WASHINGTON (CNN) – Christie Vilsack, the wife of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, announced Monday that she will not challenge Republican Charles Grassley for his Senate seat in 2010.

"I am flattered and humbled by the requests from Democrats, Independents and even some Republicans to consider running," Vilsack said in a statement released Monday. "My careful consideration of the opportunity to represent Iowa in the Senate was done with great respect for those who came to me and the office itself."

Vilsack also said that she will continue to be active in Democratic politics in Iowa "and across the state in issues that affect the quality of life for all Iowans."

"While I will not be a candidate for office in 2010, never doubt I am committed to a life of service and to Iowa," she added.

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Huckabee's book tour will take him to two crucial primary states.

(CNN) – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will visit the key Republican primary states of Iowa and South Carolina next month during a tour to promote his new holiday-themed book.

The Fox News talk show host has planned a three-stop swing through Iowa on Nov. 8 - one day after another potential 2012 candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, is scheduled to speak at an Iowa Republican Party event in Des Moines.

Huckabee plans to visit book stores in Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Des Moines to promote the book, "A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit." The former presidential candidate has returned to Iowa several times since his win in the Iowa caucuses in January 2008, most recently to raise money for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

Later that week, on Nov. 13, his book tour takes him to the conservative South Carolina upstate, where he'll sign copies of the book in Greenville and Spartanburg.

Also on Huckabee's calendar: five stops in Florida and one stop in evangelical-heavy western Michigan

Former Sen. Santorum, pictured here in a 2006 file photo, is headed to Iowa Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Sen. Rick Santorum will make a foray into 2012 campaign territory Thursday, when the Pennsylvania Republican heads to Iowa to deliver a sharp critique of President Obama's first nine months in office.

Santorum acknowledged interest in a possible presidential run in a Tuesday conference call with reporters, but he emphasized that his visit to the Midwest political proving ground of Iowa does not mean he is a certain candidate for the Republican nomination. Instead, Santorum said that he is using this opportunity to raise his national profile, and noted he will speak out on issues that he thinks the GOP has failed to effectively address, such as health care.

The former senator credited talk radio with helping the conservative movement regain its momentum, but added that at times it has been "pretty shrill." Santorum said it is now time for Republican leaders to start promoting solutions and policies to counter Obama's legislative agenda. And the former senator said he plans to step up and begin talking about his vision for the future.

While Santorum lost his re-election in 2006, he is still well regarded in Republican circles, particularly among social conservatives.

The vice president will be the special guest at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Joe Biden's headed back to Iowa.

Wait - this isn't a flashback to 2007, when then-Sen. Biden was making his own bid for the White House. The vice president will be the special guest at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner. The event, which is scheduled to take place November 21 in Des Moines, was announced by the Iowa Democratic Party and confirmed by the vice president's office Tuesday.

Next month, Biden will also lend a helping hand to Arlen Specter, the Republican-turned-Democratic senior senator from Pennsylvania, who faces a primary challenge next year from Rep. Joe Sestak.

The vice president's office confirms to CNN that Biden will appear with Specter at two events, a Bucks County Democratic Dinner on October 2 and a Allegheny County Democratic Dinner on October 19.

UPDATE: The Vice President's office confirms that Biden will attend an event for Rep. Paul Hodes - the New Hampshire congressman now running for the Senate - October 5 in New York City.

Comic-turned-Senator Al Franken drew big laughs at an annual Iowa fundraiser Sunday.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (CNN) - Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, the former comedian who has largely put the funny business on hold as he plays catch-up due to his late arrival in Washington, proved to a Iowa crowd Sunday that he's still got it.

The "Saturday Night Live" alum and Minnesota native was the keynote speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry party fundraiser.

For obvious reasons, this year's speeches centered largely around health-care reform.

Harkin was recently named chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, taking control of the seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Also a member of that committee now, Franken, in his deadpan delivery, used sarcasm to highlight the importance of the post.

"Its not really that big a deal," he said to laughter, as he slowly went through the list of the group's topics. "I mean, it's only health. Education. Labor. And pensions. I mean, who really would care about those things? Except for maybe people who are concerned about their health or their kids' health or maybe want their kids to go to, oh, a good school, or I don't know, people who work."

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Comic-turned-Senator Al Franken drew big laughs at an annual Iowa fundraiser Sunday.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (CNN) - Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, the former comedian who has largely put the funny business on hold as he plays catch-up due to his late arrival in Washington, proved to a Iowa crowd Sunday that he's still got it.

The "Saturday Night Live" alum and Minnesota native was the keynote speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry party fundraiser.

For obvious reasons, this year's speeches centered largely around health-care reform.

Harkin was recently named chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, taking control of the seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Also a member of that committee now, Franken, in his deadpan delivery, used sarcasm to highlight the importance of the post.

"Its not really that big a deal," he said to laughter, as he slowly went through the list of the group's topics. "I mean, it's only health. Education. Labor. And pensions. I mean, who really would care about those things? Except for maybe people who are concerned about their health or their kids' health or maybe want their kids to go to, oh, a good school, or I don't know, people who work."

The crowd of a couple thousand chuckled and gave him cheers and applause. He then got a bit more serious.
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Sen. Tom Harkin recently became the chair of key Senate committee led by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy until Kennedy fell ill with brain cancer. 'It now falls to me to pick up the torch,' Harkin said Sunday.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (CNN) - Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat who recently filled the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Sunday that a Senate health-care reform bill would include a "strong" public option and that it would get through by the holiday recess.

He also said it will have support from "some" Republicans, although he said he isn't sure how many.

"I'm ready to carry on [Kennedy's] work, and I'm ready to get a health reform bill passed and to President Obama before Christmas comes this December," Harkin said in a fiery push for health reform during a speech at his annual Steak Fry, a fundraiser for Iowa Democrats.

"That bill - mark my word, I'm the chairman - is going to have a strong public option," he added to thunderous applause.

In a media availability held just prior to his speech, Harkin said he believed the legislation would be able to garner enough support from both sides of the aisle - potentially enough to label it bipartisan when all is said and done.

"We will have some Republicans on our bill," Harkin said.

While reflecting on Kennedy, Harkin called him a "great friend" whose legacy will be tough to live up to.

"We lost a great progressive, a great leader on so many issues...It now falls to me to pick up the torch," Harkin said, adding that he is up to the challenge.
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Sen. Grassley held a town hall in Iowa Wednesday.

(CNN) - Now it's the Republicans' turn to face the health-care debate back home.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley held the first of four town meetings in his home state Wednesday, welcoming what he called a much larger crowd than the usual political gathering.

"We're here at a time when I sense that people are scared for our country and that's why we're having big turnouts," he said to a mostly conservative audience of about 200 people.

The outdoor gathering in Winterset, Iowa, erupted in argument a few times after some left-leaning questions, but the overall tone was more orderly than similar health-care meetings by Democratic politicians.

Grassley is one of six members of the Senate Finance Committee - three Democrats and three Republicans - negotiating the only bipartisan health-care legislation so far.

Listen: CNN's Candy Crowley reports on Grassley's town hall

The six negotiators are not considering a government-funded public health insurance option favored by President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders, but are looking at non-profit cooperatives that would negotiate collective polices for members.

Grassley warned that the months of negotiations may fail to produce a bill he can support.

"Nothing may come out of our committee," Grassley said. "It may not be something I can agree with, so I may be pushed away from the table."

He listed his conditions for a bill, saying "what we stand for is that the government is not going to take over the health-care system."
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The Iowa Republican Party wants Sarah Palin to visit its state.

(CNN) - Who wouldn't want a big name to headline a major fundraiser? And the Iowa Republican Party is going after one of the biggest draws right now, Sarah Palin.

As first reported in the Des Moines Register and confirmed by CNN, the state GOP is courting the Alaska governor to be the keynote speaker at their annual Ronald Reagan dinner this autumn. The event is the party's largest fundraiser of the year, and has become a popular stop for White House hopefuls.

Aides to Palin have not immediately responded to inquires from CNN regarding whether the outgoing governor will attend the dinner.

Palin shocked many across the country last week when she announced that she would not only not run for re-election next year, but that she would resign as governor later this month.

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Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's term expires in 2011.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has a busy week of political travel ahead of him, sparking chatter that he's collecting chits for 2012 presidential run.

Barbour - a widely-respected figure among party insiders who will wrap up his second term, conveniently, in 2011 - is visiting a trio of important states this week, beginning on Monday in Virginia, where he's campaigning for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell.

On Wednesday, he'll work his southern charm up north in Bedford, New Hampshire at a fundraising reception for the state GOP. And on Thursday, he's speaking at another state party fundraiser in the pivotal caucus state of Iowa.

Matt Strawn, the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said Barbour was invited to speak at their "Night of the Rising Stars" in Des Moines, in part, because Barbour knocked off a Democratic incumbent to claim the governorship in 2003. Iowa Republicans are trying hoping for a similar result against Democrat Chet Culver next year.

"Haley has a message that will resonate with Iowa Republicans, capturing a governorship and providing competent and common sense conservative leadership," Strawn said.

Barbour, a 61-year old native of Yazoo City, Mississippi, is a former lobbyist and Republican National Committee chairman who won the governorship in 2003 and was easily re-elected in 2007. Even with a Democratic legislature, he has governed as a strong fiscal and social conservative, although he did sign into law a cigarette tax increase in May.

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(CNN) - The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rejected a state law Friday that banned same-sex marriage.

Iowa now will become the third state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Friday's decision upheld a 2007 ruling by a lower court that Iowa's 1998 law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples went against the state's constitution. It becomes effective in 21 days.

"This is a great day for civil rights in Iowa," said attorney Dennis Johnson, a co-counsel with Lambda Legal, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking to marry in Iowa.

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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal heads to the state that kicks off the presidential primary season.

(CNN) - Bobby Jindal's in Iowa today. Louisiana's Governor will make a stop in Cedar Rapids to tour some of the damage from devastating floods earlier this year. He'll also participate in a fundraiser with some of the victims from the flooding. Tonight Jindal heads to Des Moines, where he's the keynote speaker at a fundraising dinner for the Iowa Family Policy Center's "Celebrating the Family" banquet, a major Christian conservative event.

Jindal's considered by many in the Republican party to be a rising star and his trip to Iowa, the state that kicks off the presidential primary season, is raising speculation that he might be interested in making a bid for the Republican Presidential Nomination in 2012. But Jindal says such talk is misplaced and that he has no plans to make a run for the White House.

Jindal was a Congressman from Louisiana's first congressional district when he was elected the state's governor in 2007. At 36, he became the youngest current governor in the country. Jindal was born in Louisiana to parents who immigrated from India.

There was speculation this past summer that Jindal was, among others, in consideration for the Republican vice presidential nomination. In late July Jindal squashed such talk, saying he would not be the GOP vice presidential nominee. John McCain eventually picked another GOP governor, Sarah Palin of Alaska, as his running mate.

Harkin retains his Iowa senate seat.

(CNN) - CNN projects that four-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin will defeat Republican Christopher Reed in the Senate race in Iowa.

CNN projections are based on exit poll data from key areas.

Gov. Palin said Saturday that Sen. Obama has a big government agenda.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (CNN) - Campaigning Saturday in Iowa, a state where polls show Barack Obama enjoying a healthy lead just 10 days before the election, Sarah Palin warned that putting Obama in the White House along with Democrats running both chambers of Congress will turn the country into a nanny state.

Palin cautioned Iowans that under Obama’s “big government agenda,” their income, property and investments would be “shared with everybody else.” She labeled Obama’s plan to provide tax credits to lower and middle-income wage-earners “the philosophy of government taking more, which is a misuse of the power to tax.”

“It leads to government moving into the role of taking care of you, and government and politicians and, kind of moving in as the other half of your family to make decisions for you,” she said. “Now they do this in other countries where the people are not free. Government as part of the family, taking care of us, making decisions for us. I don’t know what to think of having in my family Uncle Barney Frank or others to make decisions for me.”

With audience members shouting “socialist!” throughout her speech, the Alaska governor said that time is running out for Americans to realize the danger of a having a Democrat in the White House.

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Sen. Obama waved before boarding his campaign plane Thursday after an event in Indiana.

(CNN) – As Election Day inches closer, Barack Obama continues to hold a significant lead over John McCain, according to CNN's average of several recent polls.

The Illinois senator now holds an 8-point lead over McCain in the latest CNN poll of polls, 50 percent to 42 percent. That lead is 1 point lager than it was in Wednesday's poll of polls.

The national general election poll of polls consists of four recent surveys: Fox/Opinion Dynamics (October 20-21), Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby (October 20-22), Gallup (October 20-22) and Diageo/Hotline (October 20-22). The Poll of Polls does not have a sampling error.

A pastor at a McCain rally said non-Christians are hoping for an Obama win.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNN) – A minister delivering the invocation at John McCain’s rally in Davenport, Iowa Saturday told the crowd non-Christian religions around the world were praying for Barack Obama to win the U.S. presidential election.

“There are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens,” said Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport.

The remark was made before McCain arrived at the rally but the Republican nominee's campaign quickly put out a statement distancing itself from the remarks.

“While we understand the important role that faith plays in informing the votes of Iowans, questions about the religious background of the candidates only serve to distract from the real questions in this race about Barack Obama's judgment, policies and readiness to lead as commander in chief,” said McCain campaign spokesperson Wendy Riemann.

This incident comes a day after a Minnesota voter asked Senator McCain if Barack Obama was an Arab at a town hall in Lakeville, Minnesota and just three days after Lehigh GOP County Chairman Bill Platt made a speech at a McCain rally in Pennsylvania where he refered to the Democrat nominee for president as Barack Hussein Obama.

(CNN) – Hillary Clinton is stepping up her efforts to push her supporters to vote and campaign for Barack Obama.

“As we continue to read the headlines about our troubled economy, the stakes of this election only get higher,” Clinton said in a Friday message. “Today I am asking all of you to hit the phones, hit the road and spread the word that we must elect Barack Obama President and we must send a filibuster-proof majority to Congress.”

Clinton’s political action committee, HillPAC, is launching a new grassroots movement on Saturday morning that will help mobilize volunteers to phone-bank, blog and canvass for Obama and other Democrats in tough congressional races. This effort, called “Hillary Sent Me!” will focus on a different battleground state each week.

“This is a call to action,” Clinton said. “We all have a role. And there is not a moment to lose. Tell them that Hillary sent you.”

Clinton’s speech to the Democratic National Convention at the end of August helped to bridge the gap between the two former rivals, as the former presidential candidate formally asked her delegates to vote for Obama. But John McCain’s campaign has continued to highlight Clinton voters who have endorsed the Republican nominee in a bid to woo disaffected former backers of the New York senator.

Hillary Sent Me! will send supporters to New Hampshire the weekend of September 27 to campaign for Obama and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who is fighting for GOP Sen. John Sununu’s Senate seat. The group will mobilize volunteers in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the middle of October.

New polls show a shift in one battleground race.

(CNN) — Barack Obama appears to be holding on to a significant edge in Iowa in new poll numbers released this weekend, but his advantage over John McCain in Minnesota, which hosted the Republican convention earlier this month, seems to have evaporated.

Obama, who won the Iowa caucuses in January, has 52 percent of the vote in that state to McCain’s 40 percent among likely voters in a Des Moines Register poll conducted September 8-10. A CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted August 31-September 2, during the GOP convention, showed a 15-point advantage for Obama, 55 to 40 percent over McCain.

But in Minnesota, where McCain accepted the GOP nomination this month, Obama’s 12-point edge in the last CNN/Time/ORC survey – also conducted during the Republican convention - has disappeared in a new Star Tribune survey: that poll finds both men tied at 45 percent each among likely voters, with 10 percent unsure.

During the convention, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said he thought his state "would be open to a candidate like Senator McCain" - but added that he believed "Democrats still have an advantage here."

Both surveys have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Election Center: Check out CNN's electoral breakdown

CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation surveys earlier this month also suggested tight races in four other battleground states: New Hampshire, Michigan, Virginia, and Missouri.

Those polls showed slim advantages for Obama in New Hampshire and Michigan, while McCain was narrowly on top in Virginia and Missouri.

CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

(CNN) - With Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama set to answer questions from Pastor Rick Warren at a forum on Saturday night, issues of faith dominated political headlines Friday.

In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, White House Correspondent Ed Henry reports on McCain's efforts to hold on to the votes of social conservatives and evangelicals; voters that were critical to President Bush's election and re-election.  On the same theme, Carol Costello takes a more personal look at how each man deals with discussing his personal faith in his political life as a presidential candidate.

Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider goes back to Iowa, where the 2008 presidential campaign began in early January.  The state known for its first-in-the-nation caucus is shaping up to be a November battleground.

Finally, it's Friday so Jennifer Mikell brings you some of this week's most memorable moments from the campaign trail.

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