Some pictures are worth a thousand words. I’m trying to think of which words though. Check out this picture.

We’ll have full coverage of tonight’s GOP presidential debate in Tampa, sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express.

The thing to watch: How Rick Perry defends his staunch opposition to Social Security — and how hard the other candidates go after him over it.

Our campaign reporter Benjy Sarlin reports from Anthony Weiner’s old district out in Queens on the latest out of New York’s 9th district.

Shorter Rick Perry: Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and a “monstrous lie.” And I’m going to work my darnedest to make sure it’s there for future generations.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also used accountant Kinde Durkee as her campaign treasurer and now says that her campaign account was “wiped out,” too, in Durkee’s giant alleged embezzlement and commingling scheme that the feds are unraveling in California.

7:57 PM: I guess this is what happens when the debates get scheduled before any of candidates have any leverage vis a vis the media. 87 debates in … what? 2 months?

8:03 PM: It was genuinely bizarre to see CNN’s intro, which was taken over pretty much wholesale from the lead in from like The Bachelor or maybe The Apprentice.

8:07 PM: Not sure I remember ever seeing a debate start with the national anthem. But whatever, let’s throw out the first pitch.

8:14 PM: Perry’s big moment on Social Security … Mitt’s getting the better of this exchange.

8:19 PM: Perry had lines that went well with the audience. But I think Mitt got the better of that remark. Social Security is becoming for Perry what mandates have been for Romney. Just can’t thread the needle. Trying to walk it back just becomes a muddle.

8:22 PM: Earth to Huntsman: These folks don’t know who Kurt Cobain is.

8:23 PM: Now we’re back to the antics by the also rans. But the whole thing was that Romney/Perry exchange. That book is just a massive obstacle to Perry’s run. It’s filled with stuff like that. It’s written by someone who clearly wasn’t planning on running for president anytime soon. Probably ever. Now he’s stuck with it.

8:26 PM: I think you could pre-transcribe every Newt answer with the intro “Well, that’s a f—king stupid question. Here’s the deal.”

8:35 PM: Romney camp just sent out email headed “Rick’s Retreat on Social Security” and the Perry campaign has a rival one in reporter’s inboxes too.

In Perry’s email his campaign flags this quote from Romney from three weeks ago …

“I don’t know of any Republican who’s running for office who said they want to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits to people who are retired or near retirement. Not one, I haven’t heard a word of it…so Republicans, like myself, are not gonna cut social security or Medicare for people who are retired or near retirement. And for the people who say we are, they are demagoguing an issue very much that harms America. Because we need to be truthful on this.” (8/24/11, Lebanon, New Hampshire)

That’s 11 days after Perry got in the race. So the Perry campaign does appear to have found Mitt on the record before he realized that Social Security was going to be a defining issue — and basically inoculated all his opponents. Sounds like a pretty direct hit on Romney. But it’s also a pretty convoluted point.

Get quick videos and all the latest quotes from the debate at TPMLivewire.

8:50 PM: Not being in the campaign has really liberated Newt.

8:57 PM: Perry’s attempt on Social Security “Slam-Dunk Guaranteed”. Watch the video.

9:05 PM: Mitt had the crowd on fire with the part about VAT taxes being refundable under WTO.

9:12 PM: That was a great expression on Perry’s face when he realized that the logic of his response to Bachmann was that $5,000 was way too little to buy him.

9:12 PM: Headline on email just sent out from the Bachmann campaign: “Rick Perry’s Crony Capitalism: The 2007 Vaccination Executive Order Fiasco”

For more background on Perry and Gardasil see Benjy Sarlin’s piece from last month.