On the Trail: Dec. 13

GOP presidential candidates are getting nastier.

Michele Bachmann - Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is polling in the single digits, is ramping up her fundraising efforts to become more competitive. In a fundraising letter to supporters she said she’s got to raise every dollar she can before the January primary season “to ensure our hard-charging constitutional conservative campaign — not some milquetoast opponents like Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich — wins over these undecided Iowa voters." She hit the club scene in Scottsdale, Arizona, Sunday night, raising $50,000.(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Michele Bachmann - Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is polling in the single digits, is ramping up her fundraising efforts to become more competitive. In a fundraising letter to supporters she said she’s got to raise every dollar she can before the January primary season “to ensure our hard-charging constitutional conservative campaign — not some milquetoast opponents like Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich — wins over these undecided Iowa voters." She hit the club scene in Scottsdale, Arizona, Sunday night, raising $50,000.(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Does Newt Gingrich Really Believe All Food-Stamp Recipients Are Black? - Newt Gingrich resurrected the racist stereotype that the majority of food stamps recipients are Black when he said that if he were invited to the NAACP convention hosted in Houston, he would go and “talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.”  According to the Department of Agriculture, roughly 40 million Americans receive food stamps. Out of that number, 13.4 million are white, 8.9 million are African-American, and 6.6 million are Latino. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Newt Gingrich - Newt Gingrich is learning that his frontrunner status comes with a target on his back. At the Dec. 10 GOP presidential in Iowa, his rivals accused him of changing his political views based on his ambitions and being untrustworthy. "If you will cheat on your wife, if you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn’t you cheat on your business partner, or why wouldn’t you cheat on anyone for that matter?" asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry.(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Jon Huntsman - Jon Huntsman was excluded from the Dec. 10 Republican presidential primary debate in Iowa because of low poll numbers, but he still has high hopes for his ability to be competitive in the critical New Hampshire primary. In an interview on ABC News’ This Week with Christiane Amanpour, he said “there’ve been so many  ups and downs” he’s getting “whiplashed,” but added that he believes the time he’s devoted to winning over Granite State voters will pay off.(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Jon Huntsman - Jon Huntsman was excluded from the Dec. 10 Republican presidential primary debate in Iowa because of low poll numbers, but he still has high hopes for his ability to be competitive in the critical New Hampshire primary. In an interview on ABC News’ This Week with Christiane Amanpour, he said “there’ve been so many  ups and downs” he’s getting “whiplashed,” but added that he believes the time he’s devoted to winning over Granite State voters will pay off.(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Rick Perry - Criticizing President Obama in Iowa Saturday for his administration’s support of an energy company that went bankrupt this year after receiving billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees, Texas Gov. Rick Perry referred to Solyndra as a country. He also recently said there were eight, not nine, Supreme Court Justices and called Justice Sotomayor “Montemayor.” Oops. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Rick Perry - Criticizing President Obama in Iowa Saturday for his administration’s support of an energy company that went bankrupt this year after receiving billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees, Texas Gov. Rick Perry referred to Solyndra as a country. He also recently said there were eight, not nine, Supreme Court Justices and called Justice Sotomayor “Montemayor.” Oops. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Ron Paul - Texas Rep. Ron Paul may be on the upswing. In the latest ABC News poll, he is tied with Mitt Romney for second place in Iowa and is in third place in New Hampshire.(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Ron Paul - Texas Rep. Ron Paul may be on the upswing. In the latest ABC News poll, he is tied with Mitt Romney for second place in Iowa and is in third place in New Hampshire.(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Mitt Romney - Seeking to deflect criticism for trying to engage rival Gov. Rick Perry in a $10,000 bet during the GOP presidential debate, Mitt Romney used his time as a missionary in France to demonstrate to voters that he understands what it’s like to live on few resources. “You’re not living high on the hog,” he said, recalling apartments without showers, refrigerators or toilets, and living on $110 per month. “It was a wake-up call for me.” (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Mitt Romney - Seeking to deflect criticism for trying to engage rival Gov. Rick Perry in a $10,000 bet during the GOP presidential debate, Mitt Romney used his time as a missionary in France to demonstrate to voters that he understands what it’s like to live on few resources. “You’re not living high on the hog,” he said, recalling apartments without showers, refrigerators or toilets, and living on $110 per month. “It was a wake-up call for me.” (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Rick Santorum - Rick Santorum, one of only two candidates to agree to participate in Donald Trump’s debate at the end of the month, said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union that he’s looking forward to debating rival Newt Gingrich. He also said he believes that Trump “would be fairer than a lot of the folks that have been moderating debates over the past few months.” (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Rick Santorum - Rick Santorum, one of only two candidates to agree to participate in Donald Trump’s debate at the end of the month, said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union that he’s looking forward to debating rival Newt Gingrich. He also said he believes that Trump “would be fairer than a lot of the folks that have been moderating debates over the past few months.” (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)