DNC asks Pentagon for records on GOP 2012 contenders

The 2010 midterms may not be over for another five days, but Democrats are already looking ahead to 2012.

As ABC's Rick Klein first reported, the Democratic National Committee recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Pentagon seeking info on communications between the Army and nine potential GOP challengers to President Obama.

Who made the list? According to an email leaked to ABC, Democrats are seeking info on Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Mitch Daniels and Bobby Jindal. As Klein reports, the request isn't for details on military service -- or lack thereof -- for the individual politicians, but rather for letters and memos related to the politicos and their official positions, which in some cases date back decades.

In Gingrich's case, the DNC is asking for information dating back to 1979, when he was first elected to the House. The request asks for info related to Palin's time as a city council member in Wasilla, Alaska, in the early '90s. The request regarding Pawlenty relates to his service in the late '80s, when he sat on the local planning commission in Eagan, Minnesota.

In Jindal's case, Democrats are asking for details related to his time as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services 14 years ago. Meanwhile, the requests for Daniels and Thune touch on their time as Senate staffers.

In an interview with CNN's Peter Hamby, Huckabee called the DNC's search a sign of desperation but admitted his inclusion was "flattering." "It's better than it was four years ago when I was an asterisk," he said.

Meanwhile, Palin passed on the story to her Twitter followers. "The Pentagon? Really?" she wrote.

(Photo of Huckabee: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)