U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is a guy some Republicans want to see a run for president. After his bruising 2004 win that knocked Democratic heavyweight Tom Daschle out of a seat, Thune can be forgiven if he takes his 2010 re-election bid with less concern and actually looks ahead at a 2012 presidential bid.

But he might want to watch his words, as he’s received some attention for a line in a CNN profile. Downplaying any presidential aspirations, Thune obliquely referenced the important Iowa caucuses in the selection process, speaking thusly: “I may go across Iowa, but it will be to get somewhere.” That caused Democratic activist Taylor West to tweet that Some of us think Iowa IS somewhere.

Of course, Thune has been in Iowa before, including earlier this year when he spoke at an event set by Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King and again Sept. 1 at an Ag Committee hearing in Sioux City. (He’s pictured at right, beside U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.)

Speaking of the 2012 presidential contest, Republicans with either vague or profound thoughts, however coyly expressed, of running to unseat President Barack Obama are coming through Iowa with repetition. We had Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Saturday in Des Moines, former New York Gov. George Pataki spoke at a Scott County GOP function last night and on Friday and Saturday Texas Congressman Ron Paul will appear in Ames and Des Moines events. Paul, who has a strong Libertarian bent in with his Republicanism, had a small but impassioned band of supporters during the run-up to the January 2008 Iowa caucuses.

The Sarah Palin autobiography recapping her journey from basketball player to Alaska governor to 2008 vice presidential candidate drops next week. Palin kicks off her “Going Rogue: An American Life” book tour in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 18, and she has one Iowa stop slated — right here in Sioux City.

It’s an amazing get for the Barnes & Noble store at Southern Hills Malls, as Palin will be signing her book at 1 p.m. that day. She’ll then head north for another stop up Interstate 29 in Sioux Falls.

Many conservatives in the Republican Party want Palin to plow ahead with a 2012 presidential bid. Palin will undoubtedly get a positive response with her Sioux City stop. Of course, progressives might also want to sneak in the two-letters-swapped nonflattering  book produced by The Nation: “Going Rouge.”

ADDED 3:10 p.m.: How could I forget this piece of context — Palin has been in Sioux City once previously, when in October 2008 she spoke to an overflow crowd at West High School just days before the election.

I’ll never forget the first time I heard a person pitch Steve King for president in 2012. Mere weeks after the 2008 election in which Barack Obama was selected as president, we at The Journal took a look at what names Northwest Iowans might see in the ‘12 race. (Yes, some readers said, too much, too soon.) That involved asking  Republican Party chairpersons in many surrounding counties to list their top three picks for four years off. A county chairwoman was quick to put King’s name on her list.

With GOP people like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney and others taking top mentions in early 2009, I forgot about King as a possible presidential candidate. The speculation was whether this would be the year King ran for governor, which he ultimately did not pursue.

Then last month, when interviewing Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for a profile piece on King, I asked about her perceived interest in the presidency. Before saying she had no intention to pursue the presidency, Bachmann first brought up King’s name as getting mention on Capitol Hill.

And last night, Dave Price of WHO, the Des Moines NBC affiliate, aired an interview with King in which the four-term congressman won’t rule out running for president. And why should he? King is beloved by the conservative base of the Republican Party, which in many states has a big role in pushing candidates toward victories in primaries and caucuses. King loves having a national voice on issues of importance, which doesn’t hurt his profile with the base. (Yeah, sure, he riles up Democrats, that’s a given.)

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who King has noted is essentially his twin, ran for president in 2008. Why shouldn’t Steve King?

When we had the chance to see Sarah Palin in 2008, just a few days before the election, it was as a vice presidential candidate. The next time we see her in Northwest Iowa, it will be with Palin sniffing a presidential bid or fully as a prez candidate for 2012. This afternoon she chose the not-many-working Friday of a three-day weekend as the time to announce she’s resigning as Alaska governor. Of course that just fuels speculation she’ll run for president.

Palin is beloved by many Republican conservatives, although some GOP’ers feel she didn’t do John McCain many favors in the months after her splash into national consciousness at the convention. She sure was well-received in her Sioux City West High School appearance on Oct. 25, 2008.

Now, who’s the new Alaska governor? Surely you’ve heard of Sean Parnell.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford at yesterday’s press conference announcing his affair and trip to Argentina.

It’s been an odd June in national politics. Two Republicans that some saw positively, so much so that they were viewed as having the right stuff for 2012 presidential bids, have revealed having extramarital affairs. It happened with U.S. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, just a few days after he came to speak in Sioux City in a highly touted event, now South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is the latest.

Two days ago, I heard the fill-in host on The Rush Limbaugh Show say he liked Sanford and that the governor needed to come forth with a plausible explanation as to why he’d been incommunicato for the last weekend. The guy opined that the long absence from his family and being out of touch with his staff was part of Sanford’s quirky nature, but if he didn’t provide info on his whereabouts, his chances for any 2012 run would be harmed.

Well, Sanford coming clean yesterday on the affair with an Argentine woman shatters those chances. Unsolicited by me, some months ago I started receiving emails from Sanford’s press office, an indication of his aspirations for national office. Now, we certainly won’t be seeing him competing for the Iowa caucuses.

A South Carolina newspaper this morning has the emails (first obtained in December 2008) of Sanford and his mistress, if you care to read them here.

One more bit: One of the Republicans I follow on Twitter this morning is saying these scandals are a reason the GOP should cease harping on social conservatism. Or, as she wrote it, W/all of our leaders’ moral indiscretions, perhaps NOW would be a good time for the GOP to stop focusing on social policy.

Two weeks after his much-touted swing through Northwest Iowa to speak to Siouxlanders as part of the American Future Fund Conservative Lecture Series, U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has admitted to an extramarital affair last year with a campaign aide. Any plans Ensign had to seek the 2012 presidency are now kaput.

Siouxlanders turned out to hear the thoughts of the senator who describes himself as a fiscal and social conservative. This Ensign affair news (his wife wasn’t with him at the press conference yesterday, but she issued a release) is deeply disappointing to Republicans who thought he could be a new voice for the party.

And people also love to jump all over politicians for their hypocrisy, which is apparently why the comments section to a CNN Ensign piece is closed. When it comes to snark on Ensign, I can’t summarize it better that eastern Iowa columnist/blogger/gadabout Todd Dorman, who wrote that Ensign  figured “what happens in the office of a senator who represents Vegas stays in the office of a senator who represents Vegas.”

Just got done interviewing Tim Albrecht, communications director for American Future Fund, for a preview of the June 1  Sioux City visit by U.S. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada. My chances to interview Ensign apparently have reached an end, but Albrecht obliged to fill in some blanks. He described Ensign as a rising star within conservative Republican ranks, which makes him beloved by AFF and, very likely, Northwest Iowans.

American Future Fund was created as a counterpoint to the MoveOn.org group that gained a foothold into the political world in 2004. Conservatives should be touting free market solutions to offset the answers provided by liberals in MoveOn, Albrecht said.

He said Ensign is conservative on both social and fiscal matters, and has the voting record to prove it.  Albrecht said those who attend the AFF Conservative Lecture Series with Ensign won’t be disappointed: “It will be a very riveting discussion and it will be a fun event for conservatives.”

We in the media don’t let much of a down period between election cycles take place and the 2010 midterm election is beginning to heat up, as you’ve read here. But the presidential race maybe has maybe eight months down time and then 40 months of intrigue, politicking and campaigning. With the Dems  pleased with President Obama (could change, but not likely), the drama will be on which Republicans will seek a bid. We’ll get to see our first possible candidate in a few weeks.

On June 1, U.S. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada will make a three-stop swing through Northwest Iowa. As the only veteranarian in the Senate, he’ll tour Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center, stop for some ice cream in Le Mars (the home of Wells Blue Bunny) and then have his main speaking engagement here in Sioux City at 7 p.m.

Ensign finished in the top four of the National Journal’s 2008 rankings for most conservative senators. He will keynote the American Future Fund lecture series, which seeks to give a platform to up and coming conservative leaders. The Iowa guy working for American Future Fund is Tim Albrecht (former spokesman for Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants and for the 2008 Mitt Romney presidential Iowa campaign), who began the AFF lecture series with an appearance April 22 by former New York Gov. George Pataki in Des Moines. The next one will be former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania on Oct. 1 in Dubuque.

So we’ve got quite an opportunity to see a possible prez candidate this far out. Of course, it’s all part of Iowans having a role in vetting who gets down the road with some buzz in the presidential race.  Whether Ensign, 51, ultimately decides to run, or if his candidacy takes off or fizzles, you can say you got to see him in Sioux City way back when.

Word dropped late this afternoon that Sarah Palin has become a grandmother, so she can have that on her 2012 presidential candidate resume. Palin’s teen daughter Bristol Palin, who created a late summer stir with news of her pregnancy without the benefit of marriage, delivered a baby boy, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. With the Alaska blood running through his veins, Tripp could be the odds-on favorite to win the 2035 Iditarod sled dog race competition. His grandfather, Todd Palin, is a champion snowmobile racer.

Undoubtedly Sarah Palin will be a more stablizing force in Tripp’s life than his other grandmother. Sherry Johnston has her problems with the law for drug charges from 10 days ago. Some see it as lamentable, others laughable, but the media onslaught around the extended Palin family isn’t likely to diminish for the foreseeable future.

I’m working on a Nov. 30 piece on whether there’s a new high point for South Dakota persons impacting national public policy, considering that Tom Daschle has been tapped to be in Barack Obama’s cabinet, S.D. Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin will be chairwoman for the Blue Dog Coalition and with U.S. Sen. John Thune rising to the No.5 position of the GOP caucus in the Senate. In interviewing, I spoke with Lee Breard, executive director of the South Dakota Conservative Action Council, who said he sees  increasing power nationally for Herseth Sandlin. Additionally, Breard also predicts a growing identity for Thune, the guy he’s more aligned with politically.

Breard said Thune will only grow in influence as Republicans look for new leaders after poor electoral outcomes in 2008 and 2006. That will help Thune in a 2010 re-election bid, Breard said, and could gain Thune some traction as a possible presidential candidate. He said a more likely outcome is Thune as a vice presidential pick in 2012.

“I don’t know if (Thune) will be at the top of the ticket, but he will definitely be in the mix,” Breard said. “In presidential politics, the vice presidential candidate comes from the people who didn’t win in the primary. I do think we are leaning towards a Republican governor for 2012. My gut would tell me that that Republican governor is probably going to come from the South.”

Breard said Thune would be a good geographic counterbalance from the Midwest for a southern governor like Bobby Jindal (Louisiana), Charlie Crist (Florida) or Mark Sanford (South Carolina). Notice Breard did not mention Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the party’s vice presidential nominee earlier this year.