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By James Hohmann (
mailto:jhohmann@politico.com
jhohmann@politico.com ; Twitter: @jameshohmann)

Good morning from DES MOINES, where Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen and New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O'Brien will endorse Newt Gingrich at a state capitol press conference this morning. Then the three will fly to New Hampshire for an afternoon event in Manchester. [The campaign also tells Score thatJ.C. WATTS, former House Republican Conference chair, will do separate surrogate work on Gingrich's behalf in Des Moines today.]

SNEAK PEEK - ROMNEY TO TRAMPLE ON NEWT'S ROLLOUT:While Paulsen and O'Brien tout Gingrich, Boston will highlight the TWO former Iowa speakers and FIVE former New Hampshire speakers backing Mitt Romney. Three of the seven are fresh endorsements (Iowa's Brent Siegrist, along with New Hampshire's Harold Burns and George Roberts). The other four have already gone public (Chris Rants, Donna Sytek, John Tucker and Doug Scamman). At his stop in Keene today, Romney also formally get the support of conservative activist Jennifer Horn.

SEN. MIKE JOHANNS will endorse Romney today as well.The Nebraska senator was previously governor and George W. Bush's Secretary of Agriculture.

EXCLUSIVE - PAUL'S NEW AD HIGHLIGHTS ANTI-ABORTION BONA FIDES:Ron Paul's campaign will begin airing a one-minute ad today that features former patients effusively praising the candidate. It's an entirely positive spot that will almost certainly appeal to women (many of whom are concerned about Gingrich's history of philandering and divorce) while also highlighting Paul's life-long opposition to abortion for social conservatives. This is part of the Texas congressman's multimillion dollar final blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire. Paul, an obstetrician, has delivered more than 4,000 babies.

From the testimonials: "Life begins at conception, and as a result I loved to go to a doctor who felt the same way" ... "He not only protects unborn life, but he also walks through journeys with women and he has for years." ... "I love the fact that he hasn't changed in all these years. Ron's still the same guy, saying the same things." Watch:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f2c50620e9516bcb1b20d03f17c05c2271f003b4acc24971b7778407fb654c32
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f2c50620e9516bcb1b20d03f17c05c2271f003b4acc24971b7778407fb654c32 .

BRACKETING ROMNEY'S BUS TOUR - HUNTSMAN TO ATTACK ON BAIN:Jon Huntsman's campaign has scheduled a 10:30 a.m. ET conference call with reporters "to discuss Mitt Romney's record of destroying jobs in New Hampshire while running Bain Capital." The call will happen at about the same time Romney's bus tour, which starts today, passes through Claremont-where Bain Capital allegedly terminated a hundred workers when they closed Holson Burnes. Scott Pope, who served as mayor at the time of the layoffs, will be on the call. Here's an Associated Press story about Bain layoffs that Huntsman's campaign would like you to see:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01c6735c8972179c595242e1603bc7a6b074d1ca46664003a4b400cf2bca3d39
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01c6735c8972179c595242e1603bc7a6b074d1ca46664003a4b400cf2bca3d39 .

WHAT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE UP TO:Romney appears on the Daily Rundown this morning after meeting with voters at a restaurant in Keene. Then he goes to Newport, Hanover and Ashland. In Iowa, Paul hosts four town hall meetings: Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant, Washington and Bettendorf. Santorum appears in West Burlington, Fairfield and Iowa City. Bachmann makes 10 stops in southeastern Iowa in her push to get to all 99 counties: Muscatine, Wapello, West Burlington, Keosauqua, Fairfield, Mount Pleasant, Washington, Tipton and Cedar Rapids. Perry starts the day with a noon lunch in Muscatine and then a meet-and-greet in the same city. Later he goes to Mount Pleasant. Huntsman appears on
David Letterman's show tonight. Besides the endorsement events we mentioned above, Gingrich is holding a rally at the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington at 7 p.m.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=71de22bb500705546d27da1a0054af3b094648ac33b0f05be4826a3061a0eb5d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=71de22bb500705546d27da1a0054af3b094648ac33b0f05be4826a3061a0eb5d

EXCLUSIVE - NRCC TARGETING 13 DISTRICTS WITH ROBOCALLS:The National Republican Congressional Committee will begin hitting 13 Democratic incumbents today on their payroll tax vote with targeted robocalls.The targets: Jason Altmire (PA-04); Lois Capps (CA-24); Ben Chandler (KY-06); Jim Costa (CA-21); Mark Critz (PA-12); John Garamendi (CA-03); Larry Kissell (NC-08); Mike McIntyre (NC-07); Jerry McNerney (CA-09); Brad Miller (NC-13); Collin Peterson (MN-07); Heath Shuler (NC-11); and Betty Sutton (OH-13).Sample script:"Hello, I'm calling from the National Republican Congressional Committee with an important alert. If you're as fed up with Congress as everyone else is, wait til you hear what
your Congresswoman Lois Capps did. Not only did Capps' vote last week pave the way for a tax increase for you and every other American middle class family, but she is now stubbornly standing by her position that could raise your taxes by over a thousand dollars starting on January 1st. Even House Republicans and President Obama agree that we should find an immediate long-term solution for middle class Americans. Why doesn't Lois Capps want to give American families the same stability over the holidays? Call Lois Capps at (805) 546-8348. Ask her to stop being the typical Washington politician and for once, try to work in a bipartisan manner to help lower taxes for middle class families
struggling with a harsh economy."

** As Gingrich and Romney bicker over Super PACs, Santorum tries to translate an endorsement into real support from social conservatives and the RNC outraises the DNC again, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

SPOILER ALERT - GARY JOHNSON TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT AS LIBERTARIAN:"Gary Johnson will quit the Republican primaries and seek the Libertarian Party nomination instead," Reid Epstein and Ginger Gibson wrote last night. "The former two-term New Mexico governor, whose campaign for the GOP nomination never caught fire, will make the announcement at a press conference in Santa Fe on Dec. 28. The move has been expected for weeks - Johnson had run a New Hampshire-centric effort that never got him past a blip in the polls."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=976c2d576c7ef3e67d86936c2831641852956f5f9c791aeb7a39b304740b79e9
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=976c2d576c7ef3e67d86936c2831641852956f5f9c791aeb7a39b304740b79e9

ROMNEY'S NEW STUMP SPEECH - STARTS BUS TOUR TODAY:"Romney presented a new and updated version of his stump speech [in Bedford] the night before he was set to kick off a three-day, nine-town bus tour through the state," the New York Times reports. "Romney drew some of the sharpest and harshest distinctions yet between himself and President Obama ... painting the upcoming election as a choice between 'two destinies.'" NYT:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2db08af8c8df0c481a8ee507aa151092c38951083cbf44b5078958ec167d8c67
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2db08af8c8df0c481a8ee507aa151092c38951083cbf44b5078958ec167d8c67 .

SUPER PACS - ATTACKS GETTING UNDER GINGRICH'S SKIN:Gingrich said yesterday that Romney should disown and condemn the attack ads being run against him by the Romney-friendly Restore our Future Super PAC. The former Speaker got peeved when a man asked him at a town-hall style meeting in southeastern Iowa about a radio ad he'd just heard that described the former House speaker as a "globalist" who had supported cap-and-trade. "I think these guys hire consultants who just sit around, get drunk and write really stupid ads," he said during a question-and-answer session on the floor of a factory that makes snow removal equipment. Gingrich attributed his tumble in the polls to the barrage of ads:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2df61932854fb217c094210d0819c7943e1afe10f21bbb6ce141b21772ff2e4b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2df61932854fb217c094210d0819c7943e1afe10f21bbb6ce141b21772ff2e4b . Robin Bravender and Dave Levinthal call Super PACs THE BAD COPS OF 2012 in a story leading POLITICO's home page this morning:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5299fab6ee70e66d4b9feb0adc623448032ac7c02c06408afadc10821bf802b3
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5299fab6ee70e66d4b9feb0adc623448032ac7c02c06408afadc10821bf802b3 .

RESTORE OUR FUTURE'S NEW HIT ON NEWT:Thelatest attack ad "rehashes Gingrich's Freddie Mac connections and some other familiar 'baggage.' But it also says that Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi 'cosponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to a UN program supporting China's brutal one-child policy' and charges Newt with having 'supported taxpayer funding of some abortions,'" per Alex Burns. "A Restore Our Future Strategist said the ad is running in 'heavy' rotation, at approximately 'just under 100 points a day.'" Watch the full minute:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1a0dd1e94669dd4a335698c2c98320428d6211476dd9afdd810ff2b0a020e2c2
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1a0dd1e94669dd4a335698c2c98320428d6211476dd9afdd810ff2b0a020e2c2 .

PRO-GINGRICH SUPER PAC GOES ON RADIO TODAY:Winning Our Future has started buying time on Iowa radio. Maggie Haberman: "It is expected to start [today] in Des Moines and Mason City markets on news and talk radio, running through caucus day on Jan. 3." Listen to the 30- and 60- second versions of the ads:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=572955ceb901036313bea28ddd499c3a97a12fdc5cfa3ab41ab869447c6eda60
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=572955ceb901036313bea28ddd499c3a97a12fdc5cfa3ab41ab869447c6eda60 . Here's our take on Gingrich's ongoing organizational challenges after a day watching him do retail on the trail:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b93817f529dca60b68f67ae4eaee428dec4f5b4349450afdc0b4db9a44704e7a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b93817f529dca60b68f67ae4eaee428dec4f5b4349450afdc0b4db9a44704e7a .

EVANGELICALS - FAMILY LEADER NOT ENDORSING:The Family Leader's board of directors could not reach agreement on who to endorse so the conservative group decided not to. But the group's president, Bob Vander Plaats, and Chuck Hurley, Iowa Family Policy Center president, both endorsed Rick Santorum.Audio of Santorum's reaction, per Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1e42cdce76da53c396ab76c70317b0715b681bd6e985e79d838961f04fd0b75a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1e42cdce76da53c396ab76c70317b0715b681bd6e985e79d838961f04fd0b75a . "He could be the Huckabee in this race," Vander Plaats told reporters.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1819f323d719542126bc15e6c49480ea1da56a9741e6e42a465eca1a1e213e47
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1819f323d719542126bc15e6c49480ea1da56a9741e6e42a465eca1a1e213e47 .

VANDER PLAATS BACKS SANTORUM, ASKED BACHMANN TO QUIT:"Vander Plaats called Michele Bachmann and urged her to drop out of the race and endorse Rick Santorum" in a Saturday phone call, a source with knowledge of the conversation told POLITICO's Reid Epstein yesterday. "Bachmann declined, the source said, noting to Vander Plaats that she has consistently polled ahead of Santorum in the race and still does."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7e59b1ffd7ea55b86eebaeae6c745c273e794d7e4310774715eeccefa0b14ac
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f7e59b1ffd7ea55b86eebaeae6c745c273e794d7e4310774715eeccefa0b14ac

THREE PERSPECTIVES -- HOW MUCH DOES VANDER PLAATS MATTER?

The Des Moines Register's Jennifer Jacobs: "Division amid Iowa's evangelicals is so deep that it's extremely unlikely they will unite behind one candidate in the two weeks before the caucuses, evangelical leaders agreed Tuesday...That deepens fears among some Christian conservatives that their vote will be fractured among three or more candidates, said Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition. 'It's maddening,' he said."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=411bf78ddfe2d56d1bf138f81e90db975f85edca205285e11ccb3f7831c5ea54
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=411bf78ddfe2d56d1bf138f81e90db975f85edca205285e11ccb3f7831c5ea54

The Iowa Republican blog's Kevin Hall:"Although Vander Plaats lost in the GOP gubernatorial primary last year, he garnered more than 93,000 votes. Mike Huckabee won the Iowa Caucus in 2008 with just under 41,000 votes. If Vander Plaats can convince less than half of his supporters to back Santorum, he could win Iowa."

National Review editor Rich Lowry:"Santorum has had a major chicken-and-egg problem. I get the impression social conservatives in Iowa have been leery of supporting him because he's been so low in the polls, meaning he stays low in the polls. He's always needed something to give him an initial boost of plausibility. Maybe this is it, but who knows? I tend to believe one of the three, Perry, Bachmann, or Santorum, is going to get a big boost at the end."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a495d29eeee21bf0412f509e2e00a838441f06ece61e8ea2a5d5bace4bddc1b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a495d29eeee21bf0412f509e2e00a838441f06ece61e8ea2a5d5bace4bddc1b

MORE SCRUTINY - AMERICAN BRIDGE ASSIGNS TRACKER TO SANTORUM:"Up until now the super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, paid little attention to the former Pennsylvania senator, but with two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, Santorum's experiencing something of a last-minute bump. And now he's getting a tracker dispatched by American Bridge," ABC's Michael Falcone and Shushannah Walshe report. "The group considers Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann second-tier candidates, and they will receive less scrutiny than the others."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6874b41a90a6a4190bee14e2befd6cbd6a6f5586508f42fbe5b7831e9ef59ec1
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6874b41a90a6a4190bee14e2befd6cbd6a6f5586508f42fbe5b7831e9ef59ec1

PERRY BUS TOUR - JINDAL STEALS SOME OF THE SPOTLIGHT:"Even as Jindal played his dutiful role as a validator of Perry's accomplishments as Texas governor, some Iowans couldn't help but notice that the 40-year-old himself seemed awfully presidential," Dave Catanese writes. Jindal, who cruised to reelection this October with nominal opposition, declined a 2012 presidential run last fall. But the country's first Indian-American governor will undoubtedly be a top GOP presidential prospect in 2016 if President Obama is reelected." He'll be out on the trail with his border state governor/friend again today:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=62c86f4f8fa42416eb4306d6983500665c817d299364e4b1f3a6467b63bcfb01
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=62c86f4f8fa42416eb4306d6983500665c817d299364e4b1f3a6467b63bcfb01 .

POLLING -

IOWA STATE PUTS PAUL ON TOP IN IOWA:An Iowa State University/Gazette/KCRG pollout this morning reports: Paul, 27.5; Gingrich, 25.3; Romney, 17.5; Perry, 11.2; Bachmann, 7.4; and Santorum, 4.9.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9bdbc99d03fc6a9722dc7f7a836e9daa944433e45d522d254c5cce21484dbd9
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9bdbc99d03fc6a9722dc7f7a836e9daa944433e45d522d254c5cce21484dbd9

CBS NATIONAL POLL SHOWS GINGRICH, ROMNEY TIE 20-20:"The next highest finisher in the survey was 'someone else,' the choice of 19 percent of GOP primary voters. Another 17 percent said they were undecided or didn't know who they would support," according to the CBS analysis. "Even among those who have made a choice, there is plenty of uncertainly. Seventy-nine percent of this group say it's too early to fully commit to a candidate, while just 21 percent say they've made up their mind. And only 23 percent say they strongly favor their candidate, while 62 percent say they have reservations."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a19788647d70ca75b2541c07c95c02d69bfd3b75b2d737f5e6ec4e27365ec797
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a19788647d70ca75b2541c07c95c02d69bfd3b75b2d737f5e6ec4e27365ec797

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO - NO PUBLIC SCHEDULE:"In the morning, the President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisors in the Oval Office. These meetings are closed press."

RNC FUNDRAISING - OUTRAISED DNC BY 400K IN NOVEMBER:"The Republican National Committee on Tuesday reported bringing in $7.1 million last month, down from $8.5 million raised in October," per CNN. "Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee raised $6.5 million, with $10.5 million cash on hand and $7.8 million in debt, according to a Democratic official with knowledge of the numbers. Despite their drop, the RNC said the $7.1 million figure amounts to the most the group has ever raised during the month of November in an off-year... Over the last month, the RNC said it cut its debt by more than $500,000. In less than 10 months, the group added more than $13.5 million in cash on hand, while
retiring almost $11 million in debt, according to the statement."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f42c8a0ac08148ba2357293941133111d0bb62f6dad5783703dfb63a0d2c33bc
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f42c8a0ac08148ba2357293941133111d0bb62f6dad5783703dfb63a0d2c33bc

CALIFORNIA HOUSE - COSTELLO PICKS REPLACEMENT:"Retiring Illinois Rep. Jerry Costello knows who he wants to replace him in the House," Alex Isenstadt reports. "On Wednesday, Costello will host a Belleville fundraiser for Democrat Brad Harriman, a former top Clair County public schools official who has announced plans to run for the seat the congressman is retiring from after more than two decades. Harriman is the frontrunner in the springtime Democratic primary, and is expected to face the winner of a GOP nomination battle that's pitting former lieutenant governor nominee Jason Plummer and former Belleville Mayor Rodger Cook."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ddf658defdd31e09f3fa9114f54ed056a8f42bc24e273bd1fb7c8cc9700446c1
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ddf658defdd31e09f3fa9114f54ed056a8f42bc24e273bd1fb7c8cc9700446c1

ARIZONA REDISTRICTING - COMMISSION PASSES TENTATIVE MAP: "The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission has approved a tentative congressional map that creates four Republican-leaning districts, two Democratic-leaning districts and three competitive districts," per the Capitol Times. "The final vote divided the commission along party lines, as many of its votes have this year, with the two Democratic commissioners and the independent chairwoman voting for the map and the two Republicans voting against it."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9bc0013f37dcdb686a9138375618881560863a044bcf0772921a49b552858486
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9bc0013f37dcdb686a9138375618881560863a044bcf0772921a49b552858486

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY:"I'm for income inequality." - Rick Santorum, criticizing the Occupy movement
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6df7c417e206eb44391ffa96452266230d0647228e68e022188ecf85d3d6294
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6df7c417e206eb44391ffa96452266230d0647228e68e022188ecf85d3d6294

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