All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

What happens when a political party doesn't have one voice speaking for it?

The floor is wide open to everyone: radio talk show hosts, party chairmen, former presidential candidates, former vice presidential nominees, governors, members of Congress, and those who used to be in power but no longer hold office.

Example: former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania.

Yes, the same Rick Santorum who lost his U.S. Senate seat in 2006 with only 41 percent of the vote.

The same Rick Santorum who's a Sarah Palin-esque lightning rod who regularly sent the left into a tizzy with his anti-abortion rights and anti-homosexual views.

Well, this week, he's headed to Iowa - the first in the nation presidential caucus state - to deliver speeches in Des Moines and Dubuque, not because he's running for president in 2012 ("It's three years away. ... I have no plans. ... it's not that I'm not going to plan...") but because, as he told reporters on a conference call today, the Republican Party "needs to have voices out there to try to direct the opposition."

"We're the opposition party and we're not doing a heck of a job in my mind of articulating why we're opposing and, just as importantly, articulating solutions to the problems that confront America and this is an opportunity for me to do that," Santorum said.

Two weeks ago, however, he was a little more forward about his 2012 interest.

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The list of potential 2012 presidential candidates grows longer as former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum heads to Iowa this fall.

Although Santorum says that he has not committed to running, he will be visiting the early caucus state in early October, according to Politico. His political advisor, John Brabender, says Santorum will give a speech at the University of Dubuque as well as attend an anti-abortion luncheon. Additionally, the Des Moines Register reports that Santorum will headline an America's Future Fund Pac fundraiser.

Santorum says his trip to Iowa has little to do with his 2012 hopes. He casts it as an attempt to raise his profile.

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Despite announcing her resignation as Alaskan governor with 18 months to spare, Sarah Palin is still a sought-after asset in the Republican Party.

The Des Moines Register is reporting that Iowan Republicans have extended a hand to Palin to headline the annual Reagan Day Dinner, set for this fall.

Iowa GOP Executive Director Jeff Boeyink told the Register that the party had been pursuing Palin since January and that her resignation has increased the effort to secure her at the fundraising event.

Boeyink's confirmation came after Senator Chuck Grassley told the The Des Moines Register Wednesday that he believes Palin would be a good fundraiser for Iowa.

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On his 93rd day in office, President Obama will commemorate Earth Day with a trip to Iowa. He will tour Trinity Structural Towers, a former Maytag plant in Newtron, Iowa, which now houses a green manufacturing facility that produces towers for wind energy production.

Following the tour, Mr. Obama will deliver remarks discussing components of his energy plan.

Here is the full schedule as released by the White House (all times Eastern):

9:45AM: President Obama departs The White House en route Andrews Air Force Base

10:00AM: President Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Des Moines, IA

12:15PM: President Obama arrives in Des Moines, IA

1:20PM: President Obama tours Trinity Structural Towers Manufacturing Plant

2:00PM: President Obama delivers remarks at Trinity Structural Towers Manufacturing Plant

3:15PM: President Obama departs Des Moines, IA en route Andrews Air Force Base

5:15PM: President Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base

5:30PM: President Obama arrives at The White House

The decision by the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn that state's gay marriage ban is prompting questions about whether or not the battle over gay marriage, long a central focus in the culture war, has reached a tipping point in American culture.

Iowa, as gay marriage backers like to point out, is not a liberal, coastal state like Massachusetts and Connecticut – the two states that already offer legal gay marriage – or California, where the narrow passage of a ballot initiative banning gay marriage last year galvanized the gay rights movement.

It is, instead, a Midwestern state in what is commonly called "the heartland" – an area of America thought to be more reticent to warm to liberal ideas, particularly when it comes to social issues. That's why Richard Socarides, a former adviser on gay rights to President Clinton, argued that the decision "represents the mainstreaming of gay marriage" – it's not just for the "tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving left" anymore.

"As Iowa goes, so goes the nation," he added.

At least that's one argument. It is not, however, the whole story.

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