Nevada Sen. John Ensign predicted Monday that President Barack Obama will be vulnerable in the next election, but only if “fresh voices and fresh faces” emerge to make the case for core Republican values.

In a one-day visit to Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the presidential nominating process, Ensign made the case that Republicans have gone astray and that’s led to two consecutive electoral disasters.

“Our party got away from its basic principles,” Ensign said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The trip marked his first visit to Iowa, and at times it looked like the presidential campaign swings that are such a part of life in the state. He toured a genetic engineering plant and dropped in on an ice cream parlor in downtown Le Mars, where he spoke briefly to about 40 people, took a few questions and ordered a dish of Bunny Tracks ice cream — vanilla with peanuts, chocolate and peanut butter.

Later Monday he was scheduled to give the latest in a series of lectures sponsored by the American Future Fund, an Iowa-based conservative group.

The senator’s visit has prompted speculation that he’s considering a run for the White House in 2012, but Ensign said he had a different agenda.

“Let me say very clearly, I’m not running for president,” he said. “I’m raising my national profile because I believe we need fresh voices and fresh faces in the Republican Party to attract more people to our party.”