In a move intended to bring evangelical voters behind a single candidate, Iowa social-conservative leaders on December 20 endorsed former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Rick Santorum for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

"I believe he is ready for a January 3 surprise," Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of the Family Leader - which opposes gay marriage and abortion - said of Santorum. "Hopefully, this gives him a stamp of credibility that some people are waiting for."

Iowa business groups, undeterred by the lack of success this year in getting state lawmakers to lower property taxes, will make the issue a top priority once again in the 2012 legislative session.

The Iowa Chamber Alliance, a nonpartisan coalition representing 16 chambers of commerce and economic-development groups statewide, on November 30 released its 2012 legislative priorities. Property-tax relief topped the list.

"The table is set for a substantive dialogue," said John Stineman, executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance. "All the right people are talking, and they're talking about the right things. We just have to make sure that at the end of the day, they can reach an agreement."

In the nation, Iowa has the second-highest urban commercial property taxes and rural commercial property taxes, according to the National Taxpayers Conference. Its 50-state property-tax study is often cited by Governor Terry Branstad.

Four Republican presidential candidates called Tuesday for phasing out federal energy tax credits, including those for wind energy and ethanol, the corn-based fuel additive.

The calls came despite Iowa being the nation's top producer of corn and (according to the American Wind Energy Association) ranking second in the nation for wind-energy capacity.

"I believe we have to get rid of all tax incentives for all energy," said former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. "I think we have to have a level playing field. ... I don't think we should create a heart attack for any industry, but we should phase them out over a period of time."

Five candidates spoke at the manufacturing forum attended by roughly 550 people, televised nationally by PBS, and hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers - the nation's largest industrial trade association, representing 12,000 manufacturing companies in all 50 states.

Governor Terry Branstad on October 3 unveiled a 10-year plan to transform Iowa's education system that would end promoting third-graders who read poorly, change the pay system for teachers, and require students to pass end-of-course exams to graduate.

"Instead of spending all of our time fighting over the issues of the past, we really want to focus on the things that will ... systemically reform and improve Iowa's education system," said Branstad, who added that earlier debates over ending state-funded preschool and zero-percent allowable growth in school funding will not be revisited.

"This is a plan for the next decade," said Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass, who noted that the plan is intended to be a comprehensive package and should not be viewed as a list of options to be cherry-picked. "This plan ... should be the blueprint for where our resources now and in the future go into education."

But Democrats were skeptical, especially because Branstad and Glass declined to set a price tag for the proposal and don't plan to do so until shortly before the legislature reconvenes in January.