RANDOLPH, NH -- Stopping to gas up his campaign bus at a tiny service station along Route 2 here in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney got the chance to reminisce about a great love he doesn't much talk about: his cars.

Born in the suburbs of Detroit, and raised in the industry -- his father, George Romney, was the CEO of American Motors -- it should come as no surprise that Romney is something of a car buff.

Today, at this isolated gas and service station, the press corps got a glimpse of Romney's background as a car guy when the former Massachusetts governor saw a photo of a 1955 Nash Metropolitan taped to the wall behind the counter. The Metropolitan was a creation of Nash Motors, one half of the merger that created American Motors in 1954.

"Who had the Metropolitan? Do you still have the Metropolitan?" Romney asked the crowd gathered around him, before spotting the owner. "Do you want to sell it?"

Without missing a beat, the car's owner replied simply: "Ten thousand dollars."

Romney caught the joke on his infamous bet with Rick Perry, and he responded dryly, "That's way too expensive for my tastes."

Romney's eyes wandered over the other cars pictured on the wall. He noted other classics like a 1955 Ford and a Ford Fairlane 500. But his heart was set on the Metropolitan.

"Will it start, you think?" He asked the car's owner. "Back to your Metropolitan, are you really selling that? Are you thinking about it?"

Romney, who was quoted in the past saying he owns "a couple" of Cadillacs,  revealed a little bit more of what he has parked in his garages in Belmont, MA and La Jolla, CA.

"I've got a 62 Rambler, American, convertible, that my son gave me for my birthday," Romney said to a patron at the gas station, before turning back to his new obsession. "But I'd love to get a Metropolitan."

And when his wife, Ann, got wind some years that Romney was scouring eBay for a late 60s model Mustang, she bought him an orange, convertible 2005 model instead.

"It has the look, but not the classic history," Romney said of the '05 Mustang, before declaring the car "a great gift."

And while the owner of the Metropolitan today might not be selling, Romney said he has his sights set on another classic car, some day down the line.

"Someday when I have the time to fuss with a car that's temperamental and needs repair all the time I might think about an old Mustang or a old Corvette," Romney said. "I would love to get an early 1950s vintage Corvette."

Christmas, after all, is just around the corner.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- What is on President Obama’s Christmas list?

It's Newt Gingrich being the eventual Republican nominee, according to a pro-Romney Super PAC.

“President Obama wants just one thing this Christmas,” reads the piece of literature from the political action committee, Restore Our Future.

The mailer goes on to link Gingrich with President Obama -- specifically having both supported taxpayer-funded abortions and redistribution of wealth. (The abortion charge is ironic, given that Romney supported abortion rights until six years ago.)

“Two men. Neither is conservative. Neither is consistent. Neither should be president,” the flip side of the mailer reads.

The Super PAC has been running some $3 million in negative TV ads against Gingrich, as well as releasing numerous mailers with similar messages.

All the Restore Our Future mailers, including this new Christmas one, asks caucus-goers to ask themselves one thing on Jan. 3: “Who is the consistent conservative who can actually defeat President Obama? IT’S NOT NEWT GINGRICH.”

The Gingrich campaign might be able breathe a sigh of relief.

After Newt Gingrich's third event in less than 24 hours in Virginia, the former House speaker announced that his campaign has secured enough signatures to be on the ballot in the state.

"It's very exciting to be on the ballot," Gingrich told the crowd in Richmond at a "Virginians With Newt" rally.

"Under the state laws, you have to get, every single congressional district has to have about 400 signatures," he said at what appeared to be one of his smallest crowds in weeks. "So we set out to get 600 per district to make sure that we had more than enough. And we've achieved it."

"I think we're going to file something like 13 or 14 thousand signatures. You need 10 [thousand] to be on the ballot."

The campaign delivered the signatures late Thursday afternoon, a spokesman told NBC News.

NBC'S Matt Loffman contributed to this report.

It now appears there may be a deal on extending the payroll tax cut.

Sources say the agreement was brokered by the chiefs of staff to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid and Boehner, however, have not spoken yet.

It was hammered out by phone and email since top aides are scattered.

There will be a 5:00 pm ET conference call with House Republican members, in which they will learn the terms of the agreement. There is always the caution that until members give feedback, this remains tentative.

It would be expected that Boehner would announce a deal first later today at the earliest. The president would likely speak later.

Under the agreement, one of the tweaks to the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut would make the payroll reporting requirement easier for small businesses.

If the House acts and passes the short-term extension, the Senate could pass this by unanimous consent without calling senators back in person.

*** UPDATE *** Boehner just released this statement:

“Sen. Reid and I have reached an agreement that will ensure taxes do not increase for working families on January 1 while ensuring that a complex new reporting burden is not unintentionally imposed on small business job creators.  Under the terms of our agreement, a new bill will be approved by the House that reflects the bipartisan agreement in the Senate along with new language that allows job creators to process and withhold payroll taxation under the same accounting structure that is currently in place.  The Senate will join the House in immediately appointing conferees, with instructions to reach agreement in the weeks ahead on a full-year payroll tax extension. We will ask the House and Senate to approve this agreement by unanimous consent before Christmas. I thank our Members – particularly those who have remained here in the Capitol with the holidays approaching – for their efforts to enact a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut for working families.”

OTTUMWA, Iowa -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry was fired up the minute he got off the bus here.

Perry, fresh from watching President Obama's address to urge Congress to pass a temporary extension to the payroll tax cut, today slammed the president for having "messed up" priorities on taxes and putting stimulus and bailout funds "down a rathole" rather than focusing on job creation.

"I just saw the president on TV talking about this extension of the payroll tax," an animated Perry told about 100 Iowans at Kuhly's Bar and Grill in Ottumwa. "And he's standing up talking about $40 a paycheck and what that means. Let me ask you all something. Are you better off today than you were $4 trillion ago? Somebody needs to ask this president about the $4 trillion that he basically has put down a rathole, that didn't create any jobs, that put this country in the economic condition that it's in."

"I will suggest to you his priorities are so messed up," he added with visible frustration.

"He's worried about a temporary tax cut, when we ought to be talking about freeing entrepreneurs so that they have the confidence that they can create jobs in this country, putting people back to work," he said to applause. "That's what this president ought to be talking about. But he's more interested in playing politics.

The Texas governor did not specifically mention the role congressional Republicans are playing in the Capitol Hill standoff over the cut. (He ignored shouted questions from reporters yesterday on the impasse as well.)

Perry spokesman Mark Miner told reporters after the event that the Texas governor is opposed to the payroll tax cut extension for any amount of time, because he believes the entire tax system should be overhauled. That opposition is independent of the tax cut's attachment to a measure expediting a decision on whether to build the Keystone XL pipeline. Perry supports the building of that pipeline and routinely speaks at length about it on the stump.

But the moment offered Perry -- who often criticizes the president's "radical environmental base" for its opposition to the pipeline -- another opportunity to mount a passionate defense of more open domestic energy production.

"He's on television not 10 minutes ago talking about how that $40 out of that payroll tax was going to cost a man $40 a month to drive to see his father, to take care of his father in another city," Perry said of the president. "Hey, Mr. President, how about opening up some energy resources in this country and that's the way you drive down the cost of energy? That's the way you put people to work. That's the way the American people want you to act. Not playing politics."

Meanwhile, in Tama, IA, fellow presidential candidate Michele Bachmann also commented on the payroll tax debate. "The president and all 535 members need to sit down and make a decision that they aren't going to spend one more dime than what we take in in revenue.  And we got to get the problem solved," she said.

"This is a big mess, and no one wants to address it, and I will. I will walk in and lead and that's what needs to be done."

Standing in front of people who wrote the White House about how they’re helped by the payroll-tax cut, President Obama today once again called upon Congress to extend the holiday as well as unemployment insurance. “This is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. How can we not get that done?" 

The president added, "I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things, we can't do it."

But Obama avoided placing the blame for the standoff in Congress on any one person.

“Democrats and even some Republicans in the House voted for that compromise. I am ready to sign that compromise into law the second it lands on my desk. So far, the only reason it hasn't landed on my desk ... is because a faction of House Republicans have refused to support this compromise.”

In a statement he released today, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) -- who represents a competitive congressional district -- called on House Republican leaders to bring up the Senate's two-month extension for an up-or-down vote. 

Earlier this week, House GOP leaders refused to bring up the Senate legislation -- which passed by an overwhelming 89-10 margin -- for an up-or-down vote, suggesting that it could have passed if they did.

"I've said all along I'd be willing to support a two-month payroll tax cut extension if that was our only option. The Senate's refusal to work with the House to hammer out the differences in our bills before Christmas has left us with few other options," Duffy said. "That's why today I'm calling on GOP leadership to immediately bring up the Senate's two-month extension for an up or down vote."

In addition, freshman Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) called on Speaker John Boehner to have an up-or-down vote on the Senate payroll taxcut compromise on the House floor.

This is significant because Crawford is seen as a leader among his fellow freshman. Throughout this year, Crawford has organized several press conferences and has tried to garner media attention to the freshman cause.

"My constituents need a Congress that is willing to put all options on the table, even those that are not yearlong plans, to avoid higher taxes on more than 160 million Americans," Crawford said.

The Ron Paul campaign says a new TV ad -- featuring the candidate's son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) -- will air in Iowa and New Hampshire Dec. 24-25 (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).

Wearing a coat and tie, Sen. Paul suggests that his father helped drive the Tea Party movement.
 
“The Tea Party began as a protest against politicians who supported more debt and bigger government. My father, Ron Paul, stood against the establishment and against government bailouts.”

Keeping in the spirit of the season, Sen. Paul is in front of a Christmas tree and wishes viewers a “Merry Christmas." Then he says, "God bless America."

BERLIN, NH -- Former President George H.W. Bush told his hometown newspaper this week that he has come to a decision who to support in the 2012 Republican presidential field: Mitt Romney.

“I think Romney is the best choice for us,” said Bush in a story published by the Houston Chronicle today. “I like Perry, but he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; he’s not surging forward.”

Bush further outlined his reasons for supporting Romney over Perry, or any other GOP candidate: “stability, experience, principles. He’s a fine person,” Bush told the Chronicle “I just think he’s mature and reasonable – not a bomb-thrower.”

After chatting with the former president over the phone this afternoon, Romney briefed reporters.

"I'm very encouraged by the support of President Bush for my campaign," Romney told reporters gathered outside his campaign bus. "Obviously, as you can tell, there's growing momentum for this effort here in New Hampshire and across the country, and I had the chance to chat with the president this afternoon and wish him a Merry Christmas. He did the same to me."

Romney added that the former president's support was more meaningful than just another endorsement.

"I must admit this is much more important to me personally than even politically," he said. "He's a real hero to me and to my family and I appreciate his support."

Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, who served as Bush's chief of staff and is now one of Romney's top supporters in New Hampshire, echoed that sentiment.

"I think its as good as you can get, really. I can't imagine anybody running for president today who doesn't get a warm feeling getting an endorsement from George Herbert Walker Bush," Sununu said. "And as Gov. Romney said, it not only has an impact politically, but for him it means a lot personally." 

Romney and Bush are described by aides to Romney as close, and Bush knew Romney's father George, a former governor of Michigan and presidential candidate, as well.

Bush has had kind things to say of Romney in the past.

"We like Mitt Romney. We know him well and like him very much," the former president told CNN's Larry King last November. "He's a reasonable guy. A conservative fellow, which is good. But, no, I think he'd be a good president, a very good president."

The two men met for lunch in Houston on Dec. 1, and while Romney said today that they did talk politics that day, he would not divulge specifics.

"We talked about the campaign and the various candidates, and I won't characterize what each of us said, and talked about our political prospects and how the campaign was going," Romney said. "They did give some advice, again I'm not going to divulge the comments they made but no, no they're friendly. There was no intrigue of any kind just a nice conversation, the president and the first lady are well and sharp as tacks."

In an op-ed in The State newspaper today, comedian Stephen Colbert explained his offer to front $400,000 for the South Carolina Republican primary -- in exchange for the naming rights to the contest and a non-binding referendum on the ballot asking whether voters believed a) “corporations are people” or b) “only people are people.”

He wrote that the South Carolina Republican party no longer needed his money after a November Supreme Court decision ruled that counties, not the state party, were responsible for some of the costs of conducting the primary. (Before 2008, the state party paid all costs). The ruling also banned non-binding referenda from the ballot.

But, Colbert wrote, “being Southern gentlemen, [the S.C. GOP] graciously offered to still want” his offer, telling him he could still buy the primary’s naming rights. Colbert said he cut the offer in half to $200,000 but was turned down.

“They told the press that my requests, ‘were considered but were declined,’ because they, ‘were concerned about the sanctity of the primary election.'"

He added, “If nothing else good comes from this, we have at least narrowed down the exact value of sanctity — somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000."

While Colbert withdrew his initial offer, he put $500,000 back on the table after the South Carolina GOP announced last week that it would only allocate $180,000 in filing fees towards funding the primary, instead of the approximately $1 million it had hoped to raise -- putting counties on the line for the rest of the money.

“The counties need the money, and Colbert Super PAC wants to give it to you; call it a Christmas Miracle. I’ve already filled out the check, and to prove it’s no joke, I’ve written “No Joke” in the memo line. I’m going to be home in South Carolina over the holidays, so just give me a call. Both state parties have my contact info,” Colbert wrote.

In an email to NBC News, South Carolina executive director Matt Moore suggested that the party first considered Colbert’s offer as a private gesture. “Stephen Colbert, as a private citizen, called out of the clear blue and made an unsolicited offer to help his home state. We were intrigued and met with him, but also wary. We determined it was not in the State Party's best interests to accept Stephen's offer.

“Despite our repeatedly saying 'no,' Stephen Colbert, the comedian, seems intent on being involved. It's exactly why we were wary in the first place.”

BURLINGTON, Iowa -- It's a very Perry Christmas in Iowa.

On his final day of campaigning before the holiday break, Texas Gov. Rick Perry visited the press bus -- decked out by its road-weary journalists with colored lights -- to wish reporters traveling with him a Merry Christmas.

He shared how he likes to celebrate Christmas morning by videotaping his children (now ages 25 and 28) getting out of bed and opening gifts, a tradition that he joked has gone from charming to charmingly "lame" as his kids have aged.

"Here's what they hate. Because I take my video camera out, and I video them in bed. And they're pulling the covers over their head. And it's like 'C'mon Dad, I'm grown, would you cut it out?' I have them from every year -- like from when they were itty bitty, two or three years old getting up, going in to look at the Christmas tree."

By now, he jokes, the response from his children is less enthusiastic than when Griffin and Sydney Perry were still at the age of having sugarplums dancing in their heads. "It's kinda like 'Dad, you are so lame.'" he said.

But, Perry added, "I think they would be disappointed if I didn't" carry on the tradition.

Some of the other holiday facts the presidential candidate shared:

-- His wife Anita's gift is a "nice bag" that she picked out (their deal is that she picks, he pays, so he hasn't seen it yet). His gift from her remains "a big secret."

-- His favorite Christmas movie is "It's a Wonderful Life" (because of its portrayal of small community banks)

-- His family's favorite Christmas album is one recorded by Clay Walker (also the artist who performs Perry's campaign song "We're All American")

-- Dinner in the Perry household will be "turkey and dressin'" with a dessert of black cherry Jell-O with cream cheese topping

-- They will attend Christmas Eve service at Lake Hills Church in Austin

Perry said he won't be able to make the drive out to his hometown of Paint Creek this year to see his aging parents, although he plans to visit his in-laws in College Station, TX.

But his family understands that this holiday season isn't exactly like Christmases past, he said.

"They know this year's kinda different."

After days of silence, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is calling on the House GOP to pass the two-month payroll-tax-cut extension -- and for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) to appoint negotiators to work with the House on a long-term deal after that extension is passed.

"House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms," his statement says. "These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both."

House Speaker John Boehner's office had this response: "The House and Senate have two different bills, but the same goal," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. "That is why we believe, as Senator McConnell suggested, the two chambers should work to reconcile the two bills so that we can provide a full year of payroll tax relief -- and do it before year's end."

This morning, Boehner's office says he called President Obama to urge action on a one-year extension, but president Obama declined.

"Today, Speaker Boehner called President Obama to discuss the Speaker's desire to provide a full year of tax relief for American families before December 31st," a Boehner aide said in a written statement. "With Senator Reid having declined to call his Members back to Washington this week to join the House in negotiating a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut, the Speaker proposed that the President send members of his economic policy team up to Congress to find a way to accommodate the President's full-year request. The Speaker explained his concern that flaws in the Senate-passed bill will be unworkable for many small business job creators. He reiterated that if their shared goal is a one-year bill, there is no reason an agreement cannot be reached before year's end. The President declined the Speaker's offer."

A Democratic leadership aide said Senate Democrats are "happy" to begin negotiating with the House once Boehner says he'll hold a vote and pass the Senate two-month payroll-tax-cut extension. 

"We have been saying all along that if the House passes the Senate's compromise to ensure there is no tax hike on Jan. 1, we can immediately begin negotiating the full-year extension," the aide said. "It's important to now hear from the Speaker. As we have said, we are happy to start negotiating a full-year extension when the House passes the short-term compromise."

Here is McConnell's full statement:

"The House and Senate have both passed bipartisan bills to require the President to quickly make a decision on whether to support thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs through the Keystone XL pipeline, and to extend unemployment insurance, the temporary payroll tax cut and seniors' access to medical care. There is no reason why Congress and the President cannot accomplish all of these things before the end of the year.  House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms. These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both. Working Americans have suffered enough from the President's failed economic policies and shouldn't face the uncertainty of a New Year's Day tax hike. Leader Reid should appoint conferees on the long-term bill and the House should pass an extension that locks in the thousands of Keystone XL pipeline jobs, prevents any disruption in the payroll tax holiday or other expiring provisions, and allows Congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions."

Ron Paul is coming under the microscope now that he is seen as having a real chance at winning Iowa.

Yesterday, the Texas congressman, who has the best organization in Iowa, was pressed on CNN about controversial statements in a newsletter published 20-plus years ago. Some conservatives are now taking aim, with one columnist even comparing him to Jeremiah Wright, the controversial former Obama pastor.

But there are plenty of issues of substance -- and positions he holds today -- that, although they're consistent with Paul's libertarian views, are potentially problematic with the conservative base and the general electorate. (We wrote about some of these issues back in August.)

Here's a look:

-- No federal regulations for car safety, medicines, even air traffic control: BRIAN WILLIAMS: "Does this include things like making cars safe, making medicine safe, air traffic control controlling the jets above our heads?"

PAUL: "I think in theory, if you understood the free market in a free society, you don't need government to do that. … On regulations, no, I don't believe in any of these federal regulations ... [W]ho ends up doing the regulations on the drugs? They do as much harm as good. They don't take good care of us ... [D]o we need the federal government to tell us whether we buy a safe car? I say the consumers of America are smart enough to decide what kind of car they can buy and whether it's safe or not ..." (NBC-Politico debate in September)

-- Don’t regulate raw milk: "This idea that the [FDA] is going to take care of us — they end up interfering with choices," Paul said in Iowa, adding, "So my ideal, as a symbol of moving in a different direction, I would like to restore your right to drink raw milk any time you want to drink it."

-- Heroin, marijuana, cocaine, prostitution OK if states allow them: "... In essence, if I leave it to the states, it's going to be up to the states. Up until this past century, you know for 100 years, they were legal. What you're inferring is 'You know what? If we legalize heroin tomorrow, everybody is going to use heroin.' How many people here would use heroin if it was legal? I bet nobody would."

-- No air conditioning for troops (as a way to bring them home): "We're spending -- believe it or not, this blew my mind when I read this -- $20 billion a year for air conditioning in Afghanistan and Iraq in the tents over there and all the air conditioning. Cut that $20 billion out, bring in -- take $10 billion off the debt, and put $10 billion into FEMA or whoever else needs it, child health care or whatever," he said at the NBC News-POLITICO debate. "But I'll tell you what, if we did that and took the air conditioning out of the Green Zone, our troops would come home, and that would make me happy."

-- No FEMA: "FEMA just conditioned people to build where they shouldn't be building," Paul said at the NBC-POLITICO debate. He continued: "Yeah, my position is, we should have never had it."

-- Against the Americans with Disabilities Act: "If they mistreat people who are handicapped, don’t go. Boycott them. … No, the ADA should never have been passed. … it’s an intrusion into private property rights."

-- Believes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are unconstitutional: When it was pointed out that the Supreme Court didn't see it that way, Paul responded: "And the Constitution and the courts said slavery was legal too, and we had to reverse that."

-- OK with prosecuting CIA for "war crimes": He said they are bombing people in Pakistan with predator drones, adding, "I don’t want the secrecy of the CIA." And he accused the agency of being "over there torturing people."

"They committed all kinds of war crimes and tortured people and killed people, committed assassination. Right now, our CIA's running the predator program, bombing citizens and not all of them -- They claim they're bombing terrorists, but they're bombing a lot of innocent citizens in Pakistan. No, they shouldn't have this secrecy ... I don't want the secrecy of the CIA, I don't think they provide any services ... For them to be over there and torturing people, so that we're safer -- I think it's destroying the soul of America by permitting that."

-- OK with Iran having a nuclear weapon: Asked specifically if Iran wanted to develop a nuclear weapon, Paul said that it’s their right to have them. “Why would that be so strange if the Soviets and the Chinese have nuclear weapons? We tolerated the Soviets. We didn’t attack them.”

What we learned from the Romney interview… It’s getting hot in here: Romney vs. Gingrich… And how does the standoff over the payroll tax cut end?... And Happy Holidays!

*** What we learned from the Romney interview: Yesterday, one of us had the opportunity to interview GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the on-again/off-again front-runner. And we learned several things from the interview. For starters, he embraced the individual health-care mandate he helped establish in Massachusetts, calling it the “conservative” option. Also, he responded to the flip-flop charge by noting that he’s become more conservative over the years. “Well, I’m going to say to you that obviously the place that my change was most significant in people’s minds was in regard to the issue of abortion... Have I become more conservative over the last few years? Absolutely. My experience as Governor and my experience in the private sector made me more conservative.”

*** On Iraq and Wall Street: On Iraq, he said the country would have not gone to war there if it knew Iraq didn’t have WMD. (Yet that contrasts with what he said at a Jan. 2008 NBC debate in Florida: “It was the right decision to go into Iraq, he said. “I supported it at the time; I support it now.”) He said he blamed Congress more than Wall Street for the financial crisis. “I think in this country there are a lot of people who were just simply wrong. They just didn’t understand what they were doing... I particularly point the finger at Congress.” Yet Romney also added that he’s for some regulation of Wall Street. “The challenge we have in party sometimes is we talk about deregulation and people assume we mean getting rid of all regulation, and well that’s not the case. You have to have regulation for markets to work, but the regulation has to be up to date, modern, encouraging free enterprise.”

*** On his tax returns and his father: In addition, Romney said he didn’t intend to release his tax returns. “I doubt it. I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth.” (Is he concerned that releasing his tax returns would show he pays less than the top income bracket?) And he said that his father, who ran for president in 1968, was a huge presence in his life. “My dad was a huge presence in my life. I respect him enormously. I wish he were able to see what I was up to right now.” But Romney disagreed with the characterization that he was trying to finish his father’s failed ’68 campaign.  

*** It’s getting hot in here… : Yesterday, we also saw one of the most heated exchanges between Romney and Newt Gingrich. It began when one of us asked Romney about the negative Super PAC ads – by a group supporting Romney – that were aimed at Gingrich. "If you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from Obama's Hell's Kitchen is going to be a heck of a lot hotter." That comment produced this response from Gingrich, per NBC’s Jo Ling Kent and Andrew Rafferty. "I'll tell you what. If he wants to test the heat, I'll meet him anywhere in Iowa next week, one-on-one, 90 minutes no moderator, just a timekeeper. He wants to try out the kitchen? I'll be happy to debate him anywhere. We'll bring his ads, and he can defend [them].” The problem that Gingrich has is this: He’s complaining about negative ads because he doesn’t have the money to air his own. That said, despite the pounding he’s received, he hasn’t collapsed the way we saw Herman Cain collapse in November and December, and we saw Rick Perry collapse in October. That’s why Romney and his allies haven’t taken their foot off the gas…

*** How does the standoff over the payroll tax cut end? No one knows the answer to that question. The White House and Democrats believe they have the political and PR advantage -- just see yesterday’s Wall Street Journal editorial page, as well as Mitch McConnell’s silence -- but they’re not sure that will force House Republicans to agree to pass the Senate legislation. But we know this: Democrats have absolutely no intention of throwing House Republicans a lifeline here. By the way, President Obama will deliver a statement on the payroll tax cut at 12:15 pm ET. And House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor are holding a press conference at 10:00 am ET.

*** On the 2012 trail: Romney is on the second day of his bus tour through New Hampshire… Bachmann, Paul, and Perry make multiple stops in Iowa… And Gingrich remains in Virginia, holding an event in Richmond.

*** Happy Holidays! The morning First Read note will return on Tuesday, Dec. 27, as we begin the mad dash to the Iowa caucuses. Of course, as always, we’ll update our blog as news warrants between now and then. Happy Holidays!

Countdown to Iowa caucuses: 12 days
Countdown to New Hampshire primary: 19 days
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 30 days
Countdown to Florida primary: 40 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 44 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 75 days
Countdown to Election Day: 322 days

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*** Thursday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Guest host Chris Cillizza interviews Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY) who is a payroll tax negotiator on to discuss the latest from the Hill… Charlie Cook and Stu Rothenberg to discuss Obama’s path to 270… And our political panel Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, USA Today’s Susan Page, and thegrio.com’s Perry Bacon will hash out Gingrich’s latest remarks.

*** Thursday’s “Jansing & Co. line-up: MSNBC’s Richard Lui interviews Grover Norquist, Dem Rep. Bill Pascrall (D-NJ), former DNC Chair Howard Dean, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Salon’s Steve Kornacki, Democratic strategist Kiki McLean, and former Bush spokesman Tony Fratto.

*** Thursday’s “Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn, former Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein, former Dem Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), and former GOP Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA).

*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: Chris Cillizza interviews NBC’s Michael Viqueira, Kelly O’Donnell, and Domenico Montanaro; GOP Rep. Greg Walden; Politico’s Roger Simon; the Perry campaign’s Ray Sullivan; Democratic strategist Jon Summers and GOP strategist David Winston; and the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart.

*** Thursday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish, as well as Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee, MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard, and Col. Jack Jacobs (on the violence in Iraq).  

GINGRICH: “Newt Gingrich has promised to run a positive presidential campaign. That, apparently, does not extend to comments about certain states,” the Boston Globe writes. “ ‘We’re thinking of having a Massachusetts rally at some point in New Hampshire, sort of a please don’t turn America into Massachusetts,’ the former House speaker told around 125 people at the Radisson Hotel. Gingrich explained to reporters later that Massachusetts, the home state of archrival Mitt Romney, is ‘a very expensive state with a very liberal political culture.’”

On FOX, Gingrich said of the pro-Romney Super PAC hitting him with negative ads: “I think he wants to run a campaign where he pretends to be positive while all of the dirty work is done by his former staffers. I don’t think the people of Iowa are that dumb.”

HUNTSMAN: He played keyboard on Letterman last night.

PAUL: Here come the Paul attacks now with his front-runner status in Iowa. GOP 12 posts a clip of him appearing to sympathize with 9/11 truthers.

The Wall Street Journal’s Rabinowitz compares Ron Paul to Jeremiah Wright. “The school, for instance, of Barack Obama's former minister famed for his ‘God d— America’ sermons: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, for whom, as for Dr. Paul, the 9/11 terror assault was only a case of victims seeking justice, of ‘America's chickens coming home to roost'.’” (Hat tip: GOP 12).

Matt Lewis writes: “Why a vote for Ron Paul in Iowa is a vote for Mitt Romney.”

“On Wednesday, CNN's Gloria Borger pressed Ron Paul over old newsletters that were published in his name and contained racist material in the 1990's,” GOP 12 writes. “He didn't like it, he walked out, the cameras got it.”

ROMNEY: “Mitt Romney rounded out a day-long bus tour around New Hampshire with a stop here in this bellwether town, where he dished out buttered spaghetti to dozens of invited guests, and parried with a 22-year-old resident about whether the United States should apologize for its actions abroad,” the Boston Globe writes. Romney first said, “I’m sure there are times when…” and then went on to again accuse President Obama of going on an “apology tour” around the world.

The Washington Post: “House Republicans faced mounting pressure Wednesday from critics inside and outside Congress who worry that their standoff with President Obama over whether to extend a payroll tax cut could do lasting damage to the GOP.”

“Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who is seeking the party’s presidential nomination, warned that the showdown could end badly for Republicans, citing his own experience in losing the political battle to President Bill Clinton during the 1996 government shutdown. ‘Incumbent presidents have enormous advantages. And I think what Republicans ought to do is what’s right for America. They ought to do it calmly and pleasantly and happily,’ Gingrich said.”

“Sen. John McCain says Congress' failure to reach agreement on legislation extending a payroll tax cut for working Americans ‘hurts the Republican Party,’” he said on CBS’s Early Show, per AP. “The GOP's 2008 presidential nominee says his party made a mistake in voting down the Senate-passed version of a bill that would have kept the current payroll tax relief intact for at least two more months.”

LITTLETON, N.H.-- New Hampshirites living south of the White Mountains would have been hard pressed not to cross paths with Mitt Romney Wednesday, in some form or fashion.
 
There he was, up bright and early, at the Stage Restaurant in Keene. Romney was already on his second major television interview of the day by 9:00 a.m., while patrons sipped coffee and tried not to spill it and gaggles of press packed the tiny diner.
 
"If we knew at the time of our entry into Iraq that there were no weapons of mass destruction, if somehow we had been given that information, why, obviously we would not have gone in," Romney told NBC's Chuck Todd on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" this morning, generating just one of many headlines to come.
 
Four interviews and fewer than four hours later it was lunch time, and the former governor and his wife were passing out slices of pizza and cracking jokes in Newport. Romney ordered his pizza Hawaiian style, but with olives, and left a tip at the counter.
 
"Hope we find it," Romney said of his pie, keenly aware of the crush of reporters and patrons who would forever block his path back to the counter.
 
Whether he ever ate the pizza may remain a mystery. Romney next showed up carrying sandwiches - dozens of them - for the press trailing him on this four-day, blitzkrieg tour of the state considered a must-win for his presidential ambitions.
 
Passing out subs with abandon, Romney kidded about the reluctance of some reporters to accept a simple sandwich.
 
"What are guys eating back there? Filet mignon with some brie, is that it back here? What's going on?" The former Massachusetts governor said, before mocking another famously patrician politician from his home state. "This is the John Kerry bus, back there, I'm sorry."
 
From there it was on to cutting steel with lasers like a movie villain in Hanover (complete with stylish eye protection), and serving Spaghetti to dozens of supporters at a VFW in Ashland to round out the day.
 
Get all that?
 
Somehow, between the food, the bus packed with surrogates and friends (New Hampshire's own Sen. Kelly Ayotte, former Gov. John Sununu and Former Sen. Judd Gregg tagged along for much of the day) and yes, the hand-shaking with voters, Romney's campaign remembered: this trip is business. The high-visibility, high-intensity schedule is meant to shore up support for Romney in a state most political observers believe he must hold, particularly if he falters in Iowa, or if his poll numbers in South Carolina and Florida continue to lag far from striking distance of the current front-runner, Newt Gingrich.
 
With a constant crush of cameras and national attention at every stop, Romney kept the news media busy, churning out story after story.
 
The multimillionaire Romney told NBC News he didn't intend to release his tax returns, even if he were to become his party's nominee.
 
"Never say never, but I don't intend to do so." Romney told NBC, bouncing along in his tricked-out bus.
 
Then there was the payroll tax cut fight, which Romney tried to stay largely above, managing to ding the President on an issue that has largely devolved into a battle between house and senate Republicans.
 
"Leaders are involved in the process, as opposed to standing back and just criticizing the people who are in the process. The Democrats have the majority in the Senate. This is not just a Republican matter, this is Republicans and Democrats," Romney said in Keene. "The president should've been working with his leaders in his own party and he should've been reaching across the aisle to find among Republicans those who he thinks could come to common position with the Democrats."
 
Romney also stoked the flames in his burgeoning battle with Newt Gingrich, warning the former speaker that the stinging ads aired in early states by a Super PAC supporting Romney was just the beginning of the negative onslaught to come.
 
"If you can't stand the relatively modest heat right now, wait until Obama's hell's kitchen shows up," Romney said. "Obama is putting together a billion dollars, he's going to be attacking us day and night -- he's already attacking me."
 
That brought a retort from Newt Gingrich, also campaigning in the state, later in the day.
 
"I'll tell you what. If he wants to test the heat, I'll meet him anywhere in Iowa next week, one-on-one, 90 minutes no moderator, just a timekeeper." Gingrich told NBC News. "He wants to try out the kitchen? I'll be happy to debate him anywhere. We'll bring his ads, and he can defend [them]."
 
But Romney was already past the kitchen by then - making his only non food-related stop of the day at Hypertherm, a steel cutting business in Hanover, where he praised the ingenuity and skill of the workers there, and defended his record at Bain Capital, when a voter questioned him about layoffs.
 
"The truth is this, the business I was in, called Bain Capital, we invested in over 100 different businesses. Some of them didn't work. Some failed. Some ultimately laid off individuals and some of them went out of business," Romney said, before spinning the question around into a prelude of a possible future democratic attack against him. "I know the Obama administration will try and put free enterprise on trial. And guess what? That happens."
 
By the time Romney was serving meals a few hours later and fifty miles down the road at a VFW hall, the news had largely been drawn out of the day, like blood being taken. There was nothing left to give in Ashland, except spaghetti, well-wishes for the holidays, and stories from Olympic heroes past meant to warm the heart on a night so icy, some supporters called the campaign just to be sure the event wouldn't be cancelled.
 
If some New Hampshirites failed to see Romney today - either on TV, in person, on traveling the winding back roads of New Hampshire in his enormous blue and white bus, fear not. Tomorrow is another day, with seven more stops in the North Country, and at least one more network television interview.
 
By then, surely, every resident of the Granite State will have had their own run-in with Mitt Romney.
 
If not, he'll be back. Of that you can be certain.

Thanks to Steeler Fan for the question!

Newt Gingrich got fiery when talking about Mitt Romney questioning whether he can handle the heat of a campaign.

In an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd earlier this morning, Romney said this regarding Gingrich complaints about negative ads: "If you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from Obama's Hell's Kitchen is going to be a heck of a lot hotter."

Gingrich later responded to NBC News: "I'll tell you what. If he wants to test the heat, I'll meet him anywhere in Iowa next week, one-on-one, 90 minutes no moderator, just a timekeeper. He wants to try out the kitchen? I'll be happy to debate him anywhere. We'll bring his ads, and he can defend [them].

"And we can bring the Washington Post indication that his ad is filled with lies and he can defend it. So let's test this kitchen. I'm happy [to]. I'll go in this kitchen. Go back and ask Gov. Romney, would he like to come and play in the kitchen? I don't think so. I don't think he wants to do anything except hide over here and pretend it's not his fault that he is flooding the people of Iowa with falsehoods.

"That's his money and his staff. And it's his responsibility. I can take the heat plenty well. There were 121,000 ads run against me in 1995 and 1996. I went through two government shutdowns. I actually stuck to my word. I opposed Republican tax increases in 1982 and 1980. I think I'll do just fine with the heat from Barack Obama because frankly, it'll be a fair exchange. He'll get a fair amount of heat in the process."

A pro-Romney super PAC has spent millions in Iowa to air spots attacking Gingrich and his record.

Fresh off a plane from Des Moines, Gingrich also admitted to New Hampshire voters at a town hall meeting that the race in Iowa is "a real mess" as political advertising floods the airwaves with just two weeks to go til the Jan. 3 caucuses. The former Speaker of the House added that he is bullish on his prospects in New Hampshire, where he trails front-runner Romney by about 10 points.

"I think we have a real chance in New Hampshire to surprise people," he told more than 100 voters assembled for his town hall. "I think my friends have bought $7 or $8 million in negative advertising so far." He later promised to "cheerfully" maintain a positive campaign.

Additionally, Gingrich weighed in on the payroll-tax-cut extension gridlock in Washington, calling the partisan disagreement "worthy of the Italian parliament."

Gingrich stopped in New Hampshire today with his wife Callista as part of a cross-country tour beginning in Iowa and ending in Virginia. He was joined by New Hampshire state House Speaker Bill O'Brien, who endorsed Gingrich this morning in Des Moines alongside Iowa Speaker of the House Kraig Paulsen.

As the White House waits to see what Congress’ next move on the payroll tax holiday will be, the president took Bo, the dog, out for a shopping trip in Alexandria, Va., today. 

Rolling up in a shorter-than-usual motorcade, President Obama took a stroll through Petsmart in the Potomac Yards strip mall with Bo on a leash. He paid cash for his purchases, which included a rubber dog bone, as gawking shoppers snapped photos. 

He shook hands and wished shoppers, "Happy Holidays," before heading over to Best Buy to purchase presents “for the girls.”

President Obama ignored shouted questions about whether he’d deliver his daughters' gifts (which we here at First Read will not unveil) in person.

But the jaunt to the mall highlighted that, for now, he’s waiting in D.C., while his family is in Hawaii, the president's birth state.

As the president went for his credit card to pay for the games and gift cards, he said, "Let's see if my credit card still works. It will be really embarrassing if it doesn't go through.”

The credit card went through just fine.

His last stop was at Pizzeria Del Ray to pick up three pizzas. While working the rope line outside, one man told him he disagreed with him on the Keystone Pipeline, but liked what he’s doing otherwise. The president replied, “Thank you,” before shaking another hand and wishing somebody else “Merry Christmas.”

MUSCATINE, Iowa -- Pray away the gaffe?

The famously mistake-prone Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that he prayed before a campaign event in Iowa to ask God to help him deliver an error-free performance.

Asked by a woman at the Button Factory Restaurant about the role prayer plays in his life, Perry responded, "Well, I prayed right before I walked over here that I wouldn't make any mistakes that my friends in the media would be able to put on television."

The Texas governor grinned and looked out at the assembled media on the press riser -- the traveling press pool currently includes eight reporters -- before turning back to the questioner.

"I pray a lot," he continued, "because I'm prone to make a lot of mistakes."

Perry was warmly received by the crowd of about 150 in the riverfront town, and he won particularly strong applause for his discussion of his faith.

When an audience member questioned him on how to get God back into America, Perry professed to huge applause that "God hasn't ever left."

"He's still here," Perry said. "He's still available."

He added, "I think it's time to have a president of the United States, who will stand up say, 'Listen, I'm not afraid to admit I'm a Christian.' I'm not afraid to stand up and say, 'I'm a Christian.'"

Perry, who was accompanied by backer Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) for a second day, avoided even any veiled criticism of the rest of the GOP field, choosing instead to focus his ire at the president's foreign policy.

"This president, who fashions himself to be the great debater, the great negotiator, has made the world more dangerous," Perry said of Obama. "And he's made it more dangerous, because those who are hostile to the United States don't really feel that America will stand up."

And the populist-pitching governor coined a new term for the mortgage giants that he argues defrauded the American people before the 2008 financial crisis.

"They should call it not necessarily Freddie and Fannie," Perry said. "I call it a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. They are stealing from the people is what's going on." 

Mitt Romney is up with an ad starring his wife, Ann, who testifies to his "character," an implicit contrast with the thrice-married Newt Gingrich.

“If you really want to know how a person will operate, look at how they’ve lived their life," Ann Romney says in the ad, which is called, "Character. "And I think that’s why it’s so important to understand the character of the person. To me that makes a huge difference. Maybe some voters it doesn’t, but for me it makes a huge difference.”

Mitt Romney today said if the United States knew that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, it would not have gone to war in the country.

"If we knew at the time of our entry into Iraq that there were no weapons of mass destruction, if somehow we had been given that information, why, obviously we would not have gone in," Romney told NBC's Chuck Todd on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" this morning from New Hampshire.

Asked if the U.S. would have gone in at all, Romney contended, "Well, of course not. The president went in based upon intelligence of weapons of mass destruction. Had he known that that was not the case, the U.N. would not have put forward resolutions authorizing this type of action, the president would not have been pursuing that course. But we did not know that. Based upon what we knew at the time, we were very much under the impression, as a nation -- and our president was under the impression -- they had weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam Hussein was intent on potentially using those weapons, and so, we took action based upon what he knew. But to go back and say knowing what we know now, would we have gone in? Well, knowing what we know now, they did not have mass destruction, there would have been no effort on the part of our president or others to take military action.”

But someone who might disagree with Romney is former President George W. Bush. Bush told FOX's Brit Hume in 2005, for example, that he "absolutely" made the right decision, even though there were no WMD.

BUSH: I said I made the right decision. Knowing what I know today, I would have still made that decision.
HUME: So, if you had had this — if the weapons had been out of the equation because the intelligence did not conclude that he had them, it was still the right call?
BUSH: Absolutely.

Romney agreed in 2008 that it was the "right decision" -- even though it was, of course, well known by then that there was no WMD in Iraq.

"It was the right decision to go into Iraq," Romney said at the January 2008 NBC debate in Florida. "I supported it at the time; I support it now."

Part one of the interview here. Part two here.

Romney reiterates individual mandate is ‘conservative’ idea
Romney also was again asked about his support of an individual mandate as governor of Massachusetts. Romney called it the “conservative” option for him in Massachusetts, one that had its originations at a conservative Washington think tank as an alternative to what then-First Lady Hillary Clinton proposed. It was something Newt Gingrich also supported.

Yet, at a Dec. 3 forum with hosted by Mike Huckabee, Romney said, criticized the Obama-proposed health care plan this way: “Obamacare is about taking over 100% of the people's insurance in this country."

Romney wants Super PACs eliminated; calls for unrestricted funds for campaigns
On Super PACs, Romney said they’re not good and should be eliminated, but refused to criticize the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Instead, he blamed Congress. He also reiterated his opposition to prior efforts by Congress to restrict money in politics. (Back in 2007, he criticized McCain-Feingold: “McCain-Feingold has not worked,” Romney said, per AP. “It's hurt my party, it hurts First Amendment rights. I think it was a bad bill.")

He also essentially called for unlimited funds to go to campaigns.

"I think the Supreme Court's decision was following their interpretation of the campaign-finance laws that were written by Congress,” Romney said. “My own view is that now we've tried a lot of efforts that can restrict what can be given to campaigns. We'd be a lot wiser to say, 'You can give what you like to a campaign. They must report it immediately, and the creation of these independent-expenditure committees, that have to be separate from the candidate, that's just a bad idea. ... I'm not going to criticize the Supreme Court. I'm going to criticize Congress for passing a law that limits what campaigns can receive and opens the door to these Super PACs and to PACs, which have now been around for a while. We're seeing this is where the most damaging allegations arise."

It’s not clear, however, that unlimited money to campaigns would eliminate Super PACs, considering candidates do not want their names attached to the most devastating negative attacks, but they also benefit from them.

After spending nearly $3 million in TV ads in Iowa -- most of them hammering Newt Gingrich -- the Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, is now set to begin advertising in Florida. 

According to Smart Media Group Delta, the ad-tracking firm partnering with NBC News, Restore Our Future has purchased $187,000 on broadcast TV from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1.

That isn't a HUGE amount of ad spending in an expensive state like Florida. But it's a sign that the pro-Romney Super PAC is now turning its attention to the state that goes fourth in the GOP nominating process -- and where Gingrich has held a large lead.'

*** UPDATE *** Restore Our Future now is also purchasing TV ad time in South Carolina.