Representative Michele Bachmann is replacing the top two national figures in her presidential campaign, as the latest Rasmussen poll of Iowa Republicans shows the largest lead yet for Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Hope the Bleeding Heartland community has been enjoying the long holiday weekend. The weather couldn’t be more perfect across Iowa. This is an open thread, but I’ve posted a few links that to get the conversation going after the jump.

Count me among the Iowans who didn’t care about former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s speech to yesterday’s tea party rally in Indianola. She doesn’t appear to be running for president this cycle, having laid no groundwork for a successful campaign. She wasn’t likely to have anything new to say about public policy.

I figured Palin would eventually endorse Texas Governor Rick Perry, who seems similar in style and ideology. Some of her sound bites from Indianola made me rethink that assumption.

I wanted to share a piece I wrote for the Boston Globe's Angle on how Rick Perry's role as a major Texas A&M booster may cost him support from Iowa State Cyclones fans if Texas A&M's move to the SEC is successful.

UPDATE from desmoinesdem: I've added an excerpt after the jump.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released another grim monthly report on the nationwide employment situation today.

UPDATE: Added statements from two members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation below.

Iowa Farm Bureau delegates defied the organization’s leadership yesterday, passing a resolution without language requiring compliance with conservation standards as a condition for receiving federal crop insurance.

I’ve seen a lot of hippie-punching by professional Democrats, but the Iowa Democratic Party’s attack on Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement yesterday was a particularly cynical example.  

Salaries for chief executive officers of major U.S. corporations rose sharply in 2010 despite the weak national economy, and various tax-dodging strategies allowed highly profitable companies to pay little or no corporate income taxes. That’s a small taste of the distubring news from the Institute for Policy Studies’ report on Executive Excess: CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette ran a story over the weekend about Christie Vilsack’s Congressional campaign as a potential “ethics quandary” for her husband, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. While possible conflicts of interest exist in this situation, some of the points raised in the article seem unwarranted.  

Texas Governor Rick Perry has quickly become the front-runner in the Republican presidential field, so it’s time to catch up on his campaign in Iowa and around the country.

Samples from the governor’s rhetoric and policy statements are below, along with recent poll numbers and some Texas-sized chutzpah from Perry’s latest Iowa speech.

Democratic Congressional candidate Christie Vilsack rolled out her first specific proposal to create new jobs last week. The plan to expand apprenticeship programs was light on specifics but heavy on conservative catch phrases.  

A year ago, the recall of half a billion eggs laid in Iowa made national news headlines. But if you thought that federal or Iowa government agencies would take meaningful steps to reduce the chance of another salmonella enteritidis outbreak in egg factories, guess again.

Economist Kenneth Rogoff, no liberal, is arguing for a higher inflation target:

What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? Newt Gingrich is probably wondering who’s going to pay for him to fly around the country on private jets. His presidential campaign can’t afford the expense anymore, and his former gravy train 527 group American Solutions went belly up last month.

Representative Steve King is demanding Congressional hearings on what he described as the Obama administration’s new policy of “executive amnesty to illegal aliens.” My only question is, what took him so long?

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin argued yesterday that getting the economy moving again is more important than cutting the federal deficit, adding that President Barack Obama isn’t showing enough leadership on the issue. I share Harkin’s view and hope other Democrats who have bought into the deficit hysteria will get the message.

Catching up on news from last week, Governor Terry Branstad has withdrawn Iowa’s membership in the leading advocacy group for passenger rail connecting the Midwest.  

Former State Representative Geri Huser, one of Iowa’s surprise losers in November 2010, has landed a senior position in state government with the Iowa Finance Authority.

Four Democratic state legislators and the leader of Iowa’s largest public employee union filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging Governor Terry Branstad’s line-item veto of a provision barring Iowa Workforce Development from closing 36 of its 55 field offices around the state.

UPDATE: Further details are at the end of this post.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller kicked his New York counterpart Eric Schneiderman off the executive committee for the 50-state working group on foreclosure fraud yesterday. As leader of the working group created last October, Miller has drawn criticism for negotiating lenient terms for major lenders and not investigating some shady foreclosure practices. His latest move is another sign that Miller leans toward terms favored by banks and their Obama administration allies.