Senator Tom Harkin has tried repeatedly to change Senate procedures that obstruct simple majority rule. In January of this year, Senate Democrats failed to coalesce around his reasonable filibuster reform proposals, opting instead for what Harkin called “baby steps” that “don’t get to the heart of the matter.”

Tonight, while the chamber debated a low-profile bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used a simple majority vote to change Senate rules. He was targeting a procedure that amounted to a repeat filibuster rather than the filibuster itself, but he may have set the stage for major rule changes in the future.

Clark Kauffman published a must-read story in today’s Des Moines Register about the advocacy group Disability Rights Iowa firing its longtime executive director, Sylvia Piper. About six weeks ago, Piper published a harsh open letter to Governor Terry Branstad about his administration’s policy on inspecting Iowa nursing homes.

Background and more details are after the jump.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin finally broke the news to her supporters today: she’s not running for president in 2012. I doubt even the most hard-core Palin fans held out much hope that she would jump in the race. She doesn’t poll well in the early-voting states, and she has done nothing all year to build the organization she’d need to boost her support here. Why run for president and lose the nomination when she can collect on her Fox News contract and travel the country making paid speeches?

I’ve posted Palin’s e-mail blast after the jump. All relevant comments are welcome in this thread. Does anyone think there’s still room for a late entry in the Republican presidential field?

Iowa Department of Public Health Medical Director Patricia Quinlisk announced today that an Iowa woman contracted listeriosis by eating cantaloupe from a Colorado farm at the center of a widespread outbreak.

Four of Iowa’s five U.S. House Representatives voted today for a bill to fund the federal government through November 18. The continuing spending resolution passed by 352 votes to 66 (roll call). Representative Steve King (IA-05) again stood with conservative Republicans who support deeper domestic spending cuts.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie just called a press conference to confirm once again that he will not seek the presidency in 2012.

Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass and Governor Terry Branstad’s senior education adviser Linda Fandel rolled out a blueprint for reforming Iowa schools yesterday. The plan didn’t include any big ideas not mentioned by Glass and Fandel a few weeks ago. It also didn’t estimate how much state government and/or school districts would need to spend to make the blueprint a reality.

Restrictions on voting rights adopted in 14 states so far in 2011 “could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012,” according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

The Des Moines Register’s editorial board called out Iowa legislators on Sunday for using schemes to inflate their wages and pensions while minimizing taxes. The editors also pointed out that lawmakers are not held accountable for how they spend money intended to reimburse job-related expenses.

Nearly a year after a nationwide working group of state attorneys general began investigating foreclosure fraud, settlement talks between Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s team and major lenders appear to be virtually irrelevant. California Attorney General Kamala Harris is the latest and most important state official to abandon the working group.

Florida Republicans messed up the holiday season for Iowa GOP activists on Friday.  

Representative Tom Latham is confident that he can win Iowa’s third Congressional district by highlighting the differences between his voting record and Representative Leonard Boswell’s.

Two days ago, State Senator Bill Dix asked Senate Republicans to caucus this morning in Des Moines. He planned to call for a leadership election during that meeting, while current Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley is vacationing out of the country.

Unfortunately for Dix, he didn’t have the votes.  

Democratic delegates in Iowa Senate district 18 nominated former television news anchor Liz Mathis last night for the November 8 special election. No other candidate sought the nomination. Republicans picked businesswoman and Linn County GOP co-chair Cindy Golding in a three-way nominating contest last week.

Both Mathis and Golding indicated yesterday that they will focus on jobs and the economy rather than social issues during the short campaign.

The American Research Group released a new poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers today. It was the first Iowa poll showing former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney ahead since before Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy in August.

The Board of Regents voted unanimously yesterday to hire the next president of Iowa State University: Steven Leath, the University of North Carolina System’s vice president of research.

President Barack Obama has failed to deliver on so many campaign promises that some Democrats wonder why they should bother voting for him in 2012. The best argument for re-electing Obama is the impact a Republican president could have on the justice system.

I just learned that Obama is already letting Republicans select some of his U.S. attorney nominees. In fact, Republicans recommended five of the six new U.S. attorneys the Senate confirmed yesterday.

First-term State Senator Bill Dix e-mailed fellow Iowa Senate Republicans today calling for a caucus and leadership election this Thursday morning in Des Moines. Dix has long been rumored to have his eye on Paul McKinley’s position as Senate minority leader.

John Carlson’s latest column for the Sunday Des Moines Register was provocatively headlined, “How Iowa Democrats sold Christie Vilsack down the ol’ river.” Rarely have I ever agreed with Carlson’s political columns, but he makes a strong case here.

A bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate today appears to have prevented a federal government shutdown after the current fiscal year ends on September 30. Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin both supported the deal.