Holding up a payroll tax holiday deal will hurt the economy starting in January. In the meantime, it’s hurting Republicans a lot. The two month compromise negotiated by Mitch McConnell in the Senate was pretty weak as it is. But John Boehner couldn’t stand down a mutiny in his own ranks. And after a lengthy House GOP caucus meeting tonight, House Republicans agreed to reject the compromise.

But recognizing how damaging the on-going payroll tax holiday debate has become for Republicans, House leaders Boehner and Cantor have come up with a convoluted procedure reminiscent of ‘deem-and-pass’ from 2010 to allow their caucus members to reject the deal while still being able to tell voters they didn’t reject the deal. Here’s the plan.

It hasn’t been such a great day for Mitt Romney. Breakfast was a course of yet more Bain Capital connections causing headaches and headlines; lunch was a gritty little dish about how his “blind trust” isn’t so blind after all; and dinner was a regurgitation from 2010 – when he used to think Obama’s dreaded “individual mandate” wasn’t so bad after all.