Secret Service Protection for Cain – ABC News confirms a CNN report that Herman Cain asked for and is about to receive Secret Service protection. ” “Secretary Napolitano at the request of the Cain campaign consulted with congressional advisory committee which today authorized protection for Cain.” – George Ogilvy, Secret Service spokesman.

Joke of the Day – Why can’t Nancy Pelosi debate Rick Perry last week as he has challenged her to do?

“Monday, I’ll be in Portland in the morning. I’m going to be visiting some of our labs in California in the afternoon. That’s two,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said as she played off the governor’s infamous debate gaffe. “I can’t remember the third.”   http://abcn.ws/rtOfua

“How do you say delicious in Cuban?” – Herman Cain does Florida

“We need a leader, not a reader” – Herman Cain does The Simpsons

More on Cain from Matt Jaffe: http://abcn.ws/sFHvp4

Schedule Change – Cain cancelled a meeting with the New Hampshire Union Leader Editorial Board today after the Libya question disaster of last year – http://abcn.ws/vWf80w

The Bubble Primary – Matt Jaffe calls it the “bubble primary” because there have been so many bubbles of popularity and media scrutiny. Bachmann to Perry to Cain to Gingrich.

Romney v. Deval Patrick – From Emily Friedman: “A newspaper report that aides to  Mitt Romney  tried to digitally cleanse Romney’s office in 2006 when he was still governor of Massachusetts led Romney’s presidential campaign to accuse his successor – Obama ally Deval Patrick – of being “an opposition research arm of the Obama re-election campaign.” http://abcn.ws/vw2XWF

Praying for the Supercommittee - Sunlen Miller paid attention to what the U.S. Senate chaplain said this morning: “In a special way, guide the supercommittee in its challenging work,” Senate Chaplain Barry Black prayed this morning opening up the day on the Senate floor. “Eternal God, let your peace that passes understanding be felt on Capitol Hill.” http://abcn.ws/uKtl3J

Supercommittee State of Play (6 Days Left) – Miller and Parkinson bring us up to speed on where the supercommittee is at. They might need Rev. Black’s prayers. “Both Democratic and Republican members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction huddled privately today, but the whole 12-member supercommittee has not sat down together in weeks and the group, with each passing moment, appears to be hurtling toward a potential super failure. Both sides claim they have gone as far as possible and called on each other to make further concessions.”  http://abcn.ws/rLWyge

Boehner and Pelosi both want a deal, but neither wants to cave – http://abcn.ws/tZPD28

What would Rick Do? Would he uphold “sequestration” cuts from Super committee? “”Not at all,” Perry said in a media availability according to Arlette Saenz. “As a matter of fact, the Super Committee is a great example of just the lack of leadership that we have in Washington. The president, AWOL as far as I’m concerned. As a matter of fact instead of being in Hawaii, or Asia, or whether he thinks he is on this particular trip, he ought to be here, working on this budget issue. We know what the problem is, we got a spending problem in Washington, D,C., and we’ve got to be sitting down and working out the details of this and I think abrogating the responsibility of the presidency to a Super Committee of congress was bad leadership to begin with.”

Matt Dowd: Open the Debates – “The good news in all of this is that debates matter. Voters are hungry for the type of exchange and openness and authentic performance that they provide.  Debates matter much more than paid advertising, which is wonderful news.  The bad news is that many media outlets are still trying to force the process through an outdated political model by either limiting time for candidates they don’t deem worthy or completely excluding others.  And that does a disservice not only to the voting process but also to the bottom line: the media’s viewership.” http://abcn.ws/sQWLzq

Prop 8 Supporters Get a Break – Proponents of the measure that made Gay Marriage unconsitutional in California (until the courts got ahold of it) got a win before the California Supreme Court today. http://abcn.ws/vwzxkB

What is Prop 8 again? – http://abcn.ws/rI9a6L

Santorum’s Economic Plan – Shush Walshe got the first look: “His plan pledges to simplify the tax code, cut personal income taxes, eliminate the corporate income tax for manufacturers , and reduce taxes for families by tripling the personal deduction for each child, among other points.” Here are 10 of the 39 points http://abcn.ws/vHDsX4

Newt and Freddie – Another day with scrutiny on Newt Gingrich over his ties to Freddie Mac while he was criticizing others for the same. But on that front it was a day without real developments. From Huma Khan: “After saying at a Tea Party town hall today that he would “cheerfully answer any single question,” Gingrich refused to answer reporters’ questions about Freddie Mac. When asked by ABC News why he wouldn’t talk about that issue, the former congressman replied, “They [the Tea Party audience] didn’t”ask.” http://abcn.ws/sgboTX

Dems on Gingrich – On Top Line, Washington (as in Seattle) Democrat Jim McDermott, who goes way back with the former Speaker, said Gingrich is like a chameleon and “has no core.”

Lazy? – Jake Tapper asked Google’s Eric Schmidt about the President’s suggestion that American businesses have been a little lazy. http://abcn.ws/uGz9s4

The man who shot at the White House last week was charged with trying to assassinate the President – http://abcn.ws/tQpb8B