OTTUMWA, IOWA -- The Donald is out.

News organizations across the nation are reporting that Donald Trump will not run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Trump becomes the second high profile candidate to decline a bid for the Republican nomination.

This weekend Fox News commentator Mike Huckabee announced he would not run.

Trumps announcement came just hours after Iowa Governor Terry Branstad issued a call to Republican Candidates to get their campaigns in order.

Branstad made his statement at his weekly Monday morning press conference.

Gov. Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today invited current and would-be 2012 Republican presidential candidates to participate in the Iowa caucuses, citing a ‘wide-open’ field.

“Iowa is a full-spectrum state, and everyone in Iowa – including and especially evangelicals – wants someone who will articulate a message of job creation and slashing the federal debt,” said Branstad. “I have traveled to all of Iowa’s 99 counties, and the prevailing questions are on the debt and job creation. I want to welcome all current and potential 2012 presidential candidates to campaign here, meet with Iowans and participate in the full caucus process.”

Branstad also offered a rebuttal to a weekend editorial by former New Hampshire Chair Fergus Cullen, who stated, "Iowa Republicans have marginalized themselves to the point where competing in Iowa has become optional."

“Mr. Cullen could not be more wrong about Iowa,” said Branstad. “I think that as candidates campaign here, they will see a vibrant, growing Republican Party of Iowa. It is a wide open race, and we will welcome all candidates who participate here.”

Lt. Gov. Reynolds added that this is something upon which all Iowans can agree.

“Iowa has a long, proud tradition of hosting the first-in-the-nation caucus, and Iowa activists from both parties take the time to question these candidates, and get to know them in-person,” said Reynolds. “This is not a state where you only send mailers, run ads and expect to win. It takes time to visit our communities, but I think most candidates you’ll speak with find it to be a valuable, rewarding opportunity.

Tomorrow KTVO and KTVO CBS 3.2 will have an interview with Wapello County's influential Republican Chairwoman Trudy Caviness about the state of the Republican Race in Iowa.

Newt Gingrich kicks-off Iowa campaing in earnest

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is in Iowa, discussing health care in Dubuque at the first of several stops in the lead-off caucus state.

Gingrich announced his candidacy last week, and he was speaking Monday in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. His Iowa stops followed an event earlier in the day in Washington.

Gingrich also is releasing a Web video that notes his opposition to a key element to the federal health care law signed by President Barack Obama last year. In the video, Gingrich says the law's requirement that all individuals acquire health insurance is unconstitutional.

Gingrich is scheduled to visit Mason City on Tuesday, then will leave Iowa. He'll return Thursday to visit a dozen cities through Saturday.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Georgia businessman and likely presidential candidate Herman Cain says he's the big winner from

Donald Trump's decision not to seek the Republican nomination. Cain told reporters Monday he wasn't surprised by Trump's decision because he never thought the real estate developer would enter the race. He says the announcement means he's the only candidate who can argue that his business background makes him the most qualified of the Republican presidential field. Cain is a former executive of the Godfather's Pizza restaurant chain.

Cain is in the midst of a two-day trip to Iowa, where he met privately Monday with Republican legislators at the Capitol. He later spoke with reporters.

 (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)