WEST DES MOINES, Iowa –- Before a handful of supporters and members of her Iowa staff, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann today announced that she’s dropping out of the presidential race, the morning after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses.

“Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice,” Bachmann said. “And so I have decided to stand aside.”

She finished in sixth-place in the caucuses, a stunning reversal of fortune for a candidate whose early surge in polls propelled her to victory in the state’s straw poll, less than five months ago.

But Bachmann’s support had steadily waned since that win in August, despite efforts large and small to win Iowa voters. Only last week, Bachmann finished a grueling, 11-day bus tour of the state’s 99 counties.
 
And from the start, Bachmann emphasized having grown up here in Iowa, where she said she learned about simple values, such as thrift and plain-talk.

“I came here to this wonderful state of Iowa,” Bachmann said this morning, of her presidential run. “I had just one message. To tell you that I mean what I say, and I say what I mean.”

As if to prove her point, Bachmann’s remarks this morning re-iterated much of her stump message, casting her fight against President Obama’s national health-care law in grand, historical terms.

Referring to a painting hanging in the U.S. Capitol depicting the signing of the Constitution, Bachmann said the “poignant reminder” of our “fragile republic” called her to action during the 2010 debate over health care. The evening the bill was passed, Bachmann said, she decided to run for president.

“I ran because I believe that since Day 1, Barack Obama's policies, based on socialism, are destructive to the very foundation of the republic,” she added, using an attack on President Obama she had debuted only weeks ago, as part of her closing argument to Iowans.

Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, and much of her family -– including her mother, her three brothers, and her five children –- joined her on stage. The event, brief and low key, followed several frantic hours of media activity after reporters were instructed early this morning to return to the same West Des Moines ballroom where last night Bachmann had told supporters she would fight on.

The campaign’s scheduled trip to South Carolina had clearly been put on hold.

Sources close to the campaign say the candidate huddled with top staffers aboard her bus late into last night, but the decision was ultimately hers alone.

“It’s a very big decision, and she made it,” a top staffer said. “All on her terms.”

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."

DES MOINES, Iowa – With only 20 days until the Iowa caucuses, four GOP candidates made their pitch to social conservatives tonight at the premiere of an anti-abortion documentary narrated by the former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum addressed the 1200 person crowd before the house lights dimmed for the “The Gift of Life” premiere.

“I do want you to take note,” Huckabee told the crowd. “There were four candidates who cleared their schedules, and made this a priority event.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in Iowa polls, won the biggest applause from the crowd tonight – and aimed his remarks at his competitors.

“I have some problems with some of the folks who running for office these days when they say, ‘I believe life begins at conception.’  That’s like, I say, ‘I believe the sun rises.’” Santorum said, to laughs.

“Why would you say you believe something that’s a fact?” Santorum added. It seemed to be a reference, at least in part, to Gingrich, who spoke minutes earlier in favor of a congressional bill that would define personhood as beginning at conception – though Santorum said later tonight he was talking about a number of his opponents. "I know that there have been several candidates for president who have stated they believe life begins at conception – and as I said, it’s not a belief, its a fact," Santorum told NBC News.

During her remarks, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attacked the Obama administration for considering – before reversing course – making the “Plan B” morning-after pill available on pharmacy shelves, “where little girls could find it next to bubble gum and next to M&M’s."

"President Obama is so tied up in his reelection that even he knew that was one step too far,” Bachmann said. Governor Rick Perry touted his record defunding Planned Parenthood in Texas, where he said 12 clinics have closed as a result. He called the new film a tactic in the fight against abortion, saying, “imagine the difference you can make not in just one life, but in two.”

Attacks on Gingrich awaited people after the movie premiere.  A group billed as "Iowans for Life" paid for fliers on cars that read, "The bottom line: Newt Gingrich is a pro-life fraud."

But as Huckabee pointed out during his short remarks inside the theater: “I think it is significant that all four of the candidates who are present tonight have endorsed life. And that ought to be very important.”

AMANA, Iowa -- In case you were wondering what sort of beers the former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum drinks, reporters trailing him Sunday now have a complete list.

“It’s the stouts, the bocks, and then the white ales -- and wheats,” Santorum told a small group of media. He added later: “I don’t do wine tastings. I do beer tastings.”

The GOP hopeful was sidled up to the tasting bar at Millstream Brewery, a local microbrewery in a historic landmark town lined with colonial-style houses and storefronts. The bartender served a small glass of the brewery's prizewinner, a dark and frothy beer called Back Road Stout.

“Chocolate, big chocolate!” Santorum said, sipping from the tasting glass. A crowd of about 20 shoppers looked on.

Santorum asked for a pint of the stout and turned to the crowd. “If you guys want to grab something,” he said, “we can just sit in here and chat for a little bit?” 

The visit to the brewery -- and the impromptu meeting with Iowans inside a back seating area -- underscored the kind of face-to-face campaigning Santorum is staking his candidacy on. 

He’s the only GOP contender so far to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties. (The Bachmann campaign announced today that she would embark, starting Friday, on a 99-county tour.) Despite his effort, he remains in single digits in Iowa polls.

Outside a Coralville church earlier in the day, Santorum insisted that voters “are looking for someone they can trust.”

His speech inside the small Tabernacle Bible Church detailed his fight in the Senate against late-term abortion -- a story that emphasizes what he calls his “faithful” fight on a key issue for social conservatives. (Legislation banning the procedure failed in 1995 and 1997; the ban ultimately passed in 2003.)

“I feel very confident that we’re going to do very well here. The question is, how well,” Santorum told reporters afterward.

It's a question that for now -- with 22 days until the Iowa caucuses -- some voters are not ready to help answer.

At a clothing store down the street from the brewery, a local businesswoman and Ron Paul supporter asked Santorum to make an argument for her vote.

“A good differentiator between me and Ron is the whole issue of commander in chief,” Santorum said. “I sympathize with Ron in the sense that I’d like to see America not be involved in as many places as we are, but at the same time, I’m concerned that if we’re not involved, then other people will.”

The woman, Chris Davies, later told NBC News that she liked what she heard, though she’s probably staying loyal to Paul, because she thinks he has the best prescription for the American economy. 

But, she added, “When I came in here earlier today I was probably more sure than I am right now.”

*** CORRECTION: The Bachmann campaign announced she would embark, starting Friday, on a 99-county tour -- not that she would visit her 99th today, as written in an earlier version of this post.

URBANDALE, IA -- The announcement by former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain that he is suspending his run for president exactly one month before the Iowa caucuses drew wistful reactions today from top Iowa staffers and volunteers.

"The Cain train has been derailed today," Cain's Iowa Chairman Steve Grubbs told NBC News during an on-camera interview shortly after Cain's announcement, which was delivered from Atlanta, GA.

Grubbs, who joined the campaign right after Cain began his rise in the polls, said he was "disappointed" his candidate dropped out, but noted recent scandals took the presidential hopeful away from his message.

"Boy, what I would have given for a couple of drama-free weeks just to focus on message and organization," Grubbs said.

Cain received weeks of scrutiny over a possible extramarital affair and sexual-harassment allegations against him, though he denied the claims. The most recent allegation -- and, it seems final straw for his campaign -- came two weeks ago, when Ginger White accused the Georgia businessman of engaging in a 13-year affair with her. Cain said the two were merely friends and he helped her financially, although he later revealed to the media he never informed his wife of 43 years, Gloria, that he was helping White.

Neither Grubbs nor other Iowa campaign staff knew what Cain would say when he took the podium at what was billed as an event marking the opening of his Georgia headquarters.

"I'm the Iowa communications director for Iowa, but I know nothing," said Lisa Lockwood, a staffer in Cain's state headquarters here in Urbandale, shortly before the announcement.

Lockwood watched Cain's announcement stream in live on her laptop as a gaggle of reporters looked on. 

"I'm surprised, I'm disappointed," Lockwood said afterward, visibly choked up. "I think he's an awesome man, and I think he would have been awesome president."

Outside Lockwood's office, the headquarters had the feel of a campaign abruptly interrupted. Three-thousand yard signs had just been delivered to the office Tuesday night.

State director Larry Tuel said cubicles for phone banks had been installed only days ago.

"I like a fight, and I think Herman Cain does, too," Tuel said. "I wanted to stay in, because I think we could do well in Iowa.

One supporter, Patti Spencer Burdette, said she spent all day Friday delivering signs for the campaign. 

"We love him, and he loves us," Burdette said. "Were a family. And there's sadness in the family."

But outside his family of stalwart volunteers, support for Cain has dropped in Iowa since the allegations came to light. A new Des Moines Register Iowa poll shows Herman Cain polling at just 8% among likely caucus-goers. This is down from the 23% of support he received in the Register's October poll.

Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn told NBC News Cain's that withdrawal -- 30 days before the caucuses -- adds yet more uncertainty to a very fluid and crowded race.

"I think there is a huge opportunity for those Herman Cain supporters to find a home behind a candidate or two and give them momentum," Strawn said.

Several caucus-goers inside a restaurant near Cain's headquarters paid tribute to Cain Saturday, but added that during the past several weeks they had settled on a candidate: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

"He has an intelligent grasp of all the issues, and I perceive he is the most competent to lead this nation back into its prosperity," said James Sandin, a Des Moines resident, of Gingrich.

But Sandin added that he is a strong admirer of Cain. "He portrayed himself as a man of the people. A common man, a business man, not a politician," he said.  "He will be missed in the campaign."

NEW YORK -- On Sunday, Michele Bachmann urged the Pentagon to develop a war plan “immediately” that would evaluate ways to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

"We must accelerate our covert operations and our cyber operations in Iran, and order ... the CIA director to take all means necessary to stop Iran from getting the bomb before it’s too late," said Bachmann, a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
 
“And the Pentagon should prepare a war plan immediately to tell us what to do to prevent Iran from gaining those nuclear weapons,” she continued.

But these remarks, which came during a speech at the annual dinner of the Zionist Organization of America, a pro-Israel group, stopped short of calling for immediate military action against Iran. 

“I do not take lightly the prospect of committing the United States troop to stop Iran,” Bachmann said. “Only a fool would ever wish for war."

Bachmann repeated that theme during a press conference following her speech, telling reporters it would be “foolish” to rush into war, before adding,: “We must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to stop Iran. They are the threat to Israel, they are the threat to the United States.”

Iran's nuclear program, though long a concern inside conservative circles, is again in the spotlight since a United Nations report released earlier this month showed Iran has made further steps toward achieving a nuclear weapon.

Finding a medium between “wishing for war” and being “prepared” could mark a new way Bachmann will talk about managing the threat -– allowing her to strike hawkish and practical tones in equal measure on the issue that has become the centerpiece of her foreign policy agenda.

It also sets her apart from Republican opponents who draw a harder line on both sides of the issue. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has called for a joint American-Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Herman Cain has said he doesn’t support the idea of military action against Iran.

Bachmann called on Sunday for a variety of measures against Iran that stop short of military action, including public support for Iranian dissidents, a naval blockade, and a regime of “crushing” economic sanctions that would seek Russia and China’s aid in shutting down Iran’s central bank. (Both countries have financial relationships with Iran.)

Election politics also made a brief appearance Sunday, when Bachmann was forced to address her work as a young lawyer at the IRS.

ZOA’s president, Morton Klein, had woven that biographical detail into his introduction, setting off boos in the crowd.

“To everyone that was mortified in this room to learn that I was a tax lawyer and worked with –- on behalf of –- the IRS,” Bachmann said, “I actually wore a white hat and was trying to be an advocate for lower taxes in that position, not for higher taxes. “

It was a unique reference to her former employer, which Bachmann often eludes mentioning by describing herself as a “former federal tax attorney.”

Bachmann wasn’t the only high-profile speaker Sunday. Glenn Beck received a “defender of Israel” award from the group, delivering a speech that included teary tributes to leaders of the resistance against the Nazis, and a sweeping reproach of the American political left.

“I’ve said George Soros is no friend to Israel,” Beck said, referring to the prominent liberal philanthropist who is Jewish. “Let me add to it: neither is this administration.”

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann suggested Newt Gingrich was "shilling" for Freddie Mac in his career since stepping down as Speaker of the House.

Seizing on a report that Gingrich -- or, at least, his consulting firm -- received at least $1.6M in fees from the mortgage lending giant from 1999-2008, Bachmann told an Iowa audience that she was a candidate of a different sort.

"Whether former speaker Gingrich made 300-thousand dollars, or whether he made $2 million dollars, the point is he took money to also influence senior Republicans to be favorable toward Fannie and Freddie," Bachmann told reporters. "I want them ended...I wasn't shilling for them, I was fighting for them."

Gingrich acknowledged an extended relationship between his consulting firm and Freddie Mac, one of two mortgage giants (the other being Fannie Mae) forced into government conservatorship in part due to their support of subprime lending practices. Since that point, they've become a favorite bogeyman of conservatives.

Gingrich wasn't the only focus of Bachmann's criticism on Wednesday; she was critical of President Obama's plan to boost the U.S. military presence in Australia. Obama, who's traveling to Australia, said that 2,500 troops would be stationed there. It was an announcement interpreted as a move to curb China's growing influence in the Pacific.

After seeming to be taken off-guard by a question in the morning ("Are you kidding? For what reason?" she responded to a question.) about the new stationing development, Bachmann struck a more critical note in the afternoon.

"The president has put us in Libya.  He put us in Uganda.  Do you know about that war?  We're at another war there, at the request of Uganda. And now, Australia.  It's like, what is going on with this guy?  Mr. anti-war has put us in what, three more locations, two of which are wars?" she said in response to a question in Webster City.

In response to a question from NBC, she explained afterward: "This is a new issue and that's something that we'll weigh in on. But again it shows that this president has no hesitancy when it comes to utilizing his military, whatever his purposes are, completely incoherent."

Meanwhile, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said in Iowa that he commended Obama for the troop placement in Australia.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A debate has erupted within the organization responsible for governing much of Iowa’s caucus process over the rules regarding members’ political activities.
 
The by-laws of the Iowa GOP don’t prevent any member of the Republican State Central Committee (SCC) from endorsing, volunteering, or receiving pay from presidential campaigns, setting up complaints of perceived conflicts of interest in members’ decision-making.
 
The 17-member SCC operates on the authority of the Iowa GOP’s constitution, and is tasked with governing most of the primary process – from settling the Ames Straw Poll ballot to determining debate criteria and setting the date of the caucus, which the committee had placed on the calendar for Jan. 3.
 
Seven members of the committee have openly endorsed candidates, and some have taken paid staff positions --  developments that have spurred a rift within the committee and among Republicans statewide.
 
Five SCC members – Drew Ivers, A.J. Spiker, David Fischer, Jeremiah Johnson and James Mills – have endorsed Texas Representative Ron Paul for president. Three of them hold paid positions with the Paul campaign.
 
Member Wes Enos endorsed and works for Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign, while national committeewoman Kim Lehman has endorsed former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.
 
No other campaigns have public support from SCC members.

Some current and former party officials see a potential conflict of interest.  Former Iowa GOP chairman Steve Grubbs, who is currently serving as Herman Cain’s state chair, is an outspoken opponent of serving the party and a campaign at the same time.
 
“It's always a potential landmine for Central Committee members to endorse candidates during a Republican contest, since they are often called upon to officiate meetings with multiple candidates, or official party functions,” says Grubbs, who adds that he remained neutral when he served as the Iowa GOP chairman.
 
In interviews with NBC News, SCC members say the first sign of a potential conflict during the 2012 cycle bubbled up in July, when SCC members voted on the list of names to appear on the August 13 Ames Straw Poll ballot.
 
At issue was the inclusion of two names – Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. At the time, speculation swirled about both figures, but neither had declared for president.
 
“All the members that were supporting candidates recused themselves from voting on whether to add Palin and Perry,” National Committeeman Steve Scheffler told NBC News.  He added that the members endorsing Paul and Bachmann handled those abstentions differently.
 
“During the discussion period, only Wes Enos [of the Bachmann campaign] spoke openly about his preference to keep them off, but the Ron Paul people did not even participate in the discussions,” Scheffler said.
 
The vote was tied, and Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn was called in to cast the deciding vote. Perry and Palin’s names were left off the ballot, with the stipulation voters could select them as write-in candidates.

The ballot vote revealed how the endorsing members – in the absence of a hard and fast rule prohibiting a conflict – were torn between competing allegiances.  Despite their abstentions, they may have influenced things all the same.

Ivers was in favor of including Perry and Palin because of how high they were polling, but he didn’t speak out because he didn’t want to be “biasing the process.”

Enos, who did not vote , decided to voice his opinion nonetheless, telling committee-members he objected to including Perry and Palin  on the ballot because they weren’t declared candidates.
 
“You could give your opinion. I gave mine but I made it very clear after I voiced it that it would be inappropriate for me to vote, as it could benefit one candidate over another,” he told NBC News.

Ivers said some members found it odd that Enos had spoken out.
 
(Bachmann ultimately won the Iowa Straw Poll; Ron Paul came in a close second.)

Current and former party officials say only a change in the by-laws can prevent these potential conflicts of interest.
 
“Serving the party should never be seen as a means to enrich oneself as a hired hand for presidential candidates. It cheapens the caucuses and turns the party central committee into a joke,” one former state party official and caucus campaign veteran said.

The endorsing members disagree.
 
“The end point for having a political party and for having the organization is to elect a good candidate,” says Ivers.

The grey areas spill beyond matters of protocol at party meetings.  Financial rules governing SCC members is another thorny issue.
 
Members do not receive a salary but are allowed to be reimbursed by the Republican Party for travel on party duty.  Critics say that distinguishing between party and campaign duty may be easier in theory than practice.
 
“Party donors should not be reimbursing SCC members for travel to and from political events where they are able to wear two hats – one as a party official, and the other as an identified campaign worker,” said the former party official.
 
Enos, who says he never wears his SCC pin to Bachmann events, acknowledges this point. “You have to be very careful to not ever mix the two roles – ever,” he says.

Given the passion on both sides, it doesn’t look like it the issue will be resolved soon. The committee last voted on the issue in June, and determined only that members disclose paid positions with campaigns. The committee holds its next quarterly meeting Saturday.
 
Similar questions have been raised inside the Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee, which also allows members to endorse and work for presidential campaigns.  But the issue is left to simmer among Republicans until the next contested Democratic caucus.
 
Member Trudy Caviness, a Republican member of the SCC, was the co-sponsor of an effort several years ago to amend the state party’s constitution to prohibit working as a paid staffer on a campaign while retaining membership on the SCC.
 
The effort failed, but Caviness still believes in its principles.
 
“We need to further the work that is the best for the Republican Party of Iowa,” Caviness says.  “I am not against someone working for a candidate; they just need to resign as a member of the State Central Committee to do that.”

By NBC's Garrett Haake, Alex Moe and Jamie Novogrod

DAVENPORT, IA -  Returning to Iowa for just the fourth time this year, Mitt Romney stayed tightly on message at two campaign stops today; selling his deficit cutting plan and keeping his sights set on President Obama, whose defeat in 2012 he said was vital for America's future.

"This is a critical time for us. I don't want to wake up a year from now and turn on my TV and have it say 'President Obama reelected' because I know what that means.  It means a weaker America," Romney told an audience of roughly 200 supporters this morning in Dubuque. "I want to see a new president that will take America in a great tradition and a new tradition, one that makes America the best place in the world to be middle class again. I will be that president."

"Now there is a different alternative of course. We turn on our TV and the TV says 'Mitt is it.' Now that's what I'm planning on with your help," Romney said in Davenport tonight.

Romney, who did not take questions from the press or the public at either event, used both speeches as opportunities to sell three of the primary tenets of his deficit plan: cutting unneeded programs, sending others back to the states, and improving government's efficiency by cutting waste.

The former Massachusetts governor promised to slash federal subsidies for Amtrak, send Medicaid back to the states, and cut the federal workforce by attrition, while attempting to bring their pay scale more in line with the private sector. Shaking hands after the first event, he was repeatedly asked by voters if he would also defund Planned Parenthood, which he said he would.

He did not, however, spend time discussing the more controversial elements of his deficit plan: adding a "premium support" option to Medicare, with which seniors could buy private insurance instead of relying on traditional Medicare, and gradually raising the eligibility age for social security.

Despite only making two stops today, Romney got his money's worth visually. Both events were elaborately staged, with a huge steel Romney sign in the shape of the state of Iowa behind him at the first, and an even larger, backlit "Romney: Believe in America" sign backing him at the second. A multi-camera film crew with a jib and high-end lighting gear were highly visible at each event, and when asked by NBC, campaign officials did not deny that they were shooting a television commercial. Several of Romney's rivals, including Texas Governor Rick Perry, have already aired television ads in Iowa, but the Romney campaign has not.

Tomorrow, Romney travels to Chicago, before his next public appearance, at Wednesday night's CNBC debate in Michigan.