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Making news today:

Two weeks and counting…

It’s high campaign season, and most of the major presidential candidates are in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina today, but a few familiar faces are missing.

One Big Apple-sized exception is Rudy Giuliani. While most of the field is spending the day looking to pull in votes, the former mayor will be back home, still trying to rake in campaign cash, one of two days this week he’ll spend fundraising, far from the trail, in the wake of news he’s slashed his ad buys in the pricey Boston media market that includes the southern border of the Granite State.  Full Story 

Meanwhile, a candidate on the rise, Mike Huckabee is hunting Texas cash, now making the pitch as a major candidate.

And the Texas congressman himself may be taking a down day, but ‘The Ron Paul Show’ continues, even without the $6 million man: his campaign tells CNN that it’s already busy spending the massive new fundraising haul, adding staffers in Florida and February 5 states, and buying up airtime in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.  Full Story

Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Fred Thompson are stumping in the Hawkeye State; John McCain and John Edwards are in New Hampshire. And Mitt Romney is spending the day in South Carolina, where his staffers have spent the past few days hitting Huckabee hard in that state’s first negative campaigning of the cycle.   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

Washington Post: In N.H., the Swing Voter Is Vanishing
As Sen. John McCain, a Republican running for president, touted the endorsement Monday of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a maverick Democrat-turned-independent, it seemed designed to capture a legendary brand of New Hampshirite, a state icon on par with the moose: the independent voter.

New York Times: McCain Senses Momentum Is Starting to Help Him
Seeking to capitalize on a series of highly sought newspaper endorsements, Senator John McCain is strongly pushing to attract independent voters who helped drive his victory here eight years ago.

LA Times: Mccain Tries To Turn A Corner In N.H.
In an increasingly fractured Republican race, three top presidential hopefuls fanned out across New Hampshire on Monday, with Mitt Romney seeking to downplay expectations, John McCain basking in key endorsements and Rudolph W. Giuliani pressing his case to siphon votes from Romney, the leader here. 

USA Today: 'Family Values' Lower On Agenda In 2008 Race
Among the presidential contenders, however, Mitt Romney is virtually alone in stressing family values — a shift that reflects changes in society, the backgrounds of the Republican candidates and the urgency of issues such as war, terrorism and the economy.

Des Moines Register: Loebsack Endorses Obama; King's For Thompson
Two Iowa congressmen issued long-awaited endorsements
today in the race for the presidency, just a little more than two weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

New York Times: Obama and Edwards Engage, Gently, on Special Interests
Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards, two Democratic presidential candidates courting many of the same undecided Iowa voters, added to their efforts Monday to distinguish between each other on the issue of reducing special-interest influence in Washington.

AP: Obama Comes Up Short on Union Support
Barack Obama's appeal among Democrats is undeniable. He's near the top of every poll and he packs rooms wherever he goes. But a vital piece of the Democratic power establishment isn't showing him any love: labor unions.

Washington Post: Edwards Seeks the Issue to Win Iowa
John Edwards, vowing to challenge the powerful on behalf of the powerless, rallied supporters Monday at a downtown appearance where he accepted the endorsement of Iowa's first lady, Mari Culver, a women's advocate who called him "the first candidate in my adult life to make it his cause to eliminate poverty in America."

USA Today: Poll: Electability key among Democrats
Democratic voters increasingly are focused on nominating the most electable presidential candidate, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama fares better than New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton against prospective Republican rivals.

The Times of London: Presidential Campaigners Find Out Who Their Friends Really Are
At least eight viable candidates to be the next president of the United States were preparing yesterday for a frantic final fortnight before the first American voters deliver their verdict in the marathon contest for the White House.

New York Times: For Romney, a Course Set Long Ago
George Romney had big ideas for his youngest child. Mitt Romney had already made millions as the founder of a giant buyout firm. But his father wanted Mitt to follow him into politics, convinced he could unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.

LA Times: Quietly Excited About Romney
There's not much chitchat about the presidential campaign inside the Mormon church in Aliso Viejo, even though fellow Mormon Mitt Romney is in the hunt for the Republican nomination. At church functions, even a hint of political favoritism is strictly forbidden. At neighborhood potlucks, soccer games and business lunches, however, it's a different story.

Des Moines Register: Richardson Says He Will Bring Troops Home
Democrat Bill Richardson is claiming the mantle of being his party’s strongest peace candidate as the Iowa caucus presidential campaign heads into the home stretch.

LA Times: Supporters Describe Clinton's Softer Side
Eager to present a more likable public face, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is giving herself a multimedia makeover. 

New Hampshire Union-Leader: On The Trail: Delaware Senator Sees Iowa Caucus As Momentum-Builder
Joe Biden and the chairman of his presidential campaign in New Hampshire get the same glimmer in their eyes when they talk about the Iowa caucus.

New York Times: More Hiring and Advertising Ahead for Paul Campaign as the Donations Pour In
Flush with cash after another record fund-raising event, the campaign of Ron Paul said Monday that it was hiring more staff members, expanding its ground operations in early primary states, planning more advertising and looking ahead to competing in the contests on Feb. 5. 

New York Times Op-Ed: Iowa’s Undemocratic Caucuses
THIS year, a dozen polling organizations have conducted about 70 separate polls about the candidate preferences of Iowa caucus-goers…if a poll does manage to precisely forecast the results of the Jan. 3 caucuses, that is probably more coincidence than polling accuracy.

LA Times: Huckabee Dons The Bull's-Eye That All Contenders Wear
Just a few months ago, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's visit to Southern California barely registered a blip, much like his little-noticed long shot of a campaign.

Washington Post’s The Trail: Turning Out the Youth
It's that time of the campaign season again. Except this time, as with anything to do with Campaign '08, the worry over youth voter turnout started . . . in the primary season.

Washington Post: The Scribe Who Gets The Candidates' Vote
At 57, having covered every campaign here since 1976, David Yepsen is the old-journalism king of the Iowa caucuses. He is also the new-journalism king of the Iowa caucuses.

AP: Clinton '92 Vs. Obama '08
Bill Clinton says Sen. Barack Obama is a highly ambitious, political prodigy who is asking voters to "roll the dice" and elect him president.

New Hampshire Union-Leader: Chuck Norris Kicks Up Huckabee Campaign In Granite State
Mike Huckabee is looking pretty tough these days in the race to the Republican nomination, which is why Chuck Norris looks so right by his side on this campaign trip last weekend.

LA Times’ Top of the Ticket: Clintons Pull Magic Out Of Their Hats
Bill Clinton typically generates a fair amount of his own star power as he promotes his wife's presidential hopes. But Tuesday in Iowa, the wattage surrounding him should grow even more intense - he'll be joined on the trail by one of the most charismatic athletes of the last few decades, Magic Johnson.

Reuters: Likeability Is Key In U.S. Presidential Race
John Edwards wears jeans on the stump. Mike Huckabee plays bass guitar with local bands before his speeches and all the main candidates have been accompanied by family or people close to them on the campaign trail. Their aim is to win perhaps the oldest game in a U.S. presidential race - to persuade voters to like them.

USA Today: Americans' Approval Of Congress Sinks To New Low
As President Bush and Congress battle on the budget, homeland security and the war in Iraq, Americans blame both Republicans and Democrats for the impasse.

Roll Call: Coleman, Corker in Line to Head NRSC
Although the job is typically reserved for the party’s more conservative lawmakers, Senate Republicans appear likely to enlist a moderate-minded colleague to head up their campaign committee next cycle — a move that could prove either devastating or brilliant for a party in transition.

The Hill: An earmark Christmas
Congressional negotiators have added scores of new earmarks to a massive 3,565-page spending bill that lawmakers had only a few hours to review before an expected vote Monday evening. Democratic leaders did not make the bill available for public viewing until late on Sunday night.

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On the Trail:

Compiled by Lauren Kornreich and Katy Byron
CNN Washington Bureau

* Hillary Clinton attends campaign events in Ottumwa and Donnellson, Iowa. Later, she attends a fundraiser in Chicago, Illinois.

* Chris Dodd holds a town hall forum at the Hanford Inn in Mason City, Iowa.

* John Edwards holds town hall meetings with Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne in Lebanon, Keene, and Nashua, New Hampshire.

* John McCain heads to New Hampshire to deliver a speech in Salem and stop by Hollis Pharmacy in Hollis. He then attends a house party in Nashua, and holds a town hall meeting in Hudson.

* Barack Obama holds a foreign policy forum at the Holiday Inn in Des Moines, Iowa.

* Bill Richardson meets with local residents at the Urban Grind in Davenport, Iowa. Later, heads to Manchester, New Hampshire for a town hall meeting on Iraq.

* Mitt Romney delivers a speech in Spartanburg, South Carolina on illegal immigration. Later, he heads to West Columbia, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia for press conferences. In the evening, he holds campaign events in North Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

* Fred Thompson continues his bus tour through Iowa with stops in Manchester and Decorah. Later, he meets with local residents in Waterloo.

* The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook 

* The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook