For the latest, breaking political news, check for updates throughout the day on the CNN Political Ticker http://www.cnn.com/ticker. All politics, all the time.

Making News Today…

Viva Las Vegas

The seven Democratic presidential candidates head to Las Vegas Thursday for the CNN/Nevada Democratic Party Presidential Debate. This is the first event in the West to be sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. Tune into CNN and keep checking back to http://www.CNNPolitics.com  and http://www.cnn.com/ticker  throughout the week for the latest on this historic event, as the Democratic candidates head into the homestretch in the race for their party’s presidential nomination.

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Democrats hoping to hit the union jackpot

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) — The key to winning the Nevada Democratic caucuses could hinge on the endorsement of a powerful Silver State union that represents 60,000 people who work in the state’s casinos.

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 is a must stop for the Democratic candidates whenever they come to town, and the presidential hopefuls are aggressively courting this influential organization.

“To win the Nevada caucuses, you have to get the union’s support,” said Jon Ralston, a non-partisan analyst considered the expert on Nevada politics.   Full Story

– CNN Political Editor Mark Preston

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Video: Las Vegas — Political boomtown

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) — Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider reports from Las Vegas on how the Nevada city's changing demographic makeup has also changed the political landscape in the Silver State.

Schneider also explains why what happens in Nevada on Election Day in 2008 may also happen all over the country.   Full Story 

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Reid, Salazar predict West will play key role in 2008 race

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado, predicted Tuesday that Western states will play a critical role in electing the next president.

"The road to the White House will lead directly through the West and directly through Nevada and Colorado," Salazar said in a conference call Tuesday with reporters.

Reid, who played an important role in helping his state earn the right to hold an early presidential nominating contest, credited the move for helping to bring attention to issues that affect Western Democrats, and declared Nevada's caucuses will be "the first test of real diversity."   Full Story

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

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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

New York Times: Polls Find Voters Weighing Issues vs. Electability
Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire — the states that begin the presidential nominating battle — say Senator Barack Obama and John Edwards are more likely than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to say what they believe, rather than what they think voters want to hear, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Polls. But they also view Mrs. Clinton as the best prepared and most electable Democrat in the field, the polls found.

Washington Post: GOP Primary Story Stars a Democratic Antagonist
They mock her proposals, utter her name with a sneer and win standing ovations by ridiculing her ideas as un-American, even socialistic. She has become the one thing the Republican candidates for president can agree on.

New York Times: Question on Her Puts McCain in a Tight Spot
When presidential candidates appear at public forums, passions about the field are often on vivid display. Monday, Senator John McCain received a question from a woman in Hilton Head Island, S.C., that was blunt and harsh.

Salon.com's War Room: Edwards: I "Fully Expect" To Support The Nominee
As we noted earlier today, John Edwards refused to answer when asked the other day whether he'd support Hillary Clinton if she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee. Sen. Chris Dodd today tweaked Edwards for taking that stand — "I wonder which of the Republicans John prefers to Hillary," Dodd said in a statement…

LA Times: Is Clinton Campaign Too Scripted?
…by planting questions at what are supposed to be unscripted question-and-answer sessions with Iowa voters, Clinton may have fed perceptions that her campaign is too programmed for its own good, Democratic strategists said.

Freedom Works: Why I Think Hillary Will Win by Dick Armey
If the 2008 presidential election were held today, Hillary Rodham Clinton would win.

The Hill: Clinton Pours Cash Into S.C.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has more than tripled her campaign spending in South Carolina, taking aggressive action in a state political experts call a “must-win” for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) because of its high percentage of black voters.

Boston Globe: Democratic Rivals Take Aim At The Clinton Years
Bill Clinton's growing visibility on the campaign trail in recent days has brought star power to his wife's candidacy, but is also increasingly inviting serious criticism of his presidency from her rivals.

Reno Gazette-Journal: Reno Assemblywoman Backs John Edwards
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards has picked up the endorsement of Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, giving him the largest contingent of support from Northern Nevada Democratic lawmakers of any presidential candidate.

LA Times: Iowans Are Seeing A Different Edwards
John Edwards still speaks with a honeyed Southern cadence, but he's showing sharper elbows and a willingness to jab at opponents in his travels through Iowa in pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination.

Wall Street Journal: Obama Camp Says It's on a Roll, Takes Shots at Clinton, Edwards
With Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama coming off a strong weekend performance at Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, his campaign released a sharply worded state-of-the-race memo yesterday.

Chicago Tribune's The Swamp: Obama Discloses Top Fundraisers
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released an updated list of his top fundraisers today that discloses new information on their activities and shows heavy backing from hedge-fund managers, financial industry executives and private investors.

Boston Globe: Democratic Rivals Address The Fear Of GOP Attacks
Like the movie preacher with the word good painted on the knuckles of one hand and the word evil on the other, Barack Obama flashes the words hope and fear in the eyes of Democratic primary voters.

San Francisco Chronicle: Obama On Verge Of Breakthrough By Carving Path Along Racial Divide
Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has made his place in the history books as an inspirational orator who has become a serious African American candidate for president from a major party - but now, he is approaching what could be his biggest moment of truth. 

The Daily Telegraph: Vote For Barack Obama, Wife Tells Blacks
The wife of Barack Obama, who is seeking to be the Democratic presidential candidate, has urged black Americans not to be afraid of voting for her husband because they think he could not win.

Quad City Times: Obama Challenges Clinton on Trade Deals
Hillary Rodham Clinton's doubts about big foreign trade deals came only in the heat of the presidential campaign, Democratic rival Barack Obama said Tuesday, addressing labor leaders who strongly oppose many of the agreements.

Chicago Tribune: Paul: A Seller Of Ideas
No more Department of Education. No more Federal Reserve Bank. No more Medicare or Medicaid. No more membership in the United Nations or NATO. No more federal drug laws. And, no more U.S. troops in Iraq — or anywhere else on foreign soil. The Internal Revenue Service would be history in the first week that Ron Paul sits behind the desk in the Oval Office

Boston Globe: N.H. Poll: GOP Primary Stirring Independents
New Hampshire's huge bloc of independent voters, who can vote in either party's presidential primary and had been expected to opt overwhelmingly for the 2008 Democratic contest, are taking a new look at candidates on the Republican side, according to a Boston Globe poll by the University of New Hampshire.

Chicago Tribune: The GOP's Happy Warrior
John McCain, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, met with the Tribune editorial board Tuesday to discuss Iraq, Pakistan, immigration, politics . . . and the future of U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald.

New Hampshire Union-Leader: Guiliani's Campaign Strategy Scrutinized
Republican Rudy Giuliani's campaign manager said this week the former New York City mayor does not need to win the Iowa caucus or follow-up primaries in New Hampshire and Michigan to win his party's presidential nomination.

NY Sun: Giuliani Derides Idea of a Crack Amnesty
Mayor Giuliani is adding his voice to a chorus of prosecutors and police groups warning against a proposal that could allow about 20,000 convicted crack cocaine dealers and users to win release from prison before their sentences are complete.

New York Times: Ex-Publisher’s Suit Plays a Giuliani-Kerik Angle
Judith Regan, the former book publisher, says in a lawsuit filed yesterday protesting her dismissal by the News Corporation… that a senior executive there encouraged her to lie to federal investigators about her past affair with Bernard B. Kerik after he had been nominated to become homeland security secretary in

AP: Anti-Giuliani Firefighters Group To Bring Message To N.H.
A New York City firefighters group critical of presidential contender and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is bringing its message to the campaign trail in the first primary state.

Des Moines Register: Despite Fall In Support, Thompson Upbeat On Chances In Iowa
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, on the cusp of receiving an endorsement from a national anti-abortion group opposed to legalized abortion, said here Monday that he's optimistic about his chances in Iowa and that he's not going to "concede first place to anybody."

Quad City Times: Romney Counting on Traditional Strategy
Republican Mitt Romney argues that his traditional strategy focused on Iowa and New Hampshire is the proven recipe for winning presidential nominations, dismissing rival Rudy Giuliani's more untested route geared toward later-voting delegate-rich states.

Des Moines Register: Grassley Plans No Endorsement For Caucuses
Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said Tuesday he does not expect to endorse a candidate before the 2008 caucuses in part because no GOP candidate has emerged as a clear favorite to beat Hillary Clinton, if she captures the Democratic nomination.

LA Times' Top of the Ticket: Entertainers, AARP And Others Agree To Push Healthcare
The drive to make healthcare a top presidential campaign issue for the next year is going Hollywood.

Washington Post: Republicans Seek Retraction of Report on Wars' 'Hidden Costs'
Senior Republicans on Congress's Joint Economic Committee called yesterday for the withdrawal of a report by the committee's Democratic staff that argues that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost more than $1.5 trillion.

Wall Street Journal: Energy's Slippery Slope
As high oil prices drive up fuel costs, presidential candidates are likely to find themselves talking to voters who can no longer afford to keep their homes warm or their cars running.

New York Times: F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause
Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.

The Hill: Senate Dem Leaders Float Plan For Forced Filibuster
Senate Democrats might force Republicans to wage a filibuster if the GOP wants to block the latest Iraq withdrawal bill, aides and senators said Tuesday.

New York Times: Spitzer Dropping His License Plan
Eliot Spitzer is abandoning his plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that opposition is just too overwhelming to move forward with such a policy.

Roll Call: Millionaires’ Amendment Challenged
A Buffalo-area factory owner who nearly knocked off powerful Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) in the previous election cycle may soon argue before the Supreme Court whether what's called the “Millionaires’ Amendment” trampled his Constitutional rights in his 2006 bid to topple the former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman.

Politico: White House Stocks K Street
From the beginning, the Bush White House created controversy by tapping scores of industry lobbyists to staff official positions. Now approaching its final days, the administration might have produced even more lobbyists than it took in.

Washington Times: Ads Target New House Democrats On War Funding
A pro-military group yesterday began an ad campaign targeting vulnerable House Democrats with a call to approve emergency funds for the war in Iraq. onservative netroots community, hungry for a new direction for their party, are expressing skepticism that a newly formed bicameral group of Republicans will help lead the GOP out of the minority.

Roll Call: Panel Moves Slowly on Craig
The Senate Ethics Committee investigation into Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) continues to lurch forward, despite the fact that none of the key players — besides Craig — have been contacted.

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On the Trail:

Compiled by Lauren Kornreich and Katy Byron
CNN Washington Bureau

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani holds a meet-and-greet at the Village Inn in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Later, he heads to North Dakota for a speech in Fargo, and then travels back to Iowa to visit with local residents at B & L Vintage Brew and Sugar Shack in Rock Rapids. In the evening, Giuliani delivers a speech at the 26th Annual South Dakota Law Enforcement Appreciation & Children's Charities Dinner in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

* Former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, addresses the United Auto Workers' conference, and visits a picket line with nurses at Finley Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa. Later, Edwards holds town hall meetings in Monticello and Maquoketa.

* Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, holds a town hall meeting at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California. Later, Obama holds a "Countdown to Change" fundraiser in San Francisco.

* Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, campaigns in New Hampshire with stops in North Stratford, Lancaster, Whitefield, Littleton and Woodsville.

* The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook

* The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook