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Making News Today…

Blitzer: All eyes on Iowa this week

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The presidential candidates are trying to put their time and energy where it counts most this week — one year before Election Day — and less than two months before the first primary season contest.   Full Story

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Clinton 'broadly supports' states' efforts to license illegals

CLINTON, Iowa (CNN) - Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, Sunday sought to further clarify her position on New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer’s controversial plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, a position which she said she’s already made clear on “a number of occasions.”  Full Story

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Thompson responds to reports of adviser's criminal past

(CNN)– A Republican presidential hopeful stood by a campaign adviser Sunday after it was revealed that person had a past drug conviction.   Full Story

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The Best Political Team wants you

CNN is looking for an associate political editor with strong editing and reporting skills to help the network cover the historic 2008 elections. Primary responsibilities will be to edit and write for the CNN Political Ticker, as well as serve as an off-air reporter. Previous television experience is not required, but strong newswriting ability and experience covering politics are a must.  Full Story

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

Compiled by Lindsey Pope
CNN Washington Bureau

Quad City Times: Clinton: Bush Policies Spur Pakistan Crackdown
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Sunday that she’s disappointed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has imposed emergency rule, but she saved her harshest criticism for President Bush whom she accused of incoherence toward Pakistan. .txt

Washington Post: Republican Nomination Most Open in Decades
For the first time in nearly 30 years, there is no breakaway front-runner for the Republican nomination as the first votes of Campaign 2008 loom, and a new Washington Post-ABC News poll underscores how open the GOP race remains.

New York Times: Different Rules When a Rival Is a Woman?
A critical question in this campaign — how to run against a female presidential candidate, or as one — has burst into the foreground in the aftermath of a Democratic debate last week at which Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was repeatedly challenged by her rivals and the event’s questioners.

Politico: Feminists Split On HRC Sexism Defense
After jeers from her Democratic rivals and many commentators, Hillary Rodham Clinton has backed off her suggestion last week that her opponents were ganging up on her because she is a woman.

NY Daily News: Hillary Clinton Runs A Risk Playing Word Game
After taking some sharp shots from her rivals in last week's Democratic debate, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) told reporters in New Hampshire she'd stick to her convictions even under attack, though "sometimes it may not be as artfully presented as I would wish."

New York Times: Edwards Raises Criticism of Clinton Over Iraq Plan
As Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton collected the endorsement today from former Vice President Walter Mondale, one of her Democratic rivals intensified his criticism of her candidacy, saying she had not been forthcoming with voters who will open the nominating contest here in less than two months.

USA Today: Presidential Primer: 2008 Election Now A Year Away
On Nov. 4, 2008, U.S. voters go to the polls to elect the next president, who might be the first president to be: a woman, black, a Mormon, Hispanic, an Italian American, a Vietnam veteran.  Or they might pick someone else.

LA Times: No Quick Exit For Thompson Advisor
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Sunday that a friend with a criminal record for cocaine and marijuana sales would remain a top fundraiser for his campaign while he evaluates the situation.

Washington Times: Giuliani Expected To Boost GOP In Northeast Races
House Republicans see a 2008 ticket topped by former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani making congressional races in Democratic strongholds of the Northeast more competitive, improving the party's odds for picking up the 16 seats to win back the majority.

Chicago Tribune's The Swamp: Old Drug Lords Respect Rudy But Pick Clinton
With the release of the movie "American Gangster" on Friday, the dramatized tale of the very real Frank Lucas, the one-time Harlem drug kingpin, there's renewed interest in Lucas and another big-time narcotics dealer from the 1970s, Nicky Barnes.

USA Today: Huckabee Builds Evangelical Support
As the 2008 presidential race heads toward the first nominating contests, Mike Huckabee is getting more news coverage, moving up in polls, and even drawing some attacks from other Republicans. 

Quad City Times: Edwards Calls For Teacher Incentives At Education Forum
Kyle Graves felt his knees shake as he stepped up to the microphone to ask Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards a question. 

Chicago Tribune's The Swamp: Barack Obama Q&A
Barack Obama said in an interview Saturday with the Tribune that a ticket led by Sen. Hillary Clinton would be destined to largely repeat the disappointing Democratic performances of 2000 and 2004 and could hope only to "barely" eke out a victory.

New York Times: Obama Plays Convincing Obama in a Skit Mocking Clinton
“Saturday Night Live” has relentlessly mocked Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and this weekend allowed Senator Barack Obama, a chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, to join in the skewering.

Roll Call: Dodd’s Moral Victories
Although Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) isn’t getting any traction with voters in his long-shot bid for the White House, he does appear to be holding some sway in the Senate as he increasingly bests his 2008 rivals when it comes to taking hard stances on issues before the chamber.

Washington Times: Change called crucial for '08
Democratic strategists are warning their party and its presidential contenders that they have failed to connect with the voters' demands for change.

Quad City Times: Former President to Give Clinton No Pass
Former President George H.W. Bush says the post-White House friendship he has nurtured with the man who turned him out of office won't make him go any easier on his successor's wife, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

LA Times: Where Candidates Go, These Activists Follow
Natalie Sugira usually reserves Friday nights for family. But recently, she abandoned her husband and three children for the evening and drove 120 miles to spend less than two minutes with presidential hopeful John Edwards. She wanted to discuss world hunger and Africa and its miseries…

Roll Call: Polls Favor Democrats
One year before Election Day 2008, Democrats appear poised to make significant gains in the Senate, according to new polls conducted exclusively for Roll Call.

Washington Post: Polls and Power in Sight, Parties Try to Rally Voters
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine went door-to-door looking for votes for Democratic candidates Sunday as top Republicans gathered for a hoedown during the final push of the most expensive campaign in history for control of the Virginia General Assembly.

Washington Post: Evangelical Democrat Stirs the Pot in Mississippi
A wealthy evangelical Christian, John Arthur Eaves Jr., is running a campaign for governor that is rife with what Jesus might do.

NY Daily News: George Pataki Wasted $3M In Tax Dollars For Pet Project Former Gov. George Pataki wasted nearly $3 million in taxpayer money on a plan to build a women's museum that today is just an empty lot in lower Manhattan, a Daily News investigation has found.

The Hill: BIDEN: White House Has Put the Country in a Tough Spot on Pakistan
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday criticized the Bush administration’s Pakistan policy after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended his country’s constitution and began a crackdown on opposition leaders.

New York Times: Uncle Sam on the Line by John Ashcroft
FOR almost two years, the country has debated whether the Bush administration acted properly and lawfully in undertaking emergency surveillance operations… There are many complex and difficult issues associated with these debates, but whether to terminate the huge lawsuits that have been filed against the nation’s major telecommunications carriers is not one of them.

Washington Post: Capitol to Buy Offsets in Bid to Go Green
Daniel Beard, the House's chief administrative officer, will cut a taxpayer-funded check today for $89,000 to buy credits that will offset the impact of 30,000 tons of carbon belched into the atmosphere by the U.S. Capitol's antiquated, coal-burning power plant every year.
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On the Trail:

Compiled by Katy Byron
CNN Washington Bureau

* Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, will deliver a speech at Clipper Turbine Works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa launching her campaign's climate and energy plan titled, "Powering America's Future: New Energy, New Jobs." Clinton will take questions from the press and then travel to Oelwein, Waverly and Mason City for "Organizing for Change" campaign events.

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will hold a town hall meeting and take questions from members of the press at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Giuliani will then hold a campaign event in Manchester at Caesario's Pizza with Manchester Mayor Frank Giunta.

*Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will address the Nova Southeastern University Federalist Society Forum in a town hall-like format at Wayne Huizenga Business School in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida.

* Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson will start the day with the time-held tradition for presidential candidates, the "Politics and Eggs" breakfast in Bedford, New Hampshire. Thompson will continue his campaign swing through the Granite State with a tour of the Thompson Arms Center in Rochester and then a meet and greet event at the Orchard Street Chop House in Dover.

* Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and several Democratic candidates - former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich - will participate in the Biobased Industry Outlook Conference presidential forum at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa to discuss the growth of the bio-economy.

*McCain begins his day in Iowa with meet and greet and town hall meetings in Allison and Iowa Falls before heading to the bio-energy conference. After the conference is completed, McCain will take a moment to answer questions from reporters.

*Edwards will deliver a foreign policy speech at the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City and then hold community meetings in Ottumwa and Oskaloosa before speaking at the bio-economy forum.

*Before the bio-energy conference, Biden will make multiple campaign stops in Iowa. Biden will start the day by first stopping at 11 a.m. ET at the Iowa Valley Continuing Education Conference Center in Marshalltown for a discussion on the need for rural access to high speed internet as part of guaranteeing a 21st century education for all Americans. Biden will then host a lunch with Iowa veterans at Lucullan's Italian Grill in Ames. Later, Biden will hold a meet and greet event with Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Iowa, at a private residence in Ames prior to the bio-energy conference.

* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will hold a "Keeping our Promise" event at the American Legion Hispanic Post 731 with veterans and military families in Des Moines, Iowa. Later the Democratic candidate will take questions at one of his campaign's "Presidential Job Interview" events at Grinnell College in Grinnell. Richardson will then hold a "Conversation on Iraq" event at the Senior Citizens Center in Marshalltown.

* The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook

* The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook