Presidential races

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a lawsuit challenging the new healthcare law.

Pawlenty, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, has been a longtime critic of healthcare reform. In August, he restricted his state's participation in the new law, signing an executive order that directed state agencies to decline all discretionary participation. 

And he's said that repealing healthcare reform would be his campaign platform if he ran for president.

“I think ObamaCare is one of the worst pieces of legislation passed in the modern history of the country,” Pawlenty said on CNN’s "State of the Union" this weekend.

Voters signaled their unhappiness with the law during the 2010 midterm election, which returned control of the House to Republicans.

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) joined Pawlenty in the brief, which states that the two governors are trying to safeguard their citizens from "federal abuse of the spending power." They argue that the law places liabilities on states through a Medicaid expansion program, according to The Associated Press.

A total of 20 states have signed on to the lawsuit, which originated in Florida. In October, a federal judge ruled the lawsuit could proceed.

The Reagan presidential library plans to hold the first GOP debate of the 2012 presidential cycle, setting the date for the spring of 2011.

All the leading contenders for the GOP presidential nomination will be invited, former first lady Nancy Reagan announced Thursday.

The library, located in Simi Valley, Calif., will host a second GOP debate on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries.

“Ronnie would be thrilled that the road to the White House will begin at his Presidential Library,” Reagan said in a statement.

The library hosted two debates in the 2008 election cycle, including the first of the election cycle.

NBC News will be the television partner and Politico will be the online partner for the first debate, according to the announcement. The media partners for the second, pre-Super Tuesday debate will be announced next year.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) will be in Iowa on Nov. 21 to keynote a “Celebrate the Family” event, and he said it's definitely a "political" visit.

There were some suggestions that Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, would be in a pastoral role when he addressed the Iowa Family Policy Center.

But his PAC put out a statement Wednesday to say Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, will be there for politics.

"The governor often speaks openly and unapologetically about his own personal Christian faith, but he doesn’t want there to be any confusion as to the nature of this invitation. The speaking request was made through Governor Huckabee’s Political Action Committee. The governor was invited to speak about the political issues of the day and how they shape the culture of our country. His message will be political, but not partisan," said Huck PAC executive director Hogan Gidley.

Huckabee hasn't said whether or not he'll run for president in 2012, but he has led in early polling in the state.

And he isn't the only possible 2012 candidate who will be in Iowa this month.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich will sign copies of his new book in Cedar Rapids on Nov. 17, according to local news reports.

Gingrich will also be in West Des Moines on Nov. 16 for a signing and a stop at Iowa State University.

Republican presidential candidates face a blank slate with Iowa voters heading into the 2012 cycle, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday.

Grassley, the long-serving dean of Iowa's congressional delegation, said it's a "whole new ballgame" in the Hawkeye State, which plays host to the first-in-the-nation nominating contest for president.

The candidates who performed well in 2008 — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who finished first and second, respectively — shouldn't expect to duplicate their performances again, said Grassley.

"At this point if your question is based on who was involved in 2008 and who did well in 2008, I think you'd better forget that," Grassley told the conservative website Newsmax. "It's a whole new ballgame."

A slew of GOP candidates have already visited Iowa with an eye toward a run to challenge President Obama in 2012. Romney, Huckabee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) have all visited the state.

A CNN poll released last week found Huckabee had a slight edge. Twenty-one percent of Republican Iowa voters said they preferred the former Arkansas governor, while 20 percent backed Romney, 14 percent supported Palin and 12 percent would vote for Gingrich.

Grassley said it's too soon to tell which candidate has an edge, though.

"I think you have to look at what the situation is, maybe, six months from now to know who's got a hold — or, let's put it this way — who is gaining some ground in Iowa," he said. "I don't think you can conclude that anybody who did well last year is automatically going to do well this year."

Sarah Palin is the most polarizing of the possible 2012 Republican presidential candidates, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee garnered the highest favorability rating, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Also noteworthy: When it came to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels -- most voters didn't know who they were.

No Republican has formally announced a challenge to President Obama but there are several names in the mix.

Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee, is the best-known and most divisive, according to the poll, which found 46 percent view her favorably, 49 percent unfavorably, and 5 percent don't know enough about her to say.

Here's how the other candidates measured up:

Huckabee: 49 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable, 25 percent had no opinion.

Romney: 46 percent favorable, 31 percent unfavorable with about a quarter having no opinion.

Pawlenty: 28 percent favorable, 13 percent unfavorable, 59 percent had no opinion.

Barbour: 27 percent favorable, 14 percent favorable, 58 percent had no opinion.

Daniels:  24 percent favorable, 13 percent unfavorable, 63 percent had no opinion.

Thune: 20 percent favorable, 10 percent unfavorable and had 70 percent no opinion.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Nov. 3-8. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1, 000 adults nationwide and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Pataki, a centrist, said if he doesn't see the right GOP candidate emerging, he could jump into the race. 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) took a shot at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) Monday, telling reporters that the healthcare plan he championed as Bay State governor could hurt his expected presidential bid in 2012.

Asked Monday about the field of prospective presidential contenders on the Republican side, Perry said his party's voters are expecting "a committed fiscal conservative," according to the New York Times.  

The Republican governor, whose name has also been floated as a potential 2012 contender, said the healthcare plan Romney guided through the state legislature in Massachusetts, "is too much like the health care plan that was passed in Washington.”  

Perry, who is slated to appear on "The Daily Show" Monday as part of a media tour promoting his newly released book, denied that he's interested in a presidential run in 2012.

In an interview that aired Sunday on "60 Minutes," President Obama also brought up the Romney plan, using it as a shot across the bow of the man most expect to contend for the GOP nomination in two years. 

"We thought that if we shaped a bill that wasn't that different from bills that had previously been introduced by Republicans, including the Republican governor of Massachusetts who's now running for president, that, you know, we would be able to find some common ground there," the president said in the interview. "And we just couldn’t." 

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), a top GOP leader in the House, said he will decide after Jan. 1 whether to run for president.

Pence announced last week he would not seek reelection as chairman of the House Republican Conference, prompting speculation he might be considering a run for president.

Asked on ABC’s “This Week” whether he would run, Pence said: “Well, look, we've been very humbled by the encouragement we've received back in Indiana and around the country. … And after the first of the year, we'll make a decision.”

In a straw poll at the socially conservative Values Voter Summit earlier this year, Pence came on top of a list of potential Republican nominees in 2012.

“I think ObamaCare is one of the worst pieces of legislation passed in modern history,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said.

There's already one candidate taking herself out of the 2012 presidential contest: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who failed to win the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Clinton, on an overseas trip to New Zealand, told reporters the U.S. is ready for a woman president but it won't be her.

Asked by TV3 New Zealand whether she has ruled out standing for the White House through 2016, Clinton replied: "Oh yes, yes. I'm very pleased to be doing what I'm doing as secretary of state," according to Reuters.

Clinton also said she hoped the United States was ready for a female president, adding that "it should be."

Asked if it might be her, she replied: "Well, not me. But it will be someone and it is nice coming to countries that have already proven that they can elect women to the highest governing positions that they have in their systems."

New Zealand has had two female prime ministers. The country is Clinton's second-to-last stop on her Asia-Pacific tour; she next heads to Australia.

President Obama is up for reelection in 2012 and, if he won reelection, would be out office in 2016. Clinton could stay in the Cabinet throughout his tenure.