The trial balloons floated last week touting White House Budget chief and former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle as a possible candidate for Republican National Committee chair seem to be rising. Nussle’s chief competition seems to be former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“As a Republican House member from Iowa, (Nussle) was part of the Gingrich transition team that ushered in the Contract with America” in 1994, writes Mike Allen at Politico. “Nussle has to lay low for now because he’s working on the transition. Attribute all this to Nussle sources.”

“Mr. Nussle is also very close to Rudy Giuliani, who hasn’t lost his appetite for national office,” writes Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic. Nussle headed Giuliani’s Iowa campaign after losing the 2006 governor’s race to Chet Culver, until taking the Budget job.

Ambinder is pessimistic about Nussle’s chances: “If Newt runs, he’s the odds-on-favorite to win.”