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.  

Two-term State Senator Pat Ward will face at least one Republican primary challenger in the new Iowa Senate district 22, covering Waukee, Clive, Windsor Heights and part of West Des Moines. The lead pastor at a large Waukee church announced his candidacy yesterday.

At the Moving Planet climate change event in Des Moines on Saturday, I heard a few activists talk about organizing against former State Senator Swati Dandekar’s confirmation to the Iowa Utilities Board. The Iowa Senate will consider her nomination during the 2012 legislative session.

I would advise environmentalists not to waste their time on that particular hopeless cause. Senate Democrats may be unhappy that Governor Terry Branstad jeopardized their control of the chamber by nominating Dandekar, but they are not going to block her confirmation.

Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain crushed Texas Governor Rick Perry today in a Florida straw poll. Cain had some momentum in Iowa during the spring, but Representative Michele Bachmann quickly eclipsed him with the tea party crowd, and his top Iowa staffers quit in July. Then Cain finished fifth behind Rick Santorum in the Ames straw poll. Could Cain regain traction with conservative Iowa caucus-goers not satisfied with any of the front-runners? Spin your scenarios here.

This is an open thread. What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers?

The “single greatest roll-back of Clean Air Act protections in history” passed the U.S. House today on a largely party-line 249 to 169 vote (roll call). Iowa’s Leonard Boswell was one of 19 House Democrats to vote with most Republicans in favor of this bill. Details are below.

The U.S. just voted 59 to 36 to table the House version of a continuing resolution funding the federal government through November 18. Senator Tom Harkin voted with all but one Democrat to table the House legislation; Senator Chuck Grassley voted with most of his fellow Republicans against tabling the resolution. Details are below.