The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) late Monday estimated that a bill eliminating taxpayer funding for presidential elections would save $617 million over the next 10 years.

H.R. 359 is due on the House floor this week and will be debated in the Rules Committee on Tuesday morning. It amends federal law to end the option on income tax forms to earmark part of one's taxes for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF). It would also shut the fund and transfer remaining balances to the Treasury.

The bill is opposed by good-government groups, which argue that eliminating the option of forgoing private funds in the general-election campaign in order to take federal funds would drive candidates further into the hands of lobbyists.

The CBO estimates that the bill would save $215 million in the 2012 election cycle.

For the 2008 presidential election cycle, outlays from the PECF totaled $135 million, the CBO states, even though President Obama ultimately opted out of using $85 million in federal funds.

Acceptance of federal funds forces candidates to agree not to use private donations in the fall campaign, thereby effectively capping the amount they can spend. McCain in the 2008 campaign blasted Obama for pledging to use federal funds and then abandoning his pledge.

Two potential contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination are in Des Moines on Tuesday to speak at a green energy trade show.

Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are set to address the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association annual summit. The group represents the state's ethanol and biodiesel producers.

The former House Speaker has the pre-lunchtime slot. Recent reports have suggested Gingrich is edging toward entering the race and plans to base his campaign out of Atlanta.

Santorum will speak from 4 to 4:30 p.m., shortly before the "door prize drawing," according to a copy of the schedule.

Support for ethanol subsidies is widespread in Iowa, even among Republicans. In past cycles, some candidates have run afoul of Iowa Republicans because of their stances on ethanol. When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ran for the nomination in 2008, he was typically given a frosty reception in the leadoff caucus state because of his opposition to the subsidies. He subsequently chose not to compete in Iowa. 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) says he's leaning against a Senate bid in 2012, but he still won't rule it out. 

Jordan, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), is still weighing a challenge to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), but as of now, he's "leaning against it." 

In an interview with The Hill, Jordan said, “I’ve got the RSC and that’s going to be my focus. The work with RSC, the work I’m going to be doing for Chairman [Darrell] Issa [R-Calif.] on the Oversight Committee is going to keep me busy." 

Jordan is a subcommittee chairman on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 

There will be no shortage of candidates in next year's Senate primary given that Brown is seen as a top GOP target, but compared to other 2012 Senate contests, the race has been slow to develop on the Republican side.  

Jordan has a proven record of winning tough GOP primaries, starting in his first election in 1994, to be a state representative, followed by a bid for state Senate in 2000 and then for his 4th district seat six years later.

Asked when he would make his final decision, the husband and father of four replied that he needs to consult his wife and family.

"I don’t know. I’ve got to talk to Polly and see what she says," Jordan explained.

Despite Jordan's early posture on the Senate race, GOP media strategist Rex Elsass, who has worked Jordan's previous races, warns that it's still far too early to assume anyone is out of the game in 2012.

"I wouldn't count anyone out of the race at this point, no matter what they're saying," said Elsass, who thinks Jordan is still near the top of the list of potential Senate candidates next year.  

— Shane D'Aprile contributed.

Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R) will officially kick off her bid for retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R-Texas) Senate seat Tuesday at an event in Dallas.

It's the first stop on what will be a statewide tour to hit 14 cities over the next four days.  

"I am running for Senate because our federal government is out of control," Jones said in a statement. "We have to rein in out of control spending and debt, ban wasteful pork and earmarks, secure our borders and get government off the backs of businesses so they can grow and create desperately-needed jobs."

Ames Jones first entered the Senate fray in 2009 after Hutchison announced her intention to resign her Senate seat to focus on a bid for governor. Hutchison later reneged on that pledge.  

The Republican primary field in 2012 is expected to be a crowded one and, along with Ames Jones, already includes fellow Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, a favorite of many Tea Party groups in the state. 

Other Republicans already in the race are former Secretary of State Roger Williams, who has already received the backing of former President George H.W. Bush and former Solicitor General Ted Cruz.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) is the likely favorite on the Republican side should he get into the race, as most observers expect he will. At least two members of the state's congressional delegation are contemplating the race, too -- Reps. Joe Barton and Michael McCaul.

In a potential match-up with President Obama, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) out-performs Sarah Palin (R) with some of the fastest-growing demographic groups, a new poll shows. 

Romney leads the former Alaska governor with unmarried women, minorities and young people, a group that has seen a 20 percent increase in the voting-age population in the last 10 years, according to Census data.

The group has been dubbed the "rising American electorate" (RAE) by Women's Voices. Women Vote, a Democratic advocacy group that commissioned the survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner  Research.

Obama led Palin by 38 points among RAE voters, but was ahead of Romney by only 25 points in the national survey of 1,480 voters.

The poll included an oversampling of 480 REA voters (200 unmarried women, 200 minorities and 80 youth) and had a margin of error of 2.55.

Moreover, married women gave Obama a 5-point edge against Palin (45 percent to 40 percent for Palin), but prefer Romney by a 51 percent to 43 percent margin, the survey found.

In 2008, married women went for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by single digits, Page Gardner, president of Women’s Voices, said on a conference call Monday, whereas 70 percent of unmarried women went for Obama.

In 2010, the group didn't return to the polls in the same numbers — whether they will again in the next election is unclear.

"They will determine the outcome of the 2012 election," said Gardner.

--Updated at 6:56 p.m. Jan. 25

Virginia Republican Corey Stewart sounds like he's readying an aggressive primary campaign against former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.). 

The chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors told The Ballot Box Monday that he's seriously considering a bid and claimed Allen's announcement has been met with "ambivalence" from some GOP activists. 

"I always knew Allen would face some adversity from Tea Party activists and the like because of his weak record in the Senate," said Stewart. "But what I'm hearing more and more among Republican activists and donors is their ambivalence toward Allen." 

Stewart, who is heading to Richmond, Va. on Tuesday to talk to party activists and court donors ahead of his own likely Senate bid, said he, along with other Republicans in the state, is "concerned that [Allen's] not going to be able to shake off the 'macaca' moment." 

Allen lost to Democrat Jim Webb by fewer than 10,000 votes in 2006 after a nasty campaign highlighted by a gaffe that likely cost him the race. Allen was caught on tape referring to a Webb campaign staffer as "macaca," a moment that placed the race firmly in the national spotlight.

Stewart said the "tepid" response that Allen has been met with from grassroots conservatives over the past month makes him even more inclined to get into the race, adding that he expects to make a decision by the spring. 

The first Republican presidential debate of the 2012 cycle will be held May 2, 2011, at the Reagan library, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced Monday.

“We have established a wonderful tradition — of which I know Ronnie would be so proud — of using the Library as a first-in-the-nation forum for candidates to introduce themselves and their visions for America to a national audience,” former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement.

The Reagan Library, in Simi Valley, Calif., was also the venue for the first Republican debate of the 2008 campaign cycle.

MSNBC will air the debate — NBC News anchor Brian Williams will moderate, along with Politico editor-in-chief John Harris. A Telemundo reporter will also join in the questioning.

The library plans to host a second GOP debate on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries.

No Republican has officially announced for the 2012 presidential nomination.

An appellate court ruled Rahm Emanuel shouldn't be allowed on the mayoral ballot because he doesn't meet residency requirements.

The ploy to coax the former MSNBC host into Connecticut's Democratic Senate primary was hatched by activists over the weekend.