(AP via NewsMax.com) Barbour says he is not yet supporting any presidential candidate: Brownback is the third 2008 Republican presidential candidate to appear in Mississippi in the past several months. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney visited before officially declaring his candidacy. And Sen. John McCain of Arizona was in the state last year.

Gov. Haley Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, appeared at the news conference with Brownback. But Barbour says he is not publicly supporting any presidential candidate yet. Instead, he said he is focusing on his own race for re-election this year. Brownback also touched on issues important to the conservative base of the Republican Party, speaking against same-sex marriage and for restraint in federal spending.

(The Clarion-Ledger, Miss.) GOP hopeful touts family values: Brownback, who has represented Kansas in the Senate since 1996, spoke Monday at the Madison County President’s Day Gala. “If you’re a Republican and you want to get elected to some office somewhere, somehow, you want to come to Madison County,” U.S. Rep Chip Pickering told Brownback while introducing him to the full house of 600 at the Jackson Hilton.

“Family issues are the core for me,” Brownback said. “These are the basic values I grew up with on a farm in eastern Kansas. “How strong can we be as a country if we do away with our family structure?” he asked. “We’ve got to stand for life, that every life is sacred. We’ve got to stand for life in the womb, somebody in Darfur or somebody living in poverty.”

(Cincinnati Enquirer) Another day, another prez candidate here: (Monday) morning, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback became the second contender for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination in four days to campaign in Cincinnati. Brownback’s supporters paid between $500 and $2,100 for a breakfast fundraising event at the Queen City Club downtown. He will be returning to Cincinnati March 3 to speak to about 3,500 participants in the annual Catholic Mens Conference at Music Hall.