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By Alexander Burns (
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aburns@politico.com ) and James Hohmann (
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BREAKING IN N.H. - ENDORSEMENT FOR ROMNEY - New Hampshire Executive Councilor Dan St. Hilaire is throwing his support behind Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, giving the former governor a nice, momentum-building boost on the morning after the first Granite State debate. St. Hilaire - elected in 2010 to New Hampshire's influential Executive Council, which checks the power of the governor - was a John McCain supporter in 2008. St. Hilaire praises Romney in a statement for his economic leadership: "As a fiscally responsible governor, Mitt Romney kept taxes low, controlled spending and balanced budgets. As a successful businessman, he created jobs and turned around struggling enterprises."
Romney: "Dan St. Hilaire has been a leader in the fight to preserve New Hampshire's traditions of limited government and fiscal responsibility ... I am proud to earn his support." More on that debate below ...

FIRST IN SCORE - LCV GETS FAIRCHILD - The League of Conservation Voters will announce today that former Rahm Emanuel campaign manager Scott Fairchild is joining the environmental group as its national campaigns director. LCV officials are touting the move as a sign that they're gearing up to go on offense in 2012 - and Fairchild has the right resume for that job. Before helping Emanuel win a landslide victory in the Chicago mayor's race, he was campaign manager and chief of staff to Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy. He also advised former Illinois Rep. Bill Foster during his upset 2008 special election win. "The depth and breadth of Scott's political experience will be a tremendous asset as
we build up our political and advocacy campaign programs heading into 2012," said Navin Nayak, LCV's senior vice president for campaigns. "Scott's hiring is a sign of the type of aggressive campaigns LCV plans to run this cycle to hold lawmakers accountable for their anti-environmental votes and elect candidates who will champion sound clean energy policies."

WISCONSIN EXCLUSIVE - EMILY'S LIST ENGAGES - EMILY's List is going into battle in Wisconsin, activating the independent expenditure group Wisconsin Women Vote! to support Democrats in the state Senate recall fight. The national women's group is endorsing five Democratic women running in recall campaigns: Nancy Nusbaum, Sandy Pasch, Shelly Moore, Jessica King and Jennifer Schilling. In an announcement set for today, EMILY's List previews its Wisconsin activities: "The campaign will include direct voter contact and a paid media component, in partnership with the labor and progressive coalition We Are Wisconsin PAC. Over the next weeks and months, the goal will be to communicate with Wisconsin
voters about how the Republican agenda hurts women and families, and the alternative presented by these five Democratic women challengers." EMILY's List president Stephanie Schriock: "Republicans all over the country are waging war on American women and their families. Wisconsin is the next front in that war and we are making a stand."

As Chris Gregoire hangs it up, Barack Obama does San Juan and Kelly Ayotte says the door is still open, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

DEBATE NIGHT - THE REVIEWS COME IN - Here's the consensus on last night's face-off: Romney's a winner, Bachmann's a candidate and Tim Pawlenty didn't do himself any favors. From POLITICO's Burns & Haberman, on the ground in Goffstown: "Mitt Romney ... came into the debate looking strong and emerged from it stronger, as his opponents repeatedly passed up opportunities to go on the attack - and even inflicted damage on themselves as they tried to avoid confrontation ... Despite repeated mentions of the national health care law, there was no attempt to make Romney squirm over the Massachusetts reforms that are supposed to be his biggest political liability." The Wall Street Journal's Weisman &
King: "Pawlenty has attracted considerable support from Republican fund-raisers and establishment figures, but he has yet to catch on with voters. The former governor had taken his first direct shot at Mr. Romney on Sunday, coining the term 'Obamneycare' ... But Mr. Pawlenty declined to press his criticism during the televised debate," The Union Leader's lede: "The contenders in the Republican presidential primary spent Monday's debate at St. Anselm College talking about themselves, the economy, job creation, tax cuts and beating up on President Barack Obama."
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MORE - GOP PILES ON TPAW - The Republican political class panned Tim Pawlenty's puzzling, gun-shy debate performance, which the governor's own campaign manager couldn't quite put a good face on. Jonathan Martin dives in: "Few could recall another example of a candidate unveiling an attack in one high-profile forum, as Pawlenty did on 'Fox News Sunday,' only to then attempt to put the gun back in the holster in another such setting so soon afterward. 'Debates are competitions - they are alpha dog battles,' explained longtime GOP ad man Alex Castellanos ... 'Tim Pawlenty had a chance to get in the ring tonight with the heavyweight champion and create such a moment. He refused to enter the
ring.' ... After the debate, Pawlenty campaign manager Nick Ayers seemed to struggle to explain why his candidate abandoned the comparison.' That assumes that we, like, program in answers on a candidate's brain and say, "That's exactly what you're going to say,"' said Ayers 'Gov. Pawlenty's his own guy.'"
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STEALING THE SHOW - BACHMANN ANNOUNCES - The Minnesota congresswoman announced from the debate stage that she had filed to run for president, almost simultaneously releasing a message on YouTube asking her legion of fans to get actively engaged with the campaign. "This is a historic day for our nation. This is the first day of taking our country back," Bachmann says in the video. "With your common sense and with your energy, working together, we will take our country back in 2012." In the spin room afterward, Bachmann had both GOP pollster Ed Goeas and former Mike Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart in her corner. Watch her announcement video here:
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THE DNC POUNCES - "What in the world are they talking about?" - The Democratic National Committee ridicules the GOP field in a new web video, noting that they didn't say the words "middle class" at the debate - but did manage to talk about Sharia law, Sarah Palin and the possibility of a permanent U.S. station on the moon. Watch:
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THE MORNING AFTER - Here's what the candidates with public schedules are up to, as the smoke clears at St. Anselm College:

- Mitt Romney is speaking with voters at Blake's Restaurant in Manchester at 8:15 a.m., visiting a hardware store in Derry at 9:30 a.m. and going to a feed store in the same town at 10:15 a.m.

- Newt Gingrich will campaign in Concord on Tuesday, appearing at a 7:45 a.m. breakfast on small business hosted by NH Journal and the New Hampshire House Business Coalition.

- Gary Johnson, excluded from last night's debate, has a sit-down with the Union Leader editorial board at 1 p.m. Afterward, he meets with the Foster's Daily Democrat editorial board and at 7 p.m. speaks at a town hall hosted by the Windham Republican Committee.

- Rick Santorum goes to Iowa for a 12:30 p.m. CT stop at a coffee shop at a 6:45 p.m. speech at the Ida County Republican dinner.

N.H. TALKER - AYOTTE THINKS FIELD COULD GROW - Freshman GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte predicted in an interview with National Review that more Republicans could soon jump into the 2012 race, dropping two names in particular. "We have a strong field, but it is not necessarily firm," Ayotte said. "People like Rick Perry are saying they're interested. I had breakfast with Rudy Giuliani a month ago, and I think he is very seriously considering it. He was a great mayor." Ayotte said she "may" endorse but does not have a timeline for making a decision.
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SPEAKING OF PERRY - TODAY IN N.Y. - The Texas governor is visiting the Big Apple this evening to appear at a Lincoln Dinner for the Manhattan GOP. It's Perry's first East Coast trip since the 2012 buzz exploded, and it prompts the Austin American-Statesman to wonder: "Could Perry's brand of conservatism stand national scrutiny?"
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OBAMA COURTS LATINOS WITH PUERTO RICO VISIT - From the White House guidance: "In the morning, the President will depart from Miami, Florida and travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico...the President will deliver brief remarks at a welcome event at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport...In the afternoon, the President will visit La Fortaleza, the historic Governor's mansion...Later in the afternoon, the President will conduct local interviews with El Nuevo Dia and Univision of Puerto Rico... Later, the President will attend a DNC event."

NOT A GOOD HEADLINE - "Obama fundraiser underwhelms" - POLITICO's Carrie Budoff Brown reports from Miami: "A low-dollar fundraiser here Monday felt like a throwback to the 2008 campaign ... The one missing element? Overflowing crowds. Granted, it was a fundraiser, not a free rally. But the empty seats were hard to miss. The top level of the 2,200-seat concert hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts was entirely empty, as were the seats along the side of the second and third levels. 'The expectation was 900,' a Democratic official said, and more than 980 tickets were sold. Tickets for the Gen 44 event started at $44, the official said."
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ON THE OTHER COAST - GREGOIRE OUT - Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire announced Monday that she won't seek a third term in 2012, less than a week after Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna declared for her seat. The Seattle Times: "The decision clears the way for Democratic U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, who's been gearing up for a run...Gregoire, 64, has talked in the past about the possibility of working in President Obama's administration...Many people have speculated she might be offered a post if the president is re-elected."
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DUCKWORTH RESIGNS - HOUSE RUN IN THE WORKS? Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth has submitted her resignation from the executive branch, firing up speculation about a possible bit for Congress in 2012. The Illinois map, just re-drawn by state Democrats, creates a big opening for the unsuccessful 2006 House candidate. Lynn Sweet is betting that Duckworth is a go: "Her house is in the proposed new 8th Congressional District, anchored in the northwest suburbs...The new 8th contains large tracts of territory from the present 6th district where Duckworth beat [Peter] Roskam in 2006 and other turf that could yield Democrat votes."
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BIGGER PICTURE - GAY MARRIAGE LIKELY IN N.Y. - Gay marriage supporters are just two more votes away from passing a same-sex marriage law in one of America's biggest states. The New York Times reports on what could be a big victory for Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "Four lawmakers who two years ago voted against legalizing same-sex marriage reversed course on Monday, saying their constituents' thinking on the socially divisive issue had evolved, in a move that significantly improved the odds that New York will become the largest state in the nation to allow gays and lesbians to wed ... But opponents, vowing an intensified push to defeat the legislation, noted that only 30 of the 62 senators
had endorsed same-sex marriage."
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NEARBY - THE END FOR WEINER? If Anthony Weiner survives this, he'll survive it all: President Obama all but called on the New York congressman to resign in an interview airing this morning on NBC's "Today" show. Obama: "I think he's embarrassed himself, he's acknowledged that, he's embarrassed his wife and his family. Ultimately there's going to be a decision for him and his constituents. I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign. Because public service is exactly that, it's a service to the public. And when you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively."
SO IT'S COME TO THIS - MICH. EDITION - Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow looks like she could be vulnerable in 2012, but Republicans are still scrambling to find a challenger. Now that most of the state's big-name Republicans have passed on the race, the Detroit News reports that some are hoping to draw a retired Detroit Red Wings player into the campaign. The catch? The player's name is a secret. From the paper: "Dennis Lennox, a member of the executive committee of the Cheboygan County Republican Party, said he and other party members recently met with the retired hockey player, whom he wouldn't identify."
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CODA -- QUOTE OF THE DAY -- "Bachmann, I think we sort of created her here, so we have a sense of having launched her career from a small town called 'Hardball,' years ago." - MSNBC host Chris Matthews, ahead of the New Hampshire debate Monday night
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