The prospect of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) running for president next year "horrifies" his wife.
Barbour has been touring the country in recent weeks as he explores the possibility of mounting a presidential bid in 2012. One factor he'll need to consider is the toll that a long campaign will take on his family.
Mississippi first lady Marsha Barbour said the thought of Barbour's potential candidacy "horrifies me" because it would be "a huge sacrifice for a family to make."
Still, she said she would support her husband if he were to enter the race.
Asked about her comments, a Barbour spokesman told The Associated Press that Mississippi's first lady was simply stating a well-known fact: a campaign for president can be "daunting."
The two-term governor has said he will announce by the end of April whether he will enter the race for the GOP nomination.
ABC News has the video of WLOX-TV's interview with Marsha Barbour.
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson (R) said he doesn't support his state party chairwoman's push to have the GOP convention moved out of Florida as punishment for the date of its 2012 primary.
Florida's presidential primary is currently set for late January of next year, placing it before the traditional lead off states: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
"If Florida refuses to move its primary date into compliance with RNC rules, I am respectfully requesting that the Committee convene a special task force to select a new site for the 2012 Convention outside the state of Florida," Karen Floyd, chairwoman of the South Carolina GOP, said in a letter to the Republican National Committee.
Her comments were echoed by Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn, who on Thursday called for a "re-opening of the process to select the site of the 2012 RNC Convention" if Florida's primary remains in January.
Wilson insisted he doesn't want to see Florida usurp South Carolina's traditional position.
"I'm very much in favor of South Carolina retaining its first-in-the-South position," the congressman told The Ballot Box Thursday. "We need to maintain the current schedule of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina."
Wilson said some punitive measures should be considered, but not shifting the convention to a different state.
"I would actually favor us moving our date before I would do any retaliation," he said. "There should be pressure put [on Florida], but the bottom line is that the Republican Party of Florida should see that it's in the interests of the country, and for the party, that the current system be in place."
The Iowa caucuses are currently slated to be held in February 2012 and have traditionally marked the beginning of the presidential nominating campaign. Florida is supposed to wait until early March to hold its vote, but has kept it slated for January, which is the same month it held it in 2008.
Florida's move last cycle caused a frontloading of the primary calendar, which Wilson said disrupted the rhythm of the campaign. "It made it very difficult for the candidates because of the Christmas activities to focus on the campaign," he said. "The schedule we have now, which would be in February, is much preferable to me."
There is the possibility this scheduling conflict will be resolved peacefully. Florida GOP Chairman Dave Bitner issued a statementThursday encouraging state lawmakers to move into compliance with the RNC rules. "We all agree that moving the primary into late February, making Florida fifth on the calendar, would sufficiently meet both criteria," Bitner said, "I remain optimistic and committed to continuing to work with the Legislature and the RNC to resolve this issue."
On Friday, Floyd dismissed Bitner's remarks.
"What Florida is suggesting now is akin to being pulled over for going 90 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour zone, and telling the police that you are willing to slow down to 70. Rules are rules, and hopefully my colleagues at the RNC will reject this idea on its face, and continue to insist upon tough and meaningful sanctions that could include the loss of the convention," she said in a statement.
"The RNC cannot endorse -- even tacitly -- the idea of Florida holding its contest any time before March 6. Doing so sends a terrible message to other states that legislative temper tantrums will be rewarded rather than punished -- and it flies in the face of everything we believe in as a Party about the rule of law."
The head of the Florida GOP encouraged state lawmakers late Thursday to accede to the Republican National Committee's demand for a later 2012 presidential primary date.
The move came after GOP leaders in both Iowa and South Carolina threatened to launch an effort to move the 2012 Republican National Convention out of Florida unless the state came into compliance with the RNC's new rules.
"There are many reasons why Florida should have an early and significant role in selecting the Republican presidential nominee, yet I understand the Republican National Committee is looking to maintain an orderly primary calendar," Florida GOP Chairman Dave Bitner said in a statement late Thursday.
Florida's presidential primary is currently set for late January of next year, placing it before Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. New rules passed by the RNC last year prohibit other states from jumping ahead of the three traditional early states and Nevada, which will hold a caucus in February.
Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said Thursday he would join the chairwoman of South Carolina's Republican Party, Karen Floyd, in an effort to reopen the process to select the 2012 convention site, which is slated to be held in Tampa.
In his statement, Bitner insisted that Republican leaders do not want to jump ahead in the process. He said Florida Gov. Rick Scott, along with Republican leaders in the state legislature "have expressed a willingness to work with the RNC to find a primary date that both respects that calendar while preserving Florida's role in the process."
"We all agree that moving the primary into late February, making Florida fifth on the calendar, would sufficiently meet both criteria," Bitner said, "I remain optimistic and committed to continuing to work with the Legislature and the RNC to resolve this issue."
Ultimately, it's state lawmakers who will make the final decision on the primary date, though.
Rep. Dan Webster (R-Fla.), a former member of the state legislature who voted in favor of the January primary date when he was serving in the state Senate, predicted Thursday that members won't take kindly to threats from other state parties.
"That's not going to happen," Webster said of the threat to possibly remove the 2012 convention from Florida. "I voted for the early date when I was there because I thought it was a good idea. A lot of others do, too."
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain accused the media and political establishment of being afraid of giving him enough attention to procure the GOP nomination.
"They do not want Barack Obama to go toe-to-toe with me as the Republican presidential nominee," Cain said to a group of Tea Partiers on Wednesday in South Florida.
Cain argued the political and media establishment is "afraid" of potential Republican candidates Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).
"They are doubly scared that a real black man might run against Barack Obama," Cain added.
Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO, is one of the few GOP presidential hopefuls to get to the exploratory committee phase of their candidacy. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer have also announced plans to form an exploratory committee.
Libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) raised about $3 million during the first fundraising quarter of 2011 as he contemplates another presidential bid.
Paul took in $1 million through Liberty PAC, his federal political action committee, and $2 million through Campaign for Liberty, 501 c(4) a non-profit associated with Paul that federal law bars from directly contributing to political organizations, meaning that it could not be transferred to a potential Paul presidential campaign.
The majority of Paul's fundraising haul came from small donors who contributed online, according to Liberty PAC director Jesse Benton.
The total is impressive for Paul, who only relaunched Liberty PAC in early February and raised $100,000 during the first 48 hours following its reestablishment.
Paul, who ran in the GOP primary in 2008, recently said he is "50-50" on whether he is going to run for president in 2012.
The congressman's fundraising totals were first reported by Politico.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised almost $1.9 million for his federal and state PACs in the first quarter of 2011.
Romney sources said that the potential 2012 presidential candidate raked in the money while dispatching over $400,000 to Republican candidates and conservative causes.
There was no indication as to the breakdown in the haul between Romney's federal PAC, Free and Strong America, and his state-level organizations in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Alabama.
But his first quarter numbers may well signal a more brisk pace in his fundraising compared to last year; Free and Strong America raked in just under $5.6 million for the entire year in 2010.
Romney's PAC dispatched plenty of donations in the first few months of this year already, notably to House and Senate candidates and to state parties.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said he wouldn't campaign on his record as governor of Indiana if he ran for president but would instead focus on "the future."
"I don't think we elect resumes," he told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Thursday. "Past records may be of some value just simply for establishing credibility."
Daniels said he was "very proud of things we've gotten done here in Indiana," but that his two terms as governor won't be the issue in 2012.
"Campaigns for public office ought to be about the future, about specific plans to make life better for everyone," he said. "And if I ever did become a candidate again that's the way I'd conduct myself."
Daniels is mulling a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He told Mitchell he remains focused on the current state legislative session, which must end by April 29.
During the interview, he again urged congressional Republicans to set aside their views on abortion and other social issues in order to effectively tackle fiscal problems related to entitlement programs.
"When we get to .50 caliber issues like that," he said, "at that point, maybe for a little while, we could agree to disagree on other questions. That's really an expression of my sense of the urgency of our debt problem and the economic stagnation that is contributing to it."
He made similar comments during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Asked by Mitchell whether he thought questions about President Obama's natural born American citizenship were relevant, Daniels didn't hesitate. "I don't," he said.
"The American people that elected President Obama had a chance to weigh it at the time," the governor added. "I have my differences with the president, but they have nothing to do with things like that."
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) confirmed he will make a decision on a presidential bid by the beginning of May.
"We're trying to finish out the exploratory process, and I think by the first week of May, we'll have done that," Gingrich told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday.
The former Speaker was at the Capitol to meet with House GOP freshmen. He will also address the Congressional Healthcare Caucus Policy Forum.
At the beginning of March Gingrich announced the formation of a website that would explore a 2012 bid but stopped short of formally filing papers for an exploratory committee.
He spoke to supporters in a conference call after that to say he will likely announce in early May outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) rallied Tea Party activists outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday, pledging to not back down in the current budget standoff.
The Minnesota Republican, who's weighing a run for the White House in 2012, said given the size of the federal budget deficit, conservatives "can't afford anything less than a fight."
"You are here to hold all of us accountable," Bachmann told a crowd of a few hundred activists.
The event was organized by Tea Party Patriots and billed as a "Continuing Revolution Rally." Along with Bachmann, the rally featured Republican Reps. Steve King (Iowa), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Mike Pence (Ind.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas).
"Cutting $61 billion, in my opinion, is a starting point," Bachmann said. "It is not the goal."
The event came as Republican leaders and the White House appear to be moving closer to a budget agreement that would avert a government shutdown. But any agreement could fall well short of the $61 billion in cuts included in the measure already approved by the House.
Bachmann promised activists Thursday that she would hold firm on that number as just a baseline for any agreement, and said her No. 1 priority in the budget fight is defunding the healthcare law. Bachmann has said she won't vote for any budget agreement that doesn't defund the law.
The leader of the House Tea Party Caucus also warned that "cutting off funding to groups like Planned Parenthood has to be one of those issues that we're just not going to back down on."
The crowd repeatedly roared its approval for Bachmann and made clear it wasn't in a compromising mood. One activist carried a sign that read, "Keep Your Promises. $100 billion." Another shouted that Republican leaders were "afraid" of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
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