Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour can count on backing from fellow Republican governor John Kasich of Ohio in his 2012 presidential campaign. Kasich’s support is a tangible benefit of the Mississippi governor’s leadership of the Republican Governors Assn. Under Barbour, the RGA spent $50 million last year in 10 states it described as keys to the 2012 presidential election, flipping control from Democrat to Republican in seven, including Ohio. "I will be for Haley if he runs because he's been so helpful to me," Kasich said in an interview at his Capitol office in Columbus.

The 2012 presidential proto-campaign makes another stop this weekend in Iowa, where a smattering of GOP hopefuls will rally conservative activists in an early bid to woo voters in advance of next year's caucuses. The Conservative Principles Conference in Des Moines will feature Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, all of whom have expressed interest in running for the GOP nomination. (Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania was scheduled to appear but canceled Friday, saying he had a family medical emergency to attend to.)

President Obama was safely back in Washington after his slightly shortened trip to Latin America, preparing on Thursday to deal with questions about his policy on Libya, which is under attack from several, sometimes contradictory angles. It was Sarah Palin, freshly back from his her own globe-trotting, who captured the mood of one stream of the Republican opposition to Obama’s military intervention in Libya. “I would like to see, of course, as long as we're in it -- we better be in it to win it,” Palin, a Fox News contributor, told Fox host Greta Van Susteren.

As he ponders a run for president, Haley Barbour would not seem a natural fit for the anti-establishment political mood now brewing: The governor of Mississippi is a longtime inside-the-Beltway operator who lobbied for the tobacco industry and other powerful interests. But Barbour wields a key asset that makes him a potential heavyweight in a crowded GOP field: fundraising prowess born of decades as a Republican power player. Presiding over his party's national committee and then its governors association, Barbour raked in donations with a ferocity that delighted Republicans, boggled Democrats and alarmed campaign finance watchdogs.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's assertion that he did not personally work for the government of Mexico when his lobbying firm represented the country a decade ago is contradicted by the firm's own federal filings, which describe him as a leader of the team assigned to the account. During an appearance Saturday at the California Republican Convention in Sacramento, Barbour denied a reporter's statement that he once "lobbied for the government of Mexico on the issue of amnesty and a path to citizenship.

A top New Hampshire Republican strategist has signed on to Haley Barbour's nascent presidential campaign, a potential boost to the Mississippi governor's efforts in a key primary state. Mike Dennehy, who was John McCain's New Hampshire campaign manager in 2000 and his national political director in 2008, will advise Barbour's efforts in the Granite State during his "testing the waters" phase. "If Haley Barbour runs for President he'll be a formidable candidate as a two-term Governor from Mississippi dealing with national crises like Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill and not being afraid to tackle the tough issues while balancing his state budget by cutting spending, creating efficiencies and holding the line on taxes," Dennehy said in an e-mailed statement.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a prospective GOP presidential candidate, used a speech to Chicago business executives Monday to excoriate President Obama's economic and energy policies, but stopped short of criticizing the Democratic incumbent's cautious approach to Libya. Speaking to the political action committee of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Barbour contended that the American public has told the White House that "bigger government means a smaller economy. " Barbour said control of federal spending cannot be possible without changes in major entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

As a two-term governor, he shepherded his state through one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. As a lobbyist, he mastered Washington's inside power game. As a GOP strategist, he orchestrated era-defining national victories for the Republican Party. But as Haley Barbour positions himself for a potential presidential run, he is having a hard time shaking the ghosts of his native Mississippi. Twice in recent months, Barbour, 63, has sparked criticism and national debate after addressing issues at the heart of his state's troubled racial past.

Though the U.S. presidential primaries are still a year from now, a different sort of contest is underway in Israel. Beginning Saturday, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will be the third potential GOP presidential candidate to visit the Jewish state since the first of the year, and the second during the protests in neighboring Egypt. Barbour will arrive on the heels of Mike Huckabee, who spent much of the week touring the country, and Mitt Romney, who swung through in January. And like Romney and Huckabee, Barbour is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tour some holy sites.

While the presidential campaign hasn't officially started, Mitt Romney leads the pack in pre-campaign fundraising by a handful of potential Republican presidential contenders, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. The former governor of Massachusetts and millionaire founder of Bain Capital raised more than $5.5 million in 2010 through Free and Strong America, his federal political action committee. The PAC closed out the year with nearly $800,000 in cash on hand.