By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalter )

Another big deadline in Washington, another failed attempt at compromise.

And this time the consequences are real: Because of the so-called Congressional supercommittee’s inability to reach a deal by their deadline, $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts are on the way. That’s going to affect everything from Medicare and Medicaid programs to the Pentagon.

Capitol Hill sources say to expect a joint statement by the committee’s chairs, Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington State. It will not be the kumbaya moment that the legislators were hoping for, but rather an acknowledgement of what ABC News’ Jonathan Karl called a “colossal and embarrassing failure” on “Good Morning America” today.

The battle to come is likely to be a centerpiece issue of the 2012 presidential race. In fact, several of the Republican candidates are already turning today’s news into a campaign talking point.

“It is another example of failed leadership,” Romney said in Nashua, N.H. yesterday, adding that President Obama “has not taken personal responsibility to get the supercommittee to find ways to balance the budget and cut spending. Instead he set a trap and said we are going to cut military spending by $600 billion over the next 10 years.” http://abcn.ws/uF6VDH

And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich released a told-you-so web video this morning touted his months-old pessimistic prediction about the 12-member committee charged with finding ways to cut the deficit.

“I think this supercommittee is about a dumb an idea as Washington has come up with in my lifetime,” Gingrich is quoted in the video as saying at a presidential debate in August. “What they ought to do is scrap the committee right now.” http://bit.ly/supund

In a way the time and place of this week’s presidential debate could not be better. The candidates will descend en masse on Washington, DC — the city that they vilify daily on the campaign trail — to discuss the economy and foreign policy on Tuesday night. The forecast is already calling for fireworks tomorrow.

And don’t forget: President Obama’s re-election effort is not about to take the barrage of criticism they are about to receive lying down. A spokesman for the campaign immediately blasted out a response to Romney yesterday.

“Mitt Romney rejected asking the wealthiest for a dime to reduce the deficit — instead, his plan would give them more tax cuts — and he would leave our troops in Iraq indefinitely,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. “That’s the approach that led to the recession and created the deficit in the first place.”

More from ABC’s Jonathan Karl about what happens now on Capitol Hill from his “Good Morning America” report. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/tLpT5U   

SUPERCOMMITTEE BACKSTORY: “The one sliver of real hope came a week ago, in the darkened Capitol on the Sunday night after Veterans Day,” write the New York Times’ Robert Pear and Jennifer Steinhauer. “Called away from dinner tables, the Jets-Patriots game on television and, in one case, a soccer team party, several Democratic members of the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction raced to the office of Senator Patty Murray for a hasty 8:30 meeting to discuss the outlines of a potential agreement. Crucially, it appeared to have the backing of at least one Republican on the 12-member panel even though it included a tax increase. As the members spoke, they began to see the outlines of a deal, tentatively agreeing on tax rates, revenues, spending cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare, according to interviews with members of the committee and their aides. Whether the committee could reach the finish line was very much in question, but at least it was in sight, for the first time in the nine weeks the group had been meeting. It disappeared almost as quickly.” http://nyti.ms/sW1NsC

ON TODAY’S “TOP LINE”: JACK ABRAMOFF. ABC’s Rick Klein and Jonathan Karl interview former lobbyist Jack Abramoff who served time in prison and is the author of a book: “Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist.” Watch “Top Line” LIVE at 12:00 p.m. Eastern.  http://abcn.ws/toplineliveabc  

THE BUZZ

IS RETAIL POLITICS DEAD? “While no campaign would ever say so publicly, it’s hard to overlook what’s happening on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. In places where close contact with voters is a time-honored tradition, the usual rules appear to have been turned upside down: the candidates atop the GOP polls have spent the least amount of time meeting with voters and the cellar-dwellers are the ones who have hit the hustings the hardest,” Politico’s Maggie Haberman reports. “Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain, both of whom ride high in early state polls, have spent more time promoting their own interests and book projects than on the trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. Mitt Romney, another top finisher in early state polls, has barely been in Iowa or South Carolina at all this cycle, concentrating almost solely on New Hampshire, where his brand of Republicanism plays better. Meanwhile, the two candidates who have spent the most time focused on specific states — Rick Santorum in Iowa and Jon Huntsman in New Hampshire – have yet to experience any measurably large bounce. The 2012 Republican primary dynamic, it turns out, has been largely driven by free media and the crush of headline-making debates. Both forces have shaped the arc of the campaign — allowing some candidates to overperform as a result of high national television exposure, and others to sink because of their inability to master either.” http://politi.co/svbieE

ROMNEY SNAGS ANOTHER HIGH PROFILE ENDORSEMENT. “Mitt Romney has gained the support of two high-profile Republican leaders in New Hampshire in as many days, preparing today to announce the support of Granite State congressman Charlie Bass,” ABC’s Emily Friedman notes. “Bass’ endorsement, first reported by the Nashua Telegraph, comes hours after state Sen. Kelly Ayotte appeared at a rally in Nashua to announce her own support of the presidential candidate. Bass previously endorsed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in his presidential bids in 2000 and 2008. Bass, who will appear with Romney today at a campaign stop at Nashua’s BAE Systems, one of the state’s largest employers, will serve as co-chair of the New Hampshire steering committee and will be a member of the campaign’s national steering committee. The endorsements of Bass, a moderate in the state, and Ayotte, a far more conservative leader who last year was backed by former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, leaves one GOP congressional member from New Hampshire up for grabs: Rep. Frank Guinta.” http://abcn.ws/tzM8Ab

@ EmilyABC : Step right up, Romney’s on the rope line – candidates work hard to connect with voters, guessing ages and names:  abcn.ws/u4SxC2