Some of Iowa’s “Tea Party” activists have already begun planning for the next election.

Marcia Hora of Ankeny, organizer of a Tea Party event at the state fairgrounds earlier this month, says they want to hear what the potential Republican presidential candidates have to say about individual liberties and the Constitution.

“We’re planning to see them at Tea Parties and 9/12 and Campaign for Liberty group meetings and if they stay away from us, we’re probably going to get that word out that, ‘Why are you avoiding us?'” she says.

Jen Jones of Anamosa has never attended a caucus before, but plans to participate in the 2012 Iowa Caucuses.

“There’s a culmination of many things that have motivated us to get more involved: our borders, the deficit, jobs,” Jones says. 

Jones attended a series of workshops at the state fairgrounds earlier this month, an event staged by up to 32 groups considered to be part of the “Tea Party” coalition. A Tea Party organizer from Texas and others urged the crowd to coalesce behind just one Republican presidential candidate.

Drew Ivers of Webster City — a member of the Republican Party’s state central committee — ran Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign and is now a leader in the “Campaign for Liberty” group.  He wonders whether like-minded, so-called “Tea Party” activists could rally behind just one candidate because there’s no single, official “Tea Party” organization.

“They’re not monolithic at all and I think that’s by design and that’s good,” Ivers says. “I’m not being critical of that.”

The parade of potential 2012 presidential candidates has already begun in Iowa, even before the election.  Newt Gingrich returned this past week to spend two days talking to crowds in three Iowa cities.  Mike Huckabee will be in Iowa this weekend to headline an Iowa Family Policy Center event and Sarah Palin will make a stop in Iowa next weekend as part of her book tour.