From NBC's Lauren Selsky
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has had, shall we say, a very interesting week while promoting his book, "A Simple Government: Twelve Things We Really Need from Washington (and a Trillion That We Don't!)."
 
Monday: When Huckabee was asked about President Obama's background and birth certificate on Steve Malzberg's radio show, he responded with this much-talked-about answer, "I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American." 
 
Tuesday: Huckabee released a statement on his PAC website, saying: "I simply misspoke when I alluded to President Obama growing up in 'Kenya' and meant to say Indonesia." 
 
Wednesday: Two days after Huck's inaccurate statement about President Obama growing up in Kenya came another much-talked-about comment about the president: "I do think he has a different worldview and I think it is, in part, molded out of a very different experience. Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas." 
 
Friday: To cap off the week, news came out that Huckabee took on Hollywood. When conservative radio host Michael Medved asked Huckabee about actress Natalie Portman having a child out of wedlock (even though she and the father are engaged to be married), Huck answered: "[O]ne of the things that's troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, 'Hey look, you know, we're having children, we're not married, but we're having these children, and they're doing just fine.' But there aren't really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie."

In a statement this afternoon, Huckabee clarified: "Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby's father. However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not 'slam' or 'attack' Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country."

From NBC's Lauren Selsky
Former Louisiana Gov. Charles "Buddy" Roemer (R) today announced that he formed an exploratory committee to pursue the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Roemer, who referred to himself as a reformer and who noted that he had been "out of politics for 20 years," said he would "challenge the current system of money in politics from day one by setting a voluntary limit on contributions of $100 per individual," adding that he will "accept not one penny more."

While not calling anyone out specifically, he did say that "Washington D.C. is a boomtown, and the rest of America is hurting." He added that "Washington DC is a fundraiser every night and it's an auction during the day for retiring congressmen."

He also made mention of the current union issues facing other states, saying: "I love these governors having the battles now. We did that 25 years ago."

He continued, "So all the problems -- budget out of balance, tax code needs to be rewritten, all these things -- I've been through before in a real, but a smaller scale. I've added my business experience to that now, and I'm ready to make my case."

From NBC's Lauren Selsky
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie this afternoon delivered his 2011-2012 budget to a joint session of the New Jersey State Legislature.
 
He introduced his new "bottom-up" approach to budgeting -- stopping old commitments, and setting new priorities to meet New Jersey's 21st century challenges -- as the "new normal" in the state, and pointed out that New Jersey has become a "leader in fiscal discipline."
 
He also seemed to strike a bipartisan tone as he mentioned -- multiple times -- that states with Republican and Democratic governors are now looking towards New Jersey as a national model.
 
"Democratic governors and Republican governors now look to New Jersey as a beacon of hope for what can happen when leaders lead and a people sacrifice as one for the future of our children. I thank the people of New Jersey for standing with me in turning our state into a national model."
 
"Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter. We are all facing the same problems. These problems are bigger than either political party. The promises of the past are too expensive, and the prospects of the future are too important to stay on the old, failed course."
 
"Today, states as diverse as California and Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida, New York and New Mexico are following the New Jersey model we fought for last year."

From NBC's Lauren Selsky and Mark Murray
In a move that appeared more about self-promotion than actually winning, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry today announced his bid for the 2012 Democratic -- yes, Democratic -- nomination for president in front of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C.
 
He said that, above everything else, his campaign is about the rights of fetuses that are "being brutally slaughtered and thrown in dumpsters and landfills."
 
Then Terry added that his campaign will be about the "human rights of the slave labor force on Obama's plantation," becoming the second social conservative to recently invoke race and slavery when discussing abortion. 
 
Terry argued that he can "pummel Obama's policies" and show him to be "the arch promoter of child killing in the Western Hemisphere" in a Democratic primary. He did acknowledge the obvious: that defeating Obama would be a long shot.