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Making news today:

Romney to give Mormon Speech

WASHINGTON (CNN) – GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will make a much anticipated speech on his Mormon faith this week. Romney's campaign says that the address, entitled "Faith In America," will take place Thursday, December 6 at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station Texas at 10:30 a.m. ET. Full Story

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Obama denies new Clinton attack, calls her 'stressed' by polls

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama denied allegations from rival Hillary Clinton's campaign Sunday that his political action committee Hopefund was used to bribe public officials in early voting states. "Everything that we've done is in exact accordance with the law," said the Illinois senator at a press conference. "Unless they can show that it hasn't been, I suggest they focus on trying to get their supporters to caucus in Iowa." Full Story

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McCain receives major New Hampshire endorsement

(CNN) – GOP presidential hopeful John McCain received a major endorsement of his candidacy Sunday, from the New Hampshire Union Leader, New Hampshire's largest and most influential newspaper. Full Story

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Presidential primary calendar set

VIENNA, Virginia (CNN) – The presidential primary calendar was finalized Saturday, after months of uncertainty and just 33 days before the first votes are cast in Iowa. (31 days as of Monday)

The Democratic National Committee approved requests by Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to reschedule their nominating contests to earlier dates in January, while denying Michigan the right to hold its primary January 15. Michigan Democratic leaders vowed to move forward with the primary, even though none of its delegates will count towards the nominating convention and several Democratic contenders will not appear on the state ballot.

The votes by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee were the final dominos to drop in what has been a contentious battle pitting state political parties against national party leaders over control of the presidential nominating calendar. 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

NY Daily News: John Mccain, James Carville To Appear On 1st Don Imus Show
Shock jock Don Imus returns to the airwaves Monday morning – and he already has heavyweight GOP presidential hopefuls lining up to chat.

AP: ANALYSIS: Both Iowa Contests Tight
Call it a brave new world in Iowa presidential politics. The races for both the Republican and Democratic nominations here are toss ups as voting approaches, a double-dose of fluidity unseen in decades. At the same time, the effect of winning - or losing - the leadoff Iowa caucuses in 2008 is anyone's guess.

LA Times’ Top of the Ticket: Hey, Iowa and New Hampshire! Read this!
Thanks to quiet changes in how busy Americans choose to vote - namely the explosion of early absentee voting as a convenience, not a necessity caused by travel - Florida's absentee voters will actually be the first Americans to start voting in the primary process for the 2008 election.

Wall Street Journal: Obama's Gains Show Volatility Of Iowa Contest
A month before Iowa holds the first contest of the 2008 presidential campaign, a newly energized Sen. Barack Obama has opened a narrow lead here, but many Iowans in both parties say they could change their minds in the next 30 days about which candidate to support.

New York Times: Lonely No More, Huckabee Faces Hurdles
Mike Huckabee spent the weekend in New Hampshire, where he saw something he had rarely seen in his two years as a Republican candidate for president: People. Lots of them.

USA Today: In Unsettled GOP Field, Huckabee Finds Footing
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the Republican long shot who in a new Des Moines Register poll has surged to the lead for the Iowa caucuses, could hardly be more different from the candidate who has led the GOP field nationally all year.

San Francisco Chronicle: Ads Paint Huckabee As Taxer, But Record More Complicated
As Mike Huckabee rises in the Republican presidential polls, fiscal conservatives have been raising alarms about a series of tax increases he spearheaded while governor of Arkansas – new taxes on gasoline, nursing home beds and even pet groomers.

Boston Globe: Money Keeps Almost All Hopes Alive In 2008
Campaign strategists in both parties say the unprecedented amount of money flowing to presidential candidates – and their ability to raise more cash quickly via the Internet – could give longer life to those contenders who lose the early contests, and would in past elections have been too strapped for money to continue their campaigns.

New Hampshire Union-Leader: Giuliani Takes Aim At Dems' Tax Plans
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is trying to make up for lost time in New Hampshire by cutting to the chase with low-tax talk likely to resonate in a state whose lack of income tax speaks to the political leanings of its GOP primary voters.

LA Times: Romney, Clinton Shake Up Tactics
Facing fresh polls showing their leads in Iowa disappearing, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney rolled out new campaign tactics Sunday in an aggressive push to regain lost momentum.

NY Daily News: N.H., Iowa Republicans Care More About Terror Than Rudy Giuliani's Trysts
Many voters shrugged off the renewed spotlight on Rudy Giuliani's extramarital affair – but one of his campaign officials Saturday warned the issue could "haunt" his presidential bid. h

USA Today: Clinton Urges Foreclosures Moratorium
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Monday will call for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures on homes with subprime mortgages and a five-year freeze on the interest rates those borrowers must pay.

LA Times: Hsu Associates Touted His Connections
Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu reveled in his role as friend to Bill and Hillary Clinton. As Hsu raised more than $800,000 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, the couple praised him at star-studded events and showered him with thank-you notes.

Washington Post: Stung by Politico Report, Giuliani Puts Up His Dukes
Rudy Giuliani, who made his name prosecuting bad guys, has always taken a two-fisted approach toward what he brands "the liberal media." That pugilistic style was on display last week when the Politico got under Hizzoner's skin.

Des Moines Register: Illegal-Immigration Answer Starts In Mexico, Biden Says
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden passionately declared Sunday that the key solution to illegal immigration begins with Mexican government officials who must expand their economies to provide good jobs for those living south of the border.

LA Times: Heavy Doubt For Edwards' Big Promises
John Edwards, who has pledged that as president he would strip health coverage from congressional members if they did not adopt universal healthcare, faced sharp voter skepticism Sunday over whether he could achieve that and other campaign goals.

Des Moines Register: Edwards: Democrats Can Attract Christians
Committed Christians can be attracted to the Democratic side if the party's presidential nominee projects an honest interest in tackling moral issues, candidate John Edwards said here Sunday.

Washington Times: Presidential Race Revives Painful Workplace Debate
A Democratic victory in the 2008 presidential election would reignite the fight between big labor and big business over a contentious workplace-safety issue.

DC Examiner: Paul Expects Over $12M in 4th Quarter
Republican Ron Paul said Sunday his upstart presidential campaign is on track to raise more than $12 million this quarter, boldly predicting the Iowa polls "are going to continue to shift" once he's finished spending it all.

Politico: DCCC spends money for ad in Ohio special election
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has purchased over $148,000 in television air time in Ohio for a negative campaign advertisement in next week’s special election to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-Ohio), indicating the cash-flush committee is eyeing its sights on scoring an upset in a conservative northwest Ohio district.

Washington Post: Campaign Soldiers on the 'Front Lines'
They are the foot soldiers of the presidential race, the young field workers who toil long hours for little pay to man the storefront outposts in small cities and towns like this one, far from the state headquarters where the campaign colonels sit.

LA Times: A Voter Walks Into A Bar . . .
Long neglected by political campaigns, young professionals are being wooed through such groups as "Generation Obama," Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Hillblazers" and John McCain's "YP4McCain" - that's Young Professionals for McCain, in the abbreviated style favored by text messagers.

Des Moines Register: Iowa Students Cram For Caucuses
High school teachers in Iowa are pulling out all the stops to encourage – and in some cases, require – students to cast their votes in the upcoming caucuses.

Roll Call: December Subpoena Fight Possible
Facing a crowded December calendar, House Democratic leaders say they are “hopeful” that the full House will consider a motion of contempt against senior Bush administration officials before the end of the year.

Chicago Tribune’s The Swamp: Webb, Back From Iraq, Questions Impact Of 'Surge'
One day after returning from his first visit to Iraq, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb called again for "robust regional diplomacy” and suggested the impact of President Bush’s troop surge has been overstated.

Roll Call: Lott Move Will Leave GOP Void
While Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott’s (R-Miss.) impending departure will remove one of the chamber’s few bipartisan dealmakers, his resignation also will leave a gaping hole within the often fractious Republican Conference.

The Hill: Dems Plan To Focus On The Economy This Week
House Democrats will host an economic forum on Friday, signaling their intent to refocus the political debate on President Bush’s handling of the economy and away from the situation in Iraq.

CNN: Idaho Senator Denies New Sex Allegations
Embattled Idaho Sen. Larry Craig emphatically denied new allegations of homosexual encounters published in his home state's largest newspaper Sunday, calling the statements of four new accusers "completely false."

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