“Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain claimed victory in today’s Florida straw poll, receiving more than double the amount of votes of front-runner Rick Perry. Cain received 37 percent of the 2,657 delegate votes cast here today.  Perry followed with 15.4 percent.  Romney was a close third with 14 percent of the vote.”

Meanwhile, “Michigan native Mitt Romney rolled over Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the rest of his Republican presidential rivals in a Michigan straw poll Sunday, reinforcing a favorite son status that could make it tough for anyone else to win the state's GOP primary. It was the second day of bad news for Perry, who lost to businessman Herman Cain in a Florida straw poll Saturday.”

Politico looks at the 3^rd quarter money race.

BACHMANN: Bachmann holds a rally in Cedar Rapids, IA, today, per NBC’s Jamie Novogrod.  This afternoon, she gives an interview on WHO Radio in Des Moines.  Her next public event will be Wednesday morning's address at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Campaign manager Keith Nahigian tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Bachmann is “in it to win it, period,” and says of the race: “there’s a type of person that has clunkers on their record, and then you have the other ones that are straight and, non-wavering on their records their whole career.”

CAIN: NBC’s Andrew Rafferty’s observations on Cain’s straw poll win in Florida: It's true he was campaigning the week leading up to the straw poll, but it was very apparent he was trying to reach a targeted audience – the actual Presidency 5 delegates (the folks who were participating at the straw poll). Cain's campaign stops last week weren't at diners or public libraries; they were at country clubs. Every event he had scheduled was in front of some kind of GOP group. For example the Hillsborough County GOP meet and greet or the Bellaire women's Republican club town hall. The strategy allowed him to reach more delegates than he likely would had he simply gone to Florida and held events open to the general public.

PERRY: The Perry camp has a new video hitting Romney on health care.

ROMNEY: The AP profiles Romney's wife, Ann. “Ann Romney is the unassuming, not-so-secret weapon in Mitt Romney’s political arsenal. At a GOP gathering in Michigan on Saturday, she spoke briefly, prompting the crowd to tap their glasses and call for a toast.” More: “The Romney campaign says there will be an enhanced role for her beginning the next month, with additional public appearances, media interviews and a willingness to discuss health problems and her family’s rags-to-riches story.”

SANTORUM: Rick Santorum visited a local gun show in Des Moines, IA yesterday, making his first appearance back to Iowa since the Ames Straw Poll, NBC’s Alex Moe reports. Fresh off his 4th place finish in the Florida Straw Poll, Santorum was surrounded by an unusually high amount of media at the event. He said he was “very happy” with his finish.

"I'm encouraged… The results you saw yesterday at the Florida straw poll was really more of a statement saying quit trying to tell us who to vote for and quit just covering two of the candidates," Santorum told reporters outside the 4-H Building at the State Fairground. “I’m listening to some of these morning shows, it’s the same old thing, wow there are only two candidates that can win. That’s just garbage. The bottom line is neither of these candidates have lit anybody on fire. They both have major issues.”

From Andrew Rafferty, Carrie Dann, Jamie Novogrod

ORLANDO, Fla. – Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain claimed victory in today’s Florida straw poll, receiving more than double the amount of votes of front-runner Rick Perry.

Cain received 37 percent of the 2,657 delegate votes cast here today.  Perry followed with 15.4 percent.  Romney was a close third with 14 percent of the vote.

Cain spent this week campaigning in Florida along the I-4 corridor running between Tampa and Orlando.  His events were held in front of local county Republican groups ripe with straw poll delegates.  But his victory may also represent the result of Perry’s showing Thursday at the Fox/Google debate.

Many of those gathered for Presidency 5 – the three-day event that concluded with this straw poll – expressed concern that sniping between the front-runners had opened opportunities for the trailing candidates.  Perry surrogate Michael Williams, a former Texas Railroad commissioner and current congressional candidate, used his time in front of the delegates to try to reassure those put off by Perry's uneven performance.

"We are not electing a debater-in-chief," Williams said to applause from the crowd. "We are electing a commander-in-chief."

Perry’s national press secretary, Mark Miner, said the results were “not at all a setback” to the campaign. He dismissed the idea that the second place showing demonstrates that Perry has been unable to shake off a rough debate performance Thursday.

"Debates are part of the process but we are taking our message directly to the people. Mitt Romney has been doing debates and running for president for five and a half years and he comes in third. Must be a devastating loss for him and a morale buster for his campaign in a state like Florida after five and a half years.

The other major storyline from today’s event was Michele Bachmann's eighth-place finish – last among the contenders.  It marks another chapter in an odyssey taking her from victory this summer at the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, to a recent slip in polls and the departure of her high-profile campaign manager, Ed Rollins.

Florida Republican operatives tell NBC that Bachmann missed an opportunity here. They point to her decision not to devote resources to the Florida straw poll – which meant that her campaign could not address delegates Saturday morning.

"With Perry's poor performance at the debate, this would have been an incredible opportunity for her to come out and really reestablish herself," says Sarasota County GOP chairman Joe Gruters. "But without her being here, you know there's nothing she can do."

Bachmann participated in two days of Florida GOP events this week, including Thursday's FOX/Google debate, but left the state after her speech Friday morning to CPAC.

During a visit to a Tampa suburb in late August, Bachmann told reporters that the crowded debate schedule during the run-up to Florida’s straw poll prevented her from committing to the event. “We have a number of places that we need to be, and to meaningfully participate in the straw poll we would have to be just exclusively in Florida all the time,” she said.

It was the first straw poll held in the Sunshine State since 1995.

None were held during the 2000 or 2008 campaign cycles – due largely to the fact that candidates did not want to shift time and resources to the large and expensive state of Florida.

Candidates vying for the White House in 2012 spent this week talking about the important role Florida, with its 29 electoral votes, will play in the general election, but few mentioned the straw poll itself.

Cain, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were the only candidates to address the delegates inside the Orange County Convention Center today, and Bachmann and Romney did not so much as send surrogates to address straw poll voters.

Still, Florida Republican voters got multiple chances to see the candidates this week as part of the Presidency 5 events. Between Thursday's Faith and Freedom Coalition Rally and Fox News debate, plus the Conservative Political Action Conference's road trip to Orlando on Friday, all the candidates were campaigning in the state.

Straw poll votes were tallied from Republicans from all of the state's 67 counties. Floridians who wanted to participate needed to apply to be delegates, then get chosen through a lottery.

The three straw polls held before this in Florida have all picked the eventual primary winner. Ronald Reagan was the first winner in 1979, followed by George H.W. Bush in 1987 and then Bob Dole in 1995.

“If Florida tradition holds, this could be the launching pad of a big twist,” said Brian Hughes, communications director for the Republican Party of Florida.

The full results are below

Today at the Republican Party of Florida’s Presidency 5, 2,657 delegates cast their votes in the party’s straw poll. The results are as follows:

1. Herman Cain, 37.1%
2. Rick Perry, 15.4%
3. Mitt Romney, 14.0%
4. Rick Santorum, 10.9%
5. Ron Paul, 10.4%
6. Newt Gingrich, 8.4%
7. Jon Huntsman, 2.3%
8. Michele Bachmann, 1.5%                        

**UPDATE**

The Bachmann campaign released this statement on the Presidency 5 Florida straw poll:

"Florida is an important state in the presidential race, but we chose not to participate in the P5 Poll which is open to select delegates.  We got into the presidential race late and dedicated our resources to the Iowa straw poll which is open to all Iowans with a valid ID; Michele won the Iowa poll with less time and money than the other candidates in the race." 

INDIANAPOLIS-- In a speech extolling the importance of a leader selecting a great team to surround him -- and hitting President Obama for his own appointments -- Mitt Romney gave a clue about the type of person he might want to have on own team, if he were to become president.

"You can't do it all yourself," Romney yesterday told an audience here of a few hundred Indiana Republicans, before delving into the hypothetical. "Let's say you, somehow, were elected president of the United States, and the economy was in terrible shape. Who would you surround yourself with? Who would you put in your cabinet? Well, [Obama] chose politicians and academics. No business people. Can you imagine such a thing?"

So who might be on a President Romney's team? While shaking hands with voters after the speech, Romney was asked about another former CEO, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

"He's obviously been at that level already. So it's, I mean, the guy should be the chief operating officer of the government, which is, you know, chief of staff, or virtually anywhere," Romney said, before quickly adding: "I haven't even thought about that sort of thing."

Romney then continued in his praise of the man who formerly served as a senior adviser to Ronald Reagan and as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in George W. Bush's cabinet. "Mitch is such an extraordinarily capable guy. Whoever our nominee is, of we elect a Republican president, they or I will be coming to his door."

Daniels himself had been heavily recruited by some in the party to run for president himself, before taking his name out of the running in May. In recent interviews, he cited his family's opposition to a run, and the lack of privacy one would entail, as his reasons for abstaining.

Earlier in his speech, Romney cited Daniels' success over two terms in Indiana as a model for other Republicans -- himself included.

"I learned from watching your governor. You've got, you've got an extraordinary governor, I'll tell you that," Romney said to loud applause.

Daniels was out of state during Romney's speech, promoting his book and did not attend the event.

ORLANDO, FL -– The nine Republican candidates who took part in last night’s presidential debate returned today to the same room where they sparred less than 24 hours earlier for the Conservative Political Action Conference’s first road trip.
 
CPAC -– the annual Washington, DC gathering for conservatives from around the country –- took to the Orange County Convention Center here, marking the third time in two days the candidates have addressed the same audience. While most stuck to railing against big government and touting their conservative credentials, the two front-runners used it as a chance to repeat the jabs they took at each other the night before.
 
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney drew applause by denouncing his chief rivals decision to grant in-state college tuition to the children of illegal immigrants in Texas.
 
"My friend Gov. Perry said that if you don't agree with his position on giving that in state tuition to illegals, that you don't have a heart. I think if you're opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn't mean that you don't have a heart; it means that you have a heart and a brain," he said.
 
Perry did not address the issue when he took the stage a few hours later. Instead, he focused on defying critics who have speculated that his political skills on the national stage don't live up to the hype his frontrunner status has garnered.
 
"As conservatives, we know that values and vision matter," Perry said. "It's not who is the slickest candidate or the smoothest debater that we need to elect. We need to elect the candidate with the best record and the best vision for this country."

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann also used CPAC as a chance to separate herself from the pack –- though she mentioned no other candidates by name. Instead, she urged voters not to “settle” on a moderate candidate, renewing a message that has defined her three appearances at Florida GOP events this week.

“Every four years, when we look at the presidential race, we are repeatedly told as conservatives that we have to go stand next to the wall,” Bachmann said, adding: “We’re told we have to give the nomination to a moderate or to a safe candidate.”

It’s a message Bachmann first introduced Thursday, at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, and then reiterated last night during the FOX-Google debate. Bachmann told the crowd this morning that she rejects the “safe” approach, and asked voters to “find the candidate that most reflects your values.”

The pitch may have a barb or two meant for the race’s front-runners. During the FOX debate, the Bachmann campaign issued two press releases attacking Perry’s position on immigration.

“As president of the United States, I will build a fence along the southern border,” she said, drawing a distinction with Perry’s statement last night that a border fence “does not make sense.”

The importance of Florida was a common theme from all candidates today. CPAC Chair Al Cardenas said the conference chose to travel to Florida because of the prominence the state will play in 2012.
 
CPAC will be traveling again in the near future, with the next destination likely to be the president’s hometown of Chicago, IL.

Video edited by NBC's Natalie Cucchiara and Morgan Parmet.

ORLANDO, FL -- Just a little more than 12 hours after ending a shaky debate performance here, an energetic Texas Gov. Rick Perry defied critics who have speculated that his political skills on the national stage don't live up to the hype his front-runner status has garnered.

"As conservatives, we know that values and vision matter," Perry told the crowd at the CPAC meeting in Florida. "It's not who is the slickest candidate or the smoothest debater that we need to elect. We need to elect the candidate with the best record and the best vision for this country."

After bounding onto the stage and flashing hearty thumbs ups to a cheering crowd, Perry did not mention the verbal beating he took from competitors last night on the issue of Texas's granting of in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants.

But he did take another broad swipe at his top rival Mitt Romney for his support of a 2006 health-care law that included mandates.

"The model for socialized medicine has already been tried, and it failed. Not just in Western Europe, but in Massachusetts," he said of the legislation Romney signed into law.

Perry also accused President Obama of boosting medical costs for older veterans as a part of his deficit reduction plan.

"Mr. President, the men and women of our military who have served our country with courage every single day have already sacrificed enough," he said.

At the CPAC convention in Orlando, FL earlier this morning, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich previewed the updated "Contract with America" he plans to unveil in Iowa next week on Sept. 29.

"It's going to be bigger, it's going to be deeper and more profound," he said.

The former House speaker, who co-authored the first Contract with America before the 1994 midterms, said the United States is in greater trouble than it was back in the 90s.

Gingrich said that if he is elected president, he will sign between 50 and 200 executive orders to re-shape the government.

Perry struggles again in last night’s debate… Another solid performance from Romney… Bachmann was virtually absent, while Santorum had a good showing… Another GOP presidential event from Florida today: CPAC… And Florida Straw Poll results will be released tomorrow afternoon… Obama delivers remarks on “No Child Left Behind” reform at 10:15 am… WV GOV race coming up soon… And “Meet the Press” has Benjamin Netanyahu and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

*** Perry struggles again: If Rick Perry’s goal last night was to erase doubts about his past debate performances, he didn’t succeed. Once again, Perry started out strong, discussing his economic record in Texas and deflecting Mitt Romney’s attacks on Social Security. But then everything went downhill for him: Perry stumbled when talking about Pakistan (saying that better relations with India is the way to keep Pakistani nukes out of the hands of terrorists; huh?) and he badly mangled his flip-flopper charge on Romney (it was a rehearsed line, right?). The good news for Perry, as we noted yesterday, is that primary debate winners usually don’t end up winning the nomination. The bad news, however, is that his past three debates haven’t given establishment Republicans (especially key donors) the confidence that he’s their guy.

AP

Republican presidential candidates Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, and former Gov. Mitt Romney (MA).

*** Desperately seeking someone else? Meanwhile, for the next week or two, watch out for more establishment conservatives calling for new candidates. There’s Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot’s continued campaign to recruit Chris Christie into the race. Gigot is about as close to being a potential pied piper for what’s left of the GOP donor establishment community as there is right now.

*** Another solid performance from Romney: If Perry once again struggled, then Romney once again turned in a solid performance. He was confident, funny, and sharp. The one time he got knocked off his game was on Perry’s charge that he backed the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” education program. Romney’s answer: “I don't support any particular program that he's describing.” But as NBC’s Garrett Haake recalls, Romney said this on Wednesday: "I think [Education] Secretary Duncan has done some good things.... He, for instance, has this program called ‘Race to the Top,’ which encourages schools to have more choice, more testing of kids, more evaluation of teachers. Those are things that I think make some sense.” Ouch. But the difference between 2008 and now: Four years ago, all the GOP candidates (McCain, Huckabee, Rudy) piled on Romney. This time, there isn’t that pile-on effect, and that has helped him escape tough questions. Seriously, who thought, six debates in, that there wouldn’t be one memorable debate moment that had all the GOP candidates piling on Romney over the mandate? It’s actually kind of remarkable…

AP

Republican presidential candidates prior to last night's debate, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011.

*** Breaking down the rest: As for the other participants, Michele Bachmann was virtually absent, which won’t turn around the building narrative that the race is passing her by. Rick Santorum gave a very strong performance, perhaps his best of the cycle and he’s turning into one of Mitt Romney’s most important allies in debates. (If Bachmann continues her free fall, Romney’s going to want Santorum to get viable if Perry’s to break a sweat in Iowa.) Jon Huntsman was better than at last week’s debate (no Kurt Cobain references this time). Ron Paul was Ron Paul, Newt was Newt, and Herman Cain was Herman Cain. And Gary Johnson, in his first debate since May, delivered the line of the night with a possible assist from Rush Limabugh (“My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration”), but did little else to prove that he’s a serious contender for the nomination.

*** Today’s CPAC and tomorrow’s straw poll: In yet another event for the GOP candidates in Orlando, today they’re addressing the Florida-based CPAC convention. The order: Bachmann speaks at 9:15 am ET, Romney goes at 9:30 am, Gingrich at 9:45 am, Perry at 1:00 pm, Johnson at 1:15 pm, Santorum at 1:30 pm, Paul at 1:45 pm, Cain at 2:00 pm, and Huntsman at 2:15 pm. And then on Saturday comes the Florida Straw Poll. Per NBC’s Andrew Rafferty, this straw poll is MUCH different than last month’s Ames Straw Poll. Unlike Ames (which was open to all voters), the only people who can cast ballots at this straw poll are the selected group of 3,500 delegates from around the Sunshine State. But organizers say the straw poll has picked the eventual primary winner in 1980 (Reagan), 1988 (Bush), and 1996 (Dole); the straw poll wasn’t conducted in the ’00 and ’08 cycles because most candidates weren’t willing to participate. Rafferty says that straw-poll results are expected between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm ET.

 *** On the 2012 trail: Also today, Cain holds a rally in Orlando at 10:00 am ET… Romney speaks at an Indiana GOP event in Indianapolis later this afternoon… Paul addresses an LSU "Youth for Ron Paul" Event in Baton Rouge, LA… Perry hits a fundraiser in Orlando… And the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference begins in Michigan; Perry and Romney will speak there tomorrow.

*** Obama’s day: At 10:15 am ET from the White House, President Obama delivers remarks on “No Child Left Behind” reform.

*** WV GOV race coming up soon: A reminder for political observers: West Virginia’s gubernatorial contest between incumbent Earl Ray Tomblin (D) and businessman Bill Maloney (R) takes place on Oct. 4 -- so just 11 days from now. We’ll have more on this race in the coming days.

*** Friday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: USA Today’s Susan Page joins from Florida to recap the GOP debate… DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz reacts to what she heard from Republicans last night… NBC’s Michael Isikoff takes a deeper look into Rick Perry’s job creation record in Texas… And our Friday politics panel: the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson, Erin McPike of Real Clear Politics, and former RNC Chair Michael Steele.

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has an exclusive interview with Cate Edwards, daughter to John Edwards and the late Elizabeth Edwards. She also will interview Jim Zogby and Aaron David Miller (on the Palestinian demand at the UN for statehood), the White House’s Melody Barnes (on President Obama’s No Child Left Behind speech), and NBC’s Chuck Todd and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza (on last night’s debate).

*** Sunday’s “Meet the Press” line-up: On “Meet the Press” this Sunday, NBC’s David Gregory interviews Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The roundtable -- tied to NBC’s Education Nation -- consists of Donna Shalala, Tim Shriver, Bill Bennett, and Tavis Smiley.

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 46 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 136 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up, and it’s likely that the contest takes place earlier.

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter. Follow us @chucktodd, @mmurraypolitics, @DomenicoNBC, @brookebrower

The Washington Post on last night’s GOP debate: “Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tangled over Social Security, health care and other issues here Thursday in a debate in which the Republican presidential candidates sharply criticized the policies of President Obama and joined in an assault on the federal government.”

The New York Times: “[A]fter two hours of dueling it was unclear whether Mr. Perry had achieved his goal of knocking Mr. Romney off his fairly unruffled stride. It was similarly not certain that Mr. Romney had made headway in knocking Mr. Perry down a few pegs in what has been a relatively strong opening to his young campaign.”

USA Today leads its coverage with Romney and Perry engaging over immigration.

“The third Republican presidential debate in as many weeks showed the same dynamics as the prior two, with many of the candidates jabbing away at the Texan. In one exchange on immigration, Mr. Romney said he couldn't understand why Mr. Perry signed a Texas law giving in-state university tuition to illegal immigrants, something he said amounted to as much as a $100,000 subsidy for each,” the Wall Street Journal adds.

The Boston Globe’s Johnson notes the back-and-forth between Perry and Romney over flip-flopping.

BACHMANN: The New York Times reports that Bachmann’s campaign is having trouble raising money.  Citing interviews with unnamed sources close to the campaign, the newspaper reports that Bachmann has refused to make cold calls in order to raise funds, “leaving it to hired financial directors who are under tremendous pressure.” 

The newspaper adds: “Her change in fortunes from darling of the Tea Party to trailing in the polls represents a remarkable reversal for a candidate who used a strong debate performance… to start her campaign, before winning the [Iowa] straw poll, the first big test of organization and voter enthusiasm.”

And the Chicago Sun-Times reports a local Tea Party group feels snubbed after an event in suburban Chicago Monday was cancelled.  Bachmann will be in Iowa instead.  (The campaign tells NBC News the Illinois event was never confirmed.)

PERRY: Writing in National Journal, Ron Brownstein notes how Perry presides over a state that has been solidly Republican over the past 15 years, calling him “the Republican equivalent of a San Francisco Democrat,  a politician molded by unshielded exposure to his party’s brightest flame.” More Brownstein: “That pedigree helps explain some of his greatest strengths – and potential vulnerabilities – in the 2012 presidential race.”

“The House on Friday passed a new version of a stopgap spending bill about 30 hours after rejecting a nearly identical version of the legislation, intended to keep the government open and to provide assistance to victims of natural disasters. The vote was 219 to 203,” the New York Times says.

More: “House Republican leaders, trying to recover from a humiliating political defeat, made one change in the bill. The new version would offset more of the cost of disaster assistance by rescinding $100 million from an Energy Department program that guaranteed a loan for Solyndra, the solar equipment manufacturer that filed recently for bankruptcy protection.”

The Washington Post's take: “Washington lurched toward another potential government shutdown crisis Friday, as the House approved a Republican-authored short-term funding measure designed to keep government running through Nov. 18 that Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject.”

Now the action turns to the Senate, NBC’s Frank Thorp notes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has threatened to reject the House’s continuing resolution when it is brought up in the Senate on Friday, leaving the future of this temporary spending bill in flux.

The coverage of Obama’s event yesterday from the local Cincy Enquirer: “With the aging Brent Spence Bridge as a backdrop, President Barack Obama issued a challenge Thursday to his top Republican opponents in Congress to pass a bill he says will create jobs by funding projects like the bridge’s $2.4 billion replacement.”

“‘There’s no reason for Republicans in Congress to stand in the way of more construction projects,’ the president said. ‘There’s no reason to stand in the way of more jobs. Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge. Help us rebuild America. Help us put this country back to work. Pass this jobs bill right away.’”

“The nation’s top military official said Thursday that Pakistan’s spy agency played a direct role in supporting the insurgents who carried out the deadly attack on the American Embassy in Kabul last week. It was the most serious charge that the United States has leveled against Pakistan in the decade that America has been at war in Afghanistan,” the New York Times reports.

Pakistan's foreign minister, Hina Rabani Khar, reacted to reports of Pakistani involvement in the attack on the embassy in a Wednesday interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

Said Hina Rabani Khar: "All terrorists which attack innocent civilians or major installations are against both of our interests. We have no qualms in saying that whatsoever. However we need a commonality of approach both in terms of tactics and in terms of overall principles to be able to tackle them effectively."

"If Pakistan, instead of being recognized for the great sacrifices and cost it has paid for this war that we are fighting and that we are at the forefront of, if that is not recognized and instead a blame game is started then we will both lose out."

.

By NBC's Carrie Dann, Andrew Rafferty, James Novogrod and Garrett Haake. Video edited by NBC's Matt Loffman.

Hours before the fourth presidential debate, a parade of GOP hopefuls made their pitches to conservative and religious activists Thursday afternoon at a forum across the street from the fight night venue.

Candidates addressed a crowd of about 3,000 at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Rally, an event billed as a kickoff to the Florida Presidency 5 gathering that will dominate the political news cycle this weekend.

Seven of the nine candidates who will share the stage at tonight's debate spoke at the rally, each underscoring their conservative credentials while hinting at the attacks they are likely to make during the debate itself.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, the first candidate to speak, delivered remarks laced with historical references — and a barb aimed, it seemed, at a fellow candidate.

“We are that Gideon’s army that’s coming together to stand for the values that we know are the backbone of America. For life, for liberty, for the American family. For religious freedom,” Bachmann said, referencing a military hero of the Old Testament.

She continued: “Some people have said that this election has to be anybody but Obama,” adding, “of any election, this is the one when conservatives don’t have to settle.”

Bachmann didn’t mention anyone’s name, leaving the audience to decipher which candidate she had in mind. During last week’s CNN / Tea Party Express debate, Bachmann attacked Rick Perry’s HPV vaccine mandate he authorized as governor of Texas. But social conservatives have also been critical of Mitt Romney — whose speech followed Bachmann's.

Gov. Mitt Romney stuck largely to his business and economy focused message, not singling out any of his rivals by name.

"I spent my life in the private sector. I'm a business guy. I'm a conservative business guy." Romney told the crowd, before repeating his standard anti-Obama line that to create jobs it "helps to have had a job."

Unlike most of the other candidates, Romney never discussed his own faith directly. When he strayed from his economic message, it was to talk about patriotism and values more generically. He said the country needed leaders who could "draw on the patriotism of the American people" and said his own travels around the United States had made him optimistic, not cynical about America's future.

Romney also repeated a characterization of President Obama that he debuted at the VFW convention in San Antonio last month: that the president's policies were guided by "all those years, perhaps, in the Harvard faculty lounge" and by looking to Europe. Some observers see this as an odd distinction for Romney to attempt to draw with the president, since the former Massachusetts governor himself earned a J.D./M.B.A at Harvard, and several of his advisers hold degrees from the Cambridge, Mass. institution, or have taught there. Three of Romney's five sons also have advanced degrees from Harvard.

The last speaker, Gov. Rick Perry, made a direct pitch for support in the P5 straw poll to be held on Saturday. Perry also delivered an in-person critique of the Obama administration's "Race to the Top" education reform program, which his team slammed in an email to reporters earlier Thursday. The Texas governor's aides charge that Romney has flip-flopped on his views of the White House's educations reforms.

Receiving one of the most enthusiastic receptions from Faith and Freedom attendees was former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain, who noted that he has never held elected office.

Also speaking at the event were former Pennsylvania Sen. RIck Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman was included on a preliminary schedule, but a spokesman said that he was never slated to attend.

All eyes are on the GOP hopefuls who are taking the stage tonight in Florida at a debate sponsored by FOX News and Google.

The NBC political team will be live-tweeting the debate, offering minute-by-minute updates and analysis.

Tweets from Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and other NBC producers and correspondents will appear in this post as the debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT.

ORLANDO, FL -- When presidential hopeful Herman Cain addressed a roomful of Republicans in Brandon, FL on Tuesday, he knew he could only hope for a handful to vote for him in the state’s straw poll this weekend.

The reason why had little to do with his message or candidacy -- and more to do with the structure of the Florida Straw Poll. Unlike last summer’s highly watched Ames Straw Poll that is open to all Iowa voters, the ballots that will be counted in the Florida Straw Poll on Saturday will be cast from a selected group of 3,500 delegates from around the state.

It’s why, in Cain’s four campaign stops around the state this week, retail politicking might not have much payoff in the Sunshine State’s straw poll. Of the nearly 50 people who came out to hear the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, only a few were delegates who will be eligible to vote.

But it is that structure that has Florida Republicans officials touting their state’s poll as more than just a chance for candidates to gain or lose some momentum. If history holds true, the winner of Saturday’s contest will be the candidate who also wins the primary.

“Iowa is a test of the organizational strength. Iowa basically is a paid straw poll,” said Blaise Ingoglia, co-chair of Presidency 5, the organization responsible with putting on the straw poll. “This is actually more of a true representation of how the voters are going to vote in Florida.”

The three straw polls held before this in Florida have all picked the eventual primary winner. Ronald Reagan was the first winner in 1979, followed by George H.W. Bush in 1987 and then Bob Dole in 1995. (No straw polls were held in 2000 or 2007 -- largely due to the candidates not wanting to participate in the poll that would require them to shift time and resources to the large and expensive state of Florida.)  

This year, with today's Faith and Freedom Coalition Rally, tonight's FOX-Google debate, and Friday's Florida CPAC all taking place before the delegates cast their ballots, it will at least seem like Republicans are campaigning hard to win voters in the straw poll. Romney and Bachmann have both spent time campaigning in the state recently. And though he knew he could not win the vote of everyone he spoke to, Cain focused his efforts this week on speaking at gatherings of local Florida Republican organizations, knowing delegates were likely in the crowd. 

But for Saturday's straw poll, no candidate has put on the line what Pawlenty or Bachmann did in Ames, and many have downplayed the significance of Saturday's event.  Shortly after Bachmann's win in Ames, campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart said they would not "dedicate the resources" to participate in Florida. Jon Huntsman, whose campaign headquarters are in Orlando and who originally said he would participate in the straw poll, has since called it "diminished."

Still, all the candidates names will be on the ballot, so it might be a bit unclear to voters exactly who is and is not participating. The reason why the Florida Straw Poll has been an accurate predictor of the eventual primary winner has a lot to do with the selection of the 3,500 delegates. They are some of the most passionate Republicans in the state, chosen from each of the 67 counties. To become a delegate you must have applied earlier in the year, been chosen by a lottery, and pay $175 –- which accounts for not just the opportunity to vote, but the ability to attend an array of Republican events that began today.

That’s why candidates aren’t blazing through the state this week promising free bus rides to the polls and country music concerts like some did in Iowa.

“One of the really good things is that because of delegates, you get a really broad brush of the electorate,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of Southern Florida.

So why did some Floridians pay to spend three days listening to Republican candidates?

“This is a moment of serving your country and trying to pick the next president,” said Stanley Gloster, a delegate selected from Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located.  “Florida will dictate who is going to be the next president.”

Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R) has dropped out of the presidential race and will endorse Mitt Romney, his New Hampshire campaign director Chris Buck confirmed to NBC News. 

"It was a personal decision. He didn't feel his message was being well received by the national media," Buck said. "He has always put the country's needs first before getting any notoriety."

McCotter will run for re-election in 2012 for his House seat. "People recognize he is very strong on policy and he's going to be continue to be very strong, leading the country in a positive direction, not as chief executive but as a legislator. He can have a pretty profound influence on the country's prosperity," Buck said by phone.

A day after House Republican leaders yesterday were unable to get a stopgap spending measure (continuing resolution) passed in the House, Speaker John Boehner said there was no threat of a government shutdown.

"Listen there is no threat of a government shutdown Let's just get this out there," he said. "This continuing resolution was designed to be a bipartisan bill, and we had every reason to believe that our counterparts across the aisle would support it. Once they began to see where some of our votes were, they decided to play politics and vote against disaster relief for millions of Americans who have been affected by this."

Boehner added, "We are going to meet with our members later today. We are going to present some options and decide on a way forward."

"But I have always believed in allowing the House to work its will. I understood what the risk was yesterday, but why not put the bill on the floor and let the members speak ... and they did."

The measure yesterday failed by a 195-230 vote, with 189 House Republicans voting yes and 48 voting no, and six Democrats voting yes and 182 voting no.

The chief disagreement: The amount of money the continuing resolution would provide for disaster relief after Hurricane Irene, as well as the GOP desire to offset that relief with spending cuts.

"My hope is that they will come out and resolves this," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said. "Assistance at a time of a natural disaster should not be a controversial issue. It hasn't been recently."

"These people are no less affected as Democrats as Republicans, Americans have been hit hard and it shouldn't be hard for them to be made whole."

On the same day as the Republican presidential debate in Orlando, Congressman Ron Paul is playing a little offense.

In a USA Today op-ed, Paul takes a shot a Mitt Romney and the health-care legislation he signed into law in Massachusetts.

"The idea that more government involvement in health care is the solution, especially at a time when the nation is dealing with record deficits and debt, is preposterous," he writes. "And the promised effectiveness of forced mandate health care is easily disproven by looking at how such a system has worked in Massachusetts."

"Whether in Massachusetts or at the national level, even more government involvement will make things worse. There are no easy answers or silver bullets, but solutions lie in moving toward freedom, not more corporatism or socialism."

In addition to his op-ed, Paul's campaign is taking to the airwaves. As part of a $1 million ad buy, the Paul campaign has a new TV ad detailing his work for veterans and highlights his own military service. (Rick Perry is the only other military veteran running for president.)

The ad -- entitled “He Served” -- shows images of Paul in uniform as a United States Air Force flight surgeon in the 1960s, and it features two veterans who describe their experience during the Vietnam War. U.S. Army veterans Joe Pena and Rene Reyes detail how Congressman Paul helped them get long overdue medals. 

“It takes a veteran to understand a veteran, and he is a veteran himself," Pena says in the ad.

"Ron Paul is a veteran's best friend," Reyes adds.

And in a continued push to defend his non-interventionist foreign policy, Paul cites how his campaign received more donations from active duty military service members than other candidates combined –- including President Obama -- saying this Iowa on Tuesday: "It's very logical for the military people to say we want a commander-in-chief that will be cautious."

NBC News and the Marist College Poll announced today that they are teaming up to survey the early GOP nominating contests -- like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina -- for the primary season.

This partnership will be in addition to NBC's national NBC/WSJ poll.

Per a press release:

NBC News and Marist College are pleased to announce the launch of a polling partnership, the NBC News/Marist Poll, for the 2012 Republican primary season.

The NBC News/Marist Poll will gauge public opinion throughout this fall in key Republican primary and caucus states and track the campaign for the Republican nomination next spring.

"With the diversity of states in play in this year's Republican race, let alone for the general election, it's important for NBC News to have a partner who will bring academic and statistical rigor to the difficult task of state polling. Marist is that partner," says Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent.

BEDFORD, NH -- Mitt Romney continues to lead the GOP presidential field in New Hampshire, according to the latest non-partisan Suffolk University/7News poll published late Wednesday.

Rick Perry, who leads in several national polls, comes in fourth -- behind Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman.

Here's the breakdown:
Romney 41%
Paul 14%
Huntsman 10%
Perry 8%
Palin 6%
Bachmann 5%
Santorum 1%
Roemer 1%
11% were undecided

Romney has centered his campaign strategy on victory in New Hampshire, where he owns a home and has been regularly campaigning since the 2008 cycle.

“Mitt Romney is saying ‘get out of my back yard’ and making New Hampshire his strong firewall despite showing some weakness in the other states’ early primaries,” said David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Center in a statement.

“The anti-Romney candidate at this point could be either Ron Paul, who has polled consistently over the past year, or Jon Huntsman, whose numbers are really growing in the Granite State,” Paleologos said.

Huntsman's campaign, which has shifted the lion's share of its resources to New Hampshire, is pleased with the results.

"Gov. Huntsman's record of leadership and the strongest jobs plan in the race is resonating with voters. We are going to continue to aggressively campaign in New Hampshire and earn every vote in the months ahead," spokesman Michael Levoff told NBC News.

What a difference a summer makes. This poll of 400 voters drew a dramatic contrast to the last Suffolk/7News survey in June. Three short months ago, Romney sat comfortably at 36% ,while Michele Bachmann clocked in at 11%, Paul garnered 8%, and Huntsman claimed 4%. On Wednesday, Bachmann polled at less than half of her June numbers.

Bachmann has not been back to New Hampshire since before the Ames Straw Poll, a move that has irked her existing supporters and miffed voters in the Granite State.

“The fact that she hasn’t been here since June 28, not even a victory lap after the Straw Poll, speaks volumes of what the campaign thinks of New Hampshire, which is unorthodox to say the least,” former GOP state chairman Fergus Cullen told NBC News.

“Once it becomes the conventional wisdom she is not interested in this state, it becomes very difficult, almost impossible, to turn that around into any appreciable support,” Cullen said. “And [her absence] has become the cemented wisdom.”

DES MOINES, IA -- The Republican Party of Iowa announced yesterday it would hold its annual Ronald Reagan Dinner on Nov. 4. Nine GOP presidential candidates have been invited, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign has already confirmed his attendance.

“Not only does this event greatly boost Republican organizing efforts in Iowa, but it will provide a tremendous opportunity for our presidential candidates to address and meet thousands of Iowa’s most influential Republican activists,” GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said in a written statement.

Those invited to speak at the event at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines include: Rep. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Rep. Ron Paul, Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former Sen. Rick Santorum.

Six presidential candidates spoke at the 2007 dinner, but three major candidates were absent from the lineup: Romney, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Last year’s Reagan Dinner was headlined by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who some believe is still considering a 2012 presidential bid herself. Palin was not extended an invitation to the dinner this year.

Perry’s Iowa state chairman told NBC News that the Governor was excited to accept the invitation from Chairman Strawn.

“Gov. Perry is proud to help the Republican Party of Iowa as it prepares for the caucuses,” Bob Haus said. “And as a former Air Force pilot, it's only fitting that he led the squadron with his quick response to the Party's invitation.”

Details of the GOP dinner were released the day after the Iowa Democratic Party announced Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel would headline its annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Nov. 19. Barack Obama and all the Democratic presidential candidates spoke at the J-J Dinner in the fall of '07.

Perry gets another debate chance and previewed his attacks yesterday… Will Romney once again emerge unscathed?... FOX-Google debate begins at 9:00 pm ET from Orlando, FL… Obama visits bridge linking Boehner’s Ohio and McConnell’s Kentucky and delivers remarks on his jobs bill in Cincinnati at 2:30 pm ET… Per Gallup, for first time, a majority blames Obama for the nation’s economic problems… House GOP unable to pass spending measure… Issa -- for green energy before he was against it?... And GOP presidential candidates participate at the Florida Faith and Freedom Coalition kick-off in Orlando beginning at 3:00 pm ET.

*** Another debate chance for Perry: If debates determined the eventual primary winner, then Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, or even Joe Biden would have captured the Democratic nomination in '08, and Mike Huckabee would have won the GOP nod that year. But Rick Perry's debate performance last week in Tampa was enough to worry some Republicans (especially donors) already eyeing the general election against President Obama. He was imprecise with his language (did he really want to suggest that he could be bought for a campaign contribution more than $5,000?). He seemed unprepared (particularly in the discussion about HPV). And he wasn't quick on his feet (when Romney said Perry inherited four aces with the Texas economy, he could have responded, "Gov. Romney, now that you're talking poker, you've been bluffing your way as a conservative for way too long").

AP

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

*** Perry previews his attacks on Romney: So all the pressure for tonight’s debate -- the sixth of the GOP race and third one in 15 days -- is on Perry. And it’s about more than convincing Republican viewers and voters; it’s about convincing donors that he has what it takes, with the Sept. 30 fundraising deadline just around the corner (and with the chatter in the donor world that Perry’s struggling a bit). Perhaps previewing his debate strategy tonight, a more aggressive Perry came out swinging against Mitt Romney yesterday. One Perry press release charged, “As he has so many times in the past, Mr. Romney seems to forget he's a Republican.” A second one stated, “In his second false, desperate attack of the day, a flailing Mitt Romney helped expose his near worst-in-the-nation jobs record and his job-killing RomneyCare plan.” And he said this on FOX last night, per NBC’s Carrie Dann: "We don't need to nominate Obama Lite. We don't need to nominate someone who's going to blur the lines between President Obama and our nominee."

*** Will Romney once again emerge unscathed? Of course, we’ve been here before -- remember when Tim Pawlenty previewed his attack on Romney, but failed to deliver at the New Hampshire debate back in June? In fact, one of the themes so far this cycle is how Romney has emerged unscathed (and sometimes has been entirely forgotten) at the GOP debates. He has talked about the issues he wants to discuss (Obama, the economy), deflects the questions posed to him (like on health care), and moves on. Will that change tonight?

AP

*** Nine at 9:00 pm: Tonight’s debate, co-sponsored by FOX and Google, takes place in Orlando, FL beginning at 9:00 pm ET. And it features nine GOP candidates: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Perry, Romney, and Rick Santorum. This will be Johnson’s first debate since the May FOX debate in South Carolina. The event also comes as a new Quinnipiac poll shows Perry leading Romney in Florida, 31%-22% (and has Romney beating President Obama in the state 47%-40%, and Perry trailing Obama 44%-42% -- so a nine-point swing; but will GOP primary voters buy electability argument, especially in FL when they were told Rick Scott was unelectable?). Meanwhile, the Democratic Super PAC Protect Your Care is going up with a TV ad in the Orlando market (from Thursday through Sunday) seizing on the “Let him die” moment at last week’s GOP debate.

*** Bridging the gap? In addition to tonight’s debate, the other political story is Obama’s visit to Cincinnati, OH -- and to a bridge linking the home states of House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "It says a lot that the bridge [the Brent Spence Bridge] that would connect the states of two such powerful leaders would be considered functionally obsolete," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told the Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this week. "The president believes that we need to pass the American Jobs Act as soon as possible and in a divided government, the only way to do that is for Republicans to be willing to work with Democrats.” The RNC is pointing out, however, that the bridge isn’t “shovel ready” and that Dem Sen. Sherrod Brown was pushing for the bridge to be included in the 2009 stimulus. Obama delivers his remarks at 2:30 pm ET.

*** The economic blame game and a potential tipping point: Per Gallup: “A slight majority of Americans for the first time blame President Obama either a great deal (24%) or a moderate amount (29%) for the nation's economic problems. However, Americans continue to blame former President George W. Bush more. Nearly 7 in 10 blame Bush a great deal (36%) or a moderate amount (33%).” In our recent NBC/WSJ poll, a majority (56%) said Obama inherited the current economic conditions, though that was down six points from June. That’s compared with 33% who said that Obama was mostly responsible for the economy. This is one of those “perception” tipping point moments. Of course, the White House believes the proper new question on this score should be comparing the president to congressional Republicans for current economic situation. That’s their foe and challenge.

AP

House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), right, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia.

*** House GOP unable to pass spending measure: Turning to Capitol Hill… Demonstrating -- once again -- their inability to count votes and corral their most conservative members, House GOP leaders yesterday were unable to pass a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open after Sept. 30. The measure failed, 195-230, NBC’s Frank Thorp reports. The New York Times has more: “The unexpected outcome illustrated how the intense fiscal fights of recent months had transformed the politics of disaster relief, which in the past has typically been rushed out of Congress with strong backing from both parties. Democrats remained nearly united against the measure because they saw the amount of disaster assistance — $3.65 billion — as inadequate, and they objected to the Republicans’ insistence on offsetting some of the cost with cuts elsewhere.”

*** For green energy before you were against it: At 9:30 am ET, Darrell Issa’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing entitled, “How Obama’s Green Energy Agenda is Killing Jobs.” Yet Bloomberg News reports that Issa has sought his clean-energy aid in the past. "Republican Representative Darrell Issa, who said government subsidies to specific companies can encourage corruption, sought U.S. help in the past for clean- energy projects in his home state of California."

*** On the 2012 trail: Before tonight’s debate, Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Perry, Romney, and Santorum will all participate at the Florida Faith and Freedom Coalition kick-off beginning at 3:00 pm ET in Orlando, FL.

*** Thursday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Former State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin on the president’s week at the UN … Marist’s Lee Miringoff joins for a special announcement … Jonathan Martin and Chris Cillizza preview tonight’s GOP debate … And our panelists, MSNBC.com’s Vaughn Ververs, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru, and USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich, join to break down the president’s jobs push in Ohio as the Republican candidates debate.

*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and former Sen. Norm Coleman (who is now backing Mitt Romney).

Countdown to Election Day 2011: 47 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 137 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up, and it’s likely that the contest takes place earlier.

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter. Follow us @chucktodd, @mmurraypolitics, @DomenicoNBC, @brookebrower

Mitt Romney is ahead of Rick Perry by 33 points in New Hampshire among likely voters, while Jon Huntsman jumped to 10%, according to the latest non-partisan Suffolk University/7News poll published late Wednesday, NBC’s Jo Ling Kent notes.

The full breakdown:
Mitt Romney 41%
Ron Paul 14%
Jon Huntsman 10%
Rick Perry 8%
Sarah Palin 6%
Michele Bachmann 5%
Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer 1%11% were undecided

PAUL: NBC’s Anthony Terrell reports on Ron Paul’s new TV ad: In the ad, two Vietnam veterans describe their experience during the Vietnam War and detail how Paul helped them get medals for their heroism. The ad -- entitled “He Served” -- features images of Ron Paul in uniform as a United States Air Force flight surgeon in the 1960s.

Politico reported earlier this is part of a three-week, $1 million ad buy that will run heavily on Fox News and on local broadcast networks in Iowa and New Hampshire. It will also run lightly on broadcast networks in South Carolina and Nevada.

SANTORUM: Speaking to the Aiken, South Carolina Republican Club yesterday, Rick Santorum warned the 100 or so members in attendance that “this is the most important election of your lifetime and you better get it right,” NBC’s Ali Weinberg notes. If they don’t, he continued, “You will be the generation that let freedom slip.” He said that Spain, Greece, and Italy were examples of countries that let their debt spiral out of control, in part because of outdated entitlement programs. “People are storming buildings because the government is cutting their benefits. It’s pathetic,” Santorum said.

By NBC's Ali Weinberg 

COLUMBIA, SC – He may have not been there himself, but Rick Perry sent an important surrogate – his wife Anita – to the opening of his South Carolina campaign headquarters today.

Her appearance here, announced last week, came a day after a poll of South Carolina Republican primary voters showed the former Texas governor in a close race with Mitt Romney, leading 30 to 27 percent. 

Mrs. Perry told the small crowd of supporters three times in five minutes how fond she and her husband are of the third-in-the-South primary state, explaining that South Carolina and Texas are a lot alike.

“We have the same values, we like the same food, we kind of talk the same talk, and we feel right at home here,” Perry said. “And we’re planning on spending a lot of time in your state.”

Perry also talked about her husband’s humble roots, repeating almost verbatim a line her husband began using after Romney suggested he had been dealt “four aces” as governor of Texas in the midst of a state economic boom and a Republican statehouse.

“For a boy who grew up the son of tenant farmers that didn’t have indoor plumbing, you could say he was not born with four aces in his hand,” Perry said.

The Perry campaign also officially announced the endorsement of 21 Republican members of the South Carolina General Assembly, including Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler and state Sen. Larry Grooms, who appeared at the event today. Some of the legislators listed, including Peeler, had gone public with their endorsement before today's event but were officially rolled out today. 

Six protestors stood outside the Perry headquarters, which also served as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s base for her 2010 campaign. A few of them, who called themselves “concerned conservatives,” wore sombreros and held signs thanking Perry for giving them free education – a nod to his passage of the DREAM Act in Texas which allowed undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition.

Two others were dressed as Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, and held signs thanking Perry for his support of Gore in the late 1980’s and his support of Clinton’s health care plan in the ‘90’s.

Katon Dawson, Perry’s South Carolina campaign chairman, asked one of the protestors whom he worked for, to which the student, Les King, responded that he was “just a student” from the University of South Carolina. 

By msnbc.com's Michael O'Brien

A senior Senate Republican suggested Wednesday that Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) erred in delivering a speech critical of President Obama's handling of Israel the day before the president was set to speak on Israeli-Palestinian relations at the United Nations.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said that Perry could have stood to wait a bit before delivering his blistering critique of Obama, in which the Republican presidential frontrunner accused Obama of "appeasement" of the Palestinian Authority in its bid for statehood.

"I think Perry, if he had a chance to do it over again, probably wouldn't do that," Alexander, a two-time candidate for president in 1996 and 2000, said on MSNBC's Daily Rundown.

"The answer to the question is yes," Alexander said when asked if Perry should have waited a few days. "But let me let Mitt Romney and Rick Perry duke that out."

Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday in part to warn gathered delegates against approving statehood for Palestinians; Obama said that a solution could only emerge through negotiations.

The Tennessee senator did offer praise, though, for Perry's defense of his record on immigration before a potentially hostile audience at a Tea Party debate last week in Florida. Perry seemed "very presidential" in that moment, Alexander said.