It's the start of the fall campaign season. Who does the White House want to run against? Rick Perry or Mitt Romney? Perry's running strong in a new poll, but all that could change because the Republicans debate again tonight in Florida. Michele Bachmann promises to get back in the game. Bachmann is preparing to fight back at tonight's Florida debate. Her campaign says she's planning on hitting frontrunner Perry on Social Security. By the way, Romney picked up the endorsement of former rival Tim Pawlenty.
Republicans behind the scenes are grumbling about President Obama's jobs plan -- which goes to the Hill today -- and wondering how much they should help him. That's why Friday's trip by the president to Eric Cantor's district and tomorrow's trip to Ohio, home state of John Boehner, are so important. Does the White House have a political strategy to put the pressure on his opponents and make them stand up and say no to jobs?
By the way, Republicans are in surprisingly good shape in that special election tomorrow in New York to replace Anthony Weiner.
Must read: Bob Woodward has a great piece in today's Washington Post about the lessons from the Iraq war that Dick Cheney didn't learn.