Two rising Republican stars met up on Wednesday as both embarked on media tours ahead of the 2012 presidential race.

Former Minnesota Tim Pawlenty posted a picture on Twitter of his encounter with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the Fox News green room in New York:

Chatting with @GovChristie in the green room at FOX News http://ow.ly/i/7aA3

Pawlenty has indicated he might be close to announcing a presidential bid in the coming months. Christie has said on multiple occasions that he is uninterested in running for president in 2012, but observers have kept a keen eye on him since his quick political ascension.

Either way, this likely won't be the last time these two chat:

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) penned a letter to their Senate colleagues Tuesday pitching a constitutional balanced-budget amendment.

"The American people are demanding action from Washington to get our fiscal house in order once and for all," part of the letter read. "They don't want any more empty rhetoric or excuses."

Six Senate Republicans have already signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation — Sens. Saxby Chabliss (Ga.), Jim DeMint (S.C.), Olympia Snowe (Maine), John Ensign (Nev.), Michael Enzi (Wy.) and David Vitter (La.) — with more expected. 

Along with Hatch, Snowe and Ensign are up for reelection in 2012. Hatch and Snowe are rumored Tea Party targets and Ensign could also face a Republican primary if he opts to seek another term.

Hatch and Cornyn are looking to roll out the balanced budget amendment effort the week the Senate returns.

Republicans in the House, meanwhile, are hopeful there is renewed momentum for a balanced-budget amendment introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.). 

One of the measure's co-sponsors in the House is Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a rumored primary challenger to Hatch in 2012.

Emanuel said he doesn't expect the lingering controversy over challenges to his residency to impact the race for Chicago mayor.

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Adding to speculation of a 2012 presidential run, Mississippi Republican Gov. Haley Barbour criticized the Obama administration and recommended the state build a civil rights museum in his State of the State speech Tuesday.

In recent months, Barbour has sparked speculation he might run for president in 2012. Barbour's speech Tuesday supported that possibility. In the speech, Barbour criticized the Obama administration on its healthcare, financial regulation and energy policies.

"We still have federal policies that stifle economic growth: If the Obama administration's healthcare mandates actually go into effect, employers don't know what their costs and responsibilities will be, so it impedes hiring; uncertainty about the Dodd-Frank financial services law and its implementation stymies investment; and the gigantic deficits and resulting purchases of trillions in U.S. treasures by the Fed mean that money can't go into private sector projects."

Barbour also criticized the Obama administration's cap-and-trade policies.

"Sunday's Clarion Ledger includes a column by Dr. Shughart at Ole Miss that catalogues example after example of the Environmental Protection Agency's anti-energy efforts, all of which drive up energy costs," Barbour said.

Barbour called for the construction of a civil rights museum, a project that had stalled. The announcement comes a few weeks after he was quoted in The Weekly Standard magazine as saying that the White Citizens Council in his hometown of Yazoo City, Miss., was just group of "town leaders." Barbour was criticized for underplaying the council's segregationist goals and the importance of the civil rights movement.

"I urge you to move this museum forward as an appropriate way to do justice to the civil rights movement and to stand as a monument of remembrance and reconciliation," Barbour said.

Sixty-one percent of Texans don't want to see Gov. Rick Perry (R) make a run for president in 2012. 

A new poll commissioned by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a handful of other Texas newspapers found that while Perry's approval rating stands at 50 percent — 73 percent among Republicans — Texans would rather see him remain in the governor's office. 

Perry has repeatedly denied any interest in making a bid for the GOP nomination in 2012, but his name is still being floated in conservative circles. 

Late last year, Perry told the AP that his new book was proof positive he wasn't aiming for the presidency in 2012. The governor said the book, titled Fed Up: Our Fight to Save America From Washington, contains so much anti-Washington rhetoric that it would be a major hurdle in a potential run. 

"I am not interested in going to Washington, D.C., as president, vice president or in anybody's Cabinet," Perry said at the time. 

Perry was elected to his fourth term as governor of Texas this past November. He defeated Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) in a primary before winning the general-election contest over former Houston Mayor Bill White (D).

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) jabbed Wednesday at one of the best-known GOP politicians from the tri-state area over his criticism of the governor's handling of a recent blizzard. 

During a media tour Wednesday morning, Christie said former New York City mayor and 2008 presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani (R) was "wrong" to say that Christie should have returned to the Garden State from his Florida vacation to oversee response efforts to the post-Christmas blizzard in the Northeast.

"It’s easy, when you are out of office, to be shooting from the peanut gallery when you no longer have any responsibility, but I have a responsibility to my family," Christie said on Fox News. "I would have never gone on the trip if we didn’t have a plan in place to be able to clear the snow."

The governor's comments are one of the first times he has personally responded to the fallout from his decision to remain on vacation during the storm. Christie has become nationally well-known, in part, for his sharp tongue.

Democrats in the state slammed Christie during the week before Christmas and New Year's, and his office was forced to defend the governor, especially after he was compared to Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, who personally helped some city residents shovel out.

The new governor said his job is not to "be on the back of a snow plow" and that his team "got the job done."

"Substance is what matters. I’m just going to chalk it up to a bad morning for the mayor. Maybe he didn’t have a good breakfast or something like that," he said. 

Christie appeared on a string of nationally televised morning shows after giving his State of the State address Tuesday. He said that despite his bold claims, he is still not thinking about running for president in 2012. 

"The idea of president didn't really cross my mind," he said on CNN.

Some Republicans, including Rep. Bob Goodlatte, think the measure will gain real steam now, aided by the budget-slashing GOP freshmen.

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The widow of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has ruled out running for her late husband's seat in her strongest words to date.

Vicki Kennedy said she won't run to challenge Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in 2012, or run for president in the future.

“There will not be a yes," Kennedy told Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh on whether she'd agree to run. "The Senate is not where I see my future."

Kennedy's been seen as possibly the strongest candidate Brown could face in 2012, when he'll be heavily targeted for defeat by Democrats. The family's name still carries a great deal of cachet with the state's voters, and the prospect of a member of the Kennedy family entering the race to reclaim the seat the senator had held for more than 46 years would be a game-changer.

Vicki Kennedy said that she had no interest in pursuing elective office, saying that it would be too difficult to run without her husband by her side. The senator had raised the issue a few times, which she had met with dismissal, Vicki Kennedy told the Globe.

Democrats will have to look to other candidates, like members of the state's congressional delegation, to challenge Brown.

The Republican senator has sought to position himself as a centrist in the left-leaning state, and built up a campaign war chest to help him fend off what's expected to be a tough challenge in 2012.

Palin criticizes the “lamestream media," but some liberals have defended her against claims she bears some responsibility for the shootings.

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