Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney

(CNN)–Mitt Romney added another straw poll victory to his resume Thursday.

Illinois state Republican party chairman, Andy McKenna, said Romney won the Illinois Straw poll at the Illinois State Fair. "Congratulations to Mitt Romney, whose strong showing today indicates he has begun to put together a strong statewide organization," McKenna said. "There's no question that Illinois' demographics closely match those of the United States and this could be an indication as to whom Illinois voters are leaning toward this coming February."

Romney secured an overwhelming victory with 40.35 percent of the vote. Former Senator Fred Thompson, who is expected to formally enter the race for the GOP nomination next month, came in second with 19.96 percent of the vote.

The Illinois Republican party sponsored the straw poll during its Republican Day festivities at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.

To be included, participate candidates were required to have participated in one of the previously held debates with other Republican candidates, or have polled above 5 percent in a national, independent poll.

Final results of Thursday's Illinois straw poll:

1. Mitt Romney – 40.35%

2. Fred Thompson – 19.96%

3. Ron Paul – 18.87%

4. Rudy Giuliani – 11.61%

5. John McCain – 4.12%

6. Mike Huckabee – 3.04%

7. Sam Brownback – 1.08%

8. Duncan Hunter – .65%

9. Tom Tancredo – .33%

–CNN Political Desk Editor Jamie Crawford

Related: Romney wins early vote

Biden said his son will be deployed to Iraq.

(CNN) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told a crowd at the Iowa State Fair Thursday that his son will be deployed to Iraq.

Beau Biden, Delaware’s attorney general, is a captain in the Army National Guard. His unit has been notified that it should be prepared to deploy in 2008.

“He’ll go…I don’t want him going,” the Delaware senator told the crowd. “But I don’t want my grandsons or granddaughters going back in 15 years. So how we leave makes a big difference.”

The Delaware senator’s son was in attendance as Biden addressed the crowd in Des Moines.

Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Duncan Hunter also have sons who have either served or have been called for duty in Iraq.

UPDATE: The Biden campaign tells CNN his son’s unit was placed on the activated list 2-3 weeks ago. There is no firm date for him to report yet.

UPDATE II: Delaware National Guard's Col. Len Gratteri confirms to CNN that Sen. Joe Biden's son, military lawyer Beau Biden, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in the early months of 2008.

Captain Biden is a Judge Advocate General in the 261st signal brigade of the Delaware National Guard.

Col. Gratteri was unsure of what kind of mission Biden would be doing, but said that his unit is preparing to deploy to Iraq.

– CNN's Mark Norman and Katy Byron

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House has released this May 2006 photo of Jenna Bush and her fiancé, Henry Hager.

The two became engaged Wednesday night, the White House announced Thursday.

Richardson campaigned in Iowa Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson blasted the Bush administration’s economic policies at a campaign event Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"Frankly, the President is acting like a spoiled teenager who crashes the family car and then hopes no one will notice. Well, Mr. President, we have noticed,” said the New Mexico governor. “My friends, it's time we take our future back.”

He added that the Bush tax cuts “have cost $1.1 trillion dollars, and resulted in the worst record of job creation since Herbert Hoover. In the 1980s, President Reagan liked to talk about the ‘welfare queen’ who bilked the government out of $8,000 dollars. Well, we've got welfare queens today — they're called Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil."

Richardson also outlined his own economic and education proposals, including his support of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, his “Apollo program” for renewable energy, bolstering math and science education, and various tax credits.

– From CNN Contributor Ebonne Ruffins

Edwards is currently on a bus tour of Iowa.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards does not take campaign contributions from federal lobbyists and now he’s trying to convince the rest of the Democratic Party to live by his example.

Edwards sent his rival Illinois Sen. Barack Obama a letter on Thursday that asked Obama to join Edwards in asking the three major national Democratic Party campaign committees and every Democrat running for federal office to stop taking money from federal lobbyists.

“With more than 60 lobbyists for every member of Congress, the voices of regular Americans are being drowned out in Washington,” Edwards said in the letter.

“What we’re suggesting is there’s a pernicious connection between money and argument,” said Jonathan Prince, Edwards’ deputy campaign manager, in conference call with reporters Thursday. “When you’re giving money to the people you’re trying to convince, that’s going to change the dialogue,” Prince added.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton quickly responded, saying in a statement that it is not enough to refuse lobbyist money. Instead, “we have to curb their influence,” he said.

Pointing to Obama’s efforts to pass ethics legislation in the U.S. Senate, Burton also said that Sen. Obama “had done more to curb lobbyists’ influence than anyone else in this race.” Burton did not say whether Obama would join Edwards in asking the Democratic Party to turn down campaign contributions from federal lobbyists.

Related: Clinton slammed for taking $400K from lobbyists

– CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Listen to the latest Race to '08 podcast.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider and CNN's John Lisk look at the latest poll on how voters feel about the war in Iraq and a report due out in September, in the latest Race to '08 podcast.

Jenna Bush and Henry Hager in 2005.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President and Laura Bush's daughter, Jenna, is engaged to be married, the White House announced Thursday.

Jenna Bush, 25, is marrying Henry Hager, 28, a former White House aide who used to work with Karl Rove, and is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Business, according to the Associated Press. Henry Hager’s father, John, is the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, and the former lieutenant governor of Virginia.

The two met during the 2004 presidential campaign, but were not first spotted together until the president's inauguration in 2005, according to Style Magazine.

The first lady's office tells CNN the proposal occurred last night. The two are currently vacationing together in Maine.

No word if Hager asked the president for permission before the proposal.

No wedding date has been set.

Gen. Petraeus will report to Congress in September.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A majority of Americans don't trust the upcoming report by the Army's top commander in Iraq on the progress of the war and even if they did, it wouldn't change their mind, according to a new poll.

President Bush has frequently asked Congress — and the American people — to withhold judgment on his troop surge into Iraq until Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker issue their progress report in September.

But according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Thursday, 53 percent of people polled said they don't trust the military assessment of the situation without trying to make it sound better than it actually is. 43 percent said they do trust the general's report. (Read full poll results [PDF])

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said he doesn't think the mistrust is directed at Petreaus as much as it is what he represents.

"It does seem to indicate that anyone associated with the Bush administration may be a less than credible messenger for the message that there is progress being made in Iraq," Holland said. Read the rest of this entry »

Clinton said she feels 'lucky' to give Rove 'heartburn.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Senior White House aide Karl Rove has stepped up his attacks against Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and the New York Democrat said she couldn't be happier.

“I feel so lucky that I am now giving them such heartburn,” Clinton said Wednesday while campaigning in Iowa.

Clinton was referring to Rove's recent assertion on Rush Limbaugh's radio show that the New York senator was "fatally flawed," and would lose a general election match up because her negative favorability ratings are too high.

"She is going into the general election, depending on what poll you look at, with high 40s on the negative side and just below that on the positive side. There is nobody who has ever won the presidency who has started out in that position," said Rove, who is often referred to as "Bush's brain".

Clinton's campaign spokesman Phil Singer quickly took the opportunity to link Rove — one of the left's most despised figures — with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

"It sounds like Karl Rove is writing Sen. Obama's talking points," Singer told CNN.

Obama has repeatedly made the argument he can unite the country better the Clinton can. He told the Washington Post Tuesday, "I think it is fair to say that I believe I can bring the country together more effectively than [Clinton] can."

UPDATE: Responding to the Clinton campaign's comments, Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells CNN, "I just don’t think voters are looking for four more years of scorched earth politics from their White House."

 TIME.com: Rove's final retreat

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani fired another shot Thursday in his border battle with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Giuliani launched two new radio ads in South Carolina, a key early primary states in the 2008 presidential race. In an ad called “Fence,” Giuliani reflects on his difficulty in getting criminals who were illegal immigrants deported by the federal government. (Related: Watch Bill Schneider report on Giuliani v. Romney on immigration)

“It frustrates me that if someone comes here illegally, in addition to everything else that’s involved in that, if they commit a crime, we don’t throw them out of the country,” he said in the spot.

Giuliani adds, “People that come in illegally we gotta stop. You stop illegal immigration by building a fence, a physical fence and then a technological fence. You then hire enough Border Patrol so they can respond in a timely way.” The ad ends with Giuliani saying that fluency in English ought to be a requirement of becoming a U.S. citizen.

The second new radio ad, called “Out of Control,” focuses on how Giuliani’s record on crime, welfare, and spending as New York mayor.

– CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Watch the latest edition of Raw Politics.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – In the latest edition of Raw Politics, CNN's Tom Foreman reports on politicians piling up in the Hawkeye State and new polls and George Bush's reading contest.

McCain campaigned in Iowa Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday that the issue of illegal immigration angered people unlike no other, including the unpopular war in Iraq, and sparked unprecedented death threats against him.

"It is unbelievable how this has inflamed the passions of the American people," the Arizona senator said in remarks at The Aspen Institute, a public policy forum. In an interview, he declined to elaborate on the threats he had received.

Still, McCain said, he continued to support a temporary worker program for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Derided by critics as amnesty, the program was one of the most controversial elements of the failed immigration bill supported by President Bush and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate.

McCain acknowledged that the immigration issue, along with his support for the war in Iraq, had cost him politically. (Watch McCain try to discuss Iraq while competing with the Iowa State Fair)

"Look, I've got to do what I know is right for this country. These issues I have to take head-on," he said.

McCain said the United States is making progress in Iraq, and he recommended that the U.S. take a hard line against Iran. He said an alternative is needed to the United Nations, where Iran's supporters have blocked sanctions, and that the U.S. should set up another coalition with democratic nations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Watch CNN's Jeanne Moos report on the upset YouTube snowman.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — CNN's Jeanne Moos spotlights the TV snowman who's taking aim at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Rove sharply criticized Clinton Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – He may plan to take a break from presidential politics, but soon-to-be ex-White House aide Karl Rove isn't holding back when it comes to his critique of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

On conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh's show Wednesday, Rove predicted the New York Democrat would win her party's nomination but said she was "fatally flawed" and would ultimately lose the race for the White House.

"There is no frontrunner who has entered the primary season with negatives as high as she has in the history of modern polling," said Rove, who announced Tuesday he was resigning his White House post. (Listen to Rove's comments on Bush, Clinton)

"She is going into the general election, depending on what poll you look at, with high forties on the negative side and just below that on the positive side. There is nobody who has ever won the presidency who has started out in that position," the man also known as "Bush's brain" added. (Related: Clinton happy to give Rove 'heartburn')

Rove also fired back at Clinton's recent campaign ad in which the former First Lady states, "If you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, you are invisible to this president."

"I am a little surprised she jumped out there and made such an accusation when she has a record so spotty and poor on health care issues," he said.

Phil Singer, a Clinton spokesman, brushed aside Rove's critique of her favorability numbers, saying, "It sounds like Karl Rove is writing Sen. Obama's talking points."

"The reality is that as the campaign now gets under way, Sen. Clinton's ratings are improving because Americans are seeing that she has the strength and experience to deliver change," he added.

TIME.com: Rove's final retreat 

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Thompson will visit Iowa on Friday.

(CNN) – Likely Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson says September 5th is “in the neighborhood” for the announcement of his official bid, and says he doesn’t believe he’s too late to the dance.

Thompson told a Nashville radio station Wednesday, “I can't give you a particular date, but sounds like you're in the neighborhood." On “The Steve Gill show on WLAC Radio, Thompson said, “I'm taking the time that I've got allotted to me to get my team together, to get my act together.’

Despite the potential for the primary race being almost over before it starts, with South Carolina’s GOP pushing its primary date forward, Thompson said September is not too late to enter the field.

“People who write about those sorts of things love it and promote it, and say that’s the new rule," he told the show, “It gives us something to sell newspapers about, so that’s been the deal. I just don’t buy into it. I’m the one taking the chance, if it’s a chance.”

Thompson, who makes his first trip to Iowa Friday, said, “Here you are earlier than a normal candidacy's declared with all the means of communications we have these days – the internet to the earned media to all the cable networks — to get your message out. And still people say it’s got to be earlier instead of later.”

The former Tennessee Senator said he will bring his wife, Jeri, and children with him on the visit to the Iowa state fairgrounds in Des Moines.

–CNN's Steve Brusk

Listen to the entire interview provided courtesy of "The Steve Gill Show"/Newsradio 1510 WLAC

Bush announces Rumsfeld's resignation November 8, 2006, the day after the midterm elections.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – CNN Pentagon Producer Mike Mount has obtained a copy of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation letter. (View letter [PDF])

The letter is actually dated November 6, 2006 — the day before the midterm elections — even though the resignation was not announced until November 8.

President Bush has previously acknowledged the decision for Rumseld to leave was made before the midterm elections.

"The reason why [Rumsfeld didn't resign before Tuesday] is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign," Bush said the day of the resignation announcement.

The word "Iraq" does not appear anywhere in the letter.

Compiled by Stephen Bach, CNN Washington Bureau

Making news today…

* Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "resigned as secretary of defense one day before last fall's elections, although President Bush did not announce the move until the day after the elections." (Washington Post)

Rumsfeld's resignation letter (pdf)

* Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) "will not seek re-election in 2008, potentially setting up a nationally watched contest between former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, a Republican, and Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, a Democrat." (Columbus Dispatch)

Pryce is expected to make the announcement at an 11 am ET press conference in Columbus, OH. (Release)

* PROGRAMMING NOTE: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appears tonight on CNN'S Larry King Live at 9 pm ET.

* "John Edwards' presidential campaign in Nevada took a beating Wednesday with news that it was moving a few staffers to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina." (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

* "I hope by September he'll say, 'Hmm, my time has come and gone. This other guy has already got a couple of laps on the track on me'" – Mike Huckabee, on yet-to-announce Fred Thompson.

Huckabee says "his Iowa showing proves he can rally so-called values voters as well or better than Thompson." (Bloomberg)

* "She was not, in short, the average visitor standing in line for pork on a stick." – Washington Post, on Hillary Clinton at the Iowa State Fair.

* And, as the New York Daily News reports, "the battle for votes may be fought on daytime talk shows. Well, sort of."

Which show scored a big interview with Barack Obama to counter Ellen's Hillary get? Find out in Hot Topics below!

President's Schedule:

* The president is in Crawford, TX, with no public events.

Also on the Political Radar:

* The Illinois GOP Straw Poll is held at the IL State Fair in Springfield.

* Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) holds meet and greets at 7:45 am ET in Greenville, SC, and at 10 am ET in Spartanburg, SC.

* Mitt Romney speaks to the Greer (SC) Chamber of Commerce at 9 am ET. He later stops by the West Virginia State Fair at 12 pm ET in Fairlea, WV, then heads to the Granite State for an "Ask Mitt Anything" event at 6 pm ET in Londonderry.

* Rudy Giuliani holds a 9:15 am ET town hall in Derry, NH, then meets with residents in Pelham (12:30 am ET), Hudson (1:30 pm ET), and Nashua (2:30 pm ET).

* Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) hosts a 10:15 am ET foreign policy discussion at Kirn Junior High in Council Bluffs, IA. At 2 pm ET, Obama and his family attend a potluck at the Cass County Fairgrounds Show Barn in Atlantic, IA. Finally, he attends the IA State Fair in Des Moines at 5 pm ET.

* White House Press Secretary Tony Snow gives an 11 am ET address to the Hudson Institute at the Union League Club in New York City.

* Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) visits a veterans home at 11:15 am ET in Marshalltown, IA, then gives a major policy address on education at 3 pm ET at Des Moines Area Community College.

* John Edwards continues his "Fighting for One America" Iowa bus tour with an 11:15 am ET community meeting in Grundy Center, a 1:30 pm ET town hall in Ames, a 4 pm ET visit to the IA State Fair, a 6 pm ET community meeting in Oskaloosa, and another community meeting at 8 pm ET in Ottumwa, IA.

* Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is on LKL at 9 pm ET, but he also appears on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central, 11 pm ET.

=================================================================
Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)

WILL PETRAEUS AND CROCKER APPEAR PUBLICLY ON THE HILL? Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration's progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense. White House officials did not deny making the proposal in informal talks with Congress, but they said yesterday that they will not shield the commanding general in Iraq and the senior U.S. diplomat there from public congressional testimony required by the war-funding legislation President Bush signed in May. Washington Post: An Early Clash Over Iraq Report 

GILLESPIE STEPS IN "TO HELP FILL THE VOID": When George W. Bush needed a communications adviser during the 2000 Florida recount, which determined whether he would be president, he turned to Ed Gillespie. When Bush needed someone to shepherd two of his Supreme Court nominees, he again called on Gillespie. And when longtime confidant and counselor Dan Bartlett stepped down this summer, Bush brought Gillespie to the White House. Now, with the departure of Karl Rove, the president's closest adviser, Gillespie, 46, a former lobbyist and Republican National Committee chairman, has once again been asked to help fill the void. Washington Post: As Rove Departs, President Again Turns to Gillespie 

WILL BUSH VISIT GREEN MOUNTAIN STATE BEFORE TERM'S END? Maybe President Bush doesn't like Birkenstocks, or antiquing, or socialists. It could simply be that the health-conscious president just doesn't dig Ben & Jerry's high-fat ice cream. Whatever the reason, Mr. Bush has not visited the state of Vermont. He has been to 49 other states and stopped off in more than 60 countries, including Albania, Uganda, Qatar — even Mongolia — but still no trip to Vermont. Unlike the president's first-ever visit to Rhode Island in June — when he made an appearance at the Naval War College in Newport that both of the state's U.S. senators skipped — Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, a vocal administration critic, yesterday made a solemn pledge to be a hospitable host. Washington Times: Vermont to Bush: Saved best for last 

McCONNELL SAYS DEMS "LOOKING TO OLD EUROPE FOR ANSWERS": Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) mocked congressional Democrats Wednesday, attacking the new leadership of the 110th Congress for attempting to ram through proposals that would turn the American government into "Old Europe." In a speech at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., he said Democratic leaders have been pushing through bills on health care, federal spending and taxes that would substantial grow the government and lead to the economic stagnation that has dogged some European countries. The Hill: McConnell slams 'Old Europe' Democrats 

DNI AND DHS TO ALLOW LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO TAP INTO SPY SATELLITES: The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers. A program approved by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security will allow broader domestic use of secret overhead imagery beginning as early as this fall, with the expectation that state and local law enforcement officials will eventually be able to tap into technology once largely restricted to foreign surveillance. Washington Post: Domestic Use of Spy Satellites To Widen 

RUMSFELD RESIGNATION CAME DAY BEFORE ELECTION: Donald H. Rumsfeld, who came to symbolize the Bush administration's problems in the war in Iraq, resigned as secretary of defense one day before last fall's elections, although President Bush did not announce the move until the day after the elections. The White House confirmed on Wednesday that Rumsfeld's letter of resignation was dated Nov. 6, 2006, the day before voters — many of them furious about the war in Iraq — evicted Republicans from the leadership of the House and Senate. Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said that Bush received the letter and accepted Rumsfeld's resignation on Election Day. The president waited until the next day to announce that he was replacing Rumsfeld with former CIA chief Robert M. Gates. Washington Post: Rumsfeld Resigned as Defense Secretary on Day Before Elections 

PRYCE WON'T RUN IN '08: Rep. Deborah Pryce will not seek re-election in 2008, potentially setting up a nationally watched contest between former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, a Republican, and Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, a Democrat. Pryce, R-Upper Arlington, is scheduled to announce her decision today at an 11 a.m. news conference. Although Pryce did not return phone calls seeking comment, and her aides declined to confirm that she will forgo re-election, she privately has told Republicans in the past few days that it has become too difficult to raise her daughter, Mia, in Columbus while commuting to Washington. Columbus Dispatch: Pryce to pull out of House campaign 

BARBOUR'S FRIENDS AND FAMILY BENEFITED FROM KATRINA RECOVERY: Many Mississippians have benefited from Governor Haley Barbour's efforts to rebuild the state's devastated Gulf Coast in the two years since Hurricane Katrina. The $15 billion or more in federal aid the former Republican national chairman attracted has reopened casinos and helped residents move to new or repaired homes. Among the beneficiaries are Barbour's own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in June raided a company owned by the wife of a third nephew, which maintained federal emergency- management trailers. Bloomberg: Mississippi Governor's Associates Profit From Katrina Recovery 

'07 DEM FUNDRAISING FROM RICH ZIPS OUTPACES '03 BY A LOT: Democrats seeking the White House have received more than four times as much money from some of the nation's wealthiest enclaves as party contenders did in 2003, an analysis of campaign-finance records shows. The major Democratic presidential candidates have raised nearly $32 million from the 50 ZIP codes that were the top sources of campaign money in the first six months of the year, the non-profit Center for Responsive Politics found. In contrast, Republicans received $13.8 million. The analysis for USA TODAY shows Democrats raised the most money in 43 of the 50 postal codes. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the top recipient in 28 areas. In the first half of 2003, John Kerry, Howard Dean and other Democrats who ran for president raised about $7.7 million from the top 50 donor ZIP codes. USA Today: Biggest donor areas go for Dems 

TWO NEW YORKERS, "FAR FROM THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN": Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at the Iowa State Fair in a motorcade, flanked by Secret Service agents, half a dozen assistants and a former governor. Aides to the New York Democrat and presidential candidate unfurled a yellow rope to keep back the crowds. She was not, in short, the average visitor standing in line for pork on a stick. Neither was former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican candidate who made a similar splash at the fairgrounds when he showed up four hours later. Washington Post: Two New Yorkers at the Iowa State Fair 

ROVE, ON RUSH, SAYS HILLARY IS A "FATALLY FLAWED" CANDIDATE: He may plan to take a break from presidential politics, but soon-to-be ex-White House aide Karl Rove isn't holding back when it comes to his critique of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. On conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh's show Wednesday, Rove predicted the New York Democrat would win her party's nomination but said she was "fatally flawed" and would ultimately lose the race for the White House. "There is no frontrunner who has entered the primary season with negatives as high as she has in the history of modern polling," said Rove, who announced Tuesday he was resigning his White House post. The Ticker: Rove slams 'fatally flawed' Clinton 

ORACLE OF OMAHA THROWS A PARTY FOR OBAMA: For $2,300 each, about 35 Nebraskans and Iowans snacked on chicken-mango skewers and chatted with Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. An additional 165 paid $500 for the same eats and a chance to listen to Obama and Buffett exchange compliments and their views of the world. In all, about 200 people gathered Wednesday night at the Ironwood Golf and Country Club to attend a fund-raiser hosted by Buffett for Obama. The Illinois senator was accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters: 9-year-old Malia and a very sleepy 6-year-old Sasha. Omaha World Herald: A who's who of Nebraska Democrats turns out for Obama 

OBAMA TO APPEAR ON TYRA: The battle for votes may be fought on daytime talk shows. Well, sort of. A day after it was announced that "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" would start the season with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton as guest, "The Tyra Banks Show" said it will feature an interview with Democratic hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. The segment with the Illinois Democrat will be taped Sept. 27 here in New York. The airdate has yet to be revealed, but a spokeswoman said it's targeted for about a week after the interview. DeGeneres' sitdown with Clinton will be taped Aug. 31 and air Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. on WNBC/Ch. 4. New York Daily News: Tyra banks on Obama for taping 

SOME NV EDWARDS STAFFERS SENT TO IA, NH, AND SC: John Edwards' presidential campaign in Nevada took a beating Wednesday with news that it was moving a few staffers to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., responded with a stern warning not to "ignore" his state. Other candidates rushed to declare their continued commitment to Nevada. The Republican National Committee even took the opportunity to ridicule the former North Carolina senator. "LEAVING LAS VEGAS," the Republican statement crowed. "John Edwards' Staff Packing Their Bags And Moving Out Of Nevada." Edwards' campaign, however, said reports of a total pullout from Nevada were greatly exaggerated. Las Vegas Review-Journal: Edwards pulling out some Nevada staffers 

GIULIANI LEADS IN CA FIELD POLL: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani remains a favorite among California Republicans in the presidential contest while Arizona Sen. John McCain has seen his support plummet, a Field Poll released today shows. Giuliani, who also leads in national polls of Republican voters, is backed by 35 percent of likely GOP primary voters in California, giving him an early edge six months before the state's earlier-than-usual Feb. 5 presidential primary. But two challengers – former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson – have made major gains. Romney has doubled his support since a Field Poll in March, jumping from 7 to 14 percent support among likely GOP voters. San Francisco Chronicle: Californians give Giuliani an early edge in bid for GOP nomination 

WITH STRAW POLL MOMENTUM, HUCKABEE AIMS TO GET A LEG UP ON THOMPSON: Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is racing to convince donors and party leaders that he, not Fred Thompson, is the true social conservative in the race. Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, had been an also-ran in the Republican field and was given an opening with a surprise second-place finish in last weekend's Iowa straw poll, behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Thompson was regarded as the Republican who could galvanize Southerners and the party's core supporters who view a candidate's stances on abortion, gay marriage and religion as defining issues. Huckabee says his Iowa showing proves he can rally so-called values voters as well or better than Thompson, who may formally announce his candidacy in a few weeks. "I hope by September he'll say, 'Hmm, my time has come and gone. This other guy has already got a couple of laps on the track on me,'" Huckabee said in an interview. Bloomberg: Huckabee Says Iowa Showing Gives Chance to Keep Thompson at Bay