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PELLA — Social conservative leader and CEO of Iowa’s The Family Leader Bob Vander Plaats on Monday blasted former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman , a presidential prospect who said he is avoiding campaigning and competing in the Hawkeye state due to his stance on ethanol policies and subsidies. Huntsman told the Associated Press he would skip Iowa because “I don’t believe in subsidies that prop up corn, soybeans and ethanol.” While similar beliefs have been expressed by other candidates such as former Govs.

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s office told Bloomberg on Tuesday that she wouldn’t be giving interviews this week as she was committed to working in her district. Bachmann’s office made the statement, however, while the Sixth District Republican was on a visit to Hawaii to raise money for Republicans and ahead of a weekend trip to Montana to campaign for her friend Rep

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, not only doesn’t think that gays and lesbians should be protected from discrimination, he thinks that companies should not hire them at all. In an interview with Linda Harvey of Mission America, Glenn makes his argument on the basis of alleged health concerns: Glenn: Herman Miller, which is a major employer and corporation in Holland , a furniture company, supported this so-called gay rights ordinance on the claim that it allowed them to attract the best and brightest.

When Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) took first and second, respectively, at Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll, they weren’t the only victors; Iowa’s tea party movement, and particularly social and religious conservatives within the movement, mobilized to bring their voices on issues to the forefront. But pundits find it unlikely similar voices will crop up throughout the nation, the tea party movement’s boost may be short-lived, and mobilization in one contest does not represent a new divide in the Republican between fiscal moderates and social conservatives

Before the Florida Senate’s final passage of a bill that requires parental notification if a minor is seeking an abortion, state Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, defended a provision in the bill that creates tighter restrictions on judicial bypasses to notification. Hays told the legislature the measure is aimed at adults who are “counseling minors to have abortions.” # Hays, the bill’s sponsor, insisted that minors seeking an abortion are not acting alone

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said Thursday the legislative session — scheduled to adjourn April 29 — could continue for “weeks, months” as Republicans and Democrats struggle to agree on budgeting issues.

Latinos for Reform released two ads today with a very different message from many of the ads aimed at Latino voters this political season: Its ads urge Latinos

If Bruce Riedel, chairman of the Obama administration’s Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy review, has a bottom line as to the Pakistani Inter-Services

As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) girds for the March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries -- races that could mark her last stand in the battle for the

Mitt Romney is announcing his long-coming official 2012 presidential bid on a New Hampshire farm today.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick (Pic by MilitaryHealth, via Flickr) Kaiser Health News reports that states all over the country, including Florida, are moving toward Medicaid managed care and are looking “to private health plans for help closing budget gaps.” According to Kaiser : State officials expect the trend to continue in the state-federal program for the poor, according to a survey released today by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Officials in 27 states (of 45 responding) reported that they expect to lean more heavily on managed care in the near future. Ten states, including California, Florida and Texas reported that they have specific plans to expand managed care to new geographic areas or groups of patients, such as the elderly

Senator Michael Bennet today signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Togo West and Vernon Clark, the co-chairmen of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s Fort Hood commission, have been beaten up all morning in the Senate Armed

In a letter released today, the Senate Ethics Committee admonished Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) for actions and statements reflecting unfavorably upon the

Gov. Rick Scott (left) with Florida Senate President-Designate Don Gaetz, R-Destin (Pic via flgov.com) The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports today that an immigration enforcement bill is one of several items Gov. Rick Scott has on his “controversial legislative agenda.” The Sentinel adds that during the 2011 legislative session, “Scott and the House wanted to require companies to use the federal E-Verify program to check employees’ immigration status and require cops to check the legal status of anyone being investigated for a crime.” Scott recently said at RedState Gathering 2011, an event for conservative politicians and organizations, that he “tried to get an bill passed last year.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner appeared on a Sarasota conservative talk show today, echoing previous comments on the dangers of Sharia in the Sunshine State by saying there is a “civilizational jihad” underway across the country and in Florida. Audio after the jump