ray Sullivan, Laura Tyson, NBC’s David Gregory, Democratic strategist Tad Devine and GOP strategist Vin Weber, Bloomberg’s Jeanne Cummings, and the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart.

*** On “Meet the Press” this Sunday: NBC’s David Gregory interviews White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe, and the roundtable consists of Walter Isaacson, Tom Brokaw, Jennifer Granholm, and Mike Murphy.

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 11 days
Countdown to Iowa caucuses: 67 days
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 85 days
Countdown to Florida primary: 95 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 99 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 130 days

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Appearing in New York City Thursday evening to participate in a forum on education, GOP presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich hit Texas Gov. Rick Perry hard for indicating that he would sit out future debates, NBC’s Jamie Novogrod reports. “I would never skip a debate,” Santorum told reporters. “I would never skip an opportunity to let the American public know what I think about these issues.”

Gingrich: “I don't see how somebody can say that they can't debate Rick Santorum, or Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul, but they'll be ready to debate Barack Obama.”

BACHMANN: “Resting the fate of her strained presidential bid on a one-state gambit, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Thursday entrenched herself deeper in Iowa, trumpeting a new team of state staffers the day before a slated three-day tour of the Hawkeye State,” The Hill reports.

On education, Bachmann said yesterday, per the New York Post: “My preference would be to see the end of the federal government involvement and to enhance the local schools and the parents’ hands in all of that.”

Novogrod reports that Bachmann begins a three-day tour of Iowa today with visits to the Eastern part of the Hawkeye State. She'll make stops in Davenport, Muscatine, and Burlington.

CAIN: The man with the cigarette in Cain’s quirky online video, Mark Block, his chief of staff, has a checkered past, AP reports: “Perhaps no one is as responsible for the Georgia businessman's meteoric rise in the presidential polls than Block, a Republican strategist and tea party leader who has left a trail questionable -- and possibly illegal -- campaign work behind him. Block has been accused of voter suppression and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three years to settle accusations he coordinated a judge's re-election campaign with a special interest group. Records show Block has faced foreclosure on two different homes, a tax warrant by the IRS and a lawsuit for an unpaid bill. He's been busted for drunken driving -- twice, according to court records."

Cain on subsidizing student loans: “I do not believe that it is the responsibility of the federal government to help fund a college education,” Cain said at an education forum sponsored in New York by News Corp. and the College Board, per the New York Post. “Our resources are limited, and I believe that the best solution is the one closest to the problem.”

PERRY: The New York Times on the Perry camp’s decision to limit participation in future debates: “The decision is a recognition that the debates have been mostly unkind to Mr. Perry, whose lackluster performances have dragged his campaign down. But it is also a commentary on the broadcast and cable networks’ explosion of interest in the forums.”

SANTORUM: “Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who said he home-schooled his seven children, called for greater parental involvement, calling it a ‘cancer’ on the system that ‘at a certain age, you sort of drop your kids off and are done with this,’” the New York Post writes.

The Washington Post: “Amid a flurry of counter-proposals from the deficit-reduction committee, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday rejected a Democratic offer to slash $3 trillion from future debts because it contained significant tax increases. While GOP negotiators offered a slimmer package of savings with virtually no tax hikes, Boehner said the Democratic request for $1.3 trillion in new tax revenue was a non-starter and gave his most pessimistic outlook to date that the so-called ‘supercommittee’ would achieve its deficit target by its Thanksgiving deadline.

“House Speaker John Boehner yesterday said he had ‘great concerns’ that President Obama was overstepping his constitutional authority by single-handedly enacting jobs programs,” the New York Post reports. “ ‘This idea that you are just going to go around the Congress is ... almost laughable,’ Boehner said on ‘The Laura Ingraham Show.’”

“On Thursday, the House passed a very modest measure to end a tax withholding program, one that had yet to affect a single American, but which President Obama has agreed should go. No word from the Senate yet — those members are back in their home states this week taking a breather from their legislative labors — but chances are the bill will clear that chamber, too,” the New York Times says. “The withholding bill, which passed 405 to 16, did not carry quite the significance of potential measures to overhaul the tax code, make sweeping changes to entitlement programs or eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse that lawmakers so often cite as their central legislative goals. But it was something else that those ideas are not — politically viable.”

The New York Times looks at all of the executive actions the Obama White House has announced in recent days. The flurry of announcements, senior administration officials said, is calculated to show a president who is determined to keep pushing on jobs, regardless of resistance from Congress to his broader legislative proposals. Given the modest scale of the measures, they are as much about symbolism as substance. ‘It’s just extremely difficult to move the needle on unemployment without spending money, and for that you need Congress,” said Jared Bernstein, a former chief economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ‘These are useful measures of relatively small magnitude, but anything helps.’”

Politico’s Roger Simon writes about his candid interview with White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. “Daley, the White House chief of staff, will twice in the course of our hourlong interview refer to the first three years of Barack Obama’s administration as ‘ungodly’ and once as ‘brutal.’” More from the story: “‘It’s been a brutal three years,’ he says. ‘It’s been a very, very difficult three years, an incredible three years. And we are doing all this under the overhang of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. F—k! It wasn’t like all this was happening in good times.’”

“But good times — well, better times — are possible before November 2012, Daley says. And all President Obama has to do to achieve this is make a startling end run around not just the Republicans but also the Democrats, in Congress.”

“A legal advocacy group that seeks equal treatment for gays serving in the military filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court today against several high-ranking Obama administration officials, challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and its effect on gay service members,” the Boston Globe writes.

ARIZONA: “Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has taken the first step Wednesday in what had been previously called ‘the nuclear option’ in seeking a more Republican-friendly redistricting map,” Roll Call reports. “The GOP governor began the impeachment process for removing members from the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission by submitting a letter outlining her grievances to commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis.”

MASSACHUSTTS: The Massachusetts GOP takes aim at Elizabeth Warren over her comments supporting “Occupy Wall St,” with a Web video called, “Matriarch of Mayhem.”

The Senate race has one less Democrat.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: “You’ve probably heard of Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, maybe even Gary Johnson or Buddy Roemer,” the Boston Globe writes. “But what about Joe Story, Vern Wuensche, or James Vestermark? Each of them will share equal billing with the top-tier Republican candidates on the 2012 New Hampshire ballot. … [W]ith a filing fee of just $1,000, and no party approval or petition required, the primary ballot is the great equalizer between candidates who may actually live in the White House and those more likely to make it there on a guided tour.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- By tomorrow, all major Republican presidential candidates will officially be on the ballot in South Carolina, ahead of the state's November 1st deadline.

This afternoon, Rick Perry’s South Carolina campaign chairman Katon Dawson paid the campaign's $35,000 filing fee and submitted the attendant paperwork at the state party’s headquarters here.

The two remaining candidates who haven’t filed, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich, will both do so tomorrow, according to South Carolina GOP executive director Matt Moore.

Bachmann’s husband Marcus will file here tomorrow at 4:00 pm ET, and Gingrich will hand his check to state party chairman Chad Connelly during a campaign swing through Greenville.

Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have all paid the requisite amount to appear on the ballot.

Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer stopped payment on his check for the filing fee in July and has not yet resubmitted payment.

Earlier this month, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty asked the party to return his filing fee, which the party has declined to do, citing its need to raise $1 million to cover primary costs.

Rick Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan set off a flurry of punditry yesterday when he said on CNN that the campaign may skip some of the upcoming debates in favor of retail politicking.

Here's what Sullivan told NBC News today in defense of the campaign's decision to consider skipping future debates:

"We are committed to CNBC Nov 9th. We haven't declined any to date. There have been eight GOP primary debates to date, with 16 more scheduled over the next 12 weeks. We need to determine on a case-by-case basis whether and how these fit into our schedule given the pressing need to meet actual voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and other early voting states."

He didn't answer specific questions about what criteria would need to be met to participate in a given debate. But asked to respond to critics who say this strategy essentially avoids rather than confronts an obvious weakness for the candidate, Sullivan said:

"We have done five debates and will do more. We have had tough questions at the debates and will at future debates. The voters and media of Iowa, NH, SC and FL ask tough questions too and we need time to campaign on the ground in those early primary states."

The campaign has been frustrated with the intense schedule of debates to date -- a venue in which their candidate has notably underperformed. Aides are fond of noting how much practice other candidates -- including Mitt Romney and, even, Ron Paul -- have had in past presidential debates compared to Perry, who largely avoided debating his opponents in past races.

*** UPDATE *** Gary Johnson -- who failed to file by proxy today while he was campaigning in Arizona -- is taking a red eye to New Hampshire and will file in person first thing in the morning at the State House in Concord.

"The technical term is that we screwed up," Johnson's communications director Joe Hunter told NBC by phone last night.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Longshot presidential candidate Gary Johnson, a former two-term governor of New Mexico, likely will not be on the ballot for the New Hampshire Republican primary, all but ending any chance he could have had at the nomination.

Despite a significant amount of time spent in the state, including biking hundreds of miles with his fiancée and son to draw attention to his campaign -- and even renting a home in the state, the staunch libertarian missed the deadline to file by mail or representative, which was today at 4:30 pm ET. Johnson is campaigning in Arizona through the weekend and, according to a spokesman, has no plans to be in New Hampshire tomorrow.

The missed deadline comes as a surprise not just to political watchers, but also the Johnson campaign itself.

"The last I heard it was going to be filed today by a representative," said Joe Hunter, Johnson’s communications director, sounding shocked, in a telephone interview when told the news by NBC. Asked if Johnson will fly to New Hampshire tomorrow, the final day of the filing period, Hunter said no.

Johnson missing the deadline is also surprising, considering he has already filed for the South Carolina primary, with its $35,000 fee, NBC’s Ali Weinberg reports. New Hampshire’s is just $1,000.

This isn’t the first embarrassing misstep by the Johnson campaign in the Granite State. On his most recent campaign swing here, he scheduled a town hall in Concord. But no one except members of the media showed. His campaign blamed that on planned robo-calls not being executed in time.

Trying to show how important New Hampshire was to him in his presidential campaign plans, Johnson rented a home in Manchester.

He has also appeared in two nationally televised debates, and continues to lobby for spots in other upcoming debates.

The Secretary of State's office said Johnson's campaign never reached out to Secretary of State Bill Gardner or indicated it planned to file.

As of today, 24 Republicans and 12 Democrats are on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary.

Ali-Frazier. Tyson-Holyfied. Cain-Gingrich.

Forget Lincoln-Douglass. At these prices, you’d expect someone to at least throw a punch.

If you want to see Herman Cain debate Newt Gingrich Nov. 5^th at The Woodlands Resort north of Houston, without the filter of the “lamestream media” and about the "most pressing issues facing America today," all you’ll have to fork over is $200 -- and that’s for the cheap seats.

That and a $5.99 processing fee gets you “some good ole apple pie” and a chance to “sit and enjoy the debate.”

For a cool $500, you get a “Patron Ticket - prime seating and Nite Cap party after the Debate. 8:30pm til 10pm: Mingle with the candidates and enjoy some drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Seating will be based on order of receipt of reservations.”

Or you could really step it up -- to the $1,000 level, which “includes best seating in the house for the debate and attend the Nite Cap Party in the Lakeside Room at The Woodlands Resort and have a professional picture take [sic] with the candidates.”

There is a student discount. Students get in for $150, but, unfortunately, that promo's no longer available. That sales period has “ended.”

So where’s all this money going?

To the Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC, which bills the event as:

The Lincoln-Douglas Debate was then...
The Cain-Gingrich Debate is NOW!!!

It also issues this disclaimer:

“Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose total contributions exceed $200 in an election cycle.”

So, if you go, it's also a federal political contribution.

By the way, at those prices, a cash bar is available. But, hey, don't worry, the group says there will be "Plenty of All American Apple Pie, Coffee and of course Tea!"

No word if this main event will also be available on Pay-Per-View.

(Hat tip: Wall Street Journal and The Woodlands Villager.)

Herman Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon told NBC News there are "a bunch of sour grapes” from former staffers that fueled a New York Times story today depicting the former businessman’s bid for the White House as chaotic.

In the Times story, former staff members and volunteers painted the picture of a disorganized campaign with communications problems and a tendency to change plans with little or no notice.  It was a frustration that some said drove them to quit.

The paper also reported a memo sent to the staff that instructed those traveling in a car with Cain: “Do not speak to him unless you are spoken to.”

Gordon told NBC News that he was not aware of the specific memo, but talkative handlers traveling with Cain had become an issue.

"Other than pleasantly saying, ‘Hello,’ some people in the past didn't understand that it is his time to prep for interviews, speeches and other public appearances,” Gordon said. “But because he is nice and engaging, some people thought it was OK to strike up conversations whenever they were in the car with him."

Gordon, who previously worked for the Department of Defense under Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, said, "If it's a senior official, you don't speak unless you're spoken to."

He also pointed out that former Iowa staffer Kevin Hall, who is quoted in the piece, only worked for the campaign for one month.

The Herman Cain Web video featuring his chief of staff Mark Block smoking a cigarette has been getting a lot of attention, but it’s not the only interesting one the campaign has produced. 

Another Web video uploaded Aug. 25 titled, “He Carried Yellow Flowers,” features actor Nick Searcy on the set of a mock Western movie. The tagline for the video is, “There was a time in America when a man was a man, a horse was a horse, and a man on a horse was just a man on a horse... unless he carried Yellow Flowers.” 

The ad seems to be an attempt to address Cain’s race. One actor mocks the yellow flowers Searcy is holding, to which he responds, “Why does it always have to be about color? What are you guys, liberals?”

“Card carrying,” the actor responds to Searcy, before spitting on his boot. 

A fight scene then briefly begins before Searcy walks off set and says, “Looking cool and reading lines that somebody else wrote for me doesn’t make me a real tough guy any more than looking cool and reading lines off a teleprompter that somebody else wrote makes a community organizer a real leader.  But Herman Cain is a real leader."

And, Cain has a music video that has gotten some play already.

Country music singer Gary Eaton performs in a Herman Cain music video released May 31,which includes appearances by Alveda King and "Joe, the Plumber," saying they were going to “Raise some Cain.”

The video stresses Cain’s Tea Party ties and businessman background, with constant encouragement for people to get on the “Cain Train.”

Eaton sings, “He’s a true, son of the South, born and raised the American way. Well, his dad left the farm with just the clothes on his back, but he raised some Cain, and he never looked back.  Herman Cain, ohhhhhh Herman Cain.”

The music is interspersed with dialogue from Cain, who at one points says, “My great, great grandparents were slaves and now I’m running for president of the United States of America. Is this a great country or what?”

And Cain says, "To all the people who think the Tea Party is a racist organization, eat your words."

In "Joe, the Plumber’s" cameo, he looks into the camera and says, “Hey Obama, you’re going to raise a billion dollars? Well we’re going to raise some Cain, brother.”

NEW YORK and DES MOINES, IA -- With just over two months to go before the first-in the-nation caucuses, Michele Bachmann appears to be going all in -- in Iowa.

This morning, the Bachmann campaign announced the addition of new staffers, bringing their total to 10 paid staffers in the Hawkeye State. That number includes Iowa political veteran Eric Woolson, the newly appointed state campaign manager.

"We have a strong, experienced organization in place that is equipped to build upon Michele Bachmann's historic victory in the Republican Party of Iowa Straw Poll this summer," National Campaign Manager Keith Nahigian said in a statement. "Eric is the perfect person to lead our team to victory on caucus day."

Woolson served as the campaign’s communications director in the state since late September, and he had previously worked for Tim Pawlenty’s unsuccessful bid this year. During Mike Huckabee’s caucus win in the 2008 cycle, Woolson served as his Iowa state campaign manager -- so the same title he holds with the Bachmann campaign. 

In addition to Woolson, the Bachmann campaign announced State Central Committee member, Wes Enos, as deputy state campaign Manager. 

Seven staff members were named to regional positions, and, notably, outreach positions on issues important to the campaign's base. Four of the staffers are assigned to Northwest Iowa, Northeast Iowa, and the central and Southeast areas. Two are assigned to "faith leader" positions, and one is assigned to be "home-school coalition" director.

The Iowa staffing additions come just a day after the Minnesota congresswoman mailed in her filing papers to New Hampshire qualifying her to be on the state’s primary ballot. And they come almost a week after the high-profile departure of five of Bachmann’s New Hampshire staff.

John DiStaso, the New Hampshire Union Leader's chief political writer, today sourly quoted yesterday's campaign's press release announcing the filing. "We all know what Michele Bachmann thinks of New Hampshire," he wrote.

DiStaso added: "She 'reaffirmed' her 'commitment' (we're being a bit sarcastic here, folks) to New Hampshire by literally mailing in her first-in-the-nation primary paperwork to the Secretary of State."

But campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart tells NBC News, "We've been clear all along our focus is Iowa," and says today's staffing announcement shows the campaign is growing in the Hawkeye State.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX -- Former businessman turned presidential frontrunner Herman Cain continued his attempts to calm voters concerns over his lack of foreign policy experience during a campaign stop here Wednesday night.

“Relative to foreign policy, I don’t need to know the details of every one of the issues we face.

"We’ve got plenty of experts who can fill in the details,” Cain said at dinner held by the Nueces County Republican Women.

The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO told the 900 supporters in attendance that the key to dealing with issues abroad is to develop a clear foreign-policy philosophy, a line he often has repeated on the trail.

That philosophy: clarify who the United States'- friends and enemies are – something Cain says President Obama has failed to do.

During his two-day swing through the Lone Star State, Cain began both campaign speeches critiquing the president’s decision to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

“When he withdraws all of the troops out of Iraq, it’s going to leave a huge power vacuum for Iran to go in and disrupt everything and undue everything that we’ve been trying to help them do on the last several years,” Cain said while speaking at the Clear Lake Tea Party in La Marque, TX on Tuesday.

The shift is subtle contrast from Cain’s most recent campaign stops, where has started with a defense of his 9-9-9 economic strategy. 
Though Cain still spent time defending what has become known as the lynchpin of campaign, it has taken a back seat in his most recent stops.

The focus on the Middle East coincides with the president’s foreign policy victories of the president with former Libyan leader Moammar Khaddafy's death and his fulfillment of a campaign promise to bring an end to the Iraq war.

Broadening Cain’s policy platform comes at a time when the candidate is fighting speculation that he is the latest flash in the pan in the Republican field. A national CBS/New York Times poll released Tuesday shows Cain atop the field of Republican presidential hopefuls, garnering 25% of support, with the second closest Mitt Romney at 21%.