COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Just one day after taping an interview in which he called questions about the validity of President Obama's birth certificate "a good issue to keep alive," Gov. Rick Perry dismissed the controversy as a distraction.

"That is one of the biggest distractions that there is going," Perry said at a press conference touting his 20-20 post card plan. "We need to be talking about jobs. If somebody wants to see my birth certificate, I'd be happy to show it to them. But the fact is that is a distraction and Americans really don't care about that, if you wanna know the truth."

He added, "What Americans want to talk about is jobs."

The Texas governor, who has plummeted in polls, sounded optimistic about his chances in the first-in-the-South primary state, where he promised to campaign "in every corner" until the January contest.

"I feel pretty good about the prospects," he said, noting the "pro-military and pro-freedom, patriotic" values of voters in the state.

Despite low poll numbers and the calling in of staff reinforcements, Perry characteristically used a sports metaphor to say that the campaign has not yet run its full course.

"My bet is that when Clemson or South Carolina are at halftime --  you know it doesn't happen very often that they're behind at halftime -- but they're not going to call the game at halftime. So, we're going to continue to be working. You know, we may change defense a little bit. We may call an audible or two. But the fact is it's a long time until this campaign is over with, and we're going to be talking about things like this."

Perry believes that his newly unveiled flat-tax plan will be politically successful, despite the high-profile defeat of one of its backers, Steve Forbes, in 1996.

"I just happen to think that when Americans look at what happened, there's a lot that's changed since 1996 from the standpoint of our tax code in this country," Perry said, adding that financial regulations like Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as new laws like the Obama-passed health care law, have built public support for reform.

"Let's do it on a post card," Perry declared, brandishing the envelope-sized mock flat-tax form his campaign has distributed today. "Let's do it this way."

About two dozen "Occupy Columbia" protesters attended the press conference in the South Carolina state capitol, but remained mostly quiet. One unidentified member of the audience yelled, "Answer the question!" after Perry's response on the president's birth certificate.

Perry received the endorsement of South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell and met with Gov. Nikki Haley while in Columbia. His next public appearance will be on Friday in New Hampshire.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has become the latest issue in the high-profile Massachusetts Senate race.

Republicans are criticizing Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren for taking a measure of credit for the protest movement.

“I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do,” she said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “I support what they do.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s spokesman Brian Walsh blasted Warren in a statement.

“Warren’s decision to not only embrace, but take credit for this movement is notable considering the Boston Police Department was recently forced to arrest at least 141 of her Occupy acolytes in Boston the other day after they threatened to tie up traffic downtown and refused to abide by their protest permit limits,” Walsh said.

Democrats countered by highlighting the amount of support Sen. Brown has received from Wall Street donors.

“It’s no wonder that Forbes called Scott Brown one of Wall Street’s favorite senators and it’s no surprise Brown’s cronies are attacking any candidate who wants to fight for the middle class,” Matt Canter, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in an email to First Read. "Scott Brown has a long record of shaking Wall Street down for campaign contributions after doing their bidding in Washington. For instance, at the same time Brown was working to water down the Wall Street reform bill he was shaking down the financial industry and their lobbyists for campaign cash. In fact, Brown has collected more money from Wall Street than just about any other member of Congress outside of New York.”

Recent polls show public support of the movement. In the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month, 37% said they supported the protests, 18% said they did not. In the latest Time magazine poll released on October 13^th, 54 percent of those polled view the protests favorably. But an AP-GFK poll found 37% say they are supporters, and 56% say they are not.

Warren is the favorite in the Democratic primary, hoping to face off against incumbent Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R), who won seat formerly held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D).

Senate Democrats have scheduled a committee vote on a bill to repeal DOMA -- the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- as a federal appeals court moves toward taking up legal challenges to the law.

Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday the committee will begin debate Nov. 3rd on the Respect for Marriage Act, introduced in March by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA). It would repeal DOMA, signed into law by President Clinton, which defines marriage, for federal purposes, as a relationship between a man and a woman.

A committee vote could happen Nov. 3rd, but is more likely a week later. All 10 committee Democrats support repeal of DOMA, but the bill's prospects are less certain in the full Senate. It faces virtually certain defeat in the Republican-controlled House.

House Republicans earlier this year authorized hiring a law firm to defend DOMA against two court challenges, after the Obama administration announced it had concluded that the law was unconstitutional and would therefore no longer defend it in court, even though the administration would continue to enforce it.

Both lawsuits, one filed by the state of Massachusetts, are pending before a federal appeals court, which has notified the parties that a panel of three judges will hear oral argument on the legal challenges in January, though the exact date has not yet been set.  A decision would not be expected for several more months, making it impossible to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court before the court's current term ends in late June.

A repeal of DOMA would not force states to permit same-sex marriage but would require the federal government to recognize such marriages in states where they are legal. 

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner will likely end months of speculation surrounding the Republican primary season when he sets the first-in-the-nation primary date early next week.

Gardner originally signaled he would set the date today and went as far as preparing a press announcement, but ultimately decided wait until after the presidential primary filing period ends this Friday. The Secretary of State's office said Gardner wants to avoid any conflict with candidates coming into the office to file.

Gardner, who has served as secretary of state since 1976, set the 2008 primary date the day before Thanksgiving in 2007 for Jan. 8. He is widely expected to select Jan. 10 for the 2011 primary.

As of Monday night, 20 total candidates had registered to appear on the ballot and paid the 1000 dollar fee: 18 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Newt Gingrich files this afternoon; Michele Bachmann will file by mail; and Rick Perry will register noon Friday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Neither Rick Perry nor Mitt Romney have spent much time here, but both candidates are using South Carolina as the staging ground for an essential campaign event: the big policy speech.

Perry introduced his flat-tax proposal today in Gray Court, in the Upstate, while Romney earlier rolled his out his labor and foreign policy visions in Charleston.

The locations are picture-perfect backdrops for the candidates’ topics of choice. Perry delivered his tax-policy speech at the ISO Poly plastics factory, after touring some of its facilities. Romney delivered his labor speech near the Boeing Dreamliner factory and his foreign-policy speech in front of an audience of uniformed cadets at the Citadel military college.

Giving big speeches here also lets candidates hit South Carolina while doing more retail campaigning in the first two primary states. Heavy media coverage is practically guaranteed, especially in the local markets, where the speeches take place, whose viewers might be particularly connected to the topic: employees at other Upstate manufacturing plants, for example.

“At this point, Iowa and New Hampshire are the first two, and you’ve got to pay attention in sequential order,” said Scott Buchanan, political science professor at The Citadel. “You’re not ignoring [South Carolina] but at the same time you’re not spending an inordinate amount of time here.”

The regions in which Perry and Romney give their speeches also happen to be politically strategic, with Perry speaking today in the voter-rich, socially conservative Upstate and Romney’s speeches taking place in the Lowcountry, where social issues are less prominent.

“They’re both playing to the area of the state where they feel that they can mine some votes,” said Neal Thigpen, former political science professor at Francis Marion University.

The Upstate region, where Perry delivered his tax speech, also contains a significant number of Evangelical voters – a key demographic for Perry. In Laurens County, where ISO Poly is located, 38% of primary voters picked Mike Huckabee, who ran as a social conservative, in 2008, while Romney netted less than 8%.

While Perry chose the Upstate to deliver his tax speech, Romney has given his two major South Carolina policy addresses in Charleston – three-and-a-half hours south of Laurens County.

Charleston has become a poster city for union disputes, given the National Labor Relations Board’s feud with Boeing over its Dreamliner facility there, which the NLRB says was relocated from Washington State to punish striking workers. It came as little surprise, then, that Romney picked the North Charleston city hall to unveil his labor policy, just after touring the Boeing facility.

Equally symbolic was the site of Romney’s foreign policy speech, The Citadel. The former Massachusetts governor unveiled his plan for an “American Century” surrounded by rows of uniformed cadets. While Charleston provided Romney with fitting backdrops, the city (and its namesake county) also contains a large number of voters that might be more inclined to vote for him.

While Romney came in fourth overall in the 2008 primary here, he came in second in Charleston County, with almost 19% of the vote. When asked about site selection, Romney’s South Carolina Director David Raad said the venues were germane to the issues that were discussed, adding that the campaign would chose different locations for speeches if they fit the topic. 

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney will not be attending the Iowa Republican Party’s annual Ronald Reagan Dinner, a source confirmed to NBC News.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Ron Paul, Gov. Rick Perry, and former Sen. Rick Santorum will be in attendance.

Romney’s absence appears consistent with the campaign’s strategy in the Hawkeye State thus far – he has only made three trips here this cycle.

During the 2008 campaign where Romney staked his campaign on the state, he also did not attend the Reagan Dinner. The dinner, a GOP fundraiser, will be held Nov. 4 at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines. More than 1,000 people attended the dinner last year to hear former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speak.

TERRACE PARK, Ohio -- On the steps of a state GOP call center here in suburban Cincinnati,

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney dodged a question about whether he supported the controversial ballot initiatives that activists inside were working the phones to push even as Romney spoke.

"I'm not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney told reporters who swarmed him as he headed for his car. "Those are up to the people of Ohio, but I certainly support the effort of the Governor to rein in the scale of government."

Romney claimed, "I'm not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives, but I'm certainly supportive of the Republican party's efforts here."

The particular ballot issues in question are Issue No. 2, which would back the state's recently-imposed limits on collective bargaining for public employees, and Issue No. 3, which would ban state-based mandates, like the one Romney put in place as part of the health care plan he enacted while governor of Massachusetts.

Issue No. 2 has especially divided this important swing state. With the vote just two weeks away, a new Quinnipiac poll shows support for anti-collective bargaining bill at just 32%, with 57% in favor of scrapping it altogether. Support for Republican Gov. John Kasich is divided along similar lines with just 36% approving of his job and 52% not approving. The vote is seen, in part, as a test of his popularity as well.

Tonight, NBC's Chuck Todd will moderate a debate on the ballot issues which will be carried on every NBC affiliate in the state.

In the days before his arrival here, some local press reported that Romney would offer his support for the ballot measures, a position that likely would have garnered support among the GOP base, but that might have been problematic in a future general-election battle in this state. Romney acknowledged the state’s importance in a presidential election this morning.

"Can't win the White House without winning Ohio," Romney told a reporter who asked about the importance of the state in the rope line before the event.

When pressed, Romney did not take a stand on either side of the issue, a position his campaign maintains is consistent with his long-standing strategy not to involve himself in local issues.

"Gov. Romney believes that the citizens of states should be able to make decisions about important matters of policy that affect their states on their own," Campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul told NBC News in a statement this morning.

But Romney regularly weighs in on some state issues, like Boeing's battle with the National Labor Relations Board over their desire to build a factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. As he does regularly on the campaign trail, Romney again brought up the issue today, calling it an example of this administration flouting of the rule of law.

At today's event, Romney also received the endorsement of Ohio Congressman Jim Renacci, a freshman and former financial services company executive and former owner and general manager of the Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers. Renacci is the first member of Ohio's congressional delegation to endorse a presidential candidate this cycle.

Another likely reason for Romney's stop in this non-early primary state is fundraising.

The Cincinnati area is friendly, if contested, fundraising territory for Republicans. According to FEC records, Republican candidates have pulled in more than a $250,000 from Cincinnati and the surrounding zip codes through the end of September, with Romney's haul making up more than half that number.

And there are big fish here as well. According to a USA Today report, in 2004, five of President George W. Bush's 100 most valuable fundraisers, his "Rangers," responsible for bringing in at least $200,000 each, called the Cincinnati area home.

Richard Ellis / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Gov. Rick Perry outlines his flat tax plan at the ISO Poly Films factory on Oct. 25, 2011 in Gray Court, S.C.

GRAY COURT, S.C. -- It fits, he says, on a postcard.

Against the backdrop of a plastics factory, Gov. Rick Perry held up a postcard-size form to illustrate the simplicity of his new flat-tax based economic plan.

(HERE'S PERRY'S POSTCARD-SIZE TAX FORM.)

The code that Perry is proposing would feature a 20% personal income and corporate tax, the elimination of Social Security and capital gains taxes, and the preservation of popular deductions for mortgage interest and charitable giving. Under the "cut, balance, and grow" plan, tax loopholes for corporations would be phased out while the standard exemption for those earning $500,000 or less would be increased to $12,500.

His economic team believes that those changes, combined with deep spending cuts and entitlement reforms including a gradual increase in the retirement age, will encourage so much growth and save families and corporations so much in compliance costs that the budget could be balanced by 2020.

Perry contrasted the single postcard with a dishwasher-sized stack of paper boxes that he said represents the current maze of regulations. (Under Perry's plan, Americans would still have the option to use the existing tax code over the flat tax.)

Without naming rival Mitt Romney, Perry derided his chief competitor's approach to tax reform, calling it merely a rehash of past proposals.

"Others simply offer microwaved plans with warmed-over reforms based on current ingredients," he said. "Americans, however, aren't aren't searching for a reshuffling of the status quo, which simply empowers the entrenched interests. This is a change election, and I offer a plan that changes the way Washington does business."

Perry: Wall Street regulation was adequate

Perry, who yesterday charged in an interview with CNBC that the president's team does not grasp basic economics, said that his reforms are both bold and realistic.

"We need tax policy that embraces the world as it is, and not what liberal ideologues wish it to be," he said.

Perry is scheduled to travel to Columbia, S.C., later Tuesday to meet with influential South Carolina potential endorsers Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Jim DeMint. He will also hold a press conference to announce the endorsement of State House Speaker Bobby Harrell.

Look to Ohio for the best (and most meaningful) statewide contest of 2011… NBC’s Chuck Todd moderates 7:00 pm ET debate on Issue 2 in Ohio… Perry’s 20-20 plan… But does he step on his message by calling birther issue “a good issue to keep alive”?… Obama remains out West, where he pre-tapes a Leno interview and raises money… DNC hits Romney in TV ad airing in Arizona… Cain unveils 50-state radio ad… And Romney’s in Cincy.

COLUMBUS, OH -- The best -- and most meaningful -- statewide race of 2011 wasn’t in West Virginia (where Democrats narrowly won the gubernatorial contest). Or in Louisiana (where Gov. Bobby Jindal cruised to re-election). And it won’t be in Kentucky (where Democrats are poised for a blowout gubernatorial win). Or in Mississippi (where Republicans are expected to hold the governor’s mansion). Rather, the 2011 race with the biggest political implications is taking place here in the Buckeye State, where voters two weeks from today will decide the fate of Gov. John Kasich’s (R) law curbing collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers. It will test, once again, organized labor’s strength in the Midwest (after its mixed results in Wisconsin). It will gauge Kasich’s popularity (or unpopularity). It will serve as a trial run of sorts for next year’s presidential contest in this traditional battleground state. And it’s the same fight we’ve seen across the country -- about how governments balance their budgets and about the role of the government worker.

*** Yes on Issue 2 vs. No on Issue 2: Beginning at 7:00 pm ET, one of us is moderating a debate here over Issue 2, the ballot measure over the Ohio law (a yes is a vote to keep it, and a no is a vote to repeal it). Participating in the debate are ex-Congressman Dennis Eckart of We are Ohio (which is opposing the law) and state Sen. Keith Faber of Building a Better Ohio (which is supporting it). And just in time for tonight’s one-hour debate, which airs on NBC stations throughout the state, a new Quinnipiac poll finds 57% of Ohio voters wanting to repeal the anti-collective-bargaining law, and just 32% wanting to keep it. Kasich’s approval rating in the state stands at 36%-52%. With Kasich and Republicans trailing, we have to ask: Did they make a strategic mistake allowing labor and Democrats to turn the contest into a referendum on people (like police and firefighters) rather than on spending? The lesson Team Obama might take away: They can win a spending debate if they don't talk about cuts, but instead talk about people.

*** Perry’s 20-20 plan: At 11:00 am ET today in Gray Court, SC, Rick Perry will unveil his flat-tax plan, and he holds a press conference at the South Carolina State House later at 3:30 pm. Per his preview of the plan in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Perry calls for the option of a 20% personal income-tax rate, a 20% corporate rate, the elimination of long-term capital-gains taxes, as well as taxes on Social Security benefits, NBC’s Carrie Dann reports. The plan’s mantra: “Cut, Balance, and Grow.” Perry writes in the Journal, “The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents.” Perry also calls for capping federal spending at 18% of GDP and passing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

AP

Rick Perry speaking at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition presidential candidate forum in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2011.

*** Perry calls Romney “a fat cat,” says birtherism is “a good issue to keep alive”: In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, Perry took aim at Mitt Romney as a "fat cat" whose economic plan consists of "nibbling around the edges" of a tax overhaul rather than the sweeping plan that Perry will formally announce today, NBC’s Dann adds. Asked about Romney's 1996 criticism of a flat tax as "a tax cut for fat cats," a chuckling Perry suggested that the former Massachusetts governor should look no further than his own reflection. "I would say he ought to look in the mirror, I guess -- I consider HIM to be a fat cat," he said. But did Perry step on his own message? Also in the interview, he said that continued questioning of the president's place of birth is "a good issue to keep alive," and that it's "fun to poke" the sitting president about the controversy most thought was definitively put to rest when Obama displayed the long-form version of his birth certificate in April. "It's a good issue to keep alive. Donald [Trump] has got to have some fun," Perry said, per Dann. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is out with a memo hitting both the Perry and Romney tax plans.

 *** Out West: On the second leg of his West Coast swing, President Obama today sits down for a pre-taped interview with Jay Leno in Los Angeles. He then he hits a fundraiser in San Francisco and then two more fundraisers in Denver. The day after Obama discussed a new plan to help homeowners refinance their homes in Nevada, the administration today will be announcing new initiatives to create jobs for veterans at community health centers and to expand opportunities for veterans to become physician assistants, a White House official tells First Read. Tomorrow, the administration will unveil a new measure to help graduates with their student loans. 

*** Debbie Downer? At a fundraiser in Vegas yesterday, the president sounded a little more downtrodden than he usually sounds. “That old ‘Hope’ poster is fading. It’s getting dog-eared along the edges there. (Laughter.)  But I just want to remind all of you that we never said this was going to be easy. We never said that change was going to happen overnight. The problems that we confront didn’t happen overnight; we weren’t going to solve them overnight. The challenges we face in terms of rebuilding an economy that works for everybody, making sure that once again we have the best education system in the world, making sure that once again anybody out there who has a good idea can go out there and make it, making sure that we’ve got a balanced approach to reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order -- all those things we knew were going to take some time.” He’s said some of these things before, but it was a heavier dose than normal.

*** DNC hits Romney in TV ad airing in AZ: Also out West, the DNC is up with a new 30-second TV ad in Arizona that hits Romney’s foreclosure comments from last week, when he said: “Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.” The ad’s narrator asks, “Let Arizonans hit the bottom?” and continues: “Mitt Romney’s message to Arizona? You’re on your own.” The ad -- the DNC’s second one attacking Romney (the first was “Corporations are people”) -- begins airing today on several Arizona stations, as well as on cable. Why Arizona? DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse tells First Read, “Second highest rate of foreclosures, state we're adding to the map.” Arizona is a state that, demographically, is eventually going to work its way into the battleground. For now, DNC can make a cheap investment and see if it pays off. It's worth nothing, the last time the GOP held a competitive primary in Arizona, Clinton carried it in the general. Did GOP primary turn off swing voters in 96? Could that happen in 12? Could GOP alienate Hispanics? It's part of the DNC gamble.

*** Team Romney responds: The Romney camp responded to the DNC ad with this statement: “Under President Obama, American homeowners have dealt with falling home prices, rising foreclosure rates, and one of the worst housing markets in recorded history… President Obama and his campaign will continue to try and distract Americans from his disaster of an economic record over the next year but it’s not going to work.”

*** Cain’s radio ad: Speaking of advertisements, NBC’s Alex Moe reports that Herman Cain is airing a radio ad in all 50 states on the Rush Limbaugh program. The 29-second ad focuses on his 9-9-9 plan and targets President Obama -- not his GOP rivals. “9-9-9 means jobs, jobs, jobs. I’m Herman Cain, a candidate for president, and I approve this message but Obama doesn’t. My 9-9-9 plan creates six million jobs. Obama doesn’t want you to know because he doesn’t want me to win. Go to 999meansjobs.com and help me defeat Obama.”

*** Romney in Cincy: We aren’t the only ones out here in Ohio. Per NBC’s Garrett Haake, Romney’s in Cincinnati today, where he’s raising money and where (according to local reports) he’s attending a phone bank to talk to activists and offer his support for their efforts on Issue 2. Yet Romney, Haake adds, apparently has yet to take a position on Issue 2.

*** On the 2012 trail: Elsewhere today, Gingrich files his candidacy papers in New Hampshire… Santorum campaigns in South Carolina… Jon Huntsman, in DC, addresses College Republicans at George Washington University… And Cain signs books and gives a speech to a Tea Party group in Texas. 

*** Tuesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel… CNBC's John Harwood on his interview with Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)... NBC's Kristen Welker on President Obama's West Coast swing... National Journal's Jim Tankersley on what the 2012 GOP field is saying (and not saying) about how to fix the housing crisis... And more 2012 news with the Washington Post's Anne Kornblut, AP's Liz Sidoti and Priorities USA's Bill Burton.

*** Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews NBC’s Chuck Todd (on tonight’s debate), CNBC’s Larry Kudlow and John Harwood, FreedomWorks’ Max Pappas, Politico’s Roger Simon, Ohio GOP Chair Kevin DeWine, and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza. 

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 14 days
Countdown to Iowa caucuses: 70 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 81 days
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 88 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 133 days

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BACHMANN: The L.A. Times takes a look at factual errors inside Bachmann’s stump speeches.

CAIN: Smoke ’em if you got ’em. Here’s Cain’s web video with his chief of staff Mark Block smoking a cigarette. He says Cain would put the “United” back in United States of America. And features the Tea Party anthem, “I am America,” by Krista Branch.

The Atlantic notes: “Making a bold statement against anti-smoking regulations would seem general election suicide but also the sort of thing that might help Cain in Tea Party circles, where voters frequently complain about what they see as intrusive government regulations that prevent them from living the lifestyles they want to.”

The Atlantic also points out this from the New York Times: “From 1996, when he left the pizza company, until 1999, Mr. Cain ran the National Restaurant Association, a once-sleepy trade group that he transformed into a lobbying powerhouse. He allied himself closely with cigarette makers fighting restaurant smoking bans, spoke out against lowering blood-alcohol limits as a way to prevent drunken driving, fought an increase in the minimum wage and opposed a patients' bill of rights -- all in keeping with the interests of the industry he represented.”

GOP 12 writes, “Via the Washington Examiner, Herman Cain ripped Karl Rove for a white board the strategist held up this morning, listing Cain's numerous gaffes. ‘If I become the nominee, he has given Democrats talking points for a commercial to attack me. It makes no sense unless it’s a deliberate attempt on his part to try to push me down so that the candidate he wants rises to the top.’”

Cain and Gingrich will debate next month.

Swampland writes, per Political Wire: "A series of interviews with key party figures may lend further credence to this charge. Well-connected GOP operatives in New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina say they see little or no evidence of Cain's campaign in those key early primary states, and some are even unable to name who is leading his localized efforts just a little more than two months before voters are expected to cast the first ballots."

GINGRICH: “Newt Gingrich tells the Des Moines Register that he wants a top-3 finish in Iowa, a good showing in New Hampshire, and outright wins in Florida and South Carolina,” GOP 12 writes. He said if he loses Iowa, he’ll continue on to South Carolina, calling it his “firewall.”

HUNTSMAN: He goes after Mitt Romney in an open letter to John Sununu for endorsing Romney. "Over the course of this campaign you have made it abundantly clear that you would endorse a conservative governor — a laudable criterion," Huntsman wrote. "However, I am surprised that you believe Mitt Romney meets that threshold." The Hill notes, “Huntsman listed instances where he took the more conservative stance than Romney, such as on taxes, the NRA and abortion.”

Here’s Huntsman speaking Mandarin on Colbert.

PERRY: “The Texas governor on Tuesday was outlining a proposal he calls ‘Cut, Balance and Grow’ that is aimed at creating jobs and fixing the struggling economy, voters' top concerns heading into the 2012 election. Perry's flat tax plan maintains popular deductions for families making less than $500,000 a year and also eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits,” AP writes.

He laid it out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

The New York Times: “[T]he plan has a $12,500 deduction for each person in a household, so, for example, two parents with one child would have the first $37,500 of income excluded under the plan.” 

“Under Rick Perry's tax plan, people in the U.S. could choose between their current rate and a 20 percent flat tax, and younger workers could opt in to privatized Social Security,” The Hill writes.

“The Texas governor, seeking to recapture momentum for his 2012 bid, is trying to harness Americans’ distaste for the complicated tax code and capitalize on enthusiasm -- evident in Herman Cain’s surge in the polls as he promotes his 9-9-9 tax plan -- for major changes,” Bloomberg writes, adding, “The overhaul, an attempt to distinguish himself from his Republican primary rivals, comes 10 weeks before the first voting in Iowa, where Perry is starting a major advertising campaign this week.”

Karl Rove ripped Rick Perry for casting doubt on President Obama’s birth. "You associate yourself with a nutty view like that, and you damage yourself,” Rove told FOX.

The Texas governor will meet with both South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Jim DeMint during his trip to the Palmetto State to unveil his flat tax plan, NBC’s Ali Weinberg reports.. A spokesman for Haley said the governor is looking forward “to meeting with Governor Perry to catch up.”

ROMNEY: He said on Hannity, per Political Wire: "I may not be as incendiary or outlandish in rhetoric as some have been in the race … but I think, in the final analysis, people want someone who is stable, solid."

SANTORUM: National Journal reports Rick Santorum watching football on his tablet while Newt Gingrich spoke at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Forum Saturday, Political Wire points out.

“Across America, despite the hundreds protesting for limited government or more government action, a broad swath of the middle class hit hard by the crash in housing prices is quietly resigned, given up on seeing any relief -- particularly from politicians,” the AP reports.

“Some glitz, some glamor and plenty of campaign cash. President Barack Obama is hitting a reliable fundraising trail in California, tapping star donors and trading quips with Jay Leno in what is for him a well-worn path,” AP writes.

The New York Daily News notes that Obama’s trip, though, politically is all about Hispanics.

“President Obama did an end-run around Congress on a trip to Las Vegas yesterday, launching an expanded program to help down-on-their-luck homeowners refinance their loans -- while hitting the jackpot for his campaign at a fund-raiser at the Bellagio Hotel,” the New York Post adds. 

“President Obama's approval rating in Gallup's popularity tracker went up 6 points in the past week - to 44%,” The New York Daily News notes. “Obama's poll numbers jumped in the wake of the Thursday slaying of Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy.” It’s worth pointing out Obama’s approval rating in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has been 44% for the past two months.

“Joe Biden’s office has complained to the Senate press gallery about a confrontation the vice president had with a conservative journalist last week on Capitol Hill,” The Hill reports. “Biden aides asked whether Senate rules were broken in the wake of the contentious exchange between the vice president and the reporter.”

“President Obama’s reelection campaign has hired a former lobbyist to serve as a senior adviser to the 2012 team,” The Hill reports. “The Obama campaign announced Monday the hiring of Broderick Johnson, a veteran of the Clinton White House and Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) 2004 presidential campaign.”

Stu Rothenberg lists his most endangered incumbents.

INDIANA: “After a lackluster third quarter in fundraising, Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock got a boost Monday when the conservative FreedomWorks PAC endorsed his candidacy for Senate,” Roll Call reports.

LOUISIANA: “Just days after Democrat Cedric Richmond unseated GOP Rep. Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao in his 2010 bid for re-election in Louisiana’s 2nd district, Richmond’s campaign received a bill from an investigations firm that specializes in covert video surveillance, court records searches and serving subpoenas,” Roll Call writes.

MISSOURI: “Former ambassador and Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman Ann Wagner, who is running for Congress in Missouri’s 2nd district, definitively ruled out switching to a Senate bid, knocking down rumors that she might switch races,” Roll Call writes.

OHIO: “A new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio shows 57% of voters favor repealing a recent law that limits collective bargaining rights for public employees, while just 32% said it should be kept,” Political Wire notes.

SOUTH CAROLINA: “South Carolina's Republican Party said in a court filing that the state Supreme Court should dismiss a challenge to its presidential primary brought by counties in a dispute over reimbursements,” the AP reports. “The GOP in a Supreme Court filing Monday said claims by Beaufort, Chester, Greenville and Spartanburg are wrong because the Legislature approved plans for the state to run the primary scheduled for January. The GOP also says the court can't get involved in questions about how much counties should be reimbursed.”

In an evolving he-said, she-said, Michele Bachmann’s national campaign team is pushing back against sharp complaints by the five New Hampshire staffers who abruptly quit this weekend.

Reached by telephone this afternoon, campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart lobbed back charges of poor dialogue with the national team. "It's hard to respond to individuals that aren't communicating with us," Stewart told NBC. 

In a strikingly cutting press release issued Sunday evening, the outgoing New Hampshire staff paint a picture of a conflict on a slow burn since late June, complaining of being “constantly left out of the loop regarding key decisions, and relegated to second-class citizens.”

The five staffers -- who comprised Bachmann’s paid New Hampshire team -- note in the release that the national campaign had suspended their pay in early September due to financial constraints. They insist, however, “Pay was not a primary motivation.”

Instead, the staffers point to personal beefs, writing, “The manner in which some in the national team conducted themselves towards Team-NH was rude, unprofessional, dishonest, and, at times, cruel.”

The conflict seems to have reached a boiling point during Bachmann’s visit to New Hampshire earlier this month -- her first since June 28^th. The release calls those incidents “private,” but a later paragraph complains of “how abrasive, discourteous, and dismissive some within the national team were toward many New Hampshire citizens."

Stewart brushed off those charges, saying, “I'm not going to comment on the personal attacks that they made.” 

Stewart pins the fallout on local disappointment with a campaign strategy that puts Iowa before New Hampshire.

“We've been clear all along our focus is Iowa,” Stewart told NBC. "There's only so many days to be in Iowa, and she has to take advantage of every single one of them, and be there.”

The campaign has sent public signals since the summer that it was shifting into an Iowa-centric strategy. It canceled a planned a trip to New Hampshire following its win at the Iowa straw poll Aug. 13^th, and later published a video narrated by Campaign Manager Keith Nahigian that admits, “We are going to compete in New Hampshire, but not dominate our effort like we are in Iowa.” 

Bachmann will file for the New Hampshire primary by mail, according to the New Hampshire Secretary of State's office. If she does so, the campaign will be opting out of the usual in-person fanfare that accompanies candidates who are aggressively competing in the Granite State. Historically, most candidates choose to file in person, joined by staff and supporters.

But since news of the departures Friday, a second dispute has emerged, focusing on the timeline of events leading to the rupture.  According to the release, former staffer Jeff Chidester declared via email Oct. 12^th that he was "done" with the campaign. A follow-up email was sent Oct. 14th threatening an exodus of the remaining staff, the release adds.

Stewart rejects that account, telling NBC the departures were a surprise to the national team, pre-empting efforts to repair the relationship. 

"It would have been helpful for them to communicate with us," Stewart said, "but they chose to communicate with the media."

During a telephone interview today with NBC, Chidester -- the most senior member of the departing staff -- doubled down on the timeline detailed in the release. 

"It was clear that senior staff knew I was leaving a week ago last Thursday," he said.

Chidester tells NBC he is being recruited by other campaigns. 

"There are several attractive candidates already," he said, adding that he expects the other New Hampshire staffers to announce this week plans to join other campaigns.

The possibility of defections has seemed to strike a nerve at Bachmann’s national headquarters. About the news that one of the departing staffers -- Caroline Gigler -- having already joined the campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Stewart said, of the outgoing staffers: “It makes it hard to understand what their motives are.”

Late today, Nahigian sent out a release declaring the campaign wouldn’t comment further. 

"The unauthorized news release was sent by a person who doesn't even work for the campaign and has never had authority to speak on behalf of the campaign," he said. "We are not responding to comments made by a person who was not even a staff member in New Hampshire. Our focus is on Iowa."

The point of contact on the release is Karen Testerman, an unpaid adviser to the Bachmann campaign, who collaborated on the release with the five outgoing staff-members. The five outgoing staffers are: Chidester, Caroline Gigler, Nicole Yurek, Matt LeDuc, and Tom Lukacz.

Alex Moe/NBC News

Rick Santorum speaks at Depot Deli in Shenandoah, Iowa Monday.

CLARINDA, Iowa -- Rick Santorum concludes a three-day swing of Iowa today, making seven stops in the Hawkeye State.

Santorum, who typically focuses his talking points more about himself, spent additional time talking about his GOP rivals and President Obama this trip.

"He has just conceded the Middle East to Iran,” the former senator from Pennsylvania told a crowd about President Obama’s decision to withdraw troops from Iraq. "He owns Iraq now. He owns Iraq,” because the president made a strategic decision there, Santorum said.

Santorum took a jab at Mitt Romney in Glenwood this morning, citing a contradiction in Romney’s stance on same-sex marriage from when he was governor of Massachusetts.

“Now for him to go out and say, I am for traditional marriage, when he went against the law and the constitution of Massachusetts in ordering those licenses,” Santorum said regarding Romney allowing same-sex couples to marry in his state while governor. “I have no idea how he says he will be strong and stand up to judges when in the one major case when he needed to stand up for religious liberty, the constitution, and the law of the land, he sided with judges in favor of same-sex marriage.”

At one point, Santorum even joked about why he rooted for Iowa State University over the weekend. "Rick Perry went to A&M, so that was an easy one," Santorum said.

By the end of today, the former senator will have visited 78 of Iowa's 99 counties. He promises to visit the last 21 by Thanksgiving, a month earlier than he had originally planned.

Although Santorum remains low in recent Iowa polls, his crowd sizes today were promising, and he remains optimistic about his chances here.

“We can win this. I have a lot of faith in the people of Iowa,” he told the crowd at J’s Pizza and Steak House.

Santorum returns to Iowa this weekend.

CLARINDA, Iowa -- The Herman Cain campaign will release a national radio advertisement Tuesday on the Rush Limbaugh program.

“We are running a 50-state campaign, with the belief that every Republican voter in every state should have a say in the outcome of our party’s nominating process,” Cain’s Chief of Staff Mark Block said today in the written statement.

Cain will speak directly to Republicans in the ad and will reach the two biggest AM stations in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state. It will also promote a new website launching Tuesday, www.999MeansJobs.com.

The ad can be run nationally, the campaign said, due to an increase in fundraising numbers over the past few weeks. NBC's Andrew Rafferty reported over the weekend that Cain's campaign said it is raising about $1 million a week since Oct. 1.

"Both our national and state strategies are buoyed by this ad campaign,” Block said.

This 50-state strategy certainly has risk, but it aligns with Cain’s recent trips to numerous states across the country besides just the early voting states that many other GOP contenders frequent. Cain made his first trip back to Iowa this past Saturday.

Exactly one month after Rick Perry's disappointing performance in the Florida straw poll, the governor's team in Austin is getting an influx of new talent.

Four veteran GOP operatives are reportedly taking roles with the Perry team amidst faltering poll numbers, just 10 weeks before the Iowa caucuses. 

Pollster Tony Fabrizio (first reported by Politico), strategists Nelson Warfield and Curt Anderson (as first reported by Time) will be joining Team Perry, as will Bush 2000 campaign guru Joe Allbaugh.

Fabrizio, who served as Dole's chief strategist in 1996, more recently worked for Gov. Rick Scott in 2010 -- along with Warfield and Anderson.

A source with knowledge of the campaign tells NBC News that Allbaugh "has been quietly helping for some time" with Perry's strategy.

It's unclear what the campaign additions mean for the existing tight-knit staff of Perry loyalists in Austin, but the beefed-up team sends a signal to donors and potential backers - especially in Rick Scott's home state of Florida and the site of Perry's debate Waterloo -- that the Texas governor is willing to assemble a formidable national campaign. 

One fundraiser for Perry called the move "necessary and encouraging" and said that calls for the campaign to add more veteran professional pols increased after Perry's poor performance in the Presidency 5 events in Orlando in September.  

"Wish it had happened a month ago," the person said.

The news of the staff additions came on the same day as reports that Perry will launch TV ads in Iowa beginning tomorrow. A Perry source confirmed that ads in the state are forthcoming but could not offer details on the timing of the launch.

A spokesman for Perry declined to comment on either the staff changes or the ads, saying that the campaign does not "discuss strategy."

Warfield was Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign spokesman and more recently a consultant to candidate Fred Thompson. Curt Anderson worked as a strategist for Steve Forbes in 1999 and served as the political director of the Republican National Committee under Haley Barbour.

For conservatives who haven't warmed to Mitt Romney the most likely place that a Romney alternate will emerge is Iowa.

But remember, only two of the last five Iowa winners have gone on to become the GOP nominee.

While it is no surprise Steve Forbes endorsed today pro-flat-tax presidential candidate Rick Perry -- whom he helped craft the plan -- it should be noted that Herman Cain was actually a national co-chairman of Forbes’ 1999-2000 presidential campaign.

When Cain’s role was announced in June 1999, he told the Omaha World-Herald it wasn’t an “honorary” position, and that he would be taking an active role in the campaign, including "message refinement, campaign strategy and fund–raising.”

Cain gave speeches for the campaign, and in September of that year Cain told the Christian Science Monitor he was advising Forbes on how to become a more effective communicator.

But even more interesting, check out what Cain told the Christian Science Monitor's Linda Feldmann back then about the public's trend toward embracing style and delivery vs. substance:

From Christian Science Monitor - September 13, 1999:

Cain says he's helped Forbes to loosen up a bit, and also to tailor his speeches better to his audience. Forbes, he says, has learned he doesn't have to pack his entire agenda into every speech.

Still, Cain understands the growing importance of looking good - and he blames the public for this trend, not the candidates.

"Many people are communications lazy," he says. "They really don't want to spend a lot of time listening to the content or the depth as much as they want to look at the style and the delivery."

CONCORD N.H. -- Mitt Romney filed for the New Hampshire primary this morning for the second time, telling Secretary of State Bill Gardner, "Hoping this time it will take! And I'll be able to become the nominee of our party and hopefully the next president of the United States. "

Romney, who appeared with Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, was asked how long he had been working on Sununu's support and said, "A long time -- probably eight months. I put my big gun on it," hugging his oldest son Tagg.

After filing, he met with top New Hampshire leadership including Gov. John Lynch. Romney joked with Lynch that his real reason to visit the statehouse was to convince the state's Democratic governor to challenge President Obama with a primary campaign.

He spoke outside the state capitol to more than 150 alongside Sununu, along with a few protesters shouting behind him. He lambasted the president's policies and voiced his support for the New Hampshire primary in a standard stump speech.

Afterward, Sununu told reporters Romney's support of a "flatter tax" was something he agreed with and would advise him on, but that a flat tax would hard to achieve and politically untenable. He also said Cain's 9-9-9 plan would not be supported by New Hampshire, with its famous "Live Free or Die" mantra, specifically the sales tax component.

Romney declined to comment on Nevada's caucus move.

Tax pressure: Cain moves Perry (and possibly Romney, too) to embrace flatter taxes… Obama once again turns his attention to housing, perhaps his biggest economic shortcoming since taking office… President announces his housing policy in Las Vegas at 5:30 pm ET… Nevada moves its caucuses to February, clearing the way for NH to go on Jan. 10… Perry walks awfully close to bitherism… NBC’s Brian Williams to moderate Jan. 23 GOP debate in FL… And Jindal cruises to re-election in LA.

*** Tax pressure: In 2004, Howard Dean moved John Kerry and the rest of the Democratic field to the left on the Iraq war. In 2008, John Edwards forced both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to go big on health-care reform. And this presidential cycle, Herman Cain -- with his 9-9-9 plan -- is moving the GOP field on flat taxes. Tomorrow, from South Carolina, Rick Perry will unveil his flat-tax proposal. And the New York Times has observed that Mitt Romney, who has criticized the flat tax in the past, has shifted his tone. “I love a flat tax,” he said in August. The Times adds that Romney “is always careful to emphasize — as he did in his comments two months ago — that he would never support any plan that hurts the middle class and helps the wealthy. But by replacing the graduated income tax with one single rate everyone pays, that is precisely what flat tax plans generally do, at least those that try to generate anywhere near the same tax revenue.”  

AP

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaking to supporters in Concord, N.H., Monday, Oct. 24, 2011.

*** Watching Romney: The reason why Romney is saying he loves a flat tax -- but won’t embrace it completely, at least so far -- is because he doesn’t want to seem out of sync with a political party that truly wants to transform the tax code. It will be interesting to see what Romney decides to do in the coming weeks. It’s a fine line: Flat-tax proposals sell well to the GOP base, but they have failed to win over swing voters in competitive elections because of the attacks 1) that they could raise taxes on some middle-class Americans, and 2) that they could take away popular tax deductions (on mortgages and children). This is another case where Romney is trying to keep himself from being boxed in for the general election. That said, dumping the tax code is gaining REAL traction with Republicans.

*** Obama once again turns his attention to housing: The Obama administration’s biggest economic shortcoming over the past three year? Its inability to do anything about the housing crisis. As the Washington Post details, “Obama has spent just $2.4 billion of the $50 billion he promised [on housing]. The initiatives he announced have helped 1.7 million people. Housing prices remain near a crisis low. Millions of people are deeply indebted, owing more than their properties are worth, and many have lost their homes to foreclosure or are likely to do so. And today in Nevada -- one of the epicenters of the housing crash -- will once again turn his attention to housing. At 5:30 pm ET in Las Vegas, he will announce a new housing policy that will build off his original proposals. At best, this new addendum might help an addition 1 million homeowners refinance. But the big problem before and now is that you can’t force banks to refinance. And many lenders, while willing to refinance an underwater mortgage, want perfect credit scores and debt-to-income ratios that make it easy for banks to say no to the refinancing. 

AP

President Barack Obama waving as boards Air Force One, Monday, Oct. 24, 2011.

*** More political success than economic success? So, economically, it’s unlikely that this new policy will have a big impact. But, politically, it could more successful. For starters, today’s housing announcement is part of a larger effort by the White House to begin unveiling executive-branch actions that Congress -- so far -- has been unable to pass. “With his jobs plan stymied in Congress by Republican opposition, President Obama on Monday will begin a series of executive-branch actions to confront housing, education and other economic problems over the coming months, heralded by a new mantra: ‘We can’t wait’ for lawmakers to act,” the New York Times says. The White House also might be using today’s housing announcement in Nevada to make political hay out of Mitt Romney’s comments to the Las Vegas Review Journal to not stop the foreclosure process. “Let it run its course and hit the bottom," he said last week.

*** Bracketing Obama in NV: Republicans, meanwhile, are bracketing Obama’s trip out West. The Romney campaign has released a web video -- entitled “Welcome to Nevada, President Obama” -- that includes voices from people who are upset with the state of the economy there. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has a similar video hitting Obama in Nevada (as well as Harry Reid and Shelley Berkley).

*** Nevada moves its caucuses, clearing the way for NH to go Jan. 10: A single move on Saturday ended New Hampshire’s belly-aching over the primary calendar, a candidate-backed boycott of Nevada, and speculation over the GOP calendar. “Nevada has moved its caucus date to Feb. 4, ending a long standoff between the state and New Hampshire, the state and the national Republican organizations, and several of the Republican candidates, including frontrunner Herman Cain,” the Las Vegas Sun noted over the weekend. “‘We just basically want to be the adults in the room here,’ Nevada GOP chairwoman Amy Tarkanian said. ‘This has turned into a huge debacle... It’s unnecessary. It’s turned into a distraction.’” With Nevada moved to Feb. 4, expect New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner to soon set his state’s primary for Jan. 10. And once that happens, the 2012 calendar will be officially set. Finally. And what does that mean? We’re probably days away from the first real round of negative TV ads.

*** Perry gets awfully close to birtherism: In an interview with Parade (yes, Parade!), Perry appeared to revive an issue that should no longer be an issue: President Obama’s citizenship. Asked if he believes Obama was born in the U.S., Perry responded, “I have no reason to think otherwise.” When the interviewer told him that wasn’t a definitive answer, Perry said, “Well, I don't have a definitive answer, because he's never seen my birth certificate.” When the interviewer followed up by asking him if he doesn’t believe the long-form birth certificate that the president released last spring, Perry said, “I don't know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night… He doesn't think it's real.” Perry concluded, “It doesn't matter. He's the President of the United States. He's elected. It's a distractive issue.” So that’s what Donald Trump talks about in these Republican candidate meetings? Good grief.

*** Brian Williams to moderate Jan. 23 Florida debate: NBC News, National Journal, The St. Petersburg Times, and the Florida Council of 100 today announced that NBC’s Brian Williams will moderate the Florida debate that they’ve set for Jan. 23. The debate will air nationally and in Florida on NBC.

*** On the 2012 trail: Romney files his candidacy papers in New Hampshire and nabs a big endorsement from John Sununu, Sr.… Santorum makes a whopping seven stops in Iowa… Gingrich is also in the Hawkeye State… And Cain is in Chicago.

*** Jindal cruises to re-election: “Gov. Bobby Jindal rolled to an easy re-election Saturday, defeating nine little-known and under-financed candidates in a record-setting landslide,” the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote on Saturday. “Based on incomplete returns, Jindal had about 66 percent of the vote, eclipsing the 62.31 percent open-primary era victory margin Democrat Edwin Edwards tallied to oust then-Gov. David Treen in the 1983.”

*** Monday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Romney Campaign Senior Adviser Eric Fehrnstrom…Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) on why he's leaving Congress… NBC's Luke Russert on the growing discontent among some rank-in-file GOP House members… NBC News Terrorism Analyst Roger Cressey on how the U.S. government considered a cyber attack on Libya… And more 2012 news with the Washington Post's Dan Balz, AP's Kasie Hunt, and National Review/Bloomberg View's Ramesh Ponnuru.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews former NH Gov. John Sununu, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, the Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston, NBC’s Michelle Franzen (on the earthquake in Turkey), NBC’s Luke Russert, Wes Moore, and former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen (on Iraq and Libya).

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 15 days
Countdown to Iowa caucuses: 71 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 82 days
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 89 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 134 days

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BACHMANN: “Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann said Sunday that the United States should keep troops in Iraq past the end of this year – even as she acknowledged that the conditions under which the Iraqis might allow that would be untenable,” the Boston Globe writes. “Bachmann also suggested that Iraq should pay back the United States for leading the war, which deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. ‘Iraq should reimburse the U.S. fully for the amount of money we spent to liberate these people,’ she said on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘They are not a poor country.’”

Bachmann talked of her parents’ divorce. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom and when her father left, she said it left them impoverished. But they weren’t going to take government assistance, per NBC’s Anthony Terrell and Matt Loffman. “I mean no condemnation on any individual,” she said, “but my mother said to us, she said no one in our family has ever gone on public assistance, and we won't go on public assistance either. And we didn't, so we didn't have hardly anything, but we got jobs."

And on finding Jesus: "I was a nice person -- I didn't drink; I didn't smoke; I didn't do drugs; I wasn't chasing around the boys. But it didn't matter, didn't matter. I still had [a] wicked heart and still needed to be saved, still needed to bow my knee and give my life to Jesus Christ."

CAIN: “Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum both used talk show appearances Sunday to accuse Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, of being soft on social issues. Both candidates are vying for support from more conservative, Tea Party-affiliated voters – the same group that has been supporting Cain and fueling his rapid rise in the polls,” the Boston Globe writes.

Cain, though, tried to show where he stands on abortion: “They got it right in that document called the Declaration of Independence.  They got it right in that document called the Constitution. It wasn't so restrictive that it didn't allow us to change when we had to. They got it right when they said endowed by their creator, not the presidents, not Congress, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life from conception. No abortion, no exceptions. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

GINGRICH: He hired his first paid staffer in New Hampshire. Andrew Hemingway -- the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus, a tea party oriented organization – will be Gingrich’s state director, NBC’s Jo Ling Kent reports. Earlier this year, he organized campaign events for Michele Bachmann's New Hampshire stops. Since then, he has publicly questioned her Granite State strategy.

PAUL: He said he was against federally assisted student loans on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He defended that position on the trail. His response to students struggling with paying for college, essentially – get a job. A college student from Wisconsin, who said her parents can't help her pay for school, asked Paul at an event in Des Moines, "How am I going to pay off my debts if I can’t finish my education?" Paul responded this way, per NBC’s Anthony Terrell: "I had four jobs! I worked all summer; I had two or three jobs during the school year." He added, "I would stick to my guns on this. That there is no authority for you to get benefit from somebody who's in a labor union, who doesn't get to go to college, and he has to help pay you to go to college? That's not fair!"

PERRY: Wink and a nod: In an interview in Parade magazine, per the New York Daily News, Perry was asked for a firm answer to see if he believes President Obama was born in the United States: "I don't have a definitive answer," Perry said. The paper adds, “When the interviewer suggested that Perry has seen Obama's birth certificate, Perry replied, ‘I don't know. Have I?’ The Texas governor said the subject of Obama's birth certificate came up during a recent wine-and-dine session with GOP kingmaker Donald Trump. ‘He doesn't think it's real,’ Perry said, referring to the long-form birth certificate the White House released in April. ‘And you said?’ the reporter asked. ‘I don't have any idea,’ Perry replied. ‘It doesn't matter,’ he added, and calls it ‘a distractive issue.’”

Bloomberg says Rick Perry’s path is through Iowa: “If Perry is to regain momentum, his surge most likely will have to start in Iowa, where the lead-off caucuses begin the 2012 nomination process.”

Here was Perry on Saturday about his debate performances, per NBC’s Loffman: “In God's eyes, we're not disqualified by our imperfections because we are weak and he is strong. That's the good news. We are not called to be perfect. If any of you have watched my debate performances over the last three or four times, you know I am far from perfect.”

ROMNEY: “The Massachusetts healthcare law that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed in 2006 includes a program known as the Health Safety Net, which allows undocumented immigrants to get needed medical care along with others who lack insurance,” The L.A. Times writes. “Uninsured, poor immigrants can walk into a health clinic or hospital in the state and get publicly subsidized care at virtually no cost to them, regardless of their immigration status.”

The Boston Globe: “Mitt Romney’s campaign contributions have dropped off significantly in his home state, with Massachusetts residents giving their former governor a third less than they did four years ago.”

SANTORUM: Here he was on the trail Sunday, per NBC’s Alex Moe and Matt Loffman: “Do we, anybody ever hear about anything going on in our schools talking to kids about what marriage is? We tell them how to use a condom, but we won't tell them what marriage and the benefits of marriage is and how vital it is for our community and for our country and for them and for their lives. Talking about the economic benefits of marriage. Talking about the, obviously if you look at all of these polls, people who are married are by far happier than people who aren't married.”

And here he was talking about why his kids aren’t in school, to help out with the family business – politics. “Our oldest is 20, she and my second oldest is 18. They should be in college, but thankfully they are not,” he said.  “I understand why farmers used to have big families. It's because it helps with the family business. And so the family business is running for president right now, so they've both taken semesters off college. And my daughter's in South Carolina. My son just traveled with me last week. They're out working on the campaign.”

Santorum said he has a 0-0-0 economic plan: “I call it my 0-0-0 plan. Because 0 is better than 9.” But it’s not at all clear what that means specifically.

The Boston Globe’s Johnson looks at “a breed of political document gaining favor in state and national politics: The self-interested, staff-written memo to ‘interested parties’ that attempts to influence public thinking, as well as the mainstream media.”

“With his jobs plan stymied in Congress by Republican opposition, President Obama on Monday will begin a series of executive-branch actions to confront housing, education and other economic problems over the coming months, heralded by a new mantra: ‘We can’t wait’ for lawmakers to act,” the New York Times says.

John Harwood writes that things don’t look bullish for tax reform. “Even in good times, tax reform poses steep political challenges. And these aren’t exactly good times,” he says. “That helps explain the angst among advocates of revamping the tax code as they have watched events erode their hopes of near-term success on Capitol Hill. The escalating tax debate among Republican presidential candidates ensures the issue won’t go away, but it also means any resolution will probably wait until after Election Day 2012.”

“Vice President Joe Biden yesterday doubled down on his claim that the president’s jobs bill would stop rapes and murders,” The New York Post writes. Biden told CNN, “That is a fact. If [cities] don’t get help, crime is going to continue to go up.”

But crime has actually gone down since the recession began. Some criminologists are even looking into what they call the “Obama Effect.”

But there’s also another Obama Effect, Politico writes, “In trips to Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania — all states that he carried in 2008 — members of Congress were notably missing from the president’s side. Though none came out and said they were deliberately avoiding him, they didn’t have to: Dodging a presidential candidate who’s riding low in the polls is a time-honored political practice.”

CONNECTICUT: The New York Times: “A few months ago, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who is allied with the Democratic majority in the Senate, had a surprising guest at his office: Linda E. McMahon, the former wrestling mogul who is seeking the Republican nomination for Mr. Lieberman’s Senate seat, now that he is retiring… In addition to Ms. McMahon, he has spoken with Christopher Shays, a former Republican congressman, about Mr. Shays’s own plans to run for his Senate seat.”

“All this has exasperated liberals in Connecticut and Washington. ‘Some of what he does seems designed to make it hard for progressives and the Democratic establishment to ignore him,’ said Jon Green, director of the Working Families Party in Connecticut. ‘But everyone does their best.’ A top Democratic official in Washington was more pointed. ‘I don’t think he’s interested in helping us,’ said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to cause tensions with the senator. ‘He’s got a lot of resentment toward Democrats.’”

MASSACHUSETTS: “Political image-shapers on both sides of the aisle said it’s important for candidates to tell their own stories, to define themselves before their opponents do, and little works better than a Horatio Alger story like the ones Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren both have,” the Boston Globe writes. “A legitimate up-from-the-bootstraps life tale can make a candidate more accessible and more likeable; a compelling biography can help convince voters a candidate understands their concerns.”

NEVADA: Nevada officially moved its caucus back to Feb. 4.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: This means New Hampshire could go Jan. 10^th, a week after Iowa. Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who has unilateral power to set the primary, tells NBC’s Jo Ling Kent he would like to set the date this week. He may announce today when he will announce the date. But he needs to reach out to state officials in other states first, including Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida.

Herman Cain's presidential campaign has been raising more the $1 million a week since Oct. 1, campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon told NBC News.

That means his total fundraising this month has already eclipsed the $2.8 million Cain raised in the third quarter.

NBC's Carrie Dann

A flyer circulating outside an event with Herman Cain, hits him for his stance on abortion.

Despite having to walk back recent comments suggesting that women should be able to choose to have an abortion, Herman Cain appeared to get a fairly positive reception at a forum of social conservatives last night in Iowa. But attendees, who remained skeptical about Cain's efforts to repair the damage, got a reminder of that wariness before they even left the parking lot.

A flyer left on cars parked outside the event juxtaposed Cain's face and a grainy photo of a dead fetus and declared that the Godfather's Pizza CEO "threw the babies under the bus."

"If a pro-choice candidate doesn't have the Biblical foundation to know that murdering an innocent child is wrong in EVERY SINGLE CASE, how would that lack of a Biblical foundation influence his policy decisions on traditional marriage and family values?" the paper asks.

According to a note at the bottom of the flyers, the effort is paid for by an organization called Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency in collaboration with Iowans for Truth and Honest Government -- both shadowy organizations apparently known exclusively for launching similar flyer attacks in the past.

The "decency" group was reportedly active in 2008 as well, questioning the faith of Mike Huckabee -- in the form of flyers slipped folio-style under doors in the Des Moines Marriott. The Iowa Republican Party asked for an investigation into the "truth" organization after it left flyers critical of now-Gov. Terry Branstad on windshields in 2009.