Brownback to campaign in Iowa with brother of late Terri Schiavo

Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback is embarking on a campaign trip with the brother of the late Terri Schiavo, whose fate touched off a political firestorm over government intervention and end-of-life issues.

The Kansas senator is less well-known than leading GOP candidates for president, but he is a favorite of anti-abortion conservatives who influence Iowa's nominating caucuses. Brownback is calling the tour "Pro-Life, Whole-Life."

He is traveling this weekend in Iowa with Bobby Schindler, Schiavo's brother, and Francis Bok, an escaped slave from Sudan.

Schiavo, who was in a permanent vegetative state since 1990, died in 2005 after her feeding tube was removed by court order.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought her husband, Michael Schiavo, to keep him from cutting off artificial feeding so she could die, in a battle that reached beyond the courts to Congress and the White House. Many conservatives, including several lawmakers, backed the Schindlers.

Recently, Brownback has criticized rivals Mitt Romney and Tom Tancredo over abortion, assailing Romney for switching from pro-abortion rights to anti-abortion rights and targeting Tancredo for taking money from donors who also support Planned Parenthood.

"I have been pro-life my whole life," Brownback said. "Those have been consistent messages for me. I think elections are about ideas and choices, and we're laying those out for people."

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Minnesota Republicans have set Feb. 5 for their caucuses next year, joining voters in 17 other states in what is shaping up to be a national presidential primary.

The state GOP's executive committee voted late Tuesday to hold caucuses in which 41 GOP delegates are at stake four weeks earlier than previously, spokesman Mark Drake said. No further approval is needed, and state Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has said he doesn't have a problem with the date.

Minnesota Democrats are poised to move their caucuses up, too. The party's executive committee has already recommended the move, but an official vote won't happen until a party meeting in late September.

"We're a battleground state and we think it's important that Minnesotans _ Democrats and Republicans alike _ have their voices heard early in the process," Drake said. "We didn't want to get left behind."

Iowa kicks off the presidential winnowing process on Jan. 14. Thus far, at least 18 states, including Minnesota, have set Feb. 5 for presidential primaries or caucuses, including California, New York and Illinois.

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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Hillary Rodham Clinton and Newt Gingrich, an erstwhile odd couple on health care issues, reunited briefly Tuesday to promote Alzheimer's research.

They appeared at a Capitol Hill news conference to announce a new study group headed by Gingrich, the Republican former House Speaker, and former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey, now president of the New School.

Clinton, a New York senator, arrived late, walking past others at the podium to stand beside Gingrich. She whispered in his ear, and both laughed.

When she spoke, she joked about "President Kerrey," then teased about Gingrich: "I'm sure he's president of something as well."

Clinton is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination; Gingrich has said he is weighing a bid for the GOP nomination and will make a decision after September.

Speaking after Clinton left, Gingrich predicted there will be four to seven times as much new science on Alzheimer's over the next 25 years.

Gingrich said the coming advances will help the country move from "lab testing to implementation to accelerated conversion of knowledge into new cures and solutions."

He has a connection to Alzheimer's research through his think tank, the Center for Health Transformation, which gets funding from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems, sister company of Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical.

Kerrey, a Nebraskan who ran for presidency in 1992, when Bill Clinton won the nomination, said he can already predict the findings of the study group, which will report to Congress next year.

"The conclusions are going to be somewhere in the category of, `We need to do more,' and, `We need to do it differently,'" Kerrey said.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee suggested on Wednesday that documentary filmmaker Michael Moore adds to the nation's health care woes by not being in better shape.

The former Arkansas governor told reporters in a conference call that he hasn't seen and probably won't see Moore's documentary "Sicko," which calls for an overhaul of the country's health care system.

"Frankly, Michael Moore is an example of why the health care system costs so much in this country. He clearly is one of the reasons that we have a very expensive system. I know that from my own personal experience," said Huckabee, who lost more than 110 pounds and became an avid runner after he was diagnosed with diabetes.

"I know how much more my health care cost when I didn't take care of myself than when I do take care of myself, not only in terms of doctor visits but regular diseases, illnesses, chronic things that come up, monthly prescription bills," Huckabee said.

Moore did not immediately return a message left with his production office Wednesday.

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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Republican presidential hopeful and illegal immigration opponent Tom Tancredo said Wednesday that he "can take some credit" for the current campaign woes of his rival for the nomination, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Tancredo, a Colorado congressman and a longshot candidate, has hammered McCain in Iowa and other states for his support of a failed immigration bill that would have legalized millions of immigrants now in the country.

McCain is struggling to raise money and lags behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in most polls. Last week he fired much of his campaign staff in an attempt to get back on track.

"To the extent that I believe that I have been somewhat successful in moving this issue and getting it to the point where it is now part of the presidential debate, yeah, I guess I can take some credit," Tancredo said at a news conference. "Small, but some."

The best thing about the Senate bill, which failed last month, is that "it means there will never be a President McCain," Tancredo added.

To be sure, Tancredo said, there were other issues that hurt McCain, including his support for President Bush's Iraq war strategy. But McCain's immigration position is "almost like the straw that broke the camel's back," Tancredo said.

Tancredo is trying to keep the immigration issue alive. At his news conference Wednesday, he unveiled an immigration bill that would crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants and limit citizenship to children born to at least one parent who is also a U.S. citizen or lawful resident.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ A lawsuit that accuses the brother of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton of failing to repay a loan from a couple that was pardoned by former President Clinton will not go to trial Thursday.

The trial has been continued until next month, but Tony Rodham's attorney said last week that it will be settled.

The bankruptcy court case asks Rodham to pay $107,000 plus interest to the estate of United Shows of America, owned by the late Edgar Gregory and his wife, Vonna Jo. Rodham contends the money was for consulting services and not a loan.

The couple received pardons in a bank fraud conviction in March 2000, about two years after Rodham became a paid consultant to United Shows, a carnival business.

Rodham has said he mentioned the possible pardons to his brother-in-law, who was then president. However, he said Bill Clinton made the decision to grant clemency to the Gregorys on the merits of their case.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Talhelm in Washington, Martiga Lohn in St. Paul, Minn., and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.