Quick Clips

Clinton Refines Message, With an Edge
Clinton Fights Back on Experience Front
Clinton ad: She's 'a steady hand'
Christopher Dodd: a worldview shaped by his father and fatherhood
Edwards Campaign May Have Expected Union Group Plan
Edwards seeks undecideds with doughnuts
Obama makes pitch to be 'second choice' for some
John McCain aims his guns at Mitt Romney
Republican moderates look to chart new course in Iowa
Giuliani doctor: All tests normal
Huckabee Under a Closer Microscope
McCain Starts Playing in Iowa
Bridging 2 Marriages, a Large, Close-Knit Brood
For McCain, It Could Be State of Resurgence
Romney struggles to stop N.H. slip
Understanding Iowa & New Hampshire
Holiday Cheer Gives Way to Final Primary Push in Iowa
Iowa's population now packed with politicians
Iowa races entering the home stretch
Candidates get shots off in Iowa
Holiday's over, back to politics in Iowa
Candidates Avoid Stoking Hispanics' Ire
Bush Signs Spending Bill, Funding Iraq Operations Into Next Year
California: State may see $4 gasoline in 2008
John Kerry's resolution: Move forward
Ginsburg, Scalia strike a balance

<><>DEM<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

CLINTON

Clinton Refines Message, With an Edge

By Patrick Healy
New York Times
December 26, 2007

A more pointed attack on the Bush presidency…

Clinton Fights Back on Experience Front

By Patrick Healy
New York Times
December 26, 2007

The candidate suggests her stable of advisers is bigger than Obama's…

Clinton ad: She's 'a steady hand'

By Frank James
Chicago Tribune
December 26, 2007

Who's big enough for the presidency at this moment in the nation's history? is the question Sen. Hillary Clinton wants voters in Iowa and New Hampshire to ask. Of course, she wants her name to be the answer…

DODD

Christopher Dodd: a worldview shaped by his father and fatherhood

By Alexandra Marks
Christian Science Monitor
December 27, 2007

The five-term Connecticut senator is a strong Roman Catholic who showed an early commitment to social justice…

EDWARDS

Edwards Campaign May Have Expected Union Group Plan

By David D. Kirkpatrick
New York Times
December 27, 2007

John Edwards’s campaign may have known about some of the plans of a labor group that is blanketing Iowa with commercials supporting his candidacy…

Edwards seeks undecideds with doughnuts

Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket
December 26, 2007

In New Hampshire he finds one McCain backer and one for him in their pajamas…

OBAMA

Obama makes pitch to be 'second choice' for some

By John McCormick
Chicago Tribune
December 26, 2007

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa – Even if he can't be the first choice of some participants in the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Barack Obama is starting to make a pitch for being their second choice…

<><>REP<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>>

THE FIELD

John McCain aims his guns at Mitt Romney

Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket
December 26, 2007

As the Arizona senator closes in on the former governor, he opens up on immigration, of all things…

Republican moderates look to chart new course in Iowa

By Rick Pearson
Chicago Tribune
December 26, 2007

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa - On a recent ice-swept morning, a group of self-described moderate Republicans met in a hotel convention room, looking to find a way to break the chill of a presidential season that has found many of them left out in the cold…

GIULIANI

Giuliani doctor: All tests normal

By Jill Zuckman
Chicago Tribune
December 26, 2007

Manchester, N.H. – Not surprisingly, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's doctor says all is well with the Republican presidential candidate…

HUCKABEE

Huckabee Under a Closer Microscope

By John Harwood
New York Times
December 26, 2007

Is it still populism when the details are examined?

McCAIN

McCain Starts Playing in Iowa

By Julie Bosman
New York Times
December 26, 2007

The candidate decides Iowa is worth pursuing, after all…

Bridging 2 Marriages, a Large, Close-Knit Brood

By Jennifer Steinhauer
New York Times
December 27, 2007

Before Senator John McCain steps in front of an audience at a presidential debate, his daughter Meghan makes sure his nose is properly powdered. And from the campaign bus, Ms. McCain blogs about New Hampshire through the prism of politics and fashion…

For McCain, It Could Be State of Resurgence
Wide-Open Caucuses Offer Hope To a Candidate Who Has Lagged

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post
December 27, 2007

DES MOINES, Dec. 26 -- A jet carrying Sen. John McCain of Arizona touched down Wednesday evening on Iowa's western border, marking a remarkable comeback for the veteran politician and opening another intriguing narrative in the wide-open Republican field…

ROMNEY

Romney struggles to stop N.H. slip

By Jill Zuckman
Chicago Tribune
December 26, 2007

HENNIKER, N.H. - New Hampshire was supposed to be the easy state…

<><>IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE<><><><><>

Understanding Iowa & New Hampshire
"First-in-the-nation" States Still Wield Power

Jimm Phillips
Washington Post
December 26, 2007

Just a few days remain until voters kick off the process for deciding who will be the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. Despite calls by some politicos to let other states hold their primaries earlier, the two "first-in-the-nation" contests remain the same -- Iowa will be the first state to hold nominating caucuses and New Hampshire will be the first state to hold primary elections…

Holiday Cheer Gives Way to Final Primary Push in Iowa

By Adam Nagourney
New York Times
December 27, 2007

After a 48-hour lull for Christmas, the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns roared back to life with a barrage of new advertisements, closing campaign arguments and attacks…

Iowa's population now packed with politicians

Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket
December 26, 2007

With few exceptions, the presidential wannabes all wannabe in the Hawkeye state with the holiday's ceasefire over…

Iowa races entering the home stretch

By Mark Z. Barabak and Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times
December 26, 2007

With eight days to go, the candidates will be picking up the pace. For most, analysts say, it'll be win, place or show -- or it's do or die in N.H…

Candidates get shots off in Iowa
Hopefuls have caucuses —and rivals—in their sights as Jan. 3 nears

By James Oliphant and John McCormick
Chicago Tribune
December 26, 2007

MT. PLEASANT, Iowa—With eight days to go until the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee brought out the big guns. But only Huckabee shot anything…

Holiday's over, back to politics in Iowa

By Kathy Kiely and David Jackson
USA Today
December 27, 2007

MASON CITY, Iowa — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama bragged Wednesday about getting eight hours of sleep, while on the other end of this state, Republican Mike Huckabee boasted of his ability to bag pheasant…

<><>2008/PRESIDENT<><><><><><><><><

Walking a Fine Line
Candidates Avoid Stoking Hispanics' Ire

By Amy Chozick
Wall Street Journal
December 27, 2007

A Barack Obama campaign handout taped to the wall at Los Sauces, a restaurant in the heart of Des Moines's Little Mexico, is like nothing on display at the typical Iowa campaign rally. On it, the Democratic presidential candidate greets a little girl in an embroidered Mexican dress next to the phrase, Barack Obama sanará America. Barack Obama will heal America…

<><>WAR/TERROR<><><><><>><><><>

Bush Signs Spending Bill, Funding Iraq Operations Into Next Year

Associated Press
December 26, 2007

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush, still voicing concern about special project spending by Congress, signed a $555 billion bill Wednesday that funds the Iraq war well into 2008 and keeps government agencies running through next September…

<><>OTHER NEWS AND VIEWS<><><><><><><><><><><><>

California: State may see $4 gasoline in 2008

By Ronald D. White
Los Angeles Times
December 26, 2007

Several factors point toward a nightmarish spring for motorists, according to analysts…

John Kerry's resolution: Move forward

By James Rainey
Los Angeles Times
December 26, 2007

He will. At least he wants to. But with the election year opening, it's difficult not to look back to 2004 -- and maybe to future races…

Ginsburg, Scalia strike a balance

By Joan Biskupic
USA Today
December 27, 2007

WASHINGTON — She is the nation's top female judge, a former ACLU lawyer who embodies the women's liberation movement of the 1970s…