(CNN) – One day after Mitt Romney took heat for a comment he made about the poor, the Republican presidential candidate characterized his remark as a “misstatement.”

“I misspoke,” Romney said Thursday in an interview aired on KSNV, a CNN affiliate in Las Vegas. “When you do I don’t know how many thousands of interviews, now and then you may get it wrong, and I misspoke.”

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Romney made the original comment in an interview with CNN on Wednesday morning, in which he said he was not “concerned about the very poor” because there is a safety net in place for them—but added, “if there are holes in it, I will work to repair that.”

Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) — Newt Gingrich won Saturday’s South Carolina GOP presidential primary, marking a stunning turnaround for a candidate who finished fourth in Iowa and New Hampshire and whose campaign had been left for dead — again — by observers just weeks ago.

With about 95% of polling places reporting, Gingrich had 40% of the vote, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney getting 27% and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum getting 17%. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had 13%. Based on early returns and exit polls, CNN projected Gingrich the winner.

In his victory speech to supporters, Gingrich thanked “everyone in South Carolina who decided to be with us in changing Washington.”

Alfredo Ortiz, a Georgia-based press secretary with the Herman Cain campaign, tells NBC News that Herman Cain will make a “major announcement” tomorrow in Atlanta at his new campaign office in DeKalb County.

Ortiz would not allude to the nature of the announcement other than to say it is a “major announcement.”

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Cain has been the subject of media scrutiny for weeks, sparked by an Oct. 31 story in Politico reporting that the National Restaurant Association had settled sexual harassment claims brought by two women.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Sunday editions, signaling that rival Mitt Romney isn’t the universal favorite and that the state’s largest newspaper could reset the contest there with six weeks to go before voters cast their ballots.

“We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial that was as much a promotion of Gingrich as a discreet rebuke of Romney.

Attention Target shoppers: You could have been standing in line with Michelle Obama.

The first lady, hard to recognize in a baseball cap and sunglasses, shopped Thursday at a Target store in Alexandria, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.

Casually dressed Secret Service agents arrived about a half-hour before Mrs. Obama, who walked in through the main entrance with an assistant. She spent about 30 minutes minutes shopping, pushing her own cart. She was recognized only by the cashier who rang up her purchases, reports TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie.

NEW YORK — Democrat David Weprin faced an unusually tight race against Republican Bob Turner in a special election Tuesday in New York’s heavily Democratic 9th Congressional District, where voters unhappy with President Barack Obama could elect a Republican for the first time.

The contest to replace disgraced Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner has become too close to call, with public opinion polling showing a slight edge for Turner, a retired media executive with no previous political experience.

Democrats failed late Tuesday in their effort to gain control of the Wisconsin state senate as Republican incumbents won four of six recall elections.

The outcome was a big setback for Democrats, organized labor, and progressive groups who’d sought retribution against six GOP allies of Gov. Scott Walker, who earlier this year enacted a labor law overhaul that ended collective bargaining rights for many public sector workers.

LAS VEGAS — Carolyn Goodman, the wife of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, will be the next mayor of Sin City after winning 61 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election.

The first lady won a race that pitted the Goodman brand against a longtime elected official whose eagerness and grass roots campaign weren’t enough to overtake the popularity of the self-proclaimed Happiest Couple in the Universe.

Washington (CNN) — Top Republicans tiptoed their way around the Medicare question Sunday, playing to their conservative base by backing a controversial overhaul proposal while acknowledging they will have to negotiate the issue with Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, both told Sunday talk shows that all issues are on the table in deficit reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden intended to reach a deal on raising the federal debt limit.

Washington (CNN) — Whenever a conflict pops up around the world, he has become the go-to guy, either rolling up his sleeves in the Senate or flying from hot spot to hot spot.

John Kerry is, after all, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, holder of one of the most influential positions in Congress and one of the United States’ ambassadors to the world.