Future Hopefuls Head To Georgia

With the GOP washout and 2008 drawing to a close, the beginning of the 2012 presidential chatter was inevitable. Of course, it was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who dominated it in the days following the election, with a series of national interviews and a heavily covered trip to the Republican Governor's Association meeting in Miami last week.

But some other potential contenders are hardly wasting time and the Senate runoff in Georgia is shaping up as a showcase for them. Mike Huckabee, who won more delegates in the Republican primaries than anyone besides John McCain, stumped for Senator Saxby Chambliss over the weekend and used the opportunity to talk about his support for the Fair Tax.

Today, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney announced that he will head to the state this Friday and that his Political Action Committee is donating $5,000 to help Chambliss keep his seat. Romney will appear at political rallies and at fundraisers. "This is a critical election whose outcome will be important to maintaining a balance of power in the Senate," Romney said in a statement. "It is critical that Republicans safely retain the ability to filibuster in order to prevent the worst abuses of single party rule."

And not all the action is in Alaska or Georgia. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal will be in the state of Iowa this Saturday to speak at an event for the Iowa Family Policy Center. Iowa, of course, is the traditional kickoff state for the presidential primary season.