but he says one activist is preventing republicans from getting serious on taxes. grover norquist said the gop proposal is merely a negotiating position. so far i have not seen indication that republicans are willing to agree to this balanced approach. if the committee fails to act, sequestration will go forward. the wall street journal reporting accounting trick mace offer the congressional panel a way forward. the paper says those options include credit savings from ending the war in iraq and by punting tough choices until next year. again, they have one week to get this done. now to 2012 politics. with the iowa caucuses less than seven weeks away, several hopefuls are spread across the state today.