Gaffe

It was a night to forget -- literally. But Rick Perry did his best Thursday to try to pick up the pieces after a debate flop for the ages, saying in a battery of morning show interviews that he will press forward with his presidential campaign. But notably, he would not commit to any further televised debates beyond one scheduled for this weekend in South Carolina. The Texas governor admitted he "stepped in it" in Wednesday night's Michigan debate, stammering as he tried to remember the third of three federal agencies he would do away with as president.

Embracing his Michigan roots during an afternoon rally Thursday, Mitt Romney steered clear of passing judgment on his arch rival Rick Perry's embarrassing memory lapse during Thursday night's debate and sought to turn the conversation back to his economic plans. "You know I have to worry enough about my own moments," Romney said during a brief exchange about Perry with a reporter after his speech at the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy. "I do my best and don't worry about the other guys," he said, hurrying from one side of the room to the other to greet supporters.

Michele Bachmann botched Elvis' birth date (oops, she singled out the day the King died) this week, after previously confusing the birthplace of a movie icon (John Wayne) with that of a serial killer (John Wayne Gacy). And the news played big, on the Web and cable TV. Significantly less play went to a few other morsels that turned up: The Minnesota congresswoman has lauded an evangelical thinker who speculated the U.S. might control citizens with psychotropic drugs. And she once gave a "Must Read" rating to a historical biography that said slaves and masters in the Old South lived in a state of "mutual esteem," "unity and companionship.

On a day that was intended to showcase her viability as a top-tier presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann spent Monday evening defending her veracity and explaining a gaffe that seemingly had her mixing up American icon John Wayne with a notorious serial killer. Bachmann found a friendly place to deliver her side of the story: Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel. It became the forum where Bachmann and the news channel patched things up after a brief tiff spurred by Fox newsman Chris Wallace's asking Bachmann last weekend if she was a “flake.” Wallace was pushing Bachmann about whether she stretches the truth, an issue that has begun to trail the Minnesota conservative as even she has showed steady improvement in the polls.

For a not-so-brief moment, the Oscars became "The Kirk and Melissa Show. " In an evening marked by predictability, Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas and veteran actress Melissa Leo provided perhaps the most spontaneous ? and bleeped ? sequence of the ceremony during Douglas' presentation of the supporting actress award. Douglas milked the moment, while Leo, who won the award for her performance as the frightening matriarch in "The Fighter," uttered the f-word. The unusual turn of events came early in the show, soon after the 94-year-old took center stage.

The White House staff reshuffle continued Tuesday with Vice President Joe Biden announcing that his chief of staff is leaving, while speculation swirled that the president may appoint a well-connected Chicagoan to a top post. Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, is resigning to become president of Case Holdings, the holding company of AOL cofounder Steve Case. Over the last two years, Klain helped position Biden as an influential figure in the White House while assisting in the confirmation of a pair of Supreme Court nominees: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

As the gubernatorial candidates sprint to election day, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown are following two distinct paths that speak to their strengths and weaknesses as candidates and the segments of the electorate that are vital to each. Republican Whitman is aggressively courting independent voters across the state. She aired four new anti-Brown ads in the last week. She is campaigning in media markets large and small every day and cluttering mailboxes around the state. A recent mailing ?

Women of California: You have been insulted. Not by the Beach Boys, who valued your bikinis over your brains. Not by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg, whose electro-pop "California Gurls" makes some blanket assumptions about your willingness to participate in certain, uh, Jeep-based carnal activities. No, the misogynist of the hour is (allegedly) Jerry Brown. That's according to his opponent in the governor's race, Meg Whitman, who took umbrage at remarks recorded on voicemail after Brown inadvertently failed to hang up the phone when he left a message.

On the spectrum of political mistakes, being photographed in a Nazi uniform may top the list. That's the error that threatens to engulf the upstart campaign of Ohio Republican House candidate Rich Iott, whose past participation in a World War II reenactment group was reported Friday by the Atlantic , complete with photos of a grinning Iott dressed as a member of a German SS division. Iott is not the only insurgent candidate trying to clamber back onto safe ground: In New York, Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino insisted he is not anti-gay after telling an Orthodox Jewish congregation that children should not be "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option.

Party loyalty is apparently thicker than a personal grudge. President Bill Clinton weighed in on the California gubernatorial race Tuesday, endorsing Democrat Jerry Brown. A former Democratic president backing his party's standard bearer would be unremarkable, except for two facts: the men have had a rocky relationship since clashing in the 1992 presidential primary, and Brown — speaking off the cuff two days ago — called Clinton a liar and made fun of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.