Mike Huckabee got a decent bump today in Iowa, with a public event featuring the endorsements of 60 different pastors from around the state — a natural constituency for the conservative Baptist minister and ex-governor. Among those in attendance was Chuck Hurley, who had previously supported Huckabee's main rival for religious right support at the Iowa Straw Poll, Sam Brownback.

The knock against Huckabee has been that he lacks money and organization. With the backing of 60 conservative ministers — a number that can only grow even further — the organization can build itself.

At a press conference today to announce his endorsement of John McCain, Sam Brownback explained why he picked McCain — and also talked about some of the entreaties that Rudy Giuliani made towards him.

"Giuliani pitched a much more pro-life message," Brownback said, discussing Rudy's oft-repeated promise to appoint "strict constructionist" judges. He said Rudy told him, "I come at it in a different angle but I get to the same position you do."

"What he [Rudy] is articulating in private is a much more pro-life record," Brownback said, "and with John you have somebody who has voted that way for 24 years."

Sam Brownback, the staunchly conservative Senator who exited the presidential race a few weeks ago, will reportedly endorse John McCain for president.

Brownback had battled with Mike Huckabee for Christian right support in Iowa, but ultimately had to drop out due to poor fundraising and an inability to get any traction after Huckabee beat him for second place in the Iowa Straw Poll.

Sam Brownback emerged from his meeting with Rudy Giuliani yesterday with an apparent sense of optimism about the pro-choice Republican.

"I'm much more comfortable," said Brownback. "Justices are key. He's stated publicly many times about his support for strict constructionists like, I believe he said Roberts. John Roberts is a personal friend."

Rudy Giuliani will be in Washington today to meet with none other than Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), the social conservative and former presidential candidate who predicted during his withdrawal announcement that a pro-choicer could never win the Republican nomination.

"I'm going to meet with him and I'm going to talk to him and hear what he is specifically saying now because he's changed on a number of the abortion issues," Brownback said. He's changed on partial-birth [abortion] and he ... has said he would appoint strict constructionists."

If Rudy can get an endorsement from Brownback — or at the very least a satisfactory grade — it would definitely help him against Mitt Romney's push to unite social conservatives around an anti-Rudy push.

Speaking at a press conference back home in Kansas, Sam Brownback dropped out of the presidential race today. "My yellow brick road came just short of the White House this time," he said.

Later in the event he put it more bluntly: "We're out of money."

Brownback's campaign had been hurt by a lack of fundraising success and a third-place showing behind Mike Huckabee at the Iowa Straw Poll, an indicator that Huckabee had won their two-way caucus within the caucus for Christian-right support in Iowa.

Sam Brownback, who recently dropped out of the GOP primary, is convinced that Rudy won't win the nomination -- and thinks that Romney, despite his previous pro-choice views, still has a shot.

Brownback tipped his hand in a conversation with reporters after his appearance at the values voter summit today, saying that he's convinced the Republican Party will nominate a “pro-life candidate,”

"Mayor Giuliani has said he’s pro-choice," Brownback added. As for Romney, Brownback says he's got a chance: “Governor Romney’s certainly taken a pro-life position now. We’ll see if that’s something that can persuade the American public.”

The lower tier of Republican candidates is reportedly about to shrink a little bit — Sam Brownback is expected to drop out of the race tomorrow.

Brownback's campaign had never really caught fire, with him raising only $4 million and coming in third at the Iowa Straw Poll behind Mike Huckabee, a rival for the social conservative vote.

So where will Brownback's support, such as it was, end up going? That's a good question. On the one hand, Romney's campaign has been trying to consolidate the Christian right into a unified anybody-but-Rudy campaign. On the other hand, Brownback's camp had been bashing Romney to no end, taking every opportunity to call him a phony.

Sam Brownback has a new initiative he's working on: An official government apology for slavery and segregation.

"They were federal policies," Brownback told the Boston Globe editorial board. "They were wrong. The only way for us to move forward ... is at the end of day acknowledging those, taking ownership for it, and asking for forgiveness."

Brownback said he is working with an as-yet-unnamed Democrat to craft a resolution. In an interesting commentary on just how contentious the Senate is these days, Brownback also said he expects a tough fight in getting such a non-binding resolution passed.

Joe Biden and Sam Brownback teamed up across party lines yesterday to speak in Iowa, promoting their plan to divide Iraq into a loose federal state.

The two underscored how important it is to bring about solutions across both Shia-Sunni lines in Iraq, and Democratic/Republican lines in America.

"The solution to our situation in Iraq is, quite frankly, more important than who will be the next president," said Biden. "It is like the boulder sitting in the road."

"The divisions are so deep, the stakes so high and the time so short," Brownback said, "that we owe it to ourselves to bring all sides to the table and resolve the major issues facing Iraq."

Sam Brownback has set his goal for the Iowa caucus: Fourth or better.

In an online chat hosted by the Washington Post, he was asked if it was true that he would drop out if he didn't place in the top four, and he reaffirmed it. "That is correct," he said. "I need to finish in that group to move on forward."

This obviously invites the question: Even if he got fourth place in Iowa, what good would that actually be?

Sam Brownback has introduced a bill guaranteed to go nowhere fast — but also guaranteed to score points with the social conservatives. His Ultrasound Informed Consent Act would require women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound first.

His Senate office's press release says: "The requirements of the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act are placed solely on the doctor, not the patient. A woman seeking an abortion may refuse to view the images of the ultrasound after the results are made available to her." However, it's worth noting that the woman would still be required to submit to the ultrasound, whether she looked at the screen or not.

"I am hopeful that this bill will inform women and will cause a deeper reflection on the humanity of unborn children," Brownback said in the statement. "It is important to promote a culture that values life in all stages."

The battle going on between Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback for the religious right base has officially taken a turn into the absurd.

David Brody reports that Mike Huckabee's campaign has sent a letter refusing to apologize for anti-Catholic remarks made by one of his supporters against the Catholic convert from Kansas — after all, the Huckabee camp says, they were not in any way responsible for the remarks.

Here's the fun part. The Huckabee campaign letter went further by accusing Brownback and his own supporters of all sorts of character flaws, based on a Website called Baptists for Brownback, which declares that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and even Fred Thompson are headed for Hell.

One problem, however: Turns out that "Baptists for Brownback" is actually an anti-Brownback parody site!

More after the jump.

Read more »

Uh oh -- more trouble for Mitt Romney on abortion. His latest gaffe: he apparently failed to call abortion "murder."

That embarrassing slip-up drew the following scorching attack from GOP Presidential rival and Senator Sam Brownback's campaign:

Mitt Romney Doesn't Believe Abortion is Murder

Rejects GOP Platform on Abortion -- A Human Life Amendment to the Constitution

ALEXANDRIA, Va-- Presidential candidate Mitt Romney refused to call abortion "murder" at an event in Laconia, New Hampshire last week, stating that murder "means different things to different people."

Romney instead stated abortion is the taking of a human life, that the unborn "is alive and human" at the point of conception, but that states should define their own abortion laws. "Mitt Romney's flip-flops on abortion throughout the years make more sense now," said Martin Gillespie, political director of Brownback for President...

"Romney says life begins at conception, but doesn't think abortion is murder and Romney says he's pro-life but he thinks states should be able to choose to allow abortion," Gillespie added. "Every time he tries to clarify, as he tried to do last week, it becomes more and more confusing."

In responding, Romney's spokesman -- incredibly, inexplicably -- refused to say that Romney had misspoke or that Romney does believe abortion is murder, thus compounding this gaffe to an unimaginable degree.

Brownback, of course, is one of approximately 18 GOP candidates who are each arguing that he is the only "real conservative" in the race. The GOPers debate tomorrow night.

General Peter Pace's recent observation that homosexuality is "immoral" finally has the support of one of the Presidential candidates: GOP Senator and religious right darling Sam Brownback. Brownback is circulating a letter among his fellow Senators saying that he backs Pace and excoriates criticism of him as "unfair and unfortunate." Brownback even writes, "In fact, we applaud General Pace for maintaining a personal commitment to moral principles." To read the full letter, click here.

Read more »

Breaking with the Religious Right activists he's been courting — as well as the Jeb Bush political organization he's mined so well in Florida — Mitt Romney now says the government shouldn't have intervened in the Terri Schiavo case, The St. Petersburg Times reports.

Reporting on details of an interview of Romney by a local TV station in Florida, the Times quoted Romney objecting to actions like "Terri's Law" for the same reason he dislikes a pro-active judiciary: "I generally think that it's not a good idea for courts to legislate. Nor is it great idea for legislatures to adjudicate in a specific circumstance."

Meanwhile, Terri Schiavo's brother Bobby Schindler, a celebrity among religious conservatives, has now endorsed Sam Brownback, lashing out in a statement at Romney's Schiavo stance. "Mitt Romney’s alleged pro-life conversion evidently does not to apply to all human life," said Schindler. "The pro-life movement needs a leader we can trust in 2008 and I know Sam Brownback is that leader."

Here are few updates on the movements of the Presidential hopefuls (and others, too):

* Former Vice President Al Gore is expected to announce a series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" tommorow that will seek to raise awareness about climate change. The concerts will take place on July 7 in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto.

* Sen. John McCain will make his first 2007 trip to Iowa next weekend. McCain will also travel to South Carolina on Feb. 18 while his wife, Cindy McCain travels to New Hampshire around the same time in his place. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former MA Gov. Mitt Romney will also visit South Carolina during the following week. A straw poll of SC Republicans set for March 1st, which is expected to draw 2,000 people, could explain why the GOP frontrunners are all visiting the Palmetto state so close to each other.

* CNN will host a Democratic debate in Nevada on November 4th, 2007.

* The New Mexico attorney general issued an opinion today that Gov. Bill Richardson's fundraising for the Democratic Presidential primary does not conflict with a state ban on fundraising during the legislative session.

* Sen. Hillary Clinton will fundraise in San Fransisco on Feb. 23, charging $250 a head.

* John Edwards is holding a town hall meeting in South Carolina today to discuss his universal health care proposal, Mitt Romney is making various stops across Iowa, Rudy Giuliani is fundraising in New Jersey, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to the World Money Show in Florida and both Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson are speaking in Washington, DC.

* Meanwhile, Giuliani will be making various stops in California in the days ahead as he seeks to broaden his fundraising base beyond the Tri-State area, which accounts for three-fourths of the money he has raised.

* Sen. Joe Biden will make his first trip to Iowa as an announced candidate on Feb. 16.

* Ohio state Sen. Eric Kearney is organizing a fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama in Cincinnati on Feb. 26 that will charge between $100 and $2,300 per ticket. Kearney's wife, Jan-Michele Kearney, was in Obama's class at Harvard Law School and the couple attended Obama's wedding.

* When former AR Gov. Mike Huckabee visits New Hampshire on Friday, he will focus on fiscal policy with special attention paid to defending himself against the anti-tax Club for Growth, who released a 5-page report critical of Huckabee's record on taxes and government regulation as Governor of Arkansas after he decided to explore a Presidential run.

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich began distributing a 15-minute campaign DVD after his Feb. 2 speech before the Democratic National Committee. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the video here.

* Sen. Sam Brownback has won the endorsement of grammy award-winning contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith, who will act as a surrogate for the campaign.

Here are a few updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Sen. Barack Obama is set to forgo public financing for both the primaries and the general election. Obama follows Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Sen. John Edwards, Sen. John McCain, and former MA Gov. Mitt Romney in opting out of federal matching funds.

* Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani will deliver the commencement speech at the Citadel military academy in South Carolina on May 5th.

* Despite his placement in the second-tier of Dem presidential candidates, CT Sen. Christopher Dodd led the pack in fundraising -- yes, including Hillary -- during the 4th quarter by raising $3 million over the last three months of 2006. Dodd's position as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is thought to have brought increased donations from the financial-services industry.

* Two bloggers, Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister, recently hired by the campaign of former Sen. John Edwards are drawing fire from a conservative religious group, The Catholic League, over comments they made on their non-Edwards-related blogs before joining his campaign. Media Matters has a look at the inconsistent history of outrage by The Catholic League's president, William Donahue.

* Sen. John McCain has gained the endorsements of Ohio Rep. Stephen C. LaTourette and former Alabama state GOP chairman Winton Blount.

* Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Barack Obama, and former WI Gov. Tommy Thompson will each be traveling to Iowa this week. Romney will be in the state tomorrow, Thompson on Saturday, and Obama on Saturday and Sunday. Obama's visit will come on the heels of his official announcement of candidacy on Feb. 10.

* One of the biggest free agents left in New Hampshire, Bill Shaheen, the chairman of John Kerry's 2004 New Hampshire primary campaign and husband of former NH Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, was offered an unspecified campaign job when he met with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC last week. Shaheen did not except immediately, but said he'd "make a decision in the near future." He will meet with Obama on Monday and has already fielded calls from Dodd, Edwards, and Sen. Joe Biden.

* Romney and Sen. Sam Brownback will address the Michigan Republican convention on Saturday while MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty will speak as a surrogate for John McCain. Pawlenty is the co-chairman of McCain's national campaign.

* Former IA Gov. Tom Vilsack blasted Senate Republicans yesterday for blocking a resolution critical of the Bush administration's Iraq policy and also criticized the non-binding resolution itself as "inaction."

* GOP Rep. Nathan Deal made it clear in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he's not jumping on the Mitt Romney endorsement train, but that he has warm feelings towards both former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Rep. Duncan Hunter.

* Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, speaking at a press breakfast in DC yesterday, said he was optimistic that he had no where to go but up in the Republican primary. "When you’re in first place right now, there’s only one direction you can go, and it’s not a good one," he told reporters.

* Meanwhile, Huckabee will visit New Hampshire this Friday while NM Gov. Bill Richardson is scheduled to attend a Feb. 17 fundraiser for Concord City Democrats and Sen. Christopher Dodd is set to attend the Merrimack County Democrat's St. Patrick's Day dinner on March 17.

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich re-introduced the Department of Peace and Non-Violence Bill yesterday with 52 co-sponsors.

* Rep. Tom Tancredo is stepping down as the chair of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, which Tancredo has led since his first Congressional term in 1999.

Here are the latest updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

• John McCain scored the support of a top religious right figure, picking up former Christian Coalition field director Guy Rodgers, who will serve on the McCain campaign as the Deputy Director of the Americans of Faith coalition.

• Barack Obama may have a controversy on his hands, Ben Smith reports. In a meeting of the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus on Friday, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who is black, told African-American political leaders who were uncertain of whom to support, "How long are you going to owe politicians for past favors?" — and that race alone should guide them to support Obama's candidacy.

• Hillary Clinton will be touring New Hampshire this Friday and Saturday, her first visit to the state in over ten years. Clinton had previously been scheduled to visit last weekend, but cancelled due to the death of her father-in-law.

• Mitt Romney's campaign announced that they are reaching out to modern cyber-campaigning, launching an official campaign Facebook group.

• John McCain has also announced the support of high-ranking state legislators in Romney's original home state of Michigan: Assistant House Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer, House Minority Floor Leader Chris Ward, and House Minority Whip Kevin Green, who will serve on McCain's Michigan steering committee.

• Sam Brownback told a crowd of about 240 people in Columbia, South Carolina — including a minister who regularly protests abortions — "I will commit to helping end abortion in America."

• Dennis Kucinich spoke on Sunday to a standing-room only crowd in Dover, New Hampshire, quoting a a line from English Romantic poem, "Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"

• Duncan Hunter travelled to Florida on Saturday, meeting with Sen. Mel Martinez and attending a cookout in the town of Lamont, near Tallahassee

• During his speech before the DNC on Saturday, Tom Vilsack called upon Congress to immediately stop funding the Iraq War.

• Tom Tancredo declared during a visit to Iowa on Saturday that multiculturalism has become "a cultural, political, linguistic tower of Babel," diluting patriotism and national identity in America.

Update: Mitt Romney's campaign announced on Friday the endorsements of three GOP House members from Kentucky: Hal Rogers, Ed Whitfield, and Ron Lewis.

Here are the latest updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are scheduled to be at tonight's AIPAC fundraiser in New York, looking for support with Jewish activists.

* Barack Obama's new finance chair, Penny Pritzker, has a problem that some Democratic activists might find objectionable: She donated $2,000 to President Bush's reelection.

* Mitt Romney has announced the support of former Senator Jim Talent, R-MO, who lost reelection last year due in part to his opposition to embryonic stem-cell research.

* John McCain has received the endorsements of three Cuban-American Republicans in Florida: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and brothers Lincoln Díaz-Balart and Mario Díaz-Balart.

* John McCain's campaign announced that they have received the support of a majority of State House Republicans in South Carolina, including Speaker Bobby Harrell. Mitt Romney has also met with the GOP caucus — and was met with blunt questions about Mormonism.

* Sam Brownback campaigned in Michigan yesterday, Romney's original home state, and called for a tax incentive for alternative-fuel vehicles.

* Despite Sam Brownback's near-perfect record of Senate votes in the past, he has missed half of the votes so far in this Congress as he is running for President.

* Mike Huckabee has the support of two top Iowa Republicans in his underdog race for the GOP nomination. Huckabee's campaign has recruited 2006 Lieutenant Governor nominee Bob Vander Plaats, and former State House Speaker Pro Tempore Danny Carroll, who will work to build grassroots support for Huckabee in the state.

Here's a quick look at the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Barack Obama has a new policy in the aftermath of Fox News' decision to broadcast the phony madrassa story: He's not talking to their reporters.

* Hillary Clinton is following up last weekend's Iowa trip with a campaign stop in New Hampshire this weekend. Hillary will visit to Concord High School on Saturday and will meet with Democratic activists in Keene on Sunday -- her first trip to New Hampshire in ten years.

* John McCain has just announced via press release the support of all the state legislators in New Hampshire's Coos County, the northernmost and least populated county in the state. Oh, and he just so happens to have made the announcement the day before a scheduled trip there by Mitt Romney.

* While campaigning in Iowa, The Des Moines Register reports, Mike Huckabee put forth a position not often seen from Republican candidates: Restoring music and art funding in public schools. He also said that while he supports building a fence along the Mexican border, he would not deport illegal immigrants living in this country, but would instead make them pay a fine. That's what passes for compassionate conservatism these days, we guess.

* Sam Brownback — deviating from his usual campaigning on social conservative issues — said during an Iowa visit that he would like to focus on issues with wider consensus, such as human rights, climate change and poverty, The Des Moines Register reports. "The political discourse automatically goes to the most difficult issues, and then we can't talk about them," Brownback said.

* Mitt Romney's campaign has announced the support of Jim Bopp, the general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, further honing Romney's credentials with social conservatives.

* John McCain — whose moderate stances on campaign finance and immigration have caused friction with hard-line House conservatives — has unveiled his campaign's House whip team in a press release today. The whips for campaign are: Fred Upton of Michigan, Spencer Bachus of Alabama, John Shadegg of McCain's home state of Arizona, John Shimkus of Illinois, Mark Kirk of Illois, and Dan Lungren of California. McCain will be playing catch-up with Mitt Romney for House support, as Romney has already attracted extensive support, including former Speaker Dennis Hastert.

* The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that George Pataki, on a campaign stop in the state, expressed his skepticism of troop escalation in Iraq: "I oppose sending more troops into Baghdad in the midst of the sectarian civil conflict between Sunni and Shia before the al-Maliki government shows its intent and ability to fight both radical religious extremes equally."

* John McCain has rolled out some newly-won support from Romney's original home state of Michigan -- he's earned the endorsements of former State House Speakers Chuck Perricone and Rick Johnson.

* Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich will both be addressing a summit of about 50 House conservatives this weekend in Baltimore, according to the AP.

Here are a few quick updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney is set to announce two big South Carolina campaign hires: Terry Sullivan, who managaed Sen. Jim DeMint's successful campaign in 2004, will be his state campaign manager, and George Ramsey, who was DeMint's political director, will play the same role for Romney in the state.

* In other Romney news, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the ranking GOP member on the House intelligence committee, has endorsed the former MA Governor and will serve as his campaign's adviser on intelligence issues.

* Rep. Mary Bono has become the first member of Congress outside of New York state to officially endorse former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani for President.

* Giuliani will also be the keynote speaker at the South Carolina GOP's state executive committee meeting on Feb. 3rd.

* Former NYC Gov. George Pataki -- who's made a few noises about running for President in the past -- recently closed the New Hampshire office of his political action committee. Is it an indication that he's decided against running in 2008? We report; you decide.

* Sen. Hillary Clinton will visit Iowa on Saturday and New Hampshire on Feb. 3rd and 4th.

* Sen. Sam Brownback announced the first meeting of a public-private task force examining whether...TV makes kids fat.

* On the heels of Rep. Dennis Hastert's endorsement of Mitt Romney, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay cautioned right-leaning Republicans against endorsing presidential hopefuls two years before the election.

* GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul will be the keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Liberty Forum on Feb.25. Paul formerly ran for president in 1988 on the Libertarian ticket.

* In the '07 Kentucky's Governor race, GOP Sen. Jim Bunning has endorsed former Rep. Anne Northup, who lost her seat to Democrat John Yarmuth last November.

* In "08 Minnesota Senate news, Sen. Norm Coleman is planning to introduce a bill for a $5 billion increase in research on stem cells that don't involve destroying embryos, a move that seems designed to mitigate criticism of his opposition to embryonic stem cell research, something that could impede reelection.

Here are some updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has just hired a consulting firm with ties to Karl Rove, Olsen & Shuvalov, to assist with his exploratory committee.

* Sen. Sam Brownback is set to make his bid for President official in a formal announcement from Topeka, KS on Saturday.

* Former Sen. John Edwards will speak in Iowa City on Saturday about Iraq and other public concerns.

* While both Sen. John McCain and former MA Gov. Mitt Romney held cocktail receptions for fellow Republicans at the RNC's winter meeting on Thursday, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was no where to be seen at the annual gathering of GOP movers and shakers.

* Rev. Jesse Jackson, who ran for President in 1988, told CNN that he is all, but certain to endorse Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries.

* Former WI Gov. Tommy Thompson will be attending events and fundraisers in Nebraska today before heading to Iowa tomorrow to eat pizza with some College Republicans.

* Former IA Gov. Tom Vilsack is attending events in New Hampshire today while Sen. Christopher Dodd will campaign throughout the state's Southern Tier tomorrow.

* Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney will head to Israel next week to speak at a conference on Israel's national security while former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. John McCain will both address the conference via satellite.