The New York Daily News’ headline on the flaming out of Donald Trump’s debate: “I’m fired!”

The Wall Street Journal on the latest NBC/WSJ poll: “Republican voters now heavily favor Newt Gingrich over Mitt Romney as the party's nominee, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey, but the poll also found deep unease with Mr. Gingrich among independents and swing voters who normally decide presidential elections.”

The Boston Globe looks at the roots of the Romney-Gingrich rift: “The defining moment of the current Republican presidential campaign may have come 17 years ago. In his unsuccessful 1994 bid for a US Senate seat, Mitt Romney wooed Massachusetts moderates by famously declaring: ‘I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.’ Less remembered, but perhaps even more relevant today, was how he labeled Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America ‘a mistake.’ Gingrich, meanwhile, used the contract to lead a GOP revolution that took over the US House. Casting himself as a loyal disciple of Ronald Reagan, he won and became speaker.”

GINGRICH: John Rocker likes Newt Gingrich. The New York Daily News: “[T]he former Atlanta Braves relief pitcher who notoriously compared Queens to Beirut while slandering a slew of ethnic groups, said Tuesday he’s supporting the former House Speaker.” Rocker said on a sports talk-radio show: “I love to hear him talk. I love to hear his commentaries on whatever forum I can find him on, for God, the last 10-15 years. I mean, he is an absolute genius — just a marksman in historical value of pretty much anything you want to discuss.”

“Top Republican strategists are increasingly worried that a 2012 ticket led by former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) — instead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — could hurt the party downballot, especially in the Northeast,” Roll Call writes.

“Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said that despite different historical theories about Palestinians, they ‘are a people today’ and need to be treated as such to solve enduring conflicts,” The Hill writes.

“Newt Gingrich's political director in Iowa has resigned over comments he made disparaging Mitt Romney's religion,” The Hill writes. “Craig Bergman told a focus group on last Wednesday that Mormonism is a ‘cult’ and implied it could hurt Romney in a general election against President Obama, The Iowa Republican reported.”

He leads in Pennsylvania: “[A] new Susquehanna Polling and Research poll has Gingrich at 35%, followed by Romney at 18%, Santorum at 18%, Paul at 8%, Bachmann at 6%, and Perry at 2%,” Political Wire writes.

PAUL: Ron Paul’s economy: Under his plan, a lot of federal government workers would lose their jobs, and that’s OK with him… “Some would be laid off, but economically there’s a big difference between a bureaucrat who hinders productivity than people in the workforce who actually produce goods and services,” Paul said, per the Boston Globe.

 PERRY: Rick Perry blamed his back surgery for his poor debate performances yesterday on Hannity, NBC’s Carrie Dann reports.

“On the presidential campaign trail, Gov. Rick Perry has explained his much-maligned effort to make the human papillomavirus vaccine mandatory for school-aged girls by saying he hates the cervical cancer it causes and will ‘always err on the side of savings lives,” the Texas Tribune writes.  “Yet he gets some of his biggest applause in early primary states when he brags of signing a state budget that largely defunds Planned Parenthood — which provides four times more cervical cancer screenings every year in Texas than abortions.”

The Austin American-Statesman’s Embry table-sets Perry’s bus tour through Iowa: “Gov. Rick Perry will start a 42-town bus tour around Iowa today in what might be his last chance to rejoin the top tier of Republican candidates before the state's Jan. 3 presidential caucuses. The tour will allow Perry to engage in the kind of face-to-face campaigning that impressed observers on his initial foray into Iowa four months ago.”

ROMNEY: Three-time failed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell endorsed Romney, NBC’s Anthony Terrell reports.