The Washington Post: “A group of 40 House Republicans for the first time Wednesday encouraged Congress’s deficit reduction committee to explore new revenue as part of a broad deal that would make a major dent in the nation’s debt, joining 60 Democrats in a rare bipartisan effort to urge the ‘supercommittee’ to reach a big deal that could also include entitlement cuts. The letter they sent represents a rare cross-party effort for the rancorous House, and its organizers said they hoped it would help nudge the 12-member panel to reach a deal that would far exceed the committee’s $1.5 trillion mandate.”

ARIZONA: “Authors of the law that established the state's redistricting commission criticized Gov. Jan Brewer and GOP senators Wednesday, saying their reasons for ousting the chairwoman were inappropriate,” The Arizona Republic reports. “They said the ‘gross misconduct’ clause Brewer and the Senate cited Tuesday when they removed Colleen Coyle Mathis as head of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission falls far short of the original intent of the law.” Democrat Dennis Michael Burke, “who crafted the ballot question along with independent Ann Eschinger and Republican Bart Turner,” said, "We did not intend for it to be a backdoor way for sitting politicians to get back into the process.”

More: “Eschinger, the independent member, said the governor overreached. ‘Gross misconduct is more personal,’ she said, explaining she viewed it as relating to a commissioner's individual behavior, not to how the commission draws congressional and legislative maps. She also questioned the move as the commission has produced only draft maps, not final products.”

The Arizona Republic’s editorial board slams Brewer today: “Gov. Jan Brewer and Senate Republicans ran roughshod over the public on Tuesday. … They trampled a process that voters approved in 2000 to take the job of redrawing the political map away from elected officials.” And: “In a crowning affront to the public, Gov. Brewer is out of town on a book signing tour this week and had Secretary of State Ken Bennett issue the call for a special session. She didn't bother to come back when taking a historic blow against a voter-approved institution.”

All this may not be over. The courts will have the final say. “The commission is seeking an court order to stop the removal of Mathis,” according to the editorial.

MICHIGAN: “The Club for Growth is considering supporting a primary challenge to Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) next year,” Roll Call reports. “Club spokesman Barney Keller said the conservative organization is ‘impressed’ with former state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, who is considering challenging Upton for a second time in 2012.”

NEVADA: “The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched a Spanish-language radio ad on Wednesday that accuses appointed Sen. Dean Heller (R) of insulting Latinos in Nevada. The ad is running statewide on Spanish-language stations,” Roll Call reports.

Ex-Rep. Dina Titus is trying to make a comeback. She is going to run for Shelley Berkley’s NV-1 district, opting against a rematch for her old seat in NV-3.

NORTH DAKOTA: “Former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp is telling Democrats she will run for the state's open Senate seat and is expected to make a formal announcement this month,” Politico reports.

The Herman Cain campaign is blaming the Rick Perry campaign for leaking the story about sexual harassment charges against him at the National Restaurant Association in the late-1990s, a charge the Perry campaign vehemently denies.

"The Perry campaign needs to apologize to Herman Cain and his family," Cain Chief of Staff Mark Block said on Fox this afternoon.

Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan told NBC's Alex Moe today, "No one at our campaign was involved in this story in any way. Any claim to the contrary is patently false. The first we learned of it was when we read the story in POLITICO."

Cain earlier today in an interview with Forbes blamed a consultant who worked with him during his 2004 run for Senate in Georgia -- DC-based consultant Curt Anderson, who Perry recently hired. Anderson denies he was a source of the leak.

“I told my wife about this in 1999 and I’ve got nothing to hide,” Cain said. “When I sat down with my general campaign consultant Curt Anderson in a private room in our campaign offices in 2003 we discussed opposition research on me. It was a typical campaign conversation. I told him that there was only one case, one set of charges, one woman while I was at the National Restaurant Association. Those charges were baseless, but I thought he needed to know about them. I don’t recall anyone else being in the room when I told him.”

In response, Anderson told NBC's Carrie Dann in a statement: "I’ve known Herman Cain for about seven years. I was one of several consultants on his Senate race in 2004 and was proud to help him. I'd never heard any of these allegations until I read them in Politico, nor does anything I read in the press change my opinion that Herman is an upstanding man and a gentleman. I have great respect for Herman and his character and I would never speak ill of him, on the record or off the record. That's true today and it's not going to change."

Also today, Chris Wilson, a GOP pollster aligned with the pro-Perry Super PAC "Make Us Great Again," went on a local Oklahoma City radio show and said he witnessed inappropriate behavior on Cain's part while he was at the National Restaurant Association. Wilson was the pollster for the restaurant association, he said on the radio show.

But he told First Read he acted on his own and was not the source of any leaks.

"To be clear, and you can ask any of the reporters covering this story, I had nothing to do with leaking this in any way," he said in an email to First Read, "and I've never discussed or shared this story with any of my clients - period."

Wilson was not a source for NBC's independent reporting and confirmation of various aspects of this story. Politico first reported on the radio interview.

Wilson told KTOK that he expected the allegations to come out eventually, that they were widely known within the association, and that he personally witnessed inappropriate behavior "a couple times."

"I was actually around a couple times where this happened," Wilson said. "Anyone who was involved with the restaurant association at the time knew that this was going to come up."

He added, "My bet is the NRA ... is going to have no choice but to release her from the confidentiality agreement, because I think Herman Cain has already violated it by addressing it on the air last night."

Wilson described the woman who would like to come forward as a lower-level staffer, about two years out of college.

"This all occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City (Va.)," Wilson said. "And everybody was very aware of it. ... It was only a matter of time, because so many people were aware of what took place" and that she left and why she left. "If she does go on the air and talk about it, I think it'll be the end of his campaign."

He deferred on the specific details.

And Politico's Jonathan Martin reports tonight: "In a meeting at the Capitol Hill Club, Cain said he and his campaign had found out who was purportedly leaking word of his behavior toward female employees at the National Restaurant Association and that a report was coming out that would disprove the charges, according to the chief of staff to one of the Georgia members."

In an interview Wednesday with NBC's David Gregory, the GOP’s top investigator in the House drew parallels between the sexual harassment allegations that Herman Cain is facing and Clarence Thomas' controversial Supreme Court confirmation hearings 20 years ago.

“Clarence Thomas at least had Anita Hill up front making an accusation,” House Oversight and Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said, seemingly referring to Cain’s two accusers who have not come forward publicly due to reported non-disclosure agreements that were settled when Cain was the head of the National Restaurant Association.

Issa, a former businessman, said that while he has never had a sexual harassment allegation levied against him, he has “seen them happen on [his] watch” at the companies in which he was involved. “I know that sometimes they’re real and sometimes they’re not. And I know that companies make a decision to make the problem go away to a mutually agreeable standard.”

“It appears as though that’s what Cain is dealing with,” Issa surmised.

“It has been tough to run for president and all the worst accusations are part of the process,” he continued, harking back to the time of President Andrew Jackson. “Andrew Jackson didn’t have a kind rise to the presidency; it is alleged, and [he] probably did kill his wife.”
 
Having already endorsed Mitt Romney for president, Issa sees Cain’s lack of governmental experience as a barrier to his White House hopes.

“To go directly from being a business man without substantial time in the government arena, both the vetting and the knowledge of it, is really hard. It’s virtually impossible. And that going directly to president seems to be a bridge too far.”

He acknowledged Romney’s lack of appeal within the GOP, saying that the Republican Party is “still out looking for better than whatever is in the field.”

Issa, however, made the case that -- unlike Cain -- Romney has the necessary experience. “You may not love Mitt Romney, he may not be the charismatic guy next door,” he said. “But you know what, he’s competent, and he’s been well-vetted and we know that he’ll administer in a way that that maybe we haven’t seen since Eisenhower.”

The California Republican also criticized Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s jobs record, saying: “If all the credit you’re taking, is taking jobs from California, you don’t get a lot of credit.”

Watch the entire "PRESS Pass" interview with Issa to hear more of his thoughts on the 2012 race, Solyndra, and the recent ‘Fast & Furious’ investigation his committee has launched.

AP reports of a third woman who has come forward accusing Herman Cain of inappropriate conduct.

AP:

A third former employee says she considered filing a workplace complaint over what she considered aggressive and unwanted behavior by Herman Cain when she worked for the presidential candidate in the 1990s. She says the behavior included a private invitation to his corporate apartment. She worked for the National Restaurant Association when he was its head. She told The Associated Press that Cain made sexually suggestive remarks or gestures about the same time that two co-workers had settled separate harassment complaints against him. The employee described situations in which she said Cain told her he had confided to colleagues how attractive she was and invited her to his corporate apartment outside work. She spoke on condition of anonymity, saying she feared retaliation.

"Mr. Cain has said over the past two days at public events that we could see other baseless allegations made against him as this appalling smear campaign continues," Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon tells NBC's Andrew Rafferty. "He has never acted in the way alleged by inside-the-beltway media, and his distinguished record over 40 years spent climbing the corporate ladder speaks for itself. Since his critics have not been successful in attacking his ideas, they are resorting to bitter personal attacks. Mr. Cain deserves better."

After a week off, we are gearing up for the next installment of Inside the Boiler Room! Please post your questions for Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro below.

You can also tweet us, @NBCFirstRead, @mmurraypolitics or@DomenicoNBC, or post on our Facebook page.

Talk to the hand: Rep. Michele Bachmann hit back at former senior aide, who called her campaign a "mess."

DES MOINES, Iowa, and WASHINGTON -- Congresswoman Michele Bachmann swatted back at former campaign manager Ed Rollins, who has derided her presidential campaign as "a mess."

“There are some things I will never understand, put it that way,” the Minnesota congresswoman said during an appearance here on WHO Radio this morning after being asked about Rollins by host Jan Mickelson.

Bachmann quickly pivoted to why she is running for president -- building a border fence, getting rid of subsidies for illegal immigrants, making English the official language, cutting taxes, decreasing business regulations and repealing “Obamacare.”

That’s when Mickelson politely reminded her of his question, “I think the two words I asked was, Ed Rollins.”

Bachmann replied with a laugh, “You did!”  The presidential hopeful then glanced over at her staff sitting in the studio and said, “I don’t understand that, but I do understand why I’m running.”

AP

President Barack Obama (left) campaigning for former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (right) in Holmdel, N.J., July 16, 2009. Corzine lost reelection to Republican Chris Christie.

Jon Corzine, now the center of an FBI investigation into the handling of hundreds of millions of dollars invested in his securities firm, was one of the leading Wall Street fundraisers for President Obama’s campaign and suggested to investors that he might take a top administration post if the president were re-elected.

His new legal troubles, sparked by the bankruptcy filing of his investment firm, MF Global, could complicate the president’s efforts to raise money from the financial community given Corzine’s central role in those efforts.

A recent list of top “bundlers” or elite fundraisers released by Obama’s campaign listed Corzine in the highest category -- reporting that he had raised more than $500,000 for the campaign. A substantial chunk of those funds were collected at a $35,800 per ticket fundraiser that Corzine hosted at his wife’s spacious Fifth Avenue apartment last April -- an event that was touted at the time as part of a concerted effort by the president’s campaign team to reach out to well-heeled Wall Street donors who had been alienated by some of his policies and previous public comments.  

Just a few months after that event, Corzine’s firm, MF Global, surprised many Wall Street investors by issuing highly unusual securities notes that appeared to highlight Corzine’s close relationship with the White House: The notes suggested that the former New Jersey governor might be in line for a top administration post should the president get re-elected.

The notes promised to pay an extra 1% in interest rates in the event of “the departure of Mr. Corzine as our full time chief executive officer due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States and his confirmation…by the United States Senate prior to July 1, 2013.”

Some veteran Wall Street analysts said they couldn’t recall ever seeing such a contingency written into securities notes. “It was bizarre,” said Christopher Whalen, a Wall Street analyst.

There was speculation in the financial press at the time that Corzine might be a candidate to replace Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury. But today, an Obama campaign official declined to comment on Corzine’s legal troubles -- or whether Corzine was ever being considered for an appointment.

“He’s one of our volunteer fundraisers,” said the campaign official when asked about Corzine, adding that the president’s is the only presidential campaign that discloses the identities of its bundlers.

The investigation into Corzine’s firm, MF Global, was triggered by reports of hundreds of millions of dollars in missing funds and findings by regulators that MF Global may have broken rules requiring it to keep client’s money and company funds in separate accounts.

Ironically, on the same day that Corzine’s legal troubles were erupting -- posing potential problems for the president’s Wall Street fundraising efforts -- GOP rival Mitt Romney was holding one of his biggest New York fundraisers yet at a midtown Manhattan hotel.

A copy of the invite shows the fundraiser had more than 100 co-chairs, many of them top executives on Wall Street such as hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson, who has already donated $1 million to a “Super PAC” backing Romney’s candidacy. 

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- While Michele Bachmann’s campaign “announced” its seven-member South Carolina campaign staff today, only one of those members is actually a new hire to the team.

The staffing announcement comes as Bachmann will be returning to the Palmetto State early next week, according to sources in the campaign.

Following a trial period with the campaign last weekend, political strategist Wesley Donehue will be joining the team full time as a South Carolina consultant and South Carolina communications director. Donehue will also help the campaign with national new media outreach.

While senior South Carolina adviser Ron Thomas and state campaign director Sheri Few were both in fact listed as “previously announced” staffers, most of the other members of the Bachmann South Carolina team have been on the ground here for months.

The three regional coordinators listed today, Natalie Lennon (Upstate), Patsy Dabney (Midlands) and Taylor Mason (Lowcountry) were being paid by the campaign at least since July, according to the Bachmann campaign’s quarterly FEC report that month.

Gavin Smith, announced today as Few’s assistant, was listed on the Bachmann campaign’s October FEC disbursement report.

As Herman Cain contends with the media scrum and as Rick Perry has begun his TV ad blitz in Iowa, Mitt Romney has kept a relatively low profile so far this week.

And that's given him time to continue bracketing President Obama. After the president yesterday conducted interviews with nine local TV affiliates, as well as with Hearst Television, Romney's campaign reached out to these same affiliates. And today, Romney has interviews with three of them: KUSA in Denver; WTVT in Tampa, FL; and KTRK in Houston.

Earlier this morning, the Romney campaign also released an email jabbing at Obama's statements in these affiliate interviews. “President Obama has stepped off his campaign bus and taken the Magical Misery Tour nationwide," said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul in a statement. "Unfortunately, more political rhetoric and blame-shifting can’t make up for the abject failure of President Obama’s policies over the last three years. Americans know that it’s time for new leadership in the White House.”

AP

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain (R), former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, has a net worth estimated between $2 million and $6 million.

Follow the money: The first in an installment of First Read reviews of candidates’ financial disclosures.

Herman Cain made between $1.2 million and $2.4 million from 2010 to August 2011, according to a review of his federal financial disclosure filing.

His net worth is between $2.8 million and $6.3 million. (Here is the full financial disclosure.)

The largest single source of his income came from Whirlpool Corp., the appliance manufacturer, where he pulled in $359,008 in the year-and-a-half reporting period. He has a financial interest in the company of between $500,000 and $1 million.

Cain was a director at Whirlpool from 2005 to April of this year. He announced his presidential bid in May. Previously, he served on the board of directors of Whirlpool from 1992 to 2003, according the filing submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in August.

A significant share of Cain’s income -- between $299,000 and $1.5 million -- came from stock sales, dividends, royalties, interest, and capital gains.

At this income level, and with so much of Cain’s money wrapped up in the stock market, if his 9-9-9 plan were to go into effect, he would stand to greatly benefit. Cain’s plan would reduce the income tax rate to 9% and eliminate the capital gains and estate taxes. Under the current tax system, those at Cain’s income level pay a significantly higher share of taxes than is proposed under his plan.

Also notably, Cain, who was a motivational speaker in the 1990s and has made a career of catchy slogans, served on the board of Hallmark Cards for a decade, from 2001 until this past April. In addition to 9-9-9, when managing a Burger King, he instituted the BEAMER program to get employees to smile and be friendlier.

Other income sources include:

- $202,500 from Agco Corp., a heavy machinery company from Duluth, GA. He was a director there from 2004 to April of this year;
- $165,183 from Cox Radio in Atlanta, where he hosted a talk-radio show;
- $53,965.50 from Godfather’s Pizza
- Between $15,001 and $50,000 from Bell Research, where he was a director from 2009 through June 2011.

The rest of his income came from stocks, money market accounts, CDs, IRAs, and investment funds, including:

- Sales and dividends from Coca Cola totaling between $145,207 and $1.15 million
- Sales and dividends from Whirlpool totaling between $112,504 and $235,000
- He made between $5,001 and $15,000 from sales of 2,000 shares of a company called SonicWall Inc.
- Capital gains of between $5,001 and $15,000 of common stock from Warren Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. (Cain holds between a $15,001 and $50,000 stake in the company.)

Cain’s biggest financial interests are in:

- Whirlpool (between $500,002 and $1 million)
- Bell Research (between $300,002 and $550,000)
- Godfather’s Pizza (between $100,001 and $250,000)
- Agco (between $100,000 to $250,000)
- A computer wholesale company in West Palm Beach, FL, (between $100,000 to $250,000). The name is not listed on the financial disclosure.
- Supervalu Inc. (between $15,001 to $50,000)
- A 50% ownership stake in VHC Investments, a rental real estate holdings company (between $50,000 to $100,000)
- THE New Voice, a group he founded to promote his writings and speeches; THE stands for “The Hermanator Experience.” (between $50,000 to $100,000)

He has between $366,007 and $855,000 in checking accounts, money-market accounts, and CDs at Sun Trust Bank and Branch Banking.

He also has between $793,014 to $1.8 million invested with several investment funds, like Blackrock Global Allocation, Legg Mason Affiliates, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Vanguard, Wells Fargo, RBC, Alliance Bernstein, The Hartford, Delaware Investments, and Federated Investors.  

Herman Cain should come clean immediately, and release the details of a settlement with a former National Restaurant Association employee who accused Cain of sexual harassment, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) said Wednesday.

Barbour, speaking on MSNBC's Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd, urged Cain to release his accuser from a confidentiality agreement associated with the settlement in order to help get the story behind his campaign.

"Everybody watching knows, if a week from now we've had one week of the confidentiality agreement is keeping the facts from coming out, that's not in Herman Cain's interests," Barbour said. "Herman Cain's interest is getting this behind him where he can get back and focused on the things that made him very popular among Republican voters."

Barbour, who considered running for president himself, is regarded as one of the sharpest political minds in the GOP. He hasn't endorsed any of the Republican presidential hopefuls currently in the race.

Cain has been dogged since Sunday night, when Politico reported that the NRA had settled with two women who accused Cain of harassment. In the days since, Cain has acknowledged that there were settlements (after initially denying recollection of them), but he has steadfastly denied any harassment.

An attorney for one of the women now says she wishes to be released from the confidentiality terms of the agreement, but Cain declined to say Tuesday evening whether he'd agree to the request.

"I think the best interest of Herman Cain's campaign -- of everybody -- is let's get all the facts out," Barbour said. "I can tell you this: If you have a confidentiality agreement that keeps the public from finding out something that the public is interested in knowing the facts, you ought to go on and get the facts out."

Earlier this morning, we asked -- as others have -- if Tim Pawlenty made a mistake by getting out of the GOP race.

A Republican involved in the 2012 race emails Politico's Ben Smith arguing that Pawlenty would have never caught fire, even if he remained in the race.

I just can't take any more blog posts on this. He was 500K in debt. He would have had to fire 2/3 of his staff and deal with the exodus stories. And he likely would have had to deal with internal squabbling. (That one-off Daily Caller story would have been more than a one-off if Pawlenty was still around and people were jockeying on the sinking ship).

So we have a candidate who was polling about 4% in Iowa at the time, in debt, looking ahead at a month of terrible press, with no natural political skills to turn it around. He'd have spent the past 3 months banking just on debates, where he wasn't exactly knocking the cover off the ball when he was in the race.

The reality is he would have been the same place now he was then. Broke, 20 points behind Romney and top conservative alternative in Iowa, and in low single digits nationally.

Here come the TV ads hitting President Obama on Solyndra.

Americans for Prosperity -- the political organization that has received financial assistance from conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch -- says it's beginning a $2.4 million TV advertising blitz with a spot highlighting the failed clean-energy company that received a loan guarantee from the Obama administration.

The ad will air in Virgina, Florida, New Mexico, and Michigan.

(Note: Koch Industries is heavily involved in the petroleum business, and thus is hardly a champion of clean-energy companies.)

*** UPDATE *** Priorities USA's Bill Burton responds to this TV ad: “Never has it been so obvious that the Koch brothers political activity is motivated by preserving and growing their multi-billion dollar oil empire. It is against our nation’s interests to cede the clean energy industry to China. Americans of all parties support investing in clean energy because it will create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and stop billionaire oil executives like the Koch Brothers from profiting just because energy prices are high.”

Herman Cain took no questions after speaking to the conservative group Docs4PatientCare -- despite organizers just moments before telling reporters there would be time for questions.

Cain spoke for just five minutes and right before he took the podium, an organizer told reporters there would be no questions because of time.

As reporters confronted Cain while walking from his speech to the news conference room, he said, "Let me say one thing, I'm here with these doctors and that's what I want to talk about, so don't even bother asking me all of these other questions that you all are curious about, OK? Don't even bother."

Reporters then began shouting out questions.

"What did I say?” Cain said. “Excuse me. Excuse me!"

Reporters continued to pepper him with questions as he walked and security saying, "Step back."

"What part of no don't some people understand?" Cain said.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner’s decision to schedule his state’s primary on Jan. 10 finally settles a reorganization of the primary calendar that was, at times, both contentious and tumultuous.

Under the current configuration, Iowa’s caucuses will take place on Tues., Jan. 3, South Carolina will hold its primary on Sat., Jan. 21, and Floridians will vote 10 days later, on Tues., Jan. 31; Nevada, after earlier wanting to go in mid-January, will hold its caucuses on Feb. 4.

"It’s my honor and privilege to say this morning that the tradition of the New Hampshire presidential primary lives on," Gardner said.

The now-set calendar now offers the GOP presidential hopefuls some certainty as each of their campaigns plots a path to the nomination. Voting begins in less than nine weeks.

The configuration is seen as an opportunity for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to score a knockout blow and secure the nomination before the campaign even gets to February.

Romney enjoys a strong lead in New Hampshire, where he’s focused a great deal of his campaign, and has worked to cultivate support in Nevada as a potential firewall.

Iowa, the first contest, may be the trickiest – not just for Romney, but for the rest of the field, as well.

A poll of likely caucus-goers released over the weekendby the Des Moines Register found former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain leading the field, at 23 percent, with Romney trailing narrowly at 22 percent. (The poll was conducted before Cain’s public acknowledgement that he was involved in the settlement of a sexual harassment claim during his time at the National Restaurant Association.)

Romney’s hovered toward the top of the polls in Iowa throughout this year, but he’s spent much less time in the Hawkeye State than he did in 2007, when he competed aggressively in the caucuses. He skipped the influential Ames Straw Poll this time, and has spent much more time in other primary states – all while maintaining that he intends to compete in all of the nominating contests.

It’s Romney’s absence that has prompted other Republicans to compete more aggressively there, in hopes of using a victory there to vault past Romney and into front-runner status. Rick Perry’s campaign, which has suffered sagging poll numbers since the Texas governor entered the race, has gone on the air in Iowa with new TV ads, and Perry is spending the second half of the week in the state.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, the winner of the August straw poll, has also spent heavy amounts of time in the state.

The candidate who emerges from Iowa would then have the opportunity to contend in South Carolina, the third contest of the cycle, and the primary with the most predictive value; the winner of the GOP primary in the Palmetto State, since its inception in 1980, has gone on to win the nomination.

The Florida primary, which is closed to registered Republicans only, might also be decisive in the instance that no clear front-runner has emerged by the end of January. State officials had sought to move up the primary to increase its influence, reasoning that its pivotal role in the general election and its representative cross-section of primary voters made it an especially important contest to win.

Romney leads that race slightly, at 25 percent, according to a Suffolk University poll released Tuesday. Cain follows at 24 percent (the poll was conducted before the harassment revelations), followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 11 percent and Perry at nine percent.

But if there’s still a campaign past Florida – and Nevada’s caucus four days later – the campaign would enter a relative lull. Colorado and Minnesota would hold their caucuses on Feb. 7, and Michigan and Arizona would hold their primaries at the end of the month.

"The campaign is prepared for every calendar scenario. The resources, the message and the infrastructure will all be in place," said Kevin Madden, an aide to Romney's 2008 campaign who serves as an informal adviser now. "February won't be quiet, even absent any state contests, so I expect Governor Romney and the team to work hard on the campaign trail every minute, every hour and every day from here until November next year."

A protracted battle would likely give way, though, to Mar. 6, what’s shaping up to be the “Super Tuesday” of the 2012 calendar.

Ten states vote that day, including Massachusetts, where Romney was governor, and Texas, where Perry is governor. But Super Tuesday is also loaded with a number of large Southern states where Perry is viewed as having an advantage – if, that is, Romney or some other candidate hasn’t locked up the nomination by then.

CONCORD, N.H. -- After much political wrangling and calendar jockeying, the last piece of the presidential primary puzzle was finally put into place. The New Hampshire primary has been set for Jan. 10, one week after the Iowa caucuses, according to Secretary of State Bill Gardner.

"I was sort of on the edge of a cliff," Gardner said. "I was hoping if I had to move there would be a puddle of water to jump into."

The Jan. 10 date was widely expected. The way was cleared for New Hampshire to set its date after Nevada moved back to Feb. 4. Gardner had threatened to move the New Hampshire primary to as early as December of this year. Today, Gardner claimed his counterparts in Iowa and South Carolina were prepared to appear in New Hampshire to "stand in solidarity" with the Granite State, before Nevada pushed its date back.

"I want to point out, our friends in Iowa and South Carolina, particularly the state Republican chairs there," Gardner said, "they were very helpful at the critical time during the last month and ... demonstrating the solidarity of the early states. Both were willing to come here to demonstrate solidarity, if necessary."

According to state law, Gardner -- who has unilateral authority to set the date -- must schedule the primary at least seven days before any "similar event." But in 1996 and 2000, New Hampshire went just four days before Delaware. Many have argued Nevada was not a similar contest, because it is a caucus.

But shrugging off the controversy surrounding the date, Gardner said this wasn't even the most difficult decision he's had to make in setting the date, since he's been doing so since 1976.

"In my opinion, the most difficult was 1984," he said, adding, "We've been closer, if you consider the cliff being going the year before."

"I thought after the next cycle we wouldn't have to face this a again and I'm hopeful in the next cycle we won't have to face this again, but there is no simple answer."

Gardner also praised pressure brought on Nevada by the Republican National Committee.

"What they demonstrated, they were willing to do," he said, "help in that process. It was a good thing."

And, of course, he stressed the importance of the Granite State's primary.

"No one has finished below second and become president since we've started listing the candidates," Gardner said.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) laid out a grim forecast for his expectations of the deficit supercommittee on Wednesday, telling reporters that he is "hopeful" they will strike a deal, but that his personal "expectations for the success of the committee are low".

While Hoyer has faith that "all 12 members are desirous of getting an agreement," he argued that both sides will have to make concessions that they might not like.  "All of these decisions are tough, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people," Hoyer said.

The comments come a day after an open supercommittee hearing saw testimony criticizing both Republican and Democratic members of the committee for clinging to sacred cows in the budget and tax code.

The four witnesses, which included the leaders of two previous deficit reduction groups, stressed the need for a large, balanced approached that included both entitlement reforms and revenue increases.

"I have great respect for each of you individually, but collectively, I'm worried you're going to fail -- fail the country," Erskine Bowles, the former White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton, told supercommittee members at the hearing. 

According to one Democratic aide, Republicans on the supercommittee are "not engaged" on talks to increase revenue, saying, "It's frustrating to see one side reaching out and the other side beholden to Grover Norquist," referring to the influential tax activist and Americans for Tax Reform president.

Hoyer echoed the calls for a balanced approach, saying it would "send a message to the American people." 

"Everything needs to be on the table," he said, "We need to come at this with an honest view of making sure that our budget and our entitlement programs, because they are so important to people, are fiscally sustainable."

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and his wife Diana will dine Wednesday evening with Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden at the Vice President’s residence at the Naval Observatory.

But while many outside Washington may find this dinner pairing odd, considering the well-known public exchanges between President Obama and the majority leader, an underreported story in the capital is the friendship between Biden and Cantor.

This past summer, Biden led of series of discussions known on Capitol Hill as "the Biden talks." They started at Blair House and were meant as an attempt for Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement on the nation's debt limit well ahead of the deadline for when it would expire.

While the talks ultimately failed when Cantor pulled out due to concerns about higher taxes, a mutual respect and friendship between the Majority Leader and the Vice President was conceived. Biden went so far as to say about Cantor in June: “He’s smart as hell. I’ve really enjoyed working with Eric Cantor for real.”

A GOP Leadership aide said this regarding the dinner:

"Leader Cantor has a great respect for and built a friendship with Vice President Biden from their work earlier this year, and this social dinner is a continuation of that friendship with their wives.  They've been trying to get together for some time, really enjoy 'hangin.'"

On the menu? Sautéed red snapper with roasted tomato relish.

MCLEAN, Va. -- Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain said his campaign is between the point of destruction and acceptance.

Speaking to the Consumer Electronics Association, Cain recounted the accuracy of a story relayed to him about the stages of presidential campaigns. They are: 1) ignore, 2) ridicule, 3) destroy, 4) accept.

Referencing the third step, Cain said, “Well, we got a little of that this week," referring to the controversy that has erupted following his acknowledgment of a settlement of sexual harassment complaints during his time at the National Restaurant Association.

“There are factions that are trying to destroy me personally, as well as this campaign,” Cain said.

But he remained confident that voters will lift him from stage three to four.

He focused on his campaign during the top of his speech, then talked to the group about the importance of technology.

It is Cain’s third day of appearances in the Washington, DC area. From here he addresses Docs4PatientCare, then heads to Capitol Hill this afternoon.

Drip, drip, drip: Lawyer for one of Cain’s female accusers asks National Restaurant Association to release her from confidentiality agreement… New York Times reports the other female accuser received a $35,000 severance payment (her annual salary)… Cain declares that race has played a role in this story… Another busy DC day for Cain: He already addressed the Consumer Electronics Association in McLean, VA… At 10:40 am ET in Alexandria, VA, he speaks at a doctor’s group opposed to the federal health-care law… And he visits Capitol Hill at 2:30 pm… Don’t forget the other Cain story out there… Where would Pawlenty be if he were still in the race?... Quinnipiac poll: Cain still leads and Obama approval ticks up… Priorities USA Action hits Romney… And AZ Republicans oust independent redistricting chair.

*** Drip, drip, drip: The story that has been bedeviling Herman Cain over the past couple of days isn’t going away, at least not anytime soon. First, the lawyer representing one of the women who accused Cain of inappropriate sexual behavior is asking the National Restaurant Association to release her from her confidentiality agreement so she can tell her side of the story. “She would like to speak out for the record, only because Mr. Cain has stated that he didn’t sexually harass anyone, there wasn’t any substance to the allegations, and basically made it look like she was some type of frivolous claimant just looking for money,” lawyer Joel Bennett told NBC News. He added, “There was more than one incident that my client perceived as sexual harassment.” So far, this has been a he-said story. But if one of the women goes public, it becomes he-said/she-said -- and perhaps something he can’t overcome, especially if there are new facts introduced.

*** Two immediate questions for Cain: Second, the New York Times reported last night that the other female accuser received a $35,000 severance payment -- her annual salary -- from the National Restaurant Association. “One former colleague familiar with the details said such a severance was not common, especially for an employee with the woman’s relatively short tenure and her pay grade.” So these revelations raise two questions for Cain. One, will he urge the National Restaurant Association to release Female A from her confidentiality agreement, especially after mentioning in an interview that her work had been subpar? And two, if the complaint by Female B has no merit, why did she reportedly receive a year’s severance payment? Cain was asked the first question in an interview on FOX last night, but didn’t truly answer it. “I can't answer that now … because there are legal implications if the Restaurant Association waves that… I can't give you a definitive answer on that until we consult with our legal attorneys.” The National Restaurant Association also says it hasn’t yet been officially contacted by Bennett, Female A’s attorney.

AP

Republican Herman Cain at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Monday, October 31, 2011.

*** The Amazing Race: At his National Press Club appearance on Monday, Cain was asked this question: How much of a role does race play in President Obama’s current political problems? He responded, “I don't think people being uncomfortable with this president has anything whatsoever to do with his race. It's bad policy that people have problem with this president.” But when Cain was asked on FOX last night if race was playing a role with HIS OWN political problem right now (re: the sexual-harassment allegations), he answered in the affirmative. “I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it.” Moreover, a pro-Cain Super PAC released a fundraising solicitation entitled: “Don't let the media ‘lynch’ another black conservative.” It went on to say, “The left is trying to destroy Herman Cain -- just like they did to Clarence Thomas. They are engaging in a ‘high tech’ lynching by smearing his reputation and attacking his character.” Here’s something to chew on: At this same point in the 2008 cycle, Obama had invoked his race far less than Cain currently has. 

*** Another busy day in DC for Cain: There will be plenty of opportunities for Cain to answer these two questions today, with numerous DC-based reporters following him around. Already this morning, Cain addressed the Consumer Electronics Association in McLean, VA. At 10:40 am ET in Alexandria, VA, he speaks to a doctor’s group opposed to the federal health-care law. And at 2:30 pm, he meets with members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

*** Don’t forget the other Cain story out there: While the political world is focused on these sexual-harassment allegations, there’s another Cain story that could prove to be as problematic for his campaign. We mentioned the story on Monday, but it bears repeating again. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Herman Cain's two top campaign aides [Mark Block and Linda Hansen] ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas - something that might breach federal tax and campaign law, according to sources and documents. Internal financial records … show that Prosperity USA said it was owed about $40,000 by the Cain campaign for a variety of items in February and March. Cain began taking donations for his presidential bid on Jan. 1.”

*** Where would Pawlenty be if he were still in the race? Yesterday, Jonah Goldberg (and others) asked this question: What if Pawlenty were still in the race? It’s a question worth pondering in the wake of the allegations against Cain and Perry’s and Bachmann’s decline in the polls. Goldberg wrote, “His problem stemmed from the fact that he's a vanilla guy who thought he needed to convince conservatives he was a more exciting flavor. He should have waited, because vanilla may not be anyone's first choice, but it's almost everyone's second choice.” Ironically, Pawlenty’s own initial analysis of the 2012 GOP Primary back in 2010 was that this would be two primaries: one to BECOME the anti-Romney, and then one with Romney. As Pawlenty found out the hard way, it was perhaps too soon to drop out of the anti-Romney primary.

*** Q Poll: Cain still leads the GOP field, Obama approval ticks up: Meanwhile, a new national Quinnipiac poll (conducted Oct. 25-31, so mostly before the original Politico story on Cain came out) still shows the ex-Godfather’s Pizza CEO leading the GOP lead. Cain is at 30% among GOP primary voters, followed by Romney at 23%, Gingrich at 10%, and Perry at 8%. The poll also shows an increase in President Obama’s approval rating – from 41%-55% in early October to 47%-49% now. In hypothetical head-to-head match ups, Obama leads Romney by five points (47%-42%), Cain by 10 (50%-40%), and Perry by 16 (52%-36%).

*** Priorities USA Action hits Romney: While Cain and Perry (to a lesser extent) are grabbing the political world’s attention this week, Obama’s allies are trying to keep Mitt Romney in the news. The pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action hits Romney in a new internet/social media ad; in fact, it appears to be the first advertising to use that widely circulated Bain Capital photo of Romney. The ad’s charge: Romney’s vision for America -- “Medicare dismantled, Planned Parenthood defunded, global warming ignored, college aid slashed, health-insurance reform repealed.” Meanwhile, check out who Romney is targeting with a new Web ad -- not Cain, but Perry, the guy garnering 4^th or 5^th in most polls.

*** AZ GOPers oust independent redistricting chair: And don’t miss this story: “Arizona’s Senate on Tuesday night ousted the chairwoman of the citizens’ commission charged with redrawing political boundaries, igniting a fierce legal battle over whether the state’s Republican leaders were interfering in a redistricting process that voters sought to insulate from politics,” the New York Times writes. “Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, proposed the removal of Colleen C. Mathis, the chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission, and the Republican-controlled State Senate voted 21 to 6 to carry it out.” Arizona has been the venue for plenty of highly charged political stories. This is just the latest example.

*** On the 2012 trail: Romney is raising money in New York City (where NBC’s Garrett Haake reports that 15-20 protestors have assembled outside)… Bachmann and Santorum campaign in Iowa… Huntsman stumps in South Carolina… And at 11:00 am ET, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner announces the date of the Granite State primary; it’s expected to take place on Jan. 10.

*** Wednesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) on 2012 and the economy… The Economist’s Greg Ip and National Journal’s Jim Tankersley on what Greece means for the U.S… Latest news from the trail with NBC News Campaign Embeds Alex Moe in Iowa, Jo Ling Kent in New Hampshire and Ali Weinberg in South Carolina… More on the Cain story and other 2012 headlines with Roll Call’s David Drucker, MSNBC Political Analyst Michelle Bernard, and former Obama White House Communications Director Anita Dunn.

*** Wednesday’s Jansing & Company line-up: Chris Jansing will interview Bloomberg’s Jeanne Cummings (on the new Quinnipiac poll), Super Committee member James Clyburn (D), and former Obama deficit-reduction co-chair Erskine Bowles (D).

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Pawlenty, Super Committee member Xavier Becerra (D), MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (on his new book), Dem strategist Bill Burton, former RNC Chair Michael Steele, NBC’s Tom Brokaw, NBC’s Martin Fletcher, and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza.

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 6 days
Countdown to Iowa caucuses: 62 days
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 80 days
Countdown to Florida primary: 90 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 94 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 125 days

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BACHMANN: She took a veiled swipe at Herman Cain in Iowa: "This is the year when we can't have any surprises with our candidate,” per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod. She also said, “It was an odd feeling for me, when I had the sense that the Lord was calling me to participate in this race.”

CAIN: The increasingly elusive Herman Cain snuck into Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington through an adjacent loading dock. And the presidential hopeful was able to leave almost equally undetected -- through the restaurant's front door, NBC’s Andrew Rafferty reports. Throngs of reporters staked out the steak house tonight, where inside Cain had dinner with more than 10 senators. NBC saw and chatted with two senators -- Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND). Hoeven said he was invited by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).

Both senators made very clear they were there simply to meet a presidential candidate they had not met before and not an endorsement. When Corker was asked if Cain was someone Republicans could unite around, he responded, "I'm a senator, and I'm into issues and again I'll let the American people decide that." When Corker was asked if the allegations came up in discussion, he said, "I came in late; I've been to a number of events tonight and I think, again, the focus was on the issues."  Any talk of the scandal was not brought up while Corker was there, he said. When Hoeven was asked about the scandal surrounding Cain, he responded, "This is a chance to get to know him a little bit, have a nice conversation."

National Journal reported on others in attendance, including Sens. James Risch, (R-ID), a Romney endorser, Lamar Alexander, (R-TN), Rob Portman, (R-OH), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Richard Burr (R-NC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ron Johnson (R-WI).

“Dogged by sexual harassment allegations from the 1990s, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is trying to project an image of campaign business as usual Wednesday even as the lawyer for one of his accusers seeks to free her from a confidentiality agreement so she can tell her side of the story,” AP writes. “The Georgia businessman planned to give a speech on health care in northern Virginia followed by a trip to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional Republicans amid fallout from the disclosure that at least two female employees got financial payouts from the National Restaurant Association after complaining that Cain, who led the trade group at the time, had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior. Wednesday was supposed to be the culmination of a three-day attempt at courting official Washington. But it was clear that furor wasn't going away.”

HUNTSMAN: GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman called for the breaking up of oil monopolies, elimination of energy subsidies, and increased domestic drilling in a speech yesterday detailing his energy policy today, NBC’s Jo Ling Kent reports from Durham and Portsmouth, N.H. Speaking to approximately 200 University of New Hampshire students and voters, Huntsman unveiled a three-point plan which he promised would "remove regulatory restraints," break "oil's monopoly on transportation fuel," and foster an economic environment that would "incubate the next generation of energy technologies."

PERRY: The Boston Globe points out that Perry’s New Hampshire ad buy comes on the same day as the Granite State is set to announce its primary date, which is expected to be Jan. 10. “The new ad buy comes as Perry is trying to revamp his campaign. After struggling in several debates, Perry hired new senior staff and released his economic plan. He traveled to New Hampshire last week to file as a candidate for president and make several campaign stops,” the Globe writes.

It's not uncommon for the president to do quick interviews with local news stations as he's traveling around the country.  But yesterday’s setup at the White House was a little unusual, NBC’s Shawna Thomas reported. The White House invited 10 stations, including three NBC affiliates, WAVY, KUSA and KGW, to send anchors to interview the president and then report live from the White House South Lawn.  While the local stations had questions specific to their areas, the president used the time to further push the components of the American Jobs Act.

The president in an interview with WAVY harkened back to the Clinton years: "One way of looking at it is we tried this experiment in the 90s under Bill Clinton. We had slightly higher tax rates. Everybody was paying their fair share. Twenty-two million jobs created and by the way businesses did better than ever. Between 200 and 2010 we lowered those rates for people at the very top and we had very little job growth. So we've tried both approaches."

Tom Schaad from WAVY said in a lunch with White House Senior Advisor David Plouffe, Plouffe explained how stations were chosen. “They selected certain stations, No. 1 TV stations, in certain markets in certain states,” Schaad said. “One from each state that they thought was very important to get this message out about the jobs bill.”

The New York Times: “A co-chairman of President Obama’s fiscal commission told members of a powerful Congressional panel on deficit reduction Tuesday that he feared they would fail, and he said the consequences of such failure could be calamitous. Four experts on fiscal policy — two Democrats and two Republicans — told the panel that Congress should reduce the budget deficit by adopting spending cuts and increases in tax revenues. One co-chairman of the president’s fiscal commission, Erskine B. Bowles, said he had great respect for each member of the committee, but added, ‘I am worried you’re going to fail — fail the country.’”

Just wow… “Arizona’s Senate on Tuesday night ousted the chairwoman of the citizens’ commission charged with redrawing political boundaries, igniting a fierce legal battle over whether the state’s Republican leaders were interfering in a redistricting process that voters sought to insulate from politics,” the New York Times writes. “Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, proposed the removal of Colleen C. Mathis, the chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission, and the Republican-controlled State Senate voted 21 to 6 to carry it out.” Arizona has been the venue for plenty of highly charged political stories. This is just the latest example.

More: “Arizona voters decided in 2000 that a citizens’ commission of two Republicans, two Democrats and an independent chairman would draw political lines and that commissioners could be removed only for “substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office or inability to discharge the duties of office.” The governor accused Ms. Mathis, who is registered as an independent, of improperly conducting commission business out of public view and of skewing the redistricting process toward Democrats. Paul Charlton, a former United States attorney who is representing Ms. Mathis, dismissed those accusations and said Ms. Brewer and other Republican politicians in the state were politicizing the process because they were frustrated that they could not control it.”