Time magazine sees the GOP race shaping up like the NCAA basketball tournament – with two brackets: the insiders vs. the outsiders.

“The ‘wimp factor’ — a label that was once applied with derision to George H.W. Bush — might be back to haunt the Republican Party,” The Hill writes. “Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty are the putative front-runners among the declared 2012 candidates. They both have many attributes. But neither man is liable to be confused with John Wayne.”

Here’s our take on the new NBC/WSJ poll: “[W]ith about eight months until the first GOP nominating contests, less than half of Republican primary voters — 45 percent — say they are satisfied with their current crop of presidential candidates, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. That's substantially lower than the 73 percent of Republicans who were satisfied in the summer of 2007 (when the GOP candidates included John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee), as well as the 68 percent who were satisfied in early 1996 (when Bob Dole won the GOP nomination).”

Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s: “Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has surged to a clear lead in the Republican race for the presidential nomination, but his party's attacks on President Barack Obama's economic stewardship have yet to shake the president's lead over the GOP... At the same time, rising anxieties over the economy continue to erode the political environment for the president, pointing to a tight re-election fight."

BACHMANN: The Atlantic’s Joshua Green writes, “Bachmann has always seemed limited by the same qualities that make her irresistible to a certain kind of conservative. But on Monday night, she displayed a broader appeal. From her very first answer, which she used to declare her presidential candidacy, Bachmann sounded not only cogent but often convincing… Bachmann's history of slip-ups and strange claims makes it a little hard to believe that the woman who shone in the debate is here for the duration. But Republicans are yearning to be excited. They'll make allowances. If Bachmann can keep it together a little longer, this may not be the last surprise she offers.”

On FOX last night, Sean Hannity asked Bachmann if she feels the current primary will come down to a battle between establishment candidates and Tea Party ones? Her answer, per NBC’s Lauren Selsky: "Well, people really do care about this country, that's the good news. One thing I've always done is try to put principle over party. I'm proud to be a Republican, very proud. But I also put principle above that, and the marvelous thing about the Tea Party is the fact it is made up of a broad-based coalition of Democrats and independents and Libertarians and people who've never been political at all. People mistakenly think the Tea Party is the right wing of Republican Party. It's a broad coalition of people who love the United States of America and want the country to do well for their children too and they're very nervous about that right now."

CAIN: Politico’s Simon writes, “I don’t know if Monday’s debate will be quickly forgotten, replaced in our memories by a jumble of other debates, but I am going to remember it as the debate in which the entire Republican field to date refused to speak out for Muslim-Americans. They refused to speak out for the ones fighting for America in our armed forces, for the ones serving in Congress and for the ones living peaceful, productive and, yes, American lives. The silence of these candidates was an act of cowardice.”

GIULIANI: “Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani held meetings with two Republican heavyweights in New York Wednesday in an attempt to gauge support ahead of a potential 2012 campaign,” the New York Post writes. “Giuliani, 67, held separate meetings with two allies -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Manhattan.”

HUNTSMAN: “Add Mary Kaye Huntsman to the list of active spouses in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination,” the Boston Globe writes. “She sent out an email this morning urging readers to sign up to watch her husband, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, announce for president next week.”

The video accompanying the email was, um, something else.

PAWLENTY: “Tim Pawlenty’s first campaign mailer is set to land in Iowa mailboxes on Thursday,” Politico writes. “Introducing himself to voters, Pawlenty gives a short rundown of his biography, from his hardscrabble upbringing to his record as Minnesota governor.”

The New York Times: “Tim Pawlenty’s performance in Monday night’s debate was roundly panned after the former Minnesota governor appeared overly reluctant to press earlier attacks against his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. But Mr. Pawlenty and his senior aides take comfort in the fact that such moments, while important, can be overcome, especially when they take place this early in the rapid-paced, Twitter-fueled presidential campaign season.”

SANTORUM: “Ex-U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) has quit his post as a member of the board of directors of Universal Health Services Inc., the King of Prussia, for-profit hospital chain that relies on taxpayer-funded programs for more than one-third of its revenue, "as a result of his recent and formal announcement" that he's running for president of the United States, Universal said Wednesday,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “Santorum is stepping away from a post that paid him $168,000 in cash and stock last year for attending board and compensation committee meetings.”

ROMNEY: “Mitt Romney, during a debate Monday night, appeared much more open to withdrawing troops from Afghanistan than he had been when he was in the war-torn country this winter. The stance irked some hawkish Republicans who worry that Romney and other candidates advocating withdrawal are abandoning their party orthodoxy,” the Boston Globe writes.