Public Policy Polling reported Tuesday that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is the new favorite among Iowa Republicans.

Perry claimed 22 percent in their latest poll which places him above second-place finisher former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has 19 percent, and close third-place getter Bachmann, who has 18 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who finished second in Ames, garnered 16 percent support.

Holding the bottom of the pack are Atlanta businessman Herman Cain, with 7 percent, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum with 5 percent, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, with 3 percent.

If GOP wildcard Sarah Palin is included in the results, there is only a slight shift in percentage points, but not placement, for the front-runners as Palin grabs 10 percent of the oxygen.

According to PPP, Perry’s Iowa support has been built on tea party voters and those with “very conservative positions on certain issues.”

Only 33 percent of Republican voters in Iowa identify themselves as members of the tea party, but a broad advantage with them is driving Perry’s lead. He gets 32 percent to 22 percent for Bachman, and 19 percent for Paul. Romney is way back in sixth place with those voters at only 6 percent. Romney doesn’t need to win tea party voters to win in Iowa, but he needs to do a whole lot better than that.

With the majority of Republicans who don’t consider themselves tea partiers, Romney actually leads Perry and Bachmann with 30 percent to their 16 percent, but it’s not enough to make up for his poor performance with the far right faction of the party.

Perry’s drawn some attention in the last week for his statements about global warming and evolution and although he’s drawn ridicule from Democrats and Republican elites… our poll suggests he perfectly in line with the GOP base. Only 35 percent of Iowa Republicans believe in evolution to 48 percent who don’t. With the ones who do believe in it Perry’s in fourth place at 12 percent, putting him behind Romney’s 24 percent, Paul’s 18 percent and Bachmann’s 15 percent. But with the evolution deniers, Perry is the overwhelming favorite at 32 percent to Bachmann’s 19 percent, Romney’s 15 percent and Paul’s 13 percent.

The situation, says PPP, is similar with global warming, which only 21 percent of Iowa GOP members believe is factual — 66 percent of Iowa Republicans do not believe in it.

There even continues to be a pretty strong birther strain in Iowa. Forty-eight percent of Republican voters believe Barack Obama was born in the United States but 32 percent still do not. With the ones who think Obama was born in the country, Romney edges Perry 25-22. That’s more than overcome by Perry’s 22-10 lead with the GOP voters who don’t think the President is a legitimate US citizen.

Can you believe in global warming and evolution and still win the Republican Presidential nomination? I’m not sure you can given these numbers.

In conclusion, the pollster notes that the figures show no bounce for Bachmann as a result of Ames. “She was in third place when we polled Iowa in June, and she’s in third place now.”

That being said, PPP does see momentum for Paul, who is up 11 percent since June polling, and Santorum, “who’s seen healthy improvement in his favorability numbers.”

Here’s the net favorability of everyone PPP polled in Iowa ranked from most popular to least popular, compared with where they were on the June poll:

More than 17,000 people had joined the social media effort aimed and removing real estate mogul and 2012 potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as driver of the Indianapolis 500 pace car on the event’s 100th anniversary. Although support was slow at first, recent media reports of the group’s creation by Indianapolis attorney Michael Wallack produced a swell of attention Wednesday.

Speculation early Thursday was that officials with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would be removing Trump as the official pace car driver, but once the news was made official, Trump said he was dumping the event because it could interfere with his other obligations.

A new pace car driver has not yet been announced. Fans are pushing several other celebrities as well as U.S. military personnel as possible replacements. Although a few have mentioned other politicians, there does not appear to be widespread support for anyone associated with politics.

Racing fans took exception to the selection of Trump after the New Yorker began voicing strong criticism of the certificate of live birth produced by President Barack Obama. In addition to the Facebook effort, a few religious-based organization such as an Indiana group of Baptist ministers had come out against Trump’s participation, voicing their opinion that the attacks against Obama’s birth are racially motivated.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Trump spokesman Michael Cohen told the IndyStar. “Donald Trump doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.”

Cohen contends that those who created the Facebook page and other movements against Trump were all Obama supporters.

In fact, in an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday, Bachmann, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012, told George Stephanopoulos that the certificate of live birth issued by Obama presidential campaign more than three years ago “should settle it” and that she “takes the President at his word.”

Upon further follow-up by Stephanopoulos, Bachmann replied that Obama’s place of birth “is not the main issue facing the United States right now” and that the focus should be on the national deficit.

Earlier in the week, however, Bachmann, appearing on Fox News with Jeanine Pirro, seemed to place importance on the ongoing “birtherism” conspiracy, saying that “all [Obama] had to do is just answer some questions.”

“I think the president has neglected to focus on answering that question for people, and that’s why a lot of people still have it lingering in their minds,” she added.

The assertion that Obama had not done enough to alleviate concerns about his place of birth was also a topic Bachmann discussed during another interview this week with Sean Hannity of Fox News.

“This has to be the easiest problem to solve,” Bachmann told Hannity. “All the President has to do is show [his birth certificate].”

A poll released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling found that 48 percent of Iowa Republicans continue to question Obama’s place of birth.

One of those Iowans is state Sen. Kent Sorenson, a key Bachmann 2012 supporter, who filed a bill that hoped to require all presidential candidates to place their birth certificate on file. Bachmann, questioned by Stephanopoulos about the Iowa proposed legislation, seemed to agree with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that such state-level laws were not appropriate, but that she would support a change in federal law.

“There is a federal piece of legislation that hasn’t gone anywhere that would also require that candidates put forward their birth certificate. I have no problem giving my birth certificate, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I’ve got one, it’s authenticated, take it,” Bachmann said.

The ABC News exchange from Wednesday morning is embedded below:

In fact, in an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday, Bachmann, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012, told George Stephanopoulos that the certificate of live birth issued by Obama presidential campaign more than three years ago “should settle it” and that she “takes the President at his word.”

Upon further follow-up by Stephanopoulos, Bachmann replied that Obama’s place of birth “is not the main issue facing the United States right now” and that the focus should be on the national deficit.

Earlier in the week, however, Bachmann, appearing on Fox News with Jeanine Pirro, seemed to place importance on the ongoing “birtherism” conspiracy, saying that “all [Obama] had to do is just answer some questions.”

“I think the president has neglected to focus on answering that question for people, and that’s why a lot of people still have it lingering in their minds,” she added.

The assertion that Obama had not done enough to alleviate concerns about his place of birth was also a topic Bachmann discussed during another interview this week with Sean Hannity of Fox News.

“This has to be the easiest problem to solve,” Bachmann told Hannity. “All the President has to do is show [his birth certificate].”

A poll released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling found that 48 percent of Iowa Republicans continue to question Obama’s place of birth.

One of those Iowans is state Sen. Kent Sorenson, a key Bachmann 2012 supporter, who filed a bill that hoped to require all presidential candidates to place their birth certificate on file. Bachmann, questioned by Stephanopoulos about the Iowa proposed legislation, seemed to agree with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that such state-level laws were not appropriate, but that she would support a change in federal law.

“There is a federal piece of legislation that hasn’t gone anywhere that would also require that candidates put forward their birth certificate. I have no problem giving my birth certificate, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I’ve got one, it’s authenticated, take it,” Bachmann said.

The ABC News exchange from Wednesday morning is embedded below:

The interviewer says Trump’s public discussion of Birtherism’s tenets have “brought a lot of viability and a lot of credibility” to the Birther movement, and asks him why it has helped him rise in 2012 GOP presidential polls. After reciting many of the standard Birther claims, Trump agreed that “it’s been amazing how it’s resonated.” #

“He either has a birth certificate or there’s something on the birth certificate or there is no birth certificate,” Trump concludes. #

The clip: #

The U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution is scheduled to hold a hearing Friday titled “Defending Marriage,” called by subcommittee chairman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who has recently called for the impeachment of President Barack Obama because of his decision to order his administration to no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Neither the witness list nor the intent of the hearing has been made public. A representative of the Subcommittee on the Constitution told The American Independent to expect release of probably three witness names and written testimony by 10 a.m. Thursday morning via the committee’s website. (Update: The list is now posted on the Judiciary Committee’s website.)

People For the American Way Senior Fellow Peter Montgomery predicts Franks’ hearing will be a parade of “extremists.”

Montgomery told TAI during a phone interview that Rep. Franks is “at the far-right fringe of the far right.” Montgomery also assumed the only purpose of the Franks Defending Marriage hearing would be “To promote that far-right agenda and provide them propaganda against the administration from here until 2012.”

Franks is the founder of an official Focus on the Family affiliate called the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP). Formerly known as the Arizona Family Research Institute, the CAP was instrumental in the passage of Arizona’s Prop 102 adding an amendment to Arizona’s constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Montgomery would not speculate on who would be called as witnesses. But according to a recent article in The Washington Blade, Maggie Gallagher, chair of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) said that she would appreciate the chance to speak at a hearing on DOMA. (Update: Gallagher is scheduled to appear at the hearing.) Gallagher has testified on marriage laws before the Subcommittee on the Constitution previously and recently before the New Hampshire and Maryland legislatures. The Maryland legislature unexpectedly shelved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage last month that was believed to have broad support.

Montgomery told TAI he experienced Franks’ views first hand at the Take Back America conference in St. Louis in 2009. In a speech at the event, Franks called President Obama, “An enemy of humanity.” During the conference, Franks also staked claim on his belief in the “birther” conspiracy.

“This is the kind of ranting you would expect to hear from a talk show host, not a subcommittee chair,” Montgomery said of Franks’ statements.

But the statements made at the 2009 conference are just a sample of Franks’ far right positions.

Franks, along with other representatives, claimed a Muslim civil rights group was using congressional interns to spy on Congress. Franks also aligned himself with a movement that believes abortion policy is committing genocide against African Americans going so far as to introduce legislation barring so-called “race-based” abortion — a bill that led the chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation to praise Franks for being “a trailblazer.”

Franks’ co-sponsor of that bill was fellow Judiciary subcommittee member, Vice-Chair Mike Pence (R-Ind.). Pence has been in the national spotlight since introducing the eponymous Pence Amendment aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood –- an issue that nearly caused a government shutdown last week.

TAI recently reported on Pence’s connection to Focus on the Family affiliate — the Indiana Family Institute — that led the successful effort to pass an anti-gay marriage amendment in the Indiana Senate last month.

A call for comment to Representative Franks’ office was not returned.

Rumors have existed since the before the 2008 general election that Obama was foreign-born and, subsequently, would not be eligible to serve as President. Although the Obama campaign released a copy of his birth certificate, such rumors, fueled by a string of dismissed lawsuits, have persisted. Followers of the theory — known as birthers — have moderately few conscripts in the Midwest, yet just last fall copies of a bogus birth certificate were taped to store fronts in Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia neighborhood.

Trump barreled into the controversy last week during an appearance on ABC’s The View.

During a telephone interview with “Fox & Friends” Monday morning, Trump once again implied that Obama had not released his actual birth certificate.

“Why can’t he produce a birth certificate?” asked Trump.

Video from the Monday morning exchange is reproduced below:

From the report:

Birthers make a majority among those voters who say they’re likely to participate in a Republican primary next year. 51% say they don’t think Barack Obama was born in the United States to just 28% who firmly believe that he was and 21% who are unsure. The GOP birther majority is a new development. The last time PPP tested this question nationally, in August of 2009, only 44% of Republicans said they thought Obama was born outside the country while 36% said that he definitely was born in the United States. If anything birtherism is on the rise.

…

There is really a remarkable divide in how the birther and non-birther wings of the GOP view Sarah Palin. With the birthers she is a beloved figure, scoring an 83/12 favorability rating. Non-birthers are almost evenly divided on her with 47% rating her positively and 40% unfavorably.

This is yet another poll where we find Palin with the highest favorability among Republican primary voters but still lagging in the horse race. 65% have a positive opinion of her compared to 58% for Huckabee and 55% for Romney and Gingrich. Her problem is that even though they like her, few GOP voters think Palin’s qualified to be President. Asked whether she’s more qualified to be President or Vice President, only 29% of voters place her in the top spot compared to 46% who say she’d be a more appropriate number 2.

It now appears that Root and his allies, not his critics, are gaining ground within the party. This week it was announced that Root has been elected Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee (LNCC), the organization charged with electing Libertarian candidates to federal office.

“I’d like to see whose message truly resonates with citizens and taxpayers across the country,” Root said in a statement announcing his new position.

In addition to a Republican-style foreign policy, Root has also recently dabbled in birtherism — in May, he visited planned to travel to New York to participate in a birther-organized “CIA/Columbia/Obama Treason and Sedition Trial,” before pulling out at the last minute. The “trial” centered on the charge that the president “was a C.I.A. operative who used Columbia University as a cover to go to Pakistan in 1981 when the C.I.A. and the Mujahideen worked together against the Soviet invasion. Obama supplied arms, logistics and money using his Muslim background.”

Editor’s note: This post was corrected to reflect Root’s last-minute decision not to attend the event in New York. See here for further explanation.

Commenter knappster adds: “Actually, Root kicked out of a live ‘Obama Trial’ appearance at the last minute after receiving strongly negative feedback from within the Libertarian Party on the subject, although I’ve heard that he may have ‘testified’ via Internet video.” TWI has not verified this.

• A piece on the influence of Ayn Rand in the conservative movement. (3/6/09)
• A look at the GOP’s much-heralded, but mind-boggling, charts. (3/26/09)
• Photos from the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. (4/6/09)
• The inside scoop on a civil war in the right-wing blogosphere. (4/21/09)
• A piece on the damage done to Tom Tancredo by his racist, karate-chopping confidant. (6/2/09)
• A conversation with Jim DeMint, where the senator compared America to pre-World War II Germany. (7/9/09)
• A prescient account of the dilemmas the “birther” movement threatened to cause the GOP. (7/17/09)
• An early look at the problems birthers were causing moderate Republicans at town hall meetings. (7/20/09)
• A glimpse of Saul Alinsky’s surprising new fan base. (8/11/09)
• An exclusive look at a propaganda-filled health care “survey” from the RNC. (8/27/09)
• A report from inside the How to Take Back America Conference, where fear of fascism and a “gay agenda” dominated. (9/28/09)
• Ahead-of-the-curve coverage of the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, where a Tea Party candidate split the GOP vote and led to a Democratic victory. (11/19/09)
• A spotlight on conservative attacks on Mike Huckabee for granting clemency to a future suspect in the shooting of four police officers. (11/30/09)
• A look at the strange campaign of the antiwar Republican Adam Kokesh to unseat John McCain. (12/18/09)
• A series of conversations with key Republicans who expressed their unwillingness to embrace party-switcher Parker Griffith. (12/22/09)
• A preview of Tucker Carlson’s journalism venture, The Daily Caller. (1/17/10)
• An investigation of the “perfect storm” that led to Scott Brown’s Senate win. (1/20/10)
• A heated conversation between Andrew Breitbart and Joseph Farah over the value of “birtherism.” (2/6/10)
• An account of growing pessimism among Tea Partiers that the passage of health care reform could be prevented. (3/17/10)
• After reports of the RNC’s lavish spending, a look at past conservative donor frustration with RNC habits that made the latest incident the “nail in the coffin.” (4/2/10)
• And, finally, a heartfelt farewell. We miss you too, Dave.