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Mississippi's Republican Gov. Haley Barbour will visit South Carolina on March 15 to keynote the Spartanburg County GOP's annual President's Day dinner.

Washington (CNN) - Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, one of several Republicans thought to be considering a White House bid in 2012, is making another trip to a key early voting state.

Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, will visit South Carolina on March 15 to keynote the Spartanburg County GOP's annual President's Day dinner. Spartanburg County GOP Chairwoman LaDonna Ryggs told CNN that the event – which she described as "a very large fundraiser" – was re-scheduled from its original date in February.

Barbour has already made trips in recent months to the presidential proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire, but at the time he said those trips were part of his duties as RGA chairman. South Carolina will elect a new governor in November.

One of Barbour's political confidantes said it's understandable the governor's political travels will raise suspicions about a possible 2012 bid, but said Barbour is genuinely focused of winning governor's races this fall.
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A new DSCC video targets Republican Dan Coats.

Washington (CNN) – Democrats have been hounding former Sen. Dan Coats since he announced this week he will challenge Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, in this year's midterm election.

Coats served as U.S. ambassador to Germany in his post-Senate life, but he also worked as a lobbyist representing Wall Street banks, health insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies. Democrats also pointed out that Coats is actually registered to vote in Virginia, not the Hoosier state.

Now, hoping to paint Coats as even more out of touch with the people he hopes to represent, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is pushing a video in which Coats suggests he'd rather live in North Carolina than Indiana.

"If you don't tell the good people of Indiana, Marcia and I decided that there might be a better place where some of these older bones can absorb, so we have joined her parents in North Carolina," Coats says in the video, which was recorded during a speech he delivered to North Carolina delegates at the most recent Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

Coats and his wife bought a $1.8 million home in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2006, according to documents provided by the DSCC.

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Jenny Sanford's memoir hit bookstores Friday.

(CNN) – When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford returned to the United States last June from Buenos Aires, where he had been having one last secret tryst with his Argentine mistress, he hopped in a vehicle driven by a former aide who had sped through the night to meet him at the Atlanta airport.

Sanford was on his way back to Columbia, to appear before a phalanx of reporters and television cameras to explain to South Carolina and the nation why he had mysteriously disappeared from the state a week earlier.

But first, he had to call and check in with his trusted political adviser - who also happened to be the wife he had betrayed.

"Do you know what kind of storm you are returning to?" an incredulous Jenny Sanford said she asked her husband. "And where do we stand?"

Her husband told her the "good news": the affair, which Jenny Sanford had discovered the previous January, was finally over after a year. "I told you, it's all behind us," he explained. "Everything's good."

"Good?" Sanford writes in her new memoir, "Staying True," which landed in bookstores Friday. "What part of this did he think was good?"

Mark Sanford's office had no comment on the book.

Chris Allen, the aide who sat alone in the car with Sanford as he spoke to his furious wife on the phone, told CNN in an e-mail Friday that the long drive to Columbia was "awkward, emotional, almost fictitious, and at this point a blur."

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'Carly Fiorina's campaign is in full Mutton Meltdown mode, with an increasingly bizarre fixation on farm animals,' Campbell spokesman Jamie Fisfis said in a statement Thursday.

(CNN) – In just 24 hours, the three-way Republican Senate primary in California has descended into a squabble over bloated budgets, "demon sheep" and now ... mutton.

The latest jab comes courtesy of Tom Campbell - the brainy budget wizard and former Republican congressman doing battle with Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore for the GOP nomination. On Thursday, Campbell finally hit back at Fiorina for her campaign's bizarre new Web video accusing Campbell of being a fiscal liberal - an ominous three minute clip depicting gathering storm clouds and evil-looking livestock.

The video instantly became the subject of Internet mockery when it was posted on Wednesday.

Earlier: DeVore campaign slams Fiorina video

"Carly Fiorina's campaign is in full Mutton Meltdown mode, with an increasingly bizarre fixation on farm animals," Campbell spokesman Jamie Fisfis said in a statement Thursday. "She's admitted missing a decade's worth of opportunities to vote for budget reform, but instead of offering solutions, all she has for voters are dogs, cats and demon-sheep."

Fisfis said that "contrary to Carly Fiorina's insulting portrayal of fiscal conservatives as sheep, these are in fact involved people who engage the issues and ask tough questions. And unlike Carly Fiorina, they have fought alongside Tom Campbell on the front lines of spending reform and supported these reforms with their votes."

UPDATE: The Fiorina campaign argues that the "demon sheep" buzz is only drawing more attention to their message - that Campbell can't be trusted when it comes to taxes and spending.

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RNC chairman Michael Steele has a new top adviser.

Washington (CNN) – The Republican National Committee has hired a veteran GOP operative to fill its communications director slot, a position that has been vacant for months amid a slew a public missteps by Chairman Michael Steele.

Doug Heye, who worked for Steele's 2006 Senate campaign and often appears on television as a political analyst, will now advise RNC chairman Michael Steele on communications strategy. A North Carolina native, Heye also directed communications for Sen. Richard Burr's campaign.

Unlike Steele, who has angered establishment party figures during his brief tenure as GOP chief, Heye is a well-liked figure on Capitol Hill.

"I'm proud to have Doug Heye join our team," Steele said in a statement. "His experience in campaigns and the halls of Congress brings a unique skill set to our communications operation.

Steele also promoted press secretary Katie Wright to deputy communications director.

Heye will be filling a job left vacant by former RNC communications director Trevor Francis, who left the committee in November along with his deputy Todd Irons. National press secretary Gail Gitcho left her job last week to join Sen. Scott Brown's office.

Newt Gingrich is being attacked by the conservative Club for Growth.

Washington (CNN) – The conservative Club for Growth is hitting back at former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for criticizing the small government group during an appearance in Utah for Republican Sen. Bob Bennett. The Club is actively working to defeat Bennett, who is seeking re-election in November.

Several Republicans are challenging Bennett from his right flank as he seeks a fourth term, largely because of his vote in favor of the Wall Street bailout in 2008. While the Club has said they will oppose Bennett, they haven't said which candidate they will support instead.

But Bennett has the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee - which as a rule supports Republican incumbents - and on Wednesday Gingrich showed up in Salt Lake City to lend a hand.

"I wish the Club for Growth would spend as much time and energy to defeat liberal Democrats as they do dividing Republicans," Gingrich told a crowd at Bennett's formal campaign launch, according to the Deseret News. "I try to defeat liberal Democrats. I don't spend much time trying to defeat Republicans."

That prompted the influential conservative group to take a shot at Gingrich for backing "ultra-liberal" Dede Scozzafava in last year's special election in New York's 23rd district. The moderate Scozzafava quit the race after being harangued by conservative activists who supported Doug Hoffman. Democrat Bill Owens eventually won the race.

"Newt has proven time and again that he will support any Republican, regardless of policies and principles," said Club president Chris Chocola in a statement. "That's his right, but the Club for Growth PAC puts principles over party,"

"Newt was wrong about New York-23, and he's wrong about Utah," Chocola continued. "And pretty soon, Bennett will wish Newt never gave him the kiss of Dede."

Sarah Palin is set to campaign with Texas Gov. Rick Perry this weekend.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin is criticizing a Rick Perry campaign adviser accused of using the word "retarded" - but she isn't demanding that the aide be fired.

The accusation - made against top Perry consultant David Carney on Wednesday by Kay Bailey Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign - is of note because Palin is heading to Texas this weekend to campaign for Perry as he seeks a third term as Texas governor.

On Monday, Palin called on President Obama to fire his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for using the very same word in a closed door meeting about health care negotiations.

Hutchison's campaign manager Terry Sullivan told CNN Wednesday that Carney repeatedly said "retarded" during a recent conference call between the gubernatorial campaigns to plan logistics for their Jan. 14 debate in Denton.

Earlier: Top Perry aide used 'R' word, Hutchison campaign alleges

According to Sullivan, Carney became "bombastic and agitated" when he learned that one of the candidate holding rooms would be in a separate building from the debate venue.

"That's just retarded," Carney said when he learned about the room location, according to Sullivan. "That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard."

Perry's campaign did not respond to a request to comment on the conference call.

Palin spokesman Meg Stapleton condemned the language as "disrespectful," but did not say that Carney should lose his job.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry is running for a third term but faces two Republican opponents.

Washington (CNN) – Sarah Palin caused a stir this week when she demanded that President Obama fire his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for using the word "retarded" to describe Democrats opposed to the administration's health care plans.

Now that Palin is headed to Texas to campaign for Gov. Rick Perry in his re-election bid, the campaign manager for Perry's rival Kay Bailey Hutchison is alleging that a top Perry aide used the very same term during a recent conference call.

Terry Sullivan, Hutchison's campaign manager, told CNN that Perry consultant Dave Carney dropped the "R" word repeatedly during a recent planning call between the three gubernatorial campaigns to walk through logistics for their Jan. 14 debate in Denton. The third candidate in the Republican primary is former Wharton County GOP chairwoman Debra Medina.

According to Sullivan, Carney became "bombastic and agitated" when he learned that one of the candidate holding rooms would be in a separate building from the debate venue. (Perry's team eventually got the holding room they wanted.)

"That's just retarded," Carney said when he learned about the holding room location, according to Sullivan. "That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard."

Sullivan said Carney used the word once again minutes later as the camps discussed how the debate footage would be used after the forum.

A spokesman for Perry did not respond to a request for comment on the call, nor did an aide to Palin, who is heading to Texas on Sunday to appear with the governor.

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South Dakota Sen. John Thune is a potential 2012 presidential candidate.

Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney, who has racked up thousands of frequent flyer miles over the last year assisting Republican candidates, will make perhaps his most high-profile stop of the 2010 election cycle later this month when he travels to South Dakota to raise money for Sen. John Thune.

Romney will headline a fundraiser for Thune - another telegenic Republican on the list of potential 2012 White House candidates - at a Holiday Inn in Sioux Falls on Feb. 19, a Romney aide told CNN.

With a flurry of campaign stops and financial assistance, Romney put his stamp on the three biggest GOP victories of the last year: the Virginia and New Jersey governors races and the special Senate election in Massachusetts.

The presidential buzz around Thune has grown louder over the last year thanks to a visit to Iowa, a new position in the Senate GOP leadership and a 2010 campaign war chest that keeps growing despite the lack of a serious Democratic challenger. Thune ended 2009 with more than $6 million in the bank.

"After grueling Senate elections in 2002 and 2004, Sen. Thune has learned not to take any chances and to always be prepared," said Thune campaign manager Justin Brasell. "At $100/ticket this event is as much about generating enthusiasm and volunteer sign ups as it is about raising money. We want our entire Republican ticket to win in South Dakota this cycle from the Senate and Gubernatorial races on down, and this event will be a great way to kick off the election year."

The fundraiser was first reported by the National Journal.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered a humorous speech at the Gridiron Dinner last December.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sarah Palin's political action committee doled out tens of thousands of dollars last year to Republican consulting firms and donations to GOP candidates, according to the PAC's end-of-year filing with the Federal Election Commission.

But Sarah PAC also paid one Democrat $14,000 for what the FEC report terms "Consulting, Communication, Speech."

That Democrat was Eric Schnure, a former speechwriter for Al Gore, who was hired by Palin to craft her humorous speech to the Gridiron Dinner in Washington last December.

Schnure, a speechwriting veteran who recently signed on with the communications consulting firm Dewey Square Group, calls himself a "proud Democrat." But Schnure said he had no problem helping a Republican – even one as polarizing as Palin – with a speech designed to make people laugh.

"I think humor is one of the last bastions of bipartisanship," Schnure told CNN. "She elicits strong opinions on both sides of the aisle, but I think most people in Washington are savvy about these things. And they understand these humor events have a special place."

Still, Schnure said he has received a fair amount of ribbing from fellow Democrats – including his wife – for lending a hand to Palin.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the White House on Tuesday to 'lay off Las Vegas' after President Obama slighted the city during a riff about government spending.

Washington (CNN) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the White House on Tuesday to "lay off Las Vegas" after President Obama slighted the city during a riff about government spending.

"You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage," Obama said at a New Hampshire town hall Tuesday. "You don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices. And it's time your government did the same."

That remark sparked a flurry of condemnations from Nevada Republicans, including Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden, two Republicans hoping to unseat Reid this November.

"It is indefensible for Harry Reid to once again sit on his hands when President Obama continues to bash Las Vegas and Nevada's economic engine," Lowden said in a statement e-mailed out to reporters Tuesday afternoon.

But Reid, it turns out, was already on the case.

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Sue Lowden is up with her first ad of the 2010 capaign.

(CNN) - Sue Lowden, one of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's top Republican challengers, is up with her first ad of the 2010 campaign.

The 30-second spot is all biographical and describes Lowden, a former state senator and onetime television news anchor, as a "conservative" fighting for "lower taxes, less spending."

Lowden's ad - titled "Leading With Integrity" - features no shots at Reid, who trails both Lowden and another Republican frontrunner, Danny Tarkanian, by roughly 10 points, according to recent polling.

"We made the decision based on the fact that many Nevadans haven't yet gotten to know Sue Lowden," said Lowden's campaign manager Robert Uithoven. "Nevada voters already have their mind made up on Reid."

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee heads to a key primary state later this month.

Washington (CNN) – Mike Huckabee, the onetime presidential candidate turned conservative talk show host, will make a political stop in the early primary state of South Carolina later this month.

Huckabee will campaign in Greenville on Feb. 18 for House candidate Rex Rice, who is running to fill the 3rd congressional district seat left open by Rep. Gresham Barrett, a Republican candidate for governor. Rice backed Huckabee's 2008 presidential bid.

Though the campaign stop is in Greenville, the city is actually situated in the 4th congressional district, represented by Rep. Bob Inglis. A Rice spokesman said the location was chosen to accommodate Huckabee, who is flying into Greenville for only a couple of hours.

It's unclear if Huckabee's trip signals an interest in a second run at the White House: his star was tarnished last December by the revelation that as Arkansas governor, he granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons, the man who murdered four police officers in Washington. And Huckabee's political action committee only had $192,000 in the bank at the end of 2009.

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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will make a return trip to Michigan in May.

Washington (CNN) - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will make a return trip to Michigan in May.

Palin will speak to the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan in Benton Harbor on May 13, a spokesman for the group told CNN.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee apparently has a special place in her heart for Michigan: when John McCain's campaign ceded the state to Barack Obama in 2008, Palin pushed back against the decision and pressed to make more visits to the state. She also launched her book tour last year in Grand Rapids.

Former President George W. Bush spoke to the same group in Benton Harbor last May, allowing reporters, but not television cameras, to cover the event. A spokesman for the economic club said plans for press coverage of Palin's speech have not been finalized.

Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) – After the divisive measure gained almost no traction among Republican National Committee members, a "purity test" for GOP candidates was withdrawn Friday before it could be voted on at the party's winter meeting in Hawaii.

Instead, RNC members voted to adopt a watered-down resolution that "urges" party leadership to "carefully screen the record and statements of all candidates who profess to be Republicans" and to determine "that they wholeheartedly support the core principles" of the Republican Party platform.

The new resolution was offered by Bill Crocker, national committeeman from Texas.

The purity resolution – which was first circulated among party members last November and immediately drew criticism from Republicans within the committee and on Capitol Hill – would have required candidates to support at least eight of 10 conservative principles in order to receive financial support from the RNC.

Jim Bopp, the Indiana committeeman and chief sponsor of the purity resolution, insisted that Friday's compromise was not a defeat.

"For the first time in history we are calling upon all Republican leaders to consider the positions of candidates on issues," Bopp told reporters after Friday's general session.

Read the full text of the RNC's resolution after the jump:

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Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) – Michael Steele defended his turbulent tenure as head of the Republican National Committee Thursday, and vented his frustration with reporters in the room who, he claimed, "find me fascinating to write about and to opine on."

Steele specifically challenged a CNN question during a news conference at the RNC's Winter Meeting about whether he thinks members want him to serve a second term as head of the national party.

"Yeah, did you get intel otherwise?" he responded sharply. When it was pointed out that committee members have questioned his leadership, both privately and in the media, Steele bristled.

"They said critical things privately to you?" he said. "I'm sure they have. I look forward to that conversation publicly. My style is not something you get used to very easily, I know that. But at the end of the day, the members of this party charged me to do two things, raise money and win elections. On those two fronts, I think we're doing okay."

Steele later said he was open to running for a second term as chairman in January. "I have no reason not to," he shrugged. "It's in the hands of the members."

Another reporter questioned Steele's claim, made during the news conference, that the RNC began 2010 with more money in the bank than their counterparts at the Democratic National Committee. The RNC entered January with $8.4 million on hand. The DNC ended November with $13.1 million in the bank, but has not yet reported its end of the year fundraising totals.

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Republican state party chairmen decided Wednesday to oppose the 'purity resolution'.

Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) - A key voting bloc within the Republican National Committee on Wednesday rejected the so-called "purity resolution" that would forbid party money from going to moderate GOP candidates.

In a private meeting, the RNC's state chairman's committee voted unanimously to oppose the resolution, which would force GOP candidates to ascribe at least eight of 10 conservative principles, or else be cut off from RNC financial support. It was submitted this week by 10 committee members.

The measure has drawn criticism from Republicans who want to broaden the party's appeal.

The purity resolution is not officially dead. It will still go to the resolutions committee tomorrow, which will decide whether to bring it to a full committee vote Friday at the RNC general session.

But the formal rebuke of the resolution by the state party chairs - a full third of the RNC - does not bode well for its survival.

"State party chairs have the responsibility of working to support the candidates our members nominate in the primaries," said California GOP chairman Ron Nehring, one of the party chairs in the meeting. "Our goal is to support the entire Republican ticket, from our candidates for Congress and governor's offices, all the way down to school boards and fire boards. Our party will back the candidates who win the Republican Party's nomination."

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Two 'purity' resolutions submitted at RNC meeting.

Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) - Conservative members of the Republican National Committee have submitted two different proposals at their Winter Meeting this week that would prevent party money from being given to GOP candidates who are deemed too moderate.

One of the measures – the so-called "purity resolution" that was first circulated in November and drew criticism from Republicans who want to broaden the party's appeal – would deny RNC support to candidates who fail to adhere to at least eight of 10 conservative principles.

A second, less-stringent proposal has also been submitted for consideration at the meeting, which began Wednesday at a beachfront resort in Honolulu.

The "accountability resolution," as its called, would allow RNC Chairman Michael Steele to "take into account the conservative bon fides of a candidate" before deciding whether to offer party support, said Jim Bopp, Jr., the Indiana committeeman and chief sponsor of both resolutions. Unlike the "purity" resolution, it does not include a strict ten-plank platform for candidates to abide by.

The newer measure would also require any Republican who switches parties or endorses a Democrat to return any money provided to them by the RNC.

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