Republican Congressmen Tom Latham and Steve King are asking constituents who are interested in attending to contact their office by Nov. 28. Each has only a limited number of tickets.

Some are estimating that 3 million people could decend on Washington, D.C., for Obama’s inauguration, so tickets for the event are in high demand.

Iowa’s Democratic Congressional delegation (Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack) have not released any details on how their constituents can attain inaugural tickets on their congressional Web sites.

Mike Huckabee's tour bus outside the Des Moines Sam's Club Thursday night.

“And it’s terrific,” she said. “I’ve got friends who will be getting a copy as a gift.”

That’s the level of dedication exhibited by supporters of Mike Huckabee.

The former Arkansas governor who shocked the nation and shook up the race for president when he won January’s Iowa Caucuses was back in Iowa Thursday promoting his newest book, “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America.” And the hundreds of supporters who turned out to Huckabee’s book signing at Sam’s Club in Des Moines were hopeful this was a sign of his intentions in 2012.

“Oh, I pray he runs again,” said Maggie Tonya, who along with her two grandchildren drove down from Ankeny to see Huckabee. “I think there would be a Republican in the White House for the next four years if we would have run him against [Barack] Obama.”

In an interview earlier in the day with The Des Moines Register, Huckabee played down any 2012

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at his Des Moines book signing.

ambitions he may have. But that hasn’t tamped down the enthusiasm of those who believe Huckabee is the best possible GOP candidate.

“He’s authentic, he has great ideas about where this country should go, he’s just got the total package,” said Tony Miller of Des Moines. “I think he’ll run again, and I think he’ll win.”

Batchelder, the mother from Omaha, said that while volunteering during the caucus campaign she made 4,000 calls on behalf of Huckabee. She also spoke for the Huckabee campaign at precincts in Council Bluffs and in Kansas. And she would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

“I will absolutely support him again,” she said.

Huckabee supporters line up Thursday night.

A Sam’s Club employee named Julia said that the line to see Huckabee already stretched to the door when she arrived for work at 4:30 p.m. The event wasn’t scheduled to begin until 6 p.m.

Huckabee’s book, which has garnered a lot of media attention because parts of it are sharply critical of his former Republican rival Mitt Romney, is a touted as being a rallying cry intended to inspire young conservative voters. Many believe, however, it’s more likely a way to get Huckabee back on the campaign trail.

The parade of potential GOP presidential candidates continues this weekend when Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal visits Cedar Rapids and Des Moines on Saturday.

“After having carefully considered all of the evidence and arguments of counsel, however, the court concludes that [Rubashkin] is a serious risk of flight,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles wrote in the detention order this afternoon. “The government has met its burden by a preponderance of the evidence that there is no condition or combination of conditions which will reasonably assure [Rubashkin's] appearance at the time of trial.”

Rubashkin, who was originally arrested on Oct. 30 on immigration-related federal charges, was released with an ankle tracking device on a $1 million bond. The former executive has been detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Office since his arrest last Friday on bank fraud.

Scoles, in making the decision to keep Rubashkin detained until trial, discussed the “substantial” evidence against Rubashkin as well as discoveries in the Rubashkin home of $20,000 in cash, several silver coins and passports. Scoles also said that Rubashkin’s ties to the community of Postville would become more murky as the Agriprocessors plant continues negotiations with potential purchasers.

Scoles also took into consideration Isreal’s “Law of Return,” which provides citizenship to any Jew and members of his family who express desire to settle in the country.

“At the time of hearing, the government proffered that two supervisors at Agriprocessors fled following the search on May 12, 2008,” wrote Scoles. “It is believed that Hosam Amara, a Muslim with Israeli citizenship, fled to Israel, possibly through Canada.”

Rubashkin presented the court with roughly 275 letters of support from “the Postville area and throughout the nation.” A total of 30 people in Postville indicated they would be willing to pledge their homes’ equity, a total of roughly $2 million, to be used to secure an appearance bond for Rubashkin. Two relatives also told the court they would be willing to offer their homes’ equity, totaling roughly $1.5 million, also to secure a bond. Finally, Rubashkin offered the court an additional $225,000 cash deposit.

The detention order does not specify what will happen in relation to the earlier bond posted by Rubashkin. A trial on the immigration-related charges is scheduled to begin Jan. 20. No trial date has yet been set for the charges of bank fraud.

Culver was spotted by the Register smoking in a Chevrolet Tahoe that the state provides to the governor’s family.

From The Register:

The black sport-utility vehicle was stopped at a stoplight in downtown Des Moines about 8:45 a.m. Culver was sitting in the passenger seat with the window rolled down and a cigarette in her hand. A state trooper was driving. Numerous pedestrians and motorists passed by the scene.

The law went into effect July 1. It bans smoking in most workplaces, including bars and restaurants. Opponents said it was an infringement on individual rights. Proponents said it would protect workers from secondhand smoke, which they said can cause cancer and other diseases.

Culver released the following statement:

Like many Iowans, I have struggled to quit smoking. I successfully quit last year, but unfortunately started again a few months ago. I did smoke in a state vehicle, which I regret, and I promise that it will not happen again.

The statewide smoking ban, which was signed into law by Gov. Chet Culver in April, specifically mentions government-owned cars as an example of where smoking is not permitted.

Norris worked as a scheduler in Vice President Al Gore’s office, and she and her husband, John, have been involved in Iowa Democratic politics for years.  In 2000, she was Gore’s political director in Iowa, and in 1998 she was former Gov. Tom Vilsack’s finance director.  She has also taught high school government and history classes.

The move sent shockwaves through Washington, D.C., because it upended what was a fairly stable system of determining committee chairmanships based on seniority.  Although votes in Democratic caucus meetings are considered private, Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley took a more public role in the deliberations, delivering one of several nominating speeches for Waxman, reportedly “lashing out” at Dingell.

The Politico reports:

Waxman was generally respectful of Dingell in his speech before the caucus, according to people who were in the room, but he took a few sharp jabs at the chairman. Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, who gave one of Waxman’s nominating speeches, went a step further, lashing out at Dingell for standing in the way of environmental reforms. He even complained that the speaker had to go around him to enact a renewable energy bill during the Democrats’ first year in power.

Braley has a seat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, which Waxman has led to a position of prominence as chairman.

But as donations of money, food and clothing come in for the hundreds of affected families  one Jewish organization is intent on helping only one person, indicted former chief executive Sholom M. Rubashkin.

The Aleph Institute, a Jewish prisoner outreach organization, began a legal defense fund specifically to benefit Rubashkin, who faces federal charges for harboring illegal immigrants as well as for defrauding a multi-million dollar bank, according to Shmarya Rosenberg of Failed Messiah blog,

Most former Agriprocessors workers — including the Jewish workers –are not getting such special attention. They are living by charity, waiting for long-promised paychecks that have yet to materialize.

The laid-off workers are desperate, one former Agriprocessors worker told Jeff Abbas of the local radio station KPVL, on Thursday.

Abbas: The situation is that we have people here in town who have not received paychecks, who have been having food handed out to them from here in the multi-cultural center. … There are a lot of ex-cons and a lot of people who have ’street smarts’ mixed in this group, right?

Worker: Yes.

Abbas: What are they talking about? What happens if we don’t get checks this week?

Worker: Well, most of the people I’m around is getting fed up because they keep putting it off day after day after day — talking about they are going to get their checks. So, they are talking about robbing IGA, where there ain’t no cameras, and the Bore, and Club 51, and every lady that they see coming from those little restaurants, walking with little money bags to the bank. See, they’ve been watching this for a week or two. … The dudes I know, they are criminally-minded and they will do that.

This particular worker spoke before leaving Postville to seek employment in the Waterloo-area. He said he had no desire to take part in the violence he believes will be perpetrated if paychecks are not given to the former workers.

The worker also indicated that possibly because of news reports that Rubashkin had $20,000 in cash and precious metals in his home, the disgruntled employees might target Rubashkin personally.

“Who they really, really want is the man who ran Agriprocessors — the one that’s in jail,” the worker said during the interview. “They want to go up in his house, rob him — because they know he’s got money in his house.”

Because of such threats, local police have stepped up security around the Jewish schools in Postville.

Several agencies in Postville have been collecting donations of food, warm clothing and money to aid the former workers. People from all walks of life and many nations have been reduced to relying on the charity of others for food and shelter. The town’s kosher grocery has closed, meaning the demand for kosher foods — especially kosher milk and baby formula–is strong.

The Aleph Institute, by contrast, seeks to help only the Rubashkin family, according to Failed Messiah. The group was founded by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Lipskar, a senior rabbi in the fundamentalist Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Judaism, which the Rubashkin family embraces. The movement spurns contacts with the non-Jewish world for the sake of establishing the purest faith.  On Wednesday, the organization’s Web site and other Chabad-affiliated sites posted pleas for prayers and donations for the Rubashkin family with links to a newly-established Aleph Defense Fund.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles is expected to rule today on whether or not Sholom Rubashkin will remain in U.S. Marshal custody or will be released on bail.

Those interested in making a non-monetary donation for Agriprocessor families can phone KPVL at (563) 864-7954 for more information. Monetary donations should be made out to and mailed to: Agri Workers Relief Fund, P.O. Box 875, Postville, IA 52162.

“I’m going to make this statement right now. I believe that Senator Clinton will be the next secretary of state,” Harkin said on a conference call with reporters.

The state was expecting to finish its budget year in June with $85 million in the general fund, but projections now show that number to be around $15 million.

It likely won’t mean any state employees will lose their jobs, but it probably will mean job openings left unfilled, new programs delayed or broken office equipment left unrepaired, said Charlie Krogmeier, the director of the state Department of Management.

“I don’t think we’re talking layoffs or furloughs or anything like that,” Krogmeier said. “The economy’s been bad and it’s getting worse, and this is the first reaction to it.”

Culver’s office declined to give a full list of requested cuts, but according to The Register, the governor is asking –

- Department of Human Services to cut $5 million

- Department of Corrections to cut $11 million

- Workforce Development to cut $600,000

- Board of Regents to cut $7.5 million

He’s also requesting the state court administrators to cut $1.7 million, but the governor can’t force the court system to change its budget.

Republican state Auditor David Vaudt, who had forecast budget problems over the summer, said the cuts come at a bad time for Iowa.

“We had all the signals that there were going to be problems with the way they were balancing the budget, even absent the floods and the economic downturn,” Vaudt said. “The sad part is we’re talking about cutting services at a time when Iowans need them most because of the economic downturn, and that’s what I was warning them to avoid.”

Des Moines attorney Doug Gross.

Doug Gross, a Des Moines attorney and the GOP’s 2002 gubernatorial candidate, continued his tour of local media to promote his vision for the future of the Republican Party of Iowa by appearing this week on Christian conservative radio host Steve Deace’s drive-time program on WHO 1040.

On Deace’s program, as he has in recent weeks on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” and WHO-TV’s “The Insiders,” Gross said the GOP’s job is to win elections, something that is becoming increasingly harder with the power being wielded by social conservatives.

“Social conservatives are a minority group within a minority party,” he said. “If we aren’t broad enough the interests of social conservatives will never be in governance.”

The Republican Party, both nationally and in Iowa, has become perceived as the party of excessive bigotry, “whether that be bigotry associated with immigrants or gay rights. We are not that party and we should not be that party. It turns people off.  We can be a party of tolerance and respect other people’s views and still further our values.”

The discussion was civil until near the end of the two-hour segment, as Deace seemed to grow upset with what he perceived as the scapegoating of his fellow social conservatives for the misfortunes of the party.

“Your whole argument is a red herring,” Deace said. “Nero again blames the Christians for the fire he started… The people you’re crapping on are already doing what you want them to do.”

Gross said social conservatives would be able to accomplish their goals more easily if they have a broader tent and “aren’t as judgmental as Steve Deace appears to be.”

“I’m tolerant enough to allow people into our party that may not agree with me on [social issues,” Gross said. “If others did as well we’d have a better chance of winning elections and furthering our interests.”

“So what Doug just basically said is the best way to win is to be a hypocrite,” Deace said.

Gross, a self-proclamed social conservative himself, denied Deace’s interpretation. The two then argued for a few more minutes before Deace went to commercial, ending the discussion.