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Making News Today…

Obama supporters pressed Democratic Party officials to keep Colbert off ballot

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Two prominent supporters of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign in South Carolina called state Democratic Party officials urging them to oppose putting comedian Stephen Colbert's name on the primary ballot, according to party officials and Obama supporters with knowledge of the calls.  Full Story

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A year from Election Day, Clinton remains person to beat

WASHINGTON (CNN) - With the election of the next president a year away, Sen. Hillary Clinton remains the person to beat, a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday suggests.   Full Story 

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Poll: Most oppose waterboarding

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Although President Bush's nominee for attorney general refused to say whether waterboarding is a form of torture, most Americans do have an opinion about the procedure, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll.

In waterboarding, interrogators produce the sensation of drowning by dunking the prisoner in water or pouring water over the face. According to the poll, 69 percent of people consider the procedure torture, and 58 percent oppose it as a way to get information from suspected terrorists.

Judge Michael Mukasey said in a hearing last week that he couldn't make a legal judgment on the procedure and that "hypotheticals are different from real life." His response caused backlash from Democrats.

The Senate Judiciary Committee meets Tuesday to vote on his nomination.

– CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich

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Record campaign spending in Pennsylvania high court race

(CNN) — He's a self-described "regular guy from a very humble background," talking up a crowd of Democrats in a Somerset County, Pa., ward meeting, just days before Tuesday's hotly contested election race. Seamus McCaffery wants their votes, and he has the political and people skills to get it done, along with healthy infusion of campaign cash.

He tells them he is an Irish immigrant, and former Philadelphia beat cop. The bald, burly candidate has a ready smile and he swaps stories with the crowd.

The post McCaffery seeks is on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the nation's oldest appellate body. The idea of judges running for elected office may seem like a strange and unseemly concept, but it is the law in 21 states that have some sort of contested system for top judges. Thirty states — along with the federal system — appoint their judges, often with a merit selection system in which the governor gets the final say.   Full Story

– CNN Senior Producer Bill Mears

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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.   Political Ticker

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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

USA Today: Political Storms: Katrina Helps Tilt Miss. Race
Voters in off-year elections Tuesday decide whether to keep Republican governors in Mississippi and Kentucky, elect four big-city mayors and consider ballot issues including a Utah proposal to pay state tuition aid for students in private schools.

Washington Post: San Francisco Mayor's Race Offers Drama, but No Suspense
Less than a year after admitting to an affair with his appointments secretary, a woman married to the campaign manager who was also his close friend, Gavin Newsom stands before the electorate of San Francisco on Tuesday, all but certain of winning a second term as mayor.

San Francisco Chronicle: Big Drop In S.F. Voters May Lead To Record-Low Election Turnout
Tuesday's mayoral election may draw a record-low turnout because there are fewer voters out there to draw from.

Quad City Times: Candidates Protest ‘Dirty Campaigning’
A fed-up Jennifer Olsen led an election eve charge Monday against an unidentified group or groups that have dished last-minute dirt against several candidates in the Davenport city elections.

New York Times: In Iowa Field, Edwards Sees Only Senator Clinton
Seldom do presidential hopefuls suggest the time for a revolution is dawning, but John Edwards is exhibiting a fresh ferocity in his second run at the White House. With 59 days until Iowa opens the nominating contest, Edwards is intensifying his criticism of Democrats, Republicans and a government he calls corrupt.

Washington Post: Climate Is a Risky Issue for Democrats
All of the leading Democratic contenders for the presidency are committed to a set of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that would change the way Americans light their homes, fuel their automobiles and do their jobs, costing billions of dollars in the short term but potentially, the candidates say, saving even more in the decades to follow.

New York Times: Clinton Energy Plan Includes Push for Higher Gas Mileage
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday released her plan to combat climate change and to increase energy efficiency, which includes raising fuel standards to 55 miles per gallon by 2030 and creating five million jobs through renewable energy advancements.

Boston Globe: Edwards Takes Another Slap, Or Two, At Clinton
John Edwards just couldn't resist one more needle of Hillary Clinton for what he calls double-talk on questions.

Des Moines Register: Richardson Presents Purple Heart
Relatives of an Iowa soldier who died in the Korean War finally received his Purple Heart medal in a ceremony today in Des Moines, more than five decades after the U.S. Army approved the award.

New York Times: Romney Gets Major Backer on the Right
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign announced yesterday an endorsement from the man whom some consider the father of the religious right, Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and a founder of the Moral Majority.

AP via San Francisco Chronicle: Romney Mailer Hits 'Sanctuary Cities'
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is drawing contrasts with rival Rudy Giuliani on the issue of immigration in a new mailing being sent to Iowa Republican activists.

New Hampshire Union-Leader: Giuliani Points To His Record
Republican Rudy Giuliani yesterday said social conservatives could accomplish most of their goals if they elect him president, despite his pro-choice position.

Boston Globe: Clinton Leads Giuliani in New York Battle
In emphasizing electability, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani contends that if he is the Republican presidential nominee, he will make the party competitive in states that Democrats traditionally dominate.

Des Moines Register: Bill Clinton To Campaign In Western Iowa
Former President Bill Clinton plans to campaign in western Iowa on Thursday on behalf of his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

AP via Chicago Tribune: Thompson's First 2 Months in Race Mixed
The returns are mixed on Fred Thompson's first two months in the presidential race.

New Hampshire Union-Leader: Thompson Says It's About Strength
Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson yesterday said America should not be a global policeman, but it must remain the world's leader.

NY Sun: Thompson Wouldn't Seek Abortion Ban Amendment
Breaking with his party on a key social issue, Fred Thompson says he will not run on a plank of the 2004 Republican platform calling for a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

AP: Giuliani Praises Kerik's Crime Results
Rudy Giuliani said Monday that if his achievements as president are as good as the crime-reduction results of his New York police commissioner, a man now under criminal investigation himself, "this country will be in great shape."

The State: Giuliani A Surprise Hit In S.C.
But with less than three months to go before South Carolina’s Republican primary, fresh polling shows Giuliani is in a statistical tie for first place with fellow GOP front-runners, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

NY Sun: Giuliani's Wife To Headline Breast Cancer Event
Judith Giuliani will headline a breast cancer awareness event at the prestigious Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center today. Her speech — to be delivered at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure's Leadership Summit on Breast Cancer — will mark Mrs. Giuliani's highest-profile solo appearance in the Granite State.

LA Times: Paul's One-Day Haul: More Than $4.2 Million
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $4.2 million in nearly 24 hours.

USA Today: Libertarian Party-Switchers Eye Paul
"The fact Ron Paul has been able to get himself into the Republican Party enough that he has a chance of winning, is very exciting for everyone in the libertarian movement,"

Washington Post: Bush Vote Divided in GOP Race
George P. Bush had just finished telling his father, the former governor of Florida, that he had decided to endorse former senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee for president. Jeb Bush assured his eldest son that all the Republican candidates are "great" and that whatever he did would be okay with him and the family.

NY Daily News: Campaign Takeout
Bill Clinton may be his good golfing buddy, but Papa Bush says he's not voting for Hillary.

New York Times: Spending Trumps Social Issues on Ballots This Time
When it comes to the state and local ballot measures before voters across the country on Tuesday, it is mostly about the money.

Quad City Times: NH Independents Moving to Democrats
"Undeclareds," as independents are called in New Hampshire, are congregating around the Democratic race. Four out of 10 say they plan to vote in the Democratic primary, and about the same number say they aren't sure which ballot they will pick up on primary day.

Roll Call: DCCC: SCHIP Hurts GOP
In another sign that House Democrats view the SCHIP stalemate as beneficial to their 2008 political fortunes, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) told his colleagues on Monday that DCCC polling proves the issue is weakening the re-election prospects of incumbent Republicans.

LA Times' Top of the Ticket: Ex-POW Mccain Denounces Torture As U.S. Policy
Judge Michael Mukasey seems to be well along the path to Senate confirmation as attorney general despite his refusal to declare waterboarding a form of torture…But, campaigning in Iowa today, former POW John McCain says he intends to continue talking about the procedure, which involves placing a prisoner on his back, head down on an inverted board, covering his face with a wet towel and pouring water on him.

New York Times: A Vote for Justice by Charles Schumer
I am voting today to support Michael B. Mukasey for attorney general for one critical reason: the Department of Justice — once the crown jewel among our government institutions — is a shambles and is in desperate need of a strong leader, committed to depoliticizing the agency’s operations.

Roll Call: Contempt Citations Still Pending
As Senate Democrats today prepare to take up the controversial nomination of Michael Mukasey for attorney general, House Democrats are moving forward with their efforts to pass a contempt resolution in the U.S. attorney firings probe that Mukasey would be charged with enforcing.

The Hill: Terrorists Are ‘Running Out Of People To Kill,’ Says Obey
If violence is decreasing in Iraq, it may be because insurgents “are running out of people to kill,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said Monday.

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On the Trail:

Compiled by Katy Byron
CNN Washington Bureau

* New York Sen. Hillary Clinton will deliver a policy address at the Renewable Energy Group in Newton, Iowa and then attend an "Organizing for Change" event at the Festhalle Barn in the Amana Colonies in Amana, Iowa.

* Arizona Sen. John McCain will deliver remarks at the Renewable Energy Group in Ames, Iowa. The Republican candidate will hold a meet and greet event at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Boone and then head to Decorah for a town hall event and press availability at the Luther College's Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall. McCain will also take additional questions from reporters at Landmark Aviation in Cedar Rapids.

* Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards will hold town hall events in Newmarket, Portsmouth and Durham, New Hampshire.

* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will tour the Carolina Hope Adoption Agency and take questions from the press in Greenville, South Carolina to start the day. Afterwards, Romney will make a campaign stop at the Main Street Deli nearby the local Chili festival in Anderson.

* Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will hold a town hall meeting at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

* Former Sen. Fred Thompson will hold an event in Columbia, South Carolina to announce his campaign's "Vets for Fred" coalition. The Republican candidate will then hold "Meet Fred Thompson" campaign events - one at Beef O'Brady's in Fort Mill and the other at the Beacon Drive-in in Spartanburg.

* Delaware Sen. Joe Biden continues his campaign swing through Iowa with a tour at the Alcoa aluminum plant used to make MRAP vehicles located in Riverdale and then wraps up the day with a meet and greet event at The Chef's Hat in Davenport.

* Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd will participate in a discussion on the rule of law in U.S. national security and foreign policy. The event will be hosted by the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council in Iowa City, Iowa.

* The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook

* The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook