Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (File photo via Minnesota Governor's Office)

Before his trip to Iowa, Pawlenty had taken heat for endorsing the Conservative Party candidate over the Republican in Tuesday’s U.S. House district in New York. He then called moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine “more liberal than most Republicans would like.”

Pawlenty seemed to be addressing that controversy, saying debate over things like the party platform are good, but once that’s complete Republicans must unite to “start the American comeback.”

Pawlenty then struck a chord for party unity, saying that there should be vigorous primary campaigns, but then everyone should get back on the same team in order to elect Republicans.

“We’re going to have our debates about what the platform will look like,” he said. “We’re going to have our primaries and caucuses. We’re going to go through that process, and it should be hard fought. But when those decisions are made, as a team we have to come around and support each other.”

This marks the second major Republican Party of Iowa fundraiser where a potential 2012 presidential candidate has made it a point to discuss creating an inclusive party. In June, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a crowd of GOP activists and elected officials that the only way back into the majority was to resist demands for ideological purity.

For most of his speech, Pawlenty struck a populist tone attacking federal bailouts for Wall Street companies and Detroit automakers. And on the night that U.S. House lawmakers approved health care reform legislation, Pawlenty repeatedly hit the Democratic reform efforts, saying they are proof that Democrats no longer care about working families.

“They have a party now, our competitors, that have embraced big government, big unions and big bailouts,” he said. “And they want to have the people believe that they work for the common person. The working person.”

During his successful presidential campaign, Barack Obama regularly asked if the crowd was “fired up and ready to go,” Pawlenty said

“Are you fired up and ready to fight back?” Pawlenty said. “Are you willing to be involved?”

He said Obama broke his campaign promise to seek bipartisan health care reform, instead deciding to push for a liberal bill, ignore Republican voices and continue the “dangerous leftward tilt” the president has pursued for the country.

“In his victory speech in Iowa after the caucuses, President Obama promised — he used the word promise — he was going to bring Republicans and Democrats together to pass needed health care reform,” Pawlenty said. “Now I ask you, are you sick and tired of Democrats trying to ram down this liberal monstrosity down our throat which is their health care reform plan?”

But the Republican Party can’t simply be critics, Pawlenty said. Republicans must also offer solutions, and he pointed to his record as governor of Minnesota as proof that GOP ideas work. Minnesota is a very liberal state, Pawlenty said, and he was still able to cut spending and taxes.

“If we can do it there, we can do it anywhere,” he said.

The federal government could learn from his experience in Minnesota. Instead of allowing the national deficit to continue to grow, government should begin to live within its means, Pawlenty said.

“The only thing growing faster than the national debt is [MSNBC host] Chris Matthews’ man-crush on Barack Obama,” he said.

This marks Pawlenty’s first trip to Iowa since he campaigned for Arizona Sen. John McCain last year, and many are speculating that the trip is another indication of his interest in seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. He has already said he will not seek a third term as governor and last month he formed a political action committee called Freedom First, a typical first move for presidential aspirants.

But Civic Skinny, the anonymous gossip columnist for Des Moines’ Cityview, says the contest is as much about revenge and staking a claim on 2012 as it is about who gets to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

[According to a source] “A part of this is settling scores, another part is Iowa caucus related and, yes, [part is] the contest on the ballot,” this person said. He, or maybe she (“Keep my name out of the mix,” she, or maybe he, said) continued: “There was bad blood between Doug Gross and Bob Vander Plaats during the ’02 GOP gubernatorial race [which Gross lost to Tom Vilsack], especially at the end. The two ripped one another, nearly allowing Rep. Steve Sukup, as the good guy, to win a razor-thin, three-way primary race. As it was, Gross barely exceeded the minimum threshold of 35 percent to avoid the battle going to a state convention. Since then, Gross sided with [loser Jim] Nussle in his poorly run ’06 [gubernatorial] effort that saw Vander Plaats join the ticket after dropping his primary candidacy.”

There’s more: “Differences continued during ’07 and early ’08 with Gross leading the Mitt Romney effort in Iowa and Vander Plaats chairing the Mike Huckabee campaign, which won. Both former Governors are quietly preparing encore efforts. Huckabee will deal with high expectations; unclear yet what commitment Romney would make to Iowa a second time around. Huckabee has endorsed Vander Plaats in the ’10 GOP primary, as you know. With a ’10 victory, a newly re-inaugurated Terry Branstad would be in the thick of the action with governors and former governors dominating the field — possibly including Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, even George Pataki, who made early stops in Iowa in ’05-06, only to defer to Rudy Giuliani when he made his candidacy clear. A governor Branstad would likely remain neutral, but not necessarily his political team with a data base of updated names.”

In other words, Gross is still pissed, and one reasons he’s backing Branstad is so he can settle a few scores.

Gross, who served as Branstad’s chief of staff when he was governor, has become a controversial figure for Iowa social conservatives thanks to a series of Op-Ed columns he penned earlier this year calling on his party to be more inclusive and focus less on social issues that are turning off a younger generation of voters.

“I don’t think it’s a referendum on Obama,” the Republican lawmaker said in a conference call with reporters. “I think it’s a — it’s a referendum on some of his programs — not that his programs are not well-intentioned, but are they working and, in some instances, are they going too far?”

Republicans won governorships in New Jersey and Virginia Tuesday night, two states Obama carried in 2008. The lesson of 2009 is that the GOP must court the independent voters who supported Obama but are not solid Democrats, Grassley said.

“You haven’t seen Republican numbers go up. You haven’t seen Democrat numbers go down,” Grassley said. So the real battle is for independents, and that is where the GOP can be victorious.

Grassley said he’s heard voters express a lot of fear in recent months, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect an anti-Obama mentality.

“I never hear anything bad about Obama,” Grassley said. “Now, maybe — maybe you can read a lot into ‘I’m scared’ as being anti-Obama, but nobody brings up that, you know, the Obama name very often, compared to the words ‘I’m scared.’”

Steve King

The Kiron Republican told Des Moines NBC affiliate WHO-TV that he wants to be a part of the national debate over how to “refurbish the pillars of American exceptionalism.”

Whether he decides to join the GOP primary to take on President Obama in 2012, the party needs numerous candidates offering distinct visions on how to improve the country, with the winning candidate being able to “sort those visions and bring the best one forward.”

“We’re going to need a lot of help in 2012, and being in Iowa and from Iowa, representing Iowa in a strong district in Iowa gives me a platform to be able to articulate those arguments, and I tend to do that,” King said.” And we’ll see what happens.”

King’s presidential aspirations were first brought up by Minnesota’s controversial U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who told the Sioux City Journal’s Bret Hayworth that King “has been mentioned” as a potential candidate for president in 2012.

Bachman’s endorsement of a King candidacy came as no surprise to those familiar with the congresswoman’s political career, as she has repeatedly described as “stunning.”

Below is the video of WHO-TV’s interview with King. He discusses his presidential aspirations at 3:25.

Jindal was asked if he would be was interested in being president, to which he simply replied “No.”

He elaborated that he intends to run for re-election as Louisiana’s governor. He did not preclude the prospect of changing his mind, however.

The 37-year-old first-term governor visited Iowa last month, sparking speculation that he was laying the ground work for a presidential run in four years.

Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney is hiring a team of staff members and consultants using money raised by his Free and Strong America political action committee, which most believe is a precursor to another presidential bid.

According to the Globe analysis, he spent $244,000 on contributions to congressional and other candidates between April and the November elections. He has spent more than twice as much on staff salaries and contracts to hire professional fundraisers, who are compiling contributor lists that will serve Romney well in a future presidential campaign.

In essence, Romney is financing a political enterprise that he can use to remain a national GOP leader and use as a springboard should he decide to launch another presidential bid for 2012.

In Iowa, Romney’s PAC spent $16,000 on two state House races and two state Senate races, including $10,000 for Republican Kim Reynolds in the southwestern Senate District 48.

Romney was long considered the frontrunner in the Iowa Caucuses until he was surprisingly defeated by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in what turned into an ugly campaign.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines last month.

Appearing on Christian conservative Steve Deace’s drive-time program, Huckabee said though he was criticized by “establishment Republicans” during his unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination, he has been proven right time and again.

“When I said the economy was beginning to sputter, I was absolutely pilloried by the Wall Street Journal and the National Review and all the other snobbish folks who thought that I was just a dumb hick from Arkansas who didn’t have a clue,” he said.

Huckabee kicked off a promotional tour for his latest book, “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America,”in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines last month, fueling speculation that he is laying the ground work for another presidential run in 2012. His appearance on Des Moines’ largest radio station has further stoked that theory, but Huckabee insists he has not made up his mind.

“But I’m not ruling anything out,” he told Deace.

Huckabee’s book has gotten a lot of attention, mainly due to the portions that discuss his fellow Republicans. He was particularly hard on Gary Bauer, the conservative Christian leader and former presidential candidate, whom he described in the book as having an “ever-changing reason to deny me his support.” He also accuses Bauer of putting national security before social issues like the sanctity of life and traditional marriage.

Deace seemed to share his opinion of Bauer.

“The phrase ‘Better for one man to die than the whole nation to perish’ comes to mind,” Deace said.

Huckabee said he couldn’t pull any punches with the book because if he did he would lose credibility with his supporters.

“I want people to know the truth. I got a reputation during the campaign as someone who was plain spoken, who didn’t try to sugar coat or frost things over,” he said. “I would have lost credibility if I had written this book and not told some of the things that I try to at least bring forth.”

But the passages that discuss his fellow Republicans are just a small portion of the book, and the attention they are getting is disappointing, he said.

“Shouldn’t be surprised that people would take a few passages out of a 240-page book and act like that’s all that’s there,” Huckabee said. “This book lays out not just what’s happened and why we’ve had the problems we’ve had in the conservative movement, but it also lays out how we get our groove back.”

Huckabee’s book reached No. 5 on the New York Times best seller list.

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.

The fierce battle between former Republican governors Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, which dominated the final months of the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, is once again in the headlines, thanks to Huckabee’s latest book.

And with the quest for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination seemingly already under way (another potential candidate, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, visits Iowa Saturday), it appears as though this could be the opening shot of the new campaign.

Huckabee will be in Windsor Heights and Cedar Rapids on Thursday promoting his new book, which according to Politico’s Jonathan Martin aims to “settle a few scores, not the least of which is with his fierce primary rival, Mitt Romney.”

Romney, Huckabee writes, was “anything but conservative until he changed the light bulbs in his chandelier in time to run for president.”

At another point, Huckabee portrays a Romney proposal to encourage more investment in the market as, “Let them eat stocks!”

Romney did not make a congratulatory phone call after Huckabee was victorious in Iowa, which Huckabee writes was “a sign of total disrespect.”

Many thought of Romney as the GOP presidential frontrunner until Huckabee’s surprising Iowa victory upended his candidacy. The two traded barbs in the press throughout the campaign, although since its completion Huckabee has been the one lobbing criticism. At the Republican Party of Iowa’s convention in July, Huckabee told the delegates about a man who thought he recognized Huckabee at an airport.

“I know who you are,” Huckabee said the man told him, “You’re Mitt Romney.”

Huckabee’s response: “Dude, if I were Mitt Romney I wouldn’t be riding in coach right now.”

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom responded by telling Politico that Huckabee’s book showed that he is more interested in “settling scores than bringing people together” and that he is “consumed with presumed slights.”

With that in mind, the Sioux City Journal asked 11 Republican county chairs in the conservative stronghold of northwest Iowa whom they hoped would be victorious, proving that in Iowa it is always a presidential election year.

1. Mitt Romney

Why: The former Massachusetts Governor and CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City was essentially the runner-up in 2008.

What they said: “(Romney) is just a genius when it comes to finances, and our country desperately needs that experience.” — Clay County GOP Chairman George Moriarity of Spencer

2. Sarah Palin

Why: The young Alaska governor was a popular force among base conservatives as John McCain’s running mate.

What they said: “I believe that (Palin) is a woman of integrity and great talent. … She has a gift, a brightness to her, a freshness that we haven’t seen in a long time.” — Emmet County GOP Chairwoman Debra Satern of Estherville

3. Bobby Jindal

Why: The Louisiana governor, at 36 the youngest governor in the United States, offers a fresh face and conservative credentials.

What they said: “(Jindal) has got a good (life) story. He’s an up-and-coming, energetic guy, and he’s a good communicator.” — Woodbury County GOP Chairman Kevin Alons of Salix

4. Mike Huckabee

Why: Huckabee rode a wave of support in Iowa, especially in Sioux County, to a caucus win and appeals to evangelical Christian conservatives.

What they said: “I think we need some new, young, energetic leadership — conservative, but new.” — Lyon County GOP Chairman John Fluit Jr. of Inwood

County chairs were asked to select three, and rankings were tabulated by assigning three points for a top pick, two points for a second and one point for third.