I was asked, Mr. Cain would you be comfortable appointing a Muslim to your administration? And I paused and said, no. And then later I said, but it's not impossible.

---

So I'm not gonna play nicey-nice and say that I'm not gonna take extra precautions in order to be able to make sure that we can [inaudible].

Relax. You're looking at me like, I didn't know he was gonna talk about all that. I wanna clear the air, alright? See, traditional campaigns tell candidates to stay away from sensitive subjects. No. I'm not your typical candidate. [Indeed! -m] I go right into the belly of the beast if somebody has misrepresented something that I have said.

I said I support the 2nd Amendment, strongly support the 2nd Amendment, and if any laws need to be passed relative to guns, they should be at the state level. The reaction was, are you saying the states ought to restrict gun ownership? No! I don't believe states should restrict access to guns, but what if a state wants to pass background checks? What if a state wants to pass carry and conceal? That's what I'm talking about. And some states have done that. So, relative to restricting access, no! I don't believe the federal government should restrict access, and I don't believe that states should restrict access because of the 2nd Amendment.

There's more about our relationship with every country out there that I don't know, than I know. So my approach is, number one, I gonna depend upon the people who know a hell of a lot more about it than I do. But I will develop a foreign policy strategy with every nation that we have any kind of relationship with at all, good or bad, friend or foe. That's my approach. It's a business approach. You don't... enter enter a new market with a product until you properly assess the market, properly assess [inaudible]. So I've got a lot of work to do in that area.

Reporter: About the Muslim thing which you mentioned before-

Cain: What- where- wait wait wait. Didn't I just answer that?

Reporter: No no. You didn't. What exact special precautions would you use? And how do you know if that precaution would work or not?

Cain: I didn't say- OK. If you're trying to make me lose my cool, you are almost succeeding. [Screaming at the reporter] I never said that I would use any special precautions! [Herman Cain memory span < 13:00:00 -m]

Reporter: OK. So a Muslim applies to the administration, gets in like anybody else?

Cain: [Composure regained now -m] Yes. I never used those words. Those words was used by somebody on the internet. Now, wait a minute, let me say to the gentleman... It probably wasn't politically correct for me to raise my voice. But you know what is resonating with the American people? I'm gonna be myself. I'm not gonna be a punching bag, OK? But you can imagine that I've been asked that same question a thousand times. I never said that. OK? So my apology. I apologize.

A new presidential poll by Zogby International has U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann ranked as the leader of the pack of Republican hopefuls, far ahead of the men seeking to oust Barack Obama from the White House.

The online survey of 998 likely Republican primary voters conducted June 17-21 has the Minnesota congresswoman collecting 24 percent of the vote, with businessman Herman Cain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in a virtual tie for second at 15 percent each.

"On the Republican side, there's got to be concern in Romney's camp," Boston University political historian Thomas Whalen told the Boston Herald.

"If Michele Bachmann wins New Hampshire, it's all over for Romney," said Whalen. "Bachmann showing a surge right now is a major red flag."

He suggested Romney must be praying for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to jump into the contest.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas came in fourth place at 13 percent. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who announced his candidacy yesterday near the Statue of Liberty, received just 2 percent.

David Ainsman really began to get worried about President Barack Obama’s standing with his fellow Jewish Democrats when a recent dinner with his wife and two other couples — all Obama voters in 2008 — nearly turned into a screaming match.

If several dozen interviews with POLITICO are any indication, a similar conversation is taking place in Jewish communities across the country. Obama’s speech last month seems to have crystallized the doubts many pro-Israel Democrats had about Obama in 2008 in a way that could, on the margins, cost the president votes and money in 2012 and will not be easy to repair.

"The new Republican Party has undertaken the most direct assault on labor, not just in my lifetime … but literally since the 1920s," he said in the address at McCormick Place. "This is not your father's Republican Party. This is a different breed of cat."