Watch the latest on the unsettled presidential primary calendar.
(CNN) - The race for the 2008 Democratic and Republican presidential nominations started earlier than any other nomination race has in recent memory. Tom Foreman reports that it will also likely end earlier than any other nomination race has. But, the exact dates of voting in the early states is still not settled. Watch this report about the primary calendar's chaos.
From CNN Des Moines affiliate KCCI:
DES MOINES, Iowa - U.S. Sens. and Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd are longtime, respected members of the Senate. But the latest Des Moines Register poll showed them with single-digit support.
Biden and Dodd said they're not concerned about numbers.
"Anyone who can do well here in Iowa can go on. It's more important - not less important," Biden said.
Tsongas won a special election Tuesday night.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - What does a special election in Massachusetts have to do with next year’s battle for Congress?
A lot, Republicans hope. The Democrat beat the Republican in Tuesday’s contest, but the GOP sees victory in defeat.
The widow of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas won the special election to fill the unexpired term of Rep. Marty Meehan. The Massachusetts Democrat resigned from Congress earlier this year to become the Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Niki Tsongas defeated Republican Jim Ogonowski, a former Air Force pilot whose brother was piloting one of the hijacked airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11, in a hard fought battle for the state’s 5th Congressional District, which partially borders New Hampshire.
Tsongas, whose late husband once held the same congressional seat before being elected to the Senate, topped Ogonowski 51% to 46%.
And that’s what the Republicans are crowing about.
Massachusetts is a very blue state and this district is dominated by Democrats. It overwhelming went for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election and John Kerry four years later. Meehan won 67 percent of the vote in his 2004 re-election bid, and was unopposed last year.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Most Americans would like to see fewer illegal immigrants in the country, but only three in 10 say all of them should be removed, a poll said Wednesday.
Just 7 percent of those polled said they would like to see the number of illegal immigrants increased; 22 percent said they would like the number remain the same; 16 percent wanted it decreased "a little"; and 22 percent wanted it decreased "a lot," the poll of 1,212 adult Americans found.
Blacks and whites differed over whether the number of illegal immigrants should be increased, with 14 percent of African-Americans saying they did, versus 3 percent of whites.
About one in five (19 percent) of blacks said they thought all illegal immigrants should be removed from the country, versus more than a third (35 percent) of whites who said that.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Members of the House of Representatives received over 2,000 petitions Wednesday from active-duty military personnel asking them to end U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Appeal for Redress, an organization that collects petitions from troops currently serving who are dedicated to removing U.S. troops from Iraq, held a press conference on Capitol Hill to deliver the petitions to Congress. Jonathan Hutto, co-founder of Appeals for Redress, announced that his organization would be sponsoring a forum for all presidential candidates to specifically address the war in Iraq, and to warn against military action against Iran.
If candidates accept, the forum will take place in South Carolina in February. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee was among the five lawmakers who voiced their support at the press conference. Lee said although she wants the occupation in Iraq to end, she does not want U.S. forces to believe that troop withdrawal signifies failure. "I don't want [the troops] coming home to the allegation of defeat,” she said. “For it was not a defeat on the battlefield, it was a defeat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
- CNN’s Aspen Steib
Colbert said Tuesday he will run for president in South Carolina.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - He hinted at a possible run for the White House on CNN's Larry King last week, but Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert made it official Tuesday night: he's jumping into the presidential race in his home state of South Carolina.
"After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call….I am hereby declaring that I will enter the presidential primary in my native South Carolina, running as a favorite son," Colbert said on his show Tuesday night. "I defy any other candidate to pander more to the people of South Carolina - those beautiful, beautiful people."
South Carolina is one of four lead-off primary states that will likely play a crucial role in determining the eventual nominee of both parties.
On Larry King last Thursday, Colbert laid out his potential electoral strategy, saying he'd see how he did in South Carolina before deciding to move on to other states. (Watch Colbert discuss his political life on CNN's Larry King)
"I think maybe there's something I could offer the campaign on a state-by-state basis," he said. "I would target a state individually…a test run."
Colbert, author of the recently released “I Am America (And So Can You!),” also told King he'd seek to run as both a Democrat and Republican.
"I'd let the people decide what party I belong in," he said. "I don't dictate the people's actions."
In the interview with King, Colbert also brushed aside suggestions that it was a "cop out" to run in both parties, calling it instead courageous, because, "I could lose twice." (Related video: Watch more of Larry King's interview with Colbert)
In the slim chance that he wins a party's nomination, Colbert said Tuesday he'd consider either Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Russian President Vladimir Putin, or himself for a running mate.
"Colbert-Colbert - that's a strong ticket," he argued.
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- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
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